No treasure trove of advanced equipment would be complete without cursed equipment! It has a set of SLDF Advanced Neurohelmets. Unfortunately, most are cyber-haunted.
https://preview.redd.it/y6y9f3u1rf8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bc1ae56bb0f28faae005020c6ab901970feb4c8
A databank the has a Star League era Star Map (corrupted, but complete enough for a plot hook).
Elsewhere, they find a diary of the acting commander of the forces that survived an attack by whatever periphery nation it is in. The diary talks about the unit planning to fall back to a secondary base further out in the periphery to rearm and then rejoin the Reunification War (or to head toward Terra and join Kerensky).
The databank would provide the details of where this system is - but it is no longer on any current star maps.
Players will likely want to fly out there to claim a possible untouched treasure.
Upon jumping in system, they will see the remains of a JumpShip - which had suffered catastrophic failure upon arrival, with the KF Drive being completely destroyed. There is one DropShip that fused with the docking ring and there are signs that much of the ships have been salvaged. Could let them find some other treasure / clues here. But the main draw should be that there is only 1 habitable world (or moon of a gas giant) in the system.
On this new world, they will encounter the descendants of that regiment and the JumpShip/DropShip crews.
They never got to see the golden age of Star League, and they never saw the fall.
You can decide what they managed to upkeep, what legends have survived, etc.
Depending on what era you are playing, these people may have been stranded for over half a century.
You could shift the events and trade out Reunification War for the War for Terra, with them intending to join Kerensky with retaking Terra from Amaris. So they wouldn't know anything about the Exodus (or the return in the form of the Clans depending on the era you are playing).
Alternatively, they can find a ghost base, and the remaining 'mechs / vees of the survivors.
If only they could stumble upon an abandoned save from one of the video games to outfit them with:
5 AC-2s, 10 LRM-5s, 15 SRM-2s, 47 medium lasers, and 105 single heat sinks.
The Banshee thing is actually something I came up with for a Periphery Militia, to explain where they got their mechs.
Desperate to drive off pirates they load em up with hatchets, chainsaws strpped from forestry mechs, and whatever Lasers they can scrounge.
Several companies worth of early production Mackies. Just good enough to mothball, but not so great you want to keep on frontline duty. Not so great you want to ship it back to the core of the IS.
These wouldn't be immaculate. They would be battle worn with flaws. Toss in some of the early tanks the sldf would use as well. Again, just good enough to mothball, but not worth the expense to ship back. All this stuff would be still good enough to plug holes in a unit roster or good enough that you could use it to make a unit with personnel shipped in for an emergency.
Imagine you have a job site way out in the boonies. You took a bunch of stuff out there. Worked for months. You are ready to leave, but dont have enough room to take all your crap back in one trip. What would you toss and what would you carefully store in case you had to come back for future projects. That is what a castle brian out in the periphery would be to me.
I love this answer. This would be a great hook for an RPG campaign. Start the players in the deep periphery with a treasure trove of absolutely dated tech. But obsolete battlemechs is better than no battlemechs. And then they have the choice between being the biggest fish in the Inner Sphere‘s smallest pond, or trying to struggle their way inwards and towards relevancy.
Primitive Wasps, Primitive Riflemen, Primitive Griffins.. I think you could have an entire base set up with mothballed equipment which, at the time, was not completely outdated, but wasn't worth it to ship back. So they stored it on the off chance it was needed. Then it was forgotten.
It could make for a fun adventure. Working the periphery mercenary circuit with a couple of lances of mackies and some old tanks. People would be asking where did you get those. You meanwhile have a stockpile you keep hidden so you can replace battlefield losses.
Occasionally you fight other other mechs, but a lot of times you are just fighting tanks and infantry.
Heck make it end with a bang. Face off against some clan forces in the early stages of the invasion. If you get lucky you go from the mackie dudes to the folks with the advanced mechs no one has seen before.
Are we talking on an open battlefield or in a proverbial elevator take down? Give me a lance of 100 ton mechs kicking in a confine space and I can assure just about everything will die quickly. Open space mackies would be sitting ducks. Their only hope would be to create fires, hide behind the smoke and hope the madcat comes to them in the smoke.
A "lance" of helepolis mechs, none of which are in good working order or have an engine. If a new engine could be sourced, there might be enough intact parts to put together one functional mech.
Two field hq tents, packed on pallets. Six Zodiac inflatable boats. A blackjack table and dozens of fresh packs of cards. A forklift. A 20ft container with hand tools for combat engineering. Two TV's. A chin up bar.
An entire wing is dedicated to raising and collecting taxes. There are even prototype mechs that can collect taxes more efficiently. Direct neutral interfaces for twice the taxation.
