Part 39: Successor State Analysis: 3032
3032This is how things stand in the ‘official unofficial Let’s Play timeline’.
Rules: 1st place is worth 5 points, 5th place is worth 1. Wasted potential subtracts points from the end result.
Military
1) Draconis Combine – I have to give the combine some credit here. They have a lot of ‘Mech regiments to throw around (even if they can’t replace them quickly), and the Sun Zhang academy (arguably the best pure-military academy in the inner sphere) graduates over 400 ‘Mechwarriors every year. Downside? The bulk of their forces are light ‘Mechs, and their pilots are easy to work into a suicidal frenzy. They do have a certain ‘weight of experience’ to draw on, however, as the only nation at war more frequently than the Draconis Combine is the Federated Suns. The DCMS is routinely crippled by rigid thinking, suicidal tactics, and the poor morale of the Rasalhague regiments.
2) Federated Suns – Has experience on its side. The Federated Suns has pretty much never been at peace, they’re either being invaded or invading someone (or retaking invaded worlds) throughout the entirety of their history. House Davion is not content to leave a Federated Suns world in enemy hands, and they boast some of the most elite ‘Mech forces in the Inner Sphere. The Federated Suns is most crippled by their high attrition rates and by march lords who regularly refuse to send their troops to assist their neighbors.
3) Capellan Confederation – Wait, what? The Capellan Confederation is an odd duck, but I personally put them on par with or slightly ahead of the Lyran Commonwealth in terms of military strength. They have plenty of industrial capacity, they’re usually at peace long enough to amass a fair military force, and they field several elite ‘Mech units. Additionally, even though they don’t field Regimental Combat Teams, when fighting defensively they also have access to a huge number of conventional infantry on most of their planets. The Capellan Confederation is most crippled by morale problems. Troops that know they’re expendable don’t tend to fight well.
4) Lyran Commonwealth – Are a military powerhouse, to be sure. They can field more assault-weight designs than any other house, and have a strong economy. Most of their economy, however, is not devoted to the military; and (at least militarily) the Lyran Commonwealth tends to be far too rigid. They’re most crippled by their military nepotism—it’s not how good you are, it’s how well connected your family is.
5) Free Worlds League – Hoo boy, I’ma take flak for putting them last. The Free Worlds League has a massive industrial base, nearly every region has a good ‘Mechwarrior academy, and they produce a good mix of units. So why do they suck? Well, they suffer from the same ‘March Lords’ problem the Federated Suns does, but lack the capable leadership to counteract it. Most of their forces will sit around idle, defending worlds that aren’t being threatened while individual provinces try to fight off invading forces. The Free Worlds League is most crippled by its own inability to get along with itself. “No You!” indeed.
Economy
1) Lyran Commonwealth – The Lyran Commonwealth has the strongest, most efficient economy in the Inner Sphere. I really don’t have much to say about it.
2) Free Worlds League – Second-best, they probably produce more, but their economy is less robust due to the constant strife, secession attempts, and civil war that plagues them.
3) Federated Suns – Wait, what? The Federated Suns economy isn’t especially robust, but it’s good at making do with what it has. Essentially, while the economy itself is weak, it’s extremely efficient; and the people of the Federated Suns are used to (and not especially bothered by) a sudden lack of a luxury item, since they typically expect that luxury product will turn up again soon enough.
4) Capellan Confederation – The Capellans should have a really strong economy, but don’t because the bulk of their transportation is taken up by rich nobles buying and selling things to each other. As such, the people of the Capellan Confederation tend to quietly suffer their lack of toilet paper (because most of their planets produce just enough food that they’re not starving ALL the time) while the nobles bitch about having to bend over backwards to kiss the Celestial Throne’s ass while snorting lines of space-coke.
5) Draconis Combine – Hooooo-boy. It’s rare that anyone in the Draconis Combine should starve to death, despite their high population… but that’s about all I can say for their economy. Their biggest money-maker is organized crime and their people work 14-16 hours a day (because if they didn’t, they’d enter the ranks of the ‘unproductives’ and be forced to join the Yakuza just to survive).
Industrial Potential
1) Free Worlds League – More factories, ‘Mech plants, and even Jumpship yards than anyone else in the inner sphere. I doubt anyone could out-produce the Free Worlds League. Unfortunately, they’re currently losing their production capabilities to the
2) Capellan Confederation – What do you get when you take a proud, industrious people, add-in a paranoid government, and give them a bunch of factories? Well, you get a lot of stuff. The Capellan Confederation mostly suffers an inability to efficiently shuffle raw materials around; which typically results in times of manic work followed by long stretches of mass-unemployment.
