The reader has likely heard the phrase, war is the continuation of politics.
This author will not go into the details, that is for the required reading of the readers as those who are in a position to understand this will also be those who have read the prerequisite reading material.
This article's purpose is to educate those of you who will be the leaders of the next generation of Lyran Commonwealth soldiery.
The purpose of an army is to, as Clausewitz has stated, to carry out the will of the people represented in the government. War is, in other words, a continuation of politics.
This is purposefully missing the third part of Clausewitz's trinity, the uncertainty and chaos of reality.
It is in understanding these different aspects of Clausewitz that we fully understand what our purpose is as officers of the Lyran Commonwealth.
Specifically, those of you in staff college who are soon to be staff officers and then flag officers.
It is upon you to learn how to wage true war, absolute war in the words of Clausewitz.
Those of you who learned the Art of War from Sun Tzu may leave now and join your inbred forefathers as they fucked each other into oblivious along with the Star Losers and before that the Western All Losers.
Yes.
Unprofessional but the truth must be said.
Using Sun Tzu the clan leader in a time thousands of years before nationstates, where the primary human social group was the clan as a teacher in the age of nation states is the height of folly.
Sun Tzu was and his adherents today are, focused on the singular task of winning with the least number of casualties possible with the least possible application of force. Better to not fight a battle and maintain your numbers than to fight one, lose your men and then be engaged by the many enemies of your clan that surrounded you.
The entire goal of Sun Tzu was not to win the war, but to win the battle and maintain his forces in a time of infinite and never ending war.
This is not the time of Sun Tzu.
This is the time of Clausewitz.
When the first conscript was pulled forth from his job at the cobblers, clothed, armed, and then trained, this was when Sun Tzu fell out of relevance.
For the nation state is not a clan, the nation state exists for the will of the people and if the people desire war, the war will be prosecuted until there is nothing but total victory.
One does not fight a single battle in a war, one fights as many battles as needed to bleed the enemy until the political will of one nation is imposed upon the other.
The will of the defeated nation must bend and the terms must be imposed in their totality.
This is where Sun Tzu falls short, this is where the Star Losers fell short, this is where Kerensky fell short.
They won the battles in the Periphery, they won the battles against Amaris.
Did they win the war?
Given the state of the Inner Sphere, the answer is that they did not.
They did not understand that victory is the imposition of political will upon the defeated and to ensure that their will is enforced.
For the second part of the trinity must be included.
The military is defeated yes, but are the people, has the political will been subdued or merely the military?
Is there a strategy to secure this victory? To ensure that victory will last longer than a mere handful of years?
No?
Then make one before you send the sons and daughters of the Commonwealth to war. It is your duty as officers of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces to read Clausewitz and to throw the rubbish Sun Tzu may have taught you into the trash where it belongs, along with the failure that we call the Star League.
We are in the business of winning wars, not fighting endless battles.
Pamphlet written by Hauptmann-General Aurelius von Randt and widely distributed throughout the Tharkad Military Province. The officers of the Tharkad Military Province region would be trained to a very high standard during Randt's time.
+Break+
General Aurelius Von Randt glared.
"What the hell was that." He said to his men, making sure his voice was low enough that Baron Atreus couldn't hear him.
"Those are Utes sir. Local specialty vehicle, the factory finished a year ago." His Aide de Camp said, offering herself up as a sacrifice.
He snorted.
"The factory finished a year ago and they have enough to field a regiment of them?" His voice had less heat in it now, not when he had a target in his sights.
"Sir. The developer has been expanding the factory. It's size has tripled since it first started production and a new line of vehicles is about to enter the market."
Aurelius took in a breath.
"Well then, let's meet this man. I want to see whoever has caused such changes in my theatre of war." He said to the air, knowing his staff would organise the meeting.
He continued to watch as his 1 Battlemech Battalion was encircled by the so called Utes, their weapons set to training blazing away as they drove in literal circles around the isolated lances of Battlemechs.
Those that were more intelligent than the others were circled up, their backs to each other as weapons blazed away. Every single shot took out a Ute, evidenced by their peeling away from the circle and joining the circle of shame off in the distance.
Those losses were in no way acceptable however, the trade was nowhere near even as the last of his Battlemechs was ground down and depowered.
His glare returned.
Some upjumped civilian vehicles had just humiliated his personal guard.
Aurelius wasn't sure if he should have some harsh words with the manufacturer or with Baron that had just pulled a fast one on him.
He would make a decision after meeting this manufacturer.
+Break+
Woah.
A General.
"This is Leutnant-General Aurelius Von Randt." Christine whispered in my ear.
Woah.
A Leutnant General was basically a general but higher right?
I had forgotten a lot of the stuff I had learned in the militia, but I definitely remembered this one. A Leutnant General was basically the one that was second to a full General.