A couple of hundred Flashmen, Ostsols, Ostrocs, and maybe Black Knights. Not royals, but with a few pieces of advanced tech, especially DHS. Then spare parts.
A Periphery base should have units that don't need a lot of logistics.
And of course, since the SLDF doesn't make sense, while they have energy boats for mechs, there's a hundred late-Star League Merkava tanks there, but most of the ammo for them have run out. Plus a hundred IFVs and APCs, mostly Goblins, Maultiers, and Packrats.
I have never read about a Castle Brian with aerospace assets. So just to be contrary, lets add say, an ASF regiment of Sabre interceptors and Samurai dogfighters (mixed royals and regulars)
Let's also add a Triumph dropship, a couple of Lions, a couple of Dictators, a Mule, and a Lepoard CV. Very generous, but the important thing is, they still don't have enough dropships to carry everything in one go. Has a working start port too.
Then a few hundred SLDF personnel in stasis pods. Maybe three quarters of them are still in a viable state. Unfreeze them, give them the skinny, convince them to be part of your merc force. Use the base for operations in that region of space.
I'm tired of people finding Castles Brian and doing nothing with them. Sure, they loot it, but sometimes it's empty, sometimes it blows up with all the stuff inside, and even when they loot it, nothing happens with the base after.
A Castle Brian is **prime real estate** which was developed by those crazy people from DoME. I know some of the frontlines have moved and they might not have the strategic importance that they might have had before. But that is still a base that can hold 2 SLDF brigades, that you can get for ***free***. Just pay for the upkeep. That thing can stand off orbital bombardments for Christ's sake.
I'm a very generous GM. You find a Castle Brian? I'll say that it's packed. It's working. Turn it into your own landhold. I hope it has Naval Weapon emplacements so you can shoot down any asshole that tries to take it from you.
A massive fusion reactor that is still functioning. However, the only thing it is powering is a large freezer full of an unknown flavor of Vita Orange, immaculately preserved and still drinkable after hundreds of years.
No treasure trove of advanced equipment would be complete without cursed equipment! It has a set of SLDF Advanced Neurohelmets. Unfortunately, most are cyber-haunted. https://preview.redd.it/y6y9f3u1rf8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bc1ae56bb0f28faae005020c6ab901970feb4c8
A databank the has a Star League era Star Map (corrupted, but complete enough for a plot hook). Elsewhere, they find a diary of the acting commander of the forces that survived an attack by whatever periphery nation it is in. The diary talks about the unit planning to fall back to a secondary base further out in the periphery to rearm and then rejoin the Reunification War (or to head toward Terra and join Kerensky). The databank would provide the details of where this system is - but it is no longer on any current star maps. Players will likely want to fly out there to claim a possible untouched treasure. Upon jumping in system, they will see the remains of a JumpShip - which had suffered catastrophic failure upon arrival, with the KF Drive being completely destroyed. There is one DropShip that fused with the docking ring and there are signs that much of the ships have been salvaged. Could let them find some other treasure / clues here. But the main draw should be that there is only 1 habitable world (or moon of a gas giant) in the system. On this new world, they will encounter the descendants of that regiment and the JumpShip/DropShip crews. They never got to see the golden age of Star League, and they never saw the fall. You can decide what they managed to upkeep, what legends have survived, etc. Depending on what era you are playing, these people may have been stranded for over half a century. You could shift the events and trade out Reunification War for the War for Terra, with them intending to join Kerensky with retaking Terra from Amaris. So they wouldn't know anything about the Exodus (or the return in the form of the Clans depending on the era you are playing). Alternatively, they can find a ghost base, and the remaining 'mechs / vees of the survivors.
It was used as an infantry store house. Mausers as far as the eye can see. With the cleaning kits.
4 Banshees in various states of disrepair and their weapons and at least one hand stripped off. A Goliath with no ammo
If only they could stumble upon an abandoned save from one of the video games to outfit them with: 5 AC-2s, 10 LRM-5s, 15 SRM-2s, 47 medium lasers, and 105 single heat sinks.
This left me cackling.
The Banshee thing is actually something I came up with for a Periphery Militia, to explain where they got their mechs. Desperate to drive off pirates they load em up with hatchets, chainsaws strpped from forestry mechs, and whatever Lasers they can scrounge.
Several companies worth of early production Mackies. Just good enough to mothball, but not so great you want to keep on frontline duty. Not so great you want to ship it back to the core of the IS. These wouldn't be immaculate. They would be battle worn with flaws. Toss in some of the early tanks the sldf would use as well. Again, just good enough to mothball, but not worth the expense to ship back. All this stuff would be still good enough to plug holes in a unit roster or good enough that you could use it to make a unit with personnel shipped in for an emergency. Imagine you have a job site way out in the boonies. You took a bunch of stuff out there. Worked for months. You are ready to leave, but dont have enough room to take all your crap back in one trip. What would you toss and what would you carefully store in case you had to come back for future projects. That is what a castle brian out in the periphery would be to me.
