Overview

BattleTech-Mercenaries is set in the year 3075 based on the canon information leading up to 3068. Consequently the developers have attempted to move things on in a manner they hope is not too far from the ideas of the designers. The players play as a tough Mercenary within a small-to-medium tight knit unit. The unit bids for contracts and earns hard cash to buy better and stronger hardware to take up even more challenging contracts.

Concept

BattleTech-Mercenaries is a role-playing community that is developed on two types of play: forum play or e-mail play. The game consists of mercenary units that are under the umbrella of the Department of Mercenary Management (DMM) from the Second Star-League. Every piece of information of the general BattleTech Universe leading up until 3068 is based on canon sources. After 3068 right before the collapse of the Second Star-League and the start of the Jihad the developers of this community have set out to create a timeline of their own.

Mercenary Units

The units range from company size to mixed-battalions and even small regiments. The players that join the community apply to a mercenary spot in one of these units and if accepted he becomes a character that is required to have a personal history and personality. Canon characters or relations to one are unaccepted.

The units are commanded by a Mercenary Unit Commander or MUCO, who is also the general Gamemaster (GM) of his unit. The MUCOs have the job of keeping together their units and to advance play if it stagnates. In order to make money for his unit to pay the salaries, hardware and other logistics the mercenary units have to apply for contracts that are released for bidding by the DMM.  

Contracts

The information enclosed here is gathered from the files contained in the Database section of the website.

What is a Contract?

A contract is a legal and binding agreement between a Mercenary Unit and an Employer. It involves a combat mission that the Employer pays a Mercenary Unit for.

Who is involved?

A contract is created by an employer who lists it on MERC-NET (the community’s mailing list) within the format set out by the SLDF Department of Mercenary Management.

Then a Merc Unit under MRBC registration views the MERC-NET listing and chooses which contract they wish to do.

Bounty

Every contract within BattleTech Mercenaries revolves around bounties. This is included as an incentive to the MUCO and his players. How this works is that at the end of a contract the Merc Unit Commanding Officer or Executive Officer will collate all posts into one 'Transcript' that will be submitted via a form to be reviewed.

The unit will be paid C-Bills based on the word count of a valid Transcript. A unit will not receive any bounty if the minimum word count is not reached. The C-Bills are paid per word.

Timeframe

Due to the fact that contract can take up to 12 months in game time to complete, it is not practical to have the same amount of time pass in real time. So a timeframe change is used to calculate game time vs. real time. The system is quite simple: '2 Days GT = 1 Day RT'

Example: A 4 month contract for a Merc Unitwill take 60 days in real time.

This is a simple method to keep things moving within the Company without having weeks of nothing happening. Simultaneously Commanding Officers won’t get burned out trying to keep things moving on the same plot for extended time.

Contract Types

The 6 contract types are based on the primary operations that a Mercenary Unit can face. They also help to give the unit an idea of what to expect of their own duties and how adversaries will react to them, please read up on their descriptions for more detail.

Static Defense

This category includes Garrison, Cadre and Security Duty, all fairly low risk, low pay, long service operations that are dull and inglorious.

Garrison Duty

Strictly speaking garrisons are found on uncontested worlds with enough strategic significance and potential for trouble to warrant the presence of combat troops. In theory such worlds are low risk stations where combat or civil disorders are not expected. Because of this, a unit hired for garrison duty is not likely to see action, and probably will not receive good pay or other benefits. Because House units are more loyal, less cautious, and certainly less expensive to maintain in the field that are mercenaries, House leaders often employ mercenaries for garrison duty to free up House troops for frontline duty.

Cadre Duty

As a cadre force, the mercenaries must organize and train new recruits or militia forces. It is often easy duty, in which even low ranking mercenaries have temporary authority while training the recruits. Though usually a low-risk assignment and never paying particularly well, cadre duty becomes dangerous if recruit forces are suddenly thrust into combat before their training is complete.

Security Duty

One step away from garrison duty is security duty, in which the unit is hired to provide security for some target believed threatened by hostile forces. Where garrisons usually watch over a whole planet, a security mission might revolve around the protection of a single installation, supply convoy, or other limited target. Non ‘Mech mercenaries (infantry for example) are sometimes hired to serve as marines on exposed JumpShips or commercial transports, or to act as bodyguards for dignitaries and the like.   

