The Disorder wrote:Also, in operations around the perimeter of the engagement (instead of right in the middle of the killzone), even an under-equipped force might do some damage. Committing where the enemy is weaker instead of stronger is usually a good idea.
Yeah. Considering the doctrine I have in mind is largely similar to a jury-rigged version of a small, well-trained, professional, and highly-mobile force, they'd certainly excel around the fringes of an enemy force. Which is actually why I wanted them to be for the Disorder, at least to begin with- my canon's tech would be able to make at least a dent in Unthidor's military in an open brawl. I'd imagine they'd require some degree of salvaging and equipping themselves with more advanced gear before they could hope to do anything but be vaporized in an engagement with the Disorder.
My mercs are considerably less well-equipped than Qhevak's, to say the least.
It is also very narratively plausible that hired mercs could join the Disorder's side. A proper nation might have some moral concerns about fighting alongside alien monsters that incite mass extinctions, on the basis that mass extinction is good, natural, noble, and worth accelerating. But mercenaries do not have to include themselves in the moral debate. If there is an appropriately large cube of gold in it for them, being bad guys is just good for business.
Especially these mercenaries; their leader actually prides herself on being unscrupulous in who she sells her services to. It's one of her main selling points in her own little pocket of space.
Furthermore, as mercenaries, it is possible that they may end up swapping sides halfway through the war, if the opposite side offers them more money!
Not to mention mercenaries are still people, at the end of the day; fighting alongside a genocidal entropy-cult might be enough to make one a bit more willing to swap loyalties when offered a better bargain.
Unthidor wrote:even some possible intrigue. such as one House secretly hiring the mercs (after observing them in combat) to attack a base that's guarded my the new Mechs......without telling the mercs or the base troops what's going on in a covert way to test them in combat....hehehe
My guys are literally just the tanks in a game of Battletech in this scenario, and I'm absolutely fine with that.