Right?
Or maybe that was just the Americans that did that, what with their Major Generals being lower ranked than their Lieutenant Generals… or did I get that the wrong way around?
Man the military could be confusing.
Good thing I was basically interested in the logistics stuff and not the confusing stuff like military ranks.
"Okay. What am I meant to be doing with him exactly?" I ask out of the corner of my mouth.
If she was whispering then that meant that I needed to whisper as well right?
Be covert and stuff?
"Just be yourself. He's here to inspect the factory I think." She said.
Okay then, that was easy enough.
I'm a nice enough guy right?
Yeah.
I was a nice guy, didn't cause problems for people, didn't start fights, just a good guy.
That's me.
The general was approaching me with his men and I couldn't help but think that he was pretty impressive. Grey uniform with red edging on his pants and shirt. Black pads on his elbows and knees. An armoured vest on top of his shirt. A red patch with something pointy on either side of the collar. A white braid over his shoulder. A sash and… woah.
That was a complicated uniform. Like, he had a lot going on which was making my eyes waver a bit. They were having trouble focusing on the… well, everything that he had going on.
That was complicated as hell.
I thought it was just a militia thing to over complicate everything, but it seemed like even the regular army people did that too?
Wow.
"Mister Vu." He said to me.
Mmmm, oh right, he was talking to me.
"Morning! That's me!" I said back to him with a smile.
He looked at me with a face that was putting down something that I wasn't picking up.
Not that I didn't want to, I just didn't know how.
"Yes. I can see that… I would like to talk to you about your vehicles Mister Vu." He said.
I grin widely
"Excellent! Please, follow me, I'll walk you through the factory! Any concerns you have will be over sharpish!" I called out, beckoning for him to follow.
+Break+
Cheerfully oblivious that was the phrase that he would use to describe one Huu Vu.
Cheerfully oblivious.
A genius, no doubt, in the process of industrialisation. What with his near preternatural skills in the art of getting a factory into production and then the expansion of it to produce identical quality machines without a loss in quality.
Or the fact that he had designed these himself.
Yet he was completely open and just guiding him through the factory, completely ignoring the glare that he had been wearing when they had first met. Or the disinterest he had shown in the first few minutes of the tour.
The man was completely blind to human interactions.
An industrialising genius to be nurtured rather than someone he had to bring the fist of an angry god down upon for hiding this facility and its produce away.
No, that angry fist would be descending upon the baron that had hidden this from him. All so he could one-up him. Denying the Commonwealth an advantage of serious proportions for the same of mere pride?
He glared again.
Words would be had.
In any case, the way that the young industrialist was moving about, greeting his staff, proudly demonstrating the machinery in front of him, one that was producing 216 vehicles every 2 months according to the man himself, well, that was impressive.
He knew what he was doing.
Then came the trucks.
The full 20 ton trucks.
A flatbed that you could mount anything on, up to and no doubt including a Battlemech he was sure.
It no doubt couldn't carry one on its own, but two of them slaved together?
Or one could mount any number of different weapons in it, up to and including an LRM 20, even if it would be left with a measly 1 ton of armour if they did that.
It was, in simple terms, a highly cheap vehicle that could be deployed for a cost of 365,400 Kroner. 406,000 C-Bills if they exported it.
A quarter of the price of a Quikcell variant.
Three of them would equal the firepower of a Quickcell version with a much higher speed.
The default price was 230,000 Kroner.
He could, really, add anything he wanted to this.
The problem of course was that the LCAF generally did not engage in the act of modifying their vehicles themselves. What was he? Some common Colonel? He had to follow regulations!
They were purchased as is, any later modifications being the result of a lack of spare parts to match the default chassis.
The question then being what he was going to do to handle this situation as it stood.
The man was far too important to allow to do whatever he wanted without some kind of tithe extracted from him.
He was, after all, an industrialist of considerable capability.
He was drawing from the Commonwealth to gain himself considerable wealth and would need to pay that back.
Such was the circle of life.
Take from the state and pay back to the state.
Hmmmm, the simplest answer then was to ennoble the man and be one with it.
"Mister Vu, subject to review by the Archon, I am appointing you as Graf of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces. The particulars will be explained to you by my aide, but suffice it to say, your contributions to the realm have been noticed and you are being rewarded accordingly." Aurelius said, interrupting the now Graf in the middle of a spiel.
"Pardon?"
"You are being ennobled Mister Vu."
"Why?"
Aurelius felt satisfaction in the confirmation of his analysis of the man.
An oblivious maniac whose sole purpose was to industrialise, everything outside of that scope would blindside him.
It would make him easy to direct, but incredibly difficult to divert.
Something to mention to whoever it was that he would assign to be the young Graf's secretary.