Territorial Campaign

Missions in this class are more concerned with the need to protect or seize territorial objectives than they are with battle. Specifically this category includes Riot Duty and Siege Campaigns. Though dangerous, these operations do not provide a great deal of pay. Service length is average.

Riot Duty

Mercenaries are frequently hired for riot duty, the suppression of a smoldering or active rebellion on a world under the employer’s control. The duty is unglamorous, very difficult and dangerous, but, like garrison and security duty, it does not pay well. Although few rebels can stand up to high-tech mercenaries in battle, the threat of terrorism and general insurgency fills a merc’s every hour with danger. Employers usually stipulate that mercs are to do the least possible damage to targets of strategic or economic value, complicating the mercenary’s position. In addition, an employer might unleash mercenaries on a rebellious planet while keeping House units clear not only of violence, but of all involvement. After the mercenaries quell the riot, the employer steps in, blames the mercenaries for exceeding their authority, and so becomes a savior rather than an oppressor. Meanwhile the mercenaries are sent packing in disgrace.

Siege Campaign

In many instances an aggressor will implement a policy of siege warfare rather than a true offensive. Sieges are conducted on a planet-wide scale to reduce enemy forces on the planet without the need for pitched battles. In a siege campaign, troops wage a war of maneuver in which most battles are minor skirmishes rather than major clashes. Aerospace superiority is exerted to deny off-planet supplies and reinforcements.
Most mercenaries favor siege campaigns. There is little danger of taking heavy casualties and the campaign is long enough to guarantee steady employment. Like most operations undertaken in the face of an enemy, pay tends to be good and there are plenty of opportunities for independent operations without excessive employer involvement. Periodically, such campaigns go awry and lead to major battles, but on the whole, a siege campaign is the mercenary’s idea of a perfect ticket.

Combat Campaign

Units given this class of mission will undertake either Offensive or Defensive Campaigns. These are considered a standard type of mission, with moderate length, hazard and numeration.

Offensive Campaign

Taking up where a planetary assault leaves off, an offensive campaign is an attack against hostile forces on a contested planet. Sometimes this sort of attack develops directly from a planetary assault, but it usually involves additional troops reinforcing or replacing those in the first landings. In some cases, a planet’s defenders declare an offensive campaign against enemies who occupy a portion of the planet. Not quite as lucrative (or risky) as a planetary assault, this kind of campaign still pays well. As with its defensive counterpart, it is sometimes marred by the excessive dependence of mercenary elements on outsiders who can let them down.

Defensive Campaign

An employer begins a defensive campaign when he discovers enemy intentions to invade or escalate hostilities on a world. Mercenaries and household troops are deployed to stiffen resistance against the assault. As active fighting is likely, pay is fairly good, but mercenaries often find themselves faced with too much employer interference in their operations. The unit runs the risk of being cut off or overrun if the attacker proves successful and the mercenaries must rely heavily on people they do not know and cannot control.

Minor Raid

This category includes both Recon and Objective Raids, which tend to be short and dangerous (though not as much as a Major Raid). They offer higher rates of pay than less strenuous duties.

Recon Raid

There are several distinct missions that fall into the category of raiding, all offering a high-risk/high-gain potential that some mercenaries love and others loathe. Recon raids are fairly straight forward operations in which a small unit makes an assault on a planet to test local defenses and to collect information for later strikes. As in a planetary assault, raiders travel from space to a planet’s surface, but the same force is expected to carry out its mission and then withdraw without further support. As recon raids are normally launched at fairly unsuspecting targets, they are less dangerous than other types of raids. Nonetheless, they are considered hazardous duty.
Like all raids, recon attacks are high-pay jobs. Because small units are used, mercenaries are rarely forced to co-operate heavily with employer forces, which is a major benefit. However the chance of running up against heavy opposition or being cut off from transport ships makes the recon raid a chancy mission that many mercenaries would rather pass up.  

Objective Raid

An objective raid is a limited attack to capture or destroy a specific target: a supply depot or convoy, a scientist or political leader, a specific installation, and so on. It shares many of the characteristics of a recon raid, except that it is generally carried out against heavier or better organized opposition: a target worth raiding is usually worth guarding too.
The raids pay well and provide a wide degree of latitude for individual command and initiative. Like any raid, however, they are high-risk affairs that can be very costly to the troops involved.