3) Lyran Commonwealth - Due to their strong economy, the Lyrans are the most stable house, industrially. There’s very little threat that the flow of raw materials to their factories will even slow (much less stop entirely), so even though they’re in third place, the first three places here are actually extremely close.
4) Draconis Combine - A distant forth, I thought about tying the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns in 5th, but I think the Draconis Combine slightly edges out the Suns. The people of the combine are hard-working and industrious, but don’t necessarily accomplish more work than citizens of other successor states. They have several worlds with the potential to quickly become massive ‘Mech producers if they’d only devote a little more time to moving non-battlemech resources around.
5) Federated Suns - Last place, but they’re neck-in-neck with the Draconis Combine. The Federated Suns has quite a few factories, but most of them are nearly destroyed or barely functional. Additionally, their poor economy prevents them from taking any factories offline for study. They need every factory they have to cover the steady attrition of ‘Mechs and Vehicles.
Innovation
1) Capellan Confederation - They’re not only producing new units, but experimenting with Lostech. The Raven is a technological marvel, even if its systems are essentially useless in the short term. The Capellans tend to have a lot of time to sit around and think while they wait for work to do.
2) Federated Suns - Where the Capellans innovate technologically, the Federated Suns innovate militarily. They rarely try the same tactic twice in a row, and have a good understanding of conventional vs. ‘Mech forces. The New Avalon Institute of Science is also the best non-Comstar college in the Inner Sphere.
3) Lyran Commonwealth - Is producing solid new designs, even though they’re usually nothing spectacular (technology-wise).
4) Free Worlds League - Also produces new designed, but they tend to be poorly thought-out and/or have a surprising number of problems.
5) Draconis Combine - Hasn’t produced a new design since the Jenner; hasn’t produced a new technology since the Sony Playstation 3; hasn’t come up with a new military tactic in over 300 years... they’re about due to pull something that surprises the hell out of everyone, though.
Leadership
1) Federated Suns - Militarily, the Federated Suns has the best leadership in the Inner Sphere. Politically, they’ve often been crippled in the past, but their current leadership has earned the support and respect of the public and the March Lords.
2) Capellan Confederation - Wait, what? Really? Yeah. Maximillian Liao is an extremely shrewd political leader; his actions halted (and reversed) the gradual entropy of his realm. Additionally, he’s not afraid to try new ideas. He is, however, afraid of his nobility; and has to spend a lot of time balancing their happiness with making sure they’re absolutely terrified of him.
3) Draconis Combine - The Draconis Combine’s leadership doesn’t just inspire loyalty from its troops, it requires it. Takashi Kurita’s words are as law, but his rapidly improving relationship with his son Theodore could spell many surprises in the future.
4) Lyran Commonwealth - Nepotism is not a good way to run an army, but at least it’s not a terrible way to run a political system.
5) Free Worlds League - The Free Worlds League can’t come to a consensus about anything, although continued steady pressure from the Capellan Confederation in the wake of the burgeoning Marik Civil War has the potential to do something nothing else ever has: unite the Free Worlds League.
Wasted Potential
1) Free Worlds League - Pretty much tosses all of its resources and opportunities straight into the toilet while thirty some-odd regional leaders each fight each other for the right of being the first one to flush.
2) Capellan Confederation - Simply can’t move enough resources around to keep their industry, economy, and military going at full speed.
3) Lyran Commonwealth - Blow most of their military opportunities due to an inability to recognize when they actually have an advantage; but at least Billy Steiner has a promising career as an intelligence analyst!
4) Draconis Combine - They use most of what they have, but overworking their citizens actually harms production due to low morale.
5) Federated Suns - Use everything they can while they have it, because there’s no telling when they might not ‘have it’ anymore. They’re the least wasteful, but they also have the less to work with than everyone else.
Totals
Federated Suns – (17-1) 16 points
Capellan Confederation – (18-4) 14 points
Lyran Commonwealth (15-3) 12 points
Draconis Combine – (12-2) 10 points
Free Worlds League – (13-5) 8 points
… Kinda funny how things work out. I’d have put the Lyrans in second and the Capellans in third, personally.