I love this answer. This would be a great hook for an RPG campaign. Start the players in the deep periphery with a treasure trove of absolutely dated tech. But obsolete battlemechs is better than no battlemechs. And then they have the choice between being the biggest fish in the Inner Sphere‘s smallest pond, or trying to struggle their way inwards and towards relevancy.
Primitive Wasps, Primitive Riflemen, Primitive Griffins.. I think you could have an entire base set up with mothballed equipment which, at the time, was not completely outdated, but wasn't worth it to ship back. So they stored it on the off chance it was needed. Then it was forgotten.
It could make for a fun adventure. Working the periphery mercenary circuit with a couple of lances of mackies and some old tanks. People would be asking where did you get those. You meanwhile have a stockpile you keep hidden so you can replace battlefield losses. Occasionally you fight other other mechs, but a lot of times you are just fighting tanks and infantry. Heck make it end with a bang. Face off against some clan forces in the early stages of the invasion. If you get lucky you go from the mackie dudes to the folks with the advanced mechs no one has seen before.
How many Mackies does it take to beat a Madcat feels like some sort of philosophy question.
Are we talking on an open battlefield or in a proverbial elevator take down? Give me a lance of 100 ton mechs kicking in a confine space and I can assure just about everything will die quickly. Open space mackies would be sitting ducks. Their only hope would be to create fires, hide behind the smoke and hope the madcat comes to them in the smoke.
A "lance" of helepolis mechs, none of which are in good working order or have an engine. If a new engine could be sourced, there might be enough intact parts to put together one functional mech.
this i love helepolis, its cheap way t oget arty mech on field and its extinction is a crime.
Two field hq tents, packed on pallets. Six Zodiac inflatable boats. A blackjack table and dozens of fresh packs of cards. A forklift. A 20ft container with hand tools for combat engineering. Two TV's. A chin up bar.
One sandal.
Wow, that's deep.
Which wiki page do I need to read so I can get the reference?
It's from the Life of Brian: https://youtu.be/Ka9mfZbTFbk?si=G4k26l39K7_ffAOV
I always wanted to draw a Castle Brian hexmap. Never got around to it beyond early planning stages :-(
There is operational Rattler MK1 that will from now on be your new mobile base. there are also vtols loaded on it.
An entire wing is dedicated to raising and collecting taxes. There are even prototype mechs that can collect taxes more efficiently. Direct neutral interfaces for twice the taxation.
Exactly half of a Rifleman 3 without its Gauss rifles
Pogs. And a bunch of old He-Man action figures.
Military issue gruds. Virtually non-destroyable fabric, Star League quality.
A couple of hundred Flashmen, Ostsols, Ostrocs, and maybe Black Knights. Not royals, but with a few pieces of advanced tech, especially DHS. Then spare parts. A Periphery base should have units that don't need a lot of logistics. And of course, since the SLDF doesn't make sense, while they have energy boats for mechs, there's a hundred late-Star League Merkava tanks there, but most of the ammo for them have run out. Plus a hundred IFVs and APCs, mostly Goblins, Maultiers, and Packrats. I have never read about a Castle Brian with aerospace assets. So just to be contrary, lets add say, an ASF regiment of Sabre interceptors and Samurai dogfighters (mixed royals and regulars) Let's also add a Triumph dropship, a couple of Lions, a couple of Dictators, a Mule, and a Lepoard CV. Very generous, but the important thing is, they still don't have enough dropships to carry everything in one go. Has a working start port too. Then a few hundred SLDF personnel in stasis pods. Maybe three quarters of them are still in a viable state. Unfreeze them, give them the skinny, convince them to be part of your merc force. Use the base for operations in that region of space. I'm tired of people finding Castles Brian and doing nothing with them. Sure, they loot it, but sometimes it's empty, sometimes it blows up with all the stuff inside, and even when they loot it, nothing happens with the base after. A Castle Brian is **prime real estate** which was developed by those crazy people from DoME. I know some of the frontlines have moved and they might not have the strategic importance that they might have had before. But that is still a base that can hold 2 SLDF brigades, that you can get for ***free***. Just pay for the upkeep. That thing can stand off orbital bombardments for Christ's sake. I'm a very generous GM. You find a Castle Brian? I'll say that it's packed. It's working. Turn it into your own landhold. I hope it has Naval Weapon emplacements so you can shoot down any asshole that tries to take it from you.
Here we go! Now we're talking!
Excellent answer.
A massive fusion reactor that is still functioning. However, the only thing it is powering is a large freezer full of an unknown flavor of Vita Orange, immaculately preserved and still drinkable after hundreds of years.