Invasion

This category denotes operations that require units to move against a world where enemy forces are in control of the approaches and some or the entire surface. It specifically includes Planetary Assaults and Relief Duty. Duty is short but hazardous and well-paying.

Planetary Assault

Sometimes used to indicate almost any kind of offensive activity, the true planetary assault mission is the initial attack to establish a ‘planet head’ on a world. This involves gaining aerospace superiority, establishing initial drop and landing zones and then building a secure perimeter into which additional forces can be deployed for further campaigns. It is high-risk duty with a commensurably high financial return.

Relief Duty

When unexpected attacks materialize, relief expeditions must move to support local garrison and defensive forces. Sometimes this is fairly simple, but usually it is the equivalent of mounting a whole new planetary assault. The original attacker often controls the approaches to the world and much of the planetary surface. Moreover, relief duty is chancy because there is no way of predicting whether the original defenders will still be in position and putting up a fight when help reaches them.
Mercenaries on relief duty draw good pay, but this sort of mission means close co-ordination with employer troops, leaders, and transport, and those conditions are often major disadvantages.

Major Raid

Major Raids are Diversionary and Guerrilla Warfare assignments. They tend to take longer than ordinary raids and are high-paying missions (because they are so dangerous).

Diversionary Raid

The diversionary raid may be the most dangerous duty of all the Mercenary missions. There raids are mounted against enemy planets to confuse the opposition and to divert reserves away from the real target of an interstellar campaign. Small forces launch planetary assaults on several different worlds and simulate attacks. When friendly forces make their real thrust elsewhere, the diversionary forces withdraw.
These assaults are fraught with danger. Defense against a diversionary attack is often especially strong because false information has been leaked to suggest that the attack is genuine. Diversionary forces are usually kept to a minimum (to save the bulk of the army for the real drive), but they are given orders to make a lot of noise and to cover a lot of ground. One or two Houses have the reputation for hoodwinking their own troops about the nature of an attack to further confuse the enemy, so that the attackers don’t realize they are mounting a diversion until expected support fails to materialize.
The Kurita efforts in the direction have a less savory flavor. On several occasions, Kurita not only disguised his intentions from his diversionary forces, but he actually abandoned them to the enemy by withdrawing their transports after they were committed. Two House units and three mercenary units have been abandoned in this manner in recent years. Naturally most Houses prefer to use mercenaries for diversionary raids, because mercenaries are considered more expendable and less loyal than regular House units.
When they know what to expect, mercenaries can earn very high fees for diversionary raids. They should also do their utmost to ensure the maximum possible support from the employer. A unit that lacks its own transports should rarely undertake such a mission for any House, and never for Kurita. It is usually wise for a unit embarking on a diversionary raid to leave some troops behind as a reserve, and to encourage the employer to keep faith. The only real advantage to accepting such an assignment is the books in reputation enjoyed by the mercenary unit who successfully carries out a diversionary operation.

Guerrilla Warfare

This is one of the rarest, most difficult, and most dangerous missions a unit can undertake. In a guerrilla warfare mission, troops infiltrate a planet and then remain there for lengthy period, unsupported by other friendly forces. The object of guerrilla warfare is no only to harass the enemy, but more importantly, to recruit, arm, train, and lead discontented citizens against their overlords.
Guerrilla warfare is dangerous and difficult because it pits non-‘Mech troops against enemy ‘Mech garrisons. Also, it is never as easy to stir up native populations as optimistic nobles predict. Then, too, supplies must be scavenged locally or stockpiled in advance, at least until a reliable underground can set up local supply networks. Finally, if the assignment fails there is rarely a chance for escape.
Missions of this type often arise by accident, such as when the remnants of a garrison escape into the hills after an enemy conquest and provide ongoing resistance to their opponents. When undertaken deliberately, guerrilla missions pay well and promote individual action and initiative. However mercenaries undertake such assignments less often than do House troops, because House forces (particularly those raised from or led by native sons or daughters of the world in question) are more able than soldiers of fortune to rally the locals to cause. It is also a job for the very loyal, as the hardships of guerrilla warfare make surrender an easy and tempting alternative.

When to bid for a Contract?