Next on the list of things to do was to instruct the LCAF's newest Graf to direct his attention to the design of specific machines that would be good for the LCAF to have more of.
Specifically, in his opinion, the need for more light Battlemechs and trooper Battlemechs that could be used to bulk up the militias of the Tharkad region.
It would give his men more Battlemechs to work with, but, more importantly, since they were Medium and Lights, the chances that some; ambitious military officers with ties to the military industrial concerns of the Commonwealth, would divert these machines to their own efforts elsewhere was low.
It pained him that he would need to use Lights and Mediums, but it was better to have any Battlemechs than no Battlemechs.
+Break+
Hah.
I was a noble now.
Like.
Wow.
Um.
That was not expected.
At all.
It wasn't like I did anything special, it was all the system. Ah, what will hapen when they figure that out and, like, shoot me for lying or something.
Aaaaaah.
What do I do now?
Aaaaaah.
Ah
Oh well.
It's done and it's not like I can change anything now.
I'm a noble and I need to, like conform to their system and stuff.
Which basically, from my understanding, meant that I would be paying more in the way of Federal taxes.
Like, not just taxes to Tetersen's government but to the Commonwealth directly.
But, as a noble, I could pay it with other things in-lieu.
Like, the Battlemechs that this… Duke… wanted me to pay. I couldn't remember his name, started with an A, sounded really awesome, but still couldn't remember it.
Andrews?
Anderson?
Arcturus?
Ah, one of them.
Anyway, he wanted Battlemechs.
Gave me instruction to pick 1 of 2 designs to build first, and in exchange I would pay my tax (no wait, tithe) to the Commonwealth by giving them 1st refusal rights to 90% my production of Battlemechs.
Which sounded like they basically wanted me to build mechs for the LCAF.
Which, wasn't a problem really.
Actually, the major problem here was that I would't be able to get anything out of it, I mean, I still couldn't create or deploy troops, let alone do anything with research.
Ah, annoying.
-\ Ping \-
Pardon?
Ah?
My mind goes blank for a moment, not something that was out of the norm but this time, well, I was getting what could only be called a flood of information. That wasn't normal.
Ah, I was a Graf now.
I was a noble and could deploy my own troops, create my own troops, build trade relations… Um… okay.
Grumbling rescinded.
Please! Give me more responsibilities!
Especially because, down there below, under Trade Relations I had one with the LCAF! 10% increased RP per turn!
Ha!
That's great, give me more responsibility!
10% extra RP per faction was an amazing deal.
That would bring my extras up to 40%.
Wait a moment.
No, that wasn't it.
It's 10%.
Why?
Ah?
Technology Effects Table is now in play?
The hell does that mean?
Indytech (Industrial Tech) is at level 3 which is a .8 multiplier on my overall RP?
I have a 3 in Battletech, Comtech, and a 1 in Transportech?
Can build D-Rated Units, No use, and can build Primitive Jumpships?
What the hell?
Wait a moment, what the hell is this line?
System updated from 2016 version to 2021 version.
Optional Rules Implemented.
To represent the limited output of military factories, layers may impose a limit on new construction of 1 RP per minor factory, 2 RP per major factory, and 4 RP per Hyper factory per turn. These RP may be accumulated.
This is like a video game advancing in its story and then suddenly I'm looking at harder mechanics that retroactively nerf the fuck out of everything I was doing.
Aaaaaaah!
Dammit bad game develpers, you don't do that!
+Break+
A poster advertising the 20 Ton Truck in a mercenary magazine on Tetersen. Clenched in the fist before his eyes, Renya glanced upward. His eyes couldn't help but look down at the advertisement in front of him.
Title: The 20 Ton Truck so ubiquitous it won't even need a name!
Image: A 20 Ton Truck in its basic configuration.
Subheading: For 230,000 Kroner, enjoy a fusion powered vehicle with 5.5 tons of armour and 7 tons of cargo space! There won't be anywhere that you can't get to, and if you can't get there, you don't want to be there anyway!
Subtext: Military grade engine, power points are located throughout the bed. Weapons sold separately, please contact seller directly.
"And?"
"We need this. Like, now. Just throw autocannon and missile onto it and you've got a mobile turret. Seriously. We could do a lot of damage with something like this and it's only 230,000 kroner. Imagine that!"
Prime Minister Renya hummed.
"Tetersen though."
"Right, it's far, but if you want cheap, well, you need to travel a bit right?"
"Right… Leave this here and we'll see about it hmmm?"
+Break+
Error
2021 Rules Update Next Turn
Total RP Turn 8 2991 + 1 Year 0 Months
36 RP 12×3 Ute Factory
24 RP 12×2 20 Ton Utility Truck Factory
Lyran Bonus = 1 + 0.3
Total RP = 60×1.3 = 78