(adapted from FASA sourcebook 1629 - The Periphery)
Cordial relations with its nearest neighbors has allowed the Outworlds Alliance to resume trading for much-needed resources. The Taurian Concordat, always friendly toward the Alliance, has begun negotiations to trade services - manual laborers from the Alliance to help with colonization efforts in exchange for Concordat military advisors and instructors to help improve the effectiveness of the Alliance ground forces.
Unable to offer much in the way of economic aid at present, the Magistracy of Canopus nonetheless has pledged to provide such support as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Magestrix gladly schedules the Canopian pleasure circuses for regular stops in the Alliance, events which always boost the local economy and raise the citizen's spirits.
Of the other nearby Periphery worlds, only the tiny Mica Majority possesses what can kindly be called an organized government, and Alliance merchants regularly stop at this three-world realm to trade for the precious metals mined on the asteroids orbiting all three planets.
The nearby world of Antallos, more commonly known as Port Krin, poses a major problem for the Outworlds Alliance. President Avellar would like nothing more than to establish diplomatic relations with this pirate haven, for doing so would eliminate his realm's most constant and damaging enemy. Needless to say, no single person or band of pirates has been able to gain the upper hand on this brutal, corrupt world, and so Port Krin continues to serve as a convenient base from which bandits conduct their devastating raids against the planets of the Outworlds Alliance. Though the Alliance Military Corps is willing to mount an attack against Antallos, the probable consequences of their failure to subdue the entire planet are too terrible to risk.
The populations of Dneiper, Milligan's World, and Prinis Prime, the three Alliance worlds closest to Antallos, have gradually abandoned their holdings in the face of repeated bandit raids. The people who stubbornly refuse to give up their homes and lands are nearly self-sufficient and long ago ceased to feel any loyalty to the Alliance government.
Pirate attacks continue to represent the greatest source of trouble, both political and economic, that the Outworlds Alliance faces, and at the moment they must try to conquer that particular challenge alone.
OA military is named Alliance Military Corps (AMC). It is a small but well-armed and well-equipped citizen militia. Unlike other States, OA places emphasis on AeroSpace Fighters as primary offensive and defensive arm and BattleMechs are disdained as a symbol of Inner Sphere destructiveness and a tool of petty tyrants. The AMC maintains BattleMechs but their mechwarriors don't have the high status nor the high pays of other armies. The bulky of the land forces are equipped with conventional vehicles and infantry.
The ground defense arm of AMC is divided in two different forces: the Planetary Militia and the Mechanized Corps.
The Planetary Militia is home defense citizen militia with a strength of about 3 Regiments plus small garrisons dispersed along the different OA worlds. Unable to prevent a major invasion, this forces can only deal with minor treats like raiders or pirates and buy time in case of a major attack until reinforcements arrive.
The Alliance Defenders Limited is the only BattleMech manufacturer, producing small number of WSP-1A Wasps, LCT-1V Locusts and STG-3R Stingers (about 12 per year in total) and spare parts for other BattleMech models.
Lushann Industrials Limited is small producer of weapons and ammunition able to manufacture lasers and flamers.
The United Outworlders Corporation (UOC) has the responsibility to produce AeroSpace fighters and combat vehicles and with limited support of the Dacronis Combine. The LTN-G15 Lightning and SYD-21 Seydlitz Aerospace fighters, VTOLs like the Wildcat and the Hellcat, autocannons and machine guns are produced in Ramora. Land vehicles like the Hunter, Vedette and Chieftain are produced in Mitchella. It also produces LRMs and SRMs.
In Sevon, two companies are mainly dedicated to the civilian sector but also support the military. The Alliance Mining and Geology produces armor for Aerospace fighter and combat vehicles. The Alliance Motors Limited produces heavy combustion engines (ICEs) for combat vehicles and also produces limited numbers of IndustrialMechs that utilize the same engines.
Finally but not less important, Praxton Fusion Products Limited is a legacy manufacturing facility from Star League times located on the remote world of Praxton, rich in raw materials and producing small numbers of Nissan Fusion Engines rated 120, 160, 175, 180 and 200.
NEW COMBAT VEHICLES
The lack of BattleMech and the dependency of imported conventional combat vehicles created an additional interest for the local development of vehicles. The Hunter was an expensive vehicle using scare Fusion Engines and the Vedette was not appreciated in terms of combat performance, creating the need a few models that could provide more for a lower cost.
During the Third Succession War, UOC was required to develop a Heavy Tracked Tank that could equip both The Alliance Borderers and the Planetary Militia. Later, a infantry carrier variant of the Galleon Light Tank was also developed and produced in Mitchella.
An even more interesting development came with a short series of quite innovative VTOLs produced in Ramora and benefiting from the sinergies from the AeroSpace Fighters production there. Based on civilian designs but heavily armed, these VTOLs became an important asset in first-line armor battalions like no other place.
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