After the MUCO (Mercenary Unit Commanding Officer) checks the reputation of their unit with the various factions of the Inner Sphere and determines which of them would accept their employment but he should take into account the following guideline.

A Mercenary Unit needs a minimum of 4 active players that include the Commanding Officer to bid for a contract. A certain amount of reasonability is expected from CO's, one would not bid for an Invasion Type contract with only 4 active players. A Garrison Duty contract would a much wiser choice until the unit can recruit some more players. (NPC's are allowed and can be added to a contract Transcript)

Multiple Contract Bids?  

As a unit expands into a Battalion or eventually into a Regiment size force the MUCO has the choice of bidding for more than 1 contract at any given time:

Company Size Unit:  1 Company Detachment Contract

Battalion Size Unit:  1 Company Detachment Contracts
                                  2 Company Detachment Contracts
                                  1 Battalion Detachment Contract

Regiment Size Unit: 1 Company Detachment Contract
                                  2 Company Detachment Contracts
                                  3 Company Detachment Contracts
                                  1 Battalion Detachment Contract
                                  2 Battalion Detachment Contracts
                                  1 Regiment Detachment Contract

Contract Expiration Date?

Every contract has an expiry date when the contract will be dropped from MERC-NET due to no bids and to allow a feeling of time progression. There is an excellent opportunity for CO's because if a contract expiration date is within 48 hours, all you need is a reputation of 1 with that employer to bid of any and all contract types.

Transcript

The unit's CO or XO needs to be keeping a single Transcript of all posts done on a contract. When the contract completion date has been reached the CO or XO needs to submit the Transcript to the DMM Staff for review.

When contract ends?

A unit CO or XO will need to collate the MRBC Transcript and submit it via a form for review. The contract payment for the word count bounty will not be released until this is done. Once it has been submitted the Director will review it to see if the unit has completed or failed the contract requirements, in a nutshell: Word Count. The C-Bills will then be released to the units MHB (Mercenary Hardware Broker) Credit Account for use in buying and selling Military Hardware.

Mission Failure

Sometimes a Mercenary Unit does not meet the minimum Transcript word count. When this happens the unit forfeits the contract and gets paid nothing. This might seem harsh but under the old Mercenary Review Board, Units were actually fined for contractual failures.   

Also no one prevents the MUCOs to fail their contracts on purpose in order to spice up the role-playing, but fortunately from the point of the DMM if the required word count is reached the contract will be deemed successful from a financial point of view.  

Supplement Contracts?  

Some contracts may have one or two extra supplement contracts to extend your service with your current employer. You bid for them at the same time you submit your original contract transcript, there may be a delay before you start on the supplement contract and you will be put on retainer in which you can use the MHB but can not bid for other contracts. Any and all sup. contracts can be bided for no matter what your current reputation is with your current employer.

Type of play

The units are divided in two categories. Those who use the mailing lists and those who use the website forum.

Mailing lists (PbEM)

Mailing lists have been used at BattleTech-Mercenaries from the beginning and at one point all units were using the mailing lists. This method is basically PbEM or play-by-e-mail where the players use the yahoo supported mailing lists. The characters posts are transmitted to the mailing lists which redirect them to the unit’s members. OOC (out-of-character) messages between the unit members are not visible to outside parties. 

Forum (PBF)

Forum play has evolved after the developers added a forum to the BattleTech-Mercenaries site. One of the original units chose to adopt this method of play after the disadvantages and advantages were laid before them. This type of play is basically play-by-post where the units have a dedicated section of the forum to themselves which is separated into an OOC (out-of-character) and an IC (in-character) area. Only the IC area is visible to non-unit members and regular registered members. All the action is situated in the IC sections of the forum where players are required to post their own writings in order to add to the main storyline.     

Storyline

Local

After a MUCO has accepted a contract, his closest command staff is required to lay out a basic plot for the situation that the accepted contract presents. After the plot is laid out to the unit’s players, the characters will express their own ideas and opinions on the situation and subsequently advance the story in a unique manner. The senior officers or the commander will intervene drastically in the storyline only in the situation that the story lags any new ideas from the players. Usually the stories have a life of their own as each player completes the other and the whole unit manages to put together an enjoyable read for themselves and the outside readers.   

