Brainstorming session! Merchant Republic

[glitterboy2098]

in this brainstorming sessions, we will cover the most unknown of the palladium additions to the robotech universe. The merchant Republic. it is an alliance of south american nations in patagonia, and are the 3rd world power in the ASC setting. (the other 2 being the ASC and EBSIS).

since so little is known, and its often ignored, go nuts.

just a few guidelines.

Veritechs are unlikely (although Strike force style VTOL's could be done.)
protoculture powered mecha are gonna be rare. (would the ASC let their advantage slip away?)
the MR's main enemy was the Zentreadi, and to a limited extent the ASC.

[Grand Paladin]

You might want to check out AlexanderDeath's webpage, it has a battloid style mecha that he's attributed to the Merchant Republic for his Robotech campaigns (which I'm in, and it's great that he's started again!).

I think that the link to that site is in his profile, and sig line. It's in the "Battle Technology" section, I believe.

[glitterboy2098]

SIGH.......

thats 2 times now.

ok people, i think something has been missed.


i started the "brainstorming" threads in an attempt to get some thought into the boards again. in the last months, all the boards have had are rules arguments, gripes about perceived flaws in the system/setting/sourcebooks, and pointless spamming.
where has all the imagination gone? the new power armors/robots/OCC's/idea's? what happened to the indepth, logical discussions?

the Brainstorming threads are an excuse to share your idea's and designs.

in this case, you have a completely blank slate to work with. its a robotech thing, so you don't have to worry about rifter publication issues, and with no official material on it other than name and geographic location, so you don't have to worry about controdicting official material. and its RPG only, so no one can argue about how something doesn't fit such and such episode of the show.


if you've got material on your website, great, repost it here. put a link to your homepage at the end if you want, but post the material.

i know Basara has a few good mecha fo this group, and i know you guys can create cool stuff. so either prove me right, or prove me wrong by lack of reponse.

[Colonel Wolfe]

I've always thought of the Merchant republic as a Sort of Black Market group working along the side of the Remenants of the Anti-unification group. They basically Cause problems by Raiding UEG Warehouses and Selling these to Teroist cells Opperating in the Wastes. Mostlikely they deal in non-Credit Currancy, from Gold, silver, Slaves and Stolen protocultue Cells. As Far as them being a Seperate Govenrment in the ASC era it is highly doubtful the UEG would allow a Possibly hostile Millitary power to exist on any huge scale.

If the ACS can Launch Hundreds of Long Range Cruisers against the MAsters, do you think they would feel Threatned by any earthbased Force?

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

My ideas...

Well...first of all...since the design for the Protector is actually a Southern Cross battloid...I would have a new design for the Protector. The basic frame should be the Zentraedi Battlepod....just as the basic design for all the EBSIS mecha should be the Battlepod. New arms and legs should be made and the interior modified to be for a human crewman. With the possibilities of armament variance, a decent force could be fielded. The hardest part would be the fabrication of the reflex engine. Either they need dedicated nuclear technicians or have an ample supply of captured engines.

Oddly enough....it could be that their biggest supplier of Zentraedi mecha could have been the United Earth Government. They were producing new Battlepods at a decent pace (probably 10,000 all told) before the factory shut down to be retooled, sectioned into Space Station Liberty and her sisters and then rebuilt.

As for the government of the Merchant Republic...well...they wouldn't be at odds with the UEG and UEF for long. I can imagine that there would be sections of the planet that would remain loyal to the old Anti-Unification League in opposition to the United Earth Government, but not in any way similar to the US/USSR Cold War. Quite simply, the EBSIS and MR would get mauled by the UEF. The ability to field space cruisers, heavy anti-warship reflex missiles (Cobalt Missiles), support 2 Moon Bases, TS 25 Space Station, Space Station Liberty and Mars Colony means that their resources are deep enough to end anything shy of terrorist ops.

About the only place the MR and EBSIS could operate successfully would be in non-aligned countries that do not request UEG peacekeepers. They would be the suppliers to revolutionaries and rebels. However, centralized construction and such, if it came at the expense of the UEF...well....I can see airburst reflex missiles ending that threat quite easily.

[glitterboy2098]

they are a "world power" because they feild advanced robotechnology (RDF level true, but thats better than most) and because they are orginized better than most. (again, the EBSIS and ASC are better)

look at the political map of the ASC period. its the ASC/RDF, the EBSIS, and the merchant republic. nothing else has the level of sophistication, level of orginization, and sheer size to compare.

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

they are a "world power" because they feild advanced robotechnology (RDF level true, but thats better than most) and because they are orginized better than most. (again, the EBSIS and ASC are better)

While it is true that they are definitely a power....its more like a high 2nd World Power. The only 1st World Power would be the United Earth Government. Even the EBSIS, presumably the seat of the old Anti-Unification League, would be a 2nd World Power.

The UEG's ability to build and launch several hundred cruisers, sponsor colonization efforts (even if we somehow only restrict them to the Solar System, which is unlikely at best), maintain a number of offworld starbases like Moon Base Luna, ALuCE, TS 25 Space Station and MARS III Armory (I belive thats what AVT said the OSM materials called it) is what makes them the only top dog in existence. Everyone else is going to be grabbing at scraps.

The EBSIS and MR would probably be perfectly able to run roughshod over 3rd World Countries that are neither member-states of the UEG nor requesting UEF peacekeepers. I can see the UEG turning a blind eye to this as long as the EBSIS and MR don't attack them....the UEF has bigger fish (potentially) to fry than a bunch of squabbling nations that hate them.

Now...once the Invid Invasion occurs and the UEG falls...well...all bets are off. I imagine the EBSIS and MR would hold out for a while or capitulate in the end.

[glitterboy2098]

it can run off liquid helium? i assume you meant hydrogen. helium is inert, and would never function well as a fuel.

[taalismn]

it can run off liquid helium? i assume you meant hydrogen. helium is inert, and would never function well as a fuel.

That may be true, but it would make detecting fuel leaks that much easier!
Just listen to the ground crew talking among themselves!

But yes, hydrogen is the more logical fuel choice here.