Global

Since each units actions affects not only them but the world around them the DMM Staff has the job of putting together all these actions and reflect them on the main BattleTech-Mercenaries storyline. Hence, if a unit manages to conquer a planet in the name of a House then that planet will be shown under its new colors on a Battletech-Mercenaries Universe map. Since the beginning the DMM Staff has tried to establish a connection between all the actions that take place inside the IC community.  

Players

Those who wish to join in are required to apply on the BattleTech-Mercenaries website after which they will have to apply for the position they desire by completing a Mercenary join form. It remains at the latitude of the player what is most important in their future career as a mercenary: the unit he desires to join or the position. To make things realistic new players are required to have at least a history and a personality profile for their character. Some units accept character sheets (under 2nd or 3rd Edition Rules) for their players, but this is not required in order to join the community. Those who only wish to read the stories created by the active units are only required to create an account on the website forum or to visit the unit’s mailing list.   

Timeline

The main timeline is based on the situation of 3068 so you won’t find any Dark Age Battletech in the BTM community. After the website was build and the community was put together the BTM time began to flow. Because of this any visitor or future player would have the chance of finding himself even ten years after ’68. What is important to know about timeline in BTM is that is the same as the canon version and only after 3068 the information found is considered non-canon.

Joining

Any person is allowed to join this community with the single requirement of being over thirteen years of age, although older players are advised. The joining is done through a simple application form that a prospective player needs to complete. After joining a mercenary unit you will be assigned to your mech, vehicle, etc. depending on what position you have applied for. Players are required from this point forward to follow all the rules presented to them and act as a military man as the DMM and his unit command staff will not hesitate to discharge abusive players. The scope of the community is for fun just as any other PbEM or PBP games out there.

More details are contained in the Join Procedures Help file.

Playing

Your unit will receive contracts from the DMM (Department of Mercenary Management). Your unit commander will be the GM and usually he will determine in which way the unit will carry the contract to an end. So he will set an initial plotline which with the help of the other players will develop into a larger story. These actions will ultimately contribute to the general storyline of the BTM community.  

The player’s job in helping the plotline is for him to write about his character and how he (the character) reacts to the new scenery, objectives, to engage in talks with other players or with NPC, to write battle engagements and so on.

Battle

Battle engagements are done in two ways: freeform and with the help of MegaMek.

Freeform

Freeform means, that when your CO gives the player a target, or in any other situation in which the player has to fight, he writes a report (post) about the battle. The report (post) will contain battle results that are determined by the player. So the player has to post from his imagination, but also to make it believable. For example the player is in a 30 ton mech and his battle report (post) writes that he killed a 60 ton mech with minimal damage to himself. That won’t look to good so players are required to be realistic.  

MegaMek

This way of battle is done with the help of the unofficial Classic Battletech Boardgame program called MegaMek. A unit that choose this type of battle play will probably have the command staff of the unit play a game of MegaMek between their unit’s military assets and the enemies. After the game in MegaMek is ended the program automatically produces a battle report of the playing session. That battle report would be then presented to the rest of the players which will feed on the information inside it relating to their mech, tank, aerospace or whichever vehicle they drive and write their interpretation of the battle report. This type of play guarantees a realistic battle as the players have no more control on how ‘supernatural’ is their character in battle. Each unit that uses MegaMek has its own way of determining the guidelines on which the command staff relies on when they play the MegaMek game in order to respect the player’s combat style: brawler, long range sniper etc. 

Salvage Handling

Every combat situation that your unit will run into will eventually result in salvage opportunities. Before explaining the concept we have here on BTM, know that not all the contracts give you the right for the battlefield salvage.

First of all if a unit does not own special vehicles that are used to handle battle field salvage then a unit CO can safely assume that he has rented such vehicles from the planet where the contract takes place at no cost to himself. This service is available to any unit under the DMM which does not own these vehicles.

The unit has to protect and deposit the salvage until end of contract after which the DMM would be responsible for transport and repairs. If the contract is stipulated to award salvage to the merc unit, than the salvage would be available for pickup from Terra or any of the newly proposed depot worlds.

If the respective unit has enough empty space on its dropships the salvage it deserves can be picked up right at the contract planet without any more traveling being needed. Type of salvage is detailed in the MUCO section of the main website.

If you still have further questions after this 'brief' introduction please direct them to the DMM Staff. The e-mail of each memeber can be found at the DMM Staff menu section on the right.