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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
Posts: 1618
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 Posted: 25-Oct-2004 21:45 Post subject: The MRBC |
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Does anyone else think the MRBC is one of the silliest things ever to come out of battletech. Why would mercs ever bind themselves by these conditions; if an employer refuses payment the mercs can always take it out of their hide. Why would a merc ever deny himself the option of bilking his employer, so as to "stay bought." It's one of those G rated devices companies so often introduce into RPGs which are just silly.
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 25-Oct-2004 22:21 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Not following you here on this one. The idea of the MRBC is to keep employers from hiring a group of mercs then shorting them on pay and at the same time forcing the mercs to live up to their end of the deal.
If you read any of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers you will find a similar setup in there as well as Dorsai books and a number of other scifi military novels.
The setting up of a committe to review contracts between mercs and employers seems to me a very safe way to keep everyone honest and allow for anyone who needs to hire a merc unit the chance of doing so.
Now no one said that shady deals won't or can't happen, just that the groups need to be more careful HOW they do those things.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
Kommandant-General
Joined: 03-May-2002 00:00
Posts: 2214
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 00:04 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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There's no recruiting agent demanding that you register. Wolf's Dragoons aren't going to hunt you down for unlicensed mercenary work.
On the down side, it's just you and your employer when things go sour. A big multi-munchkin regiment can make Liao pay up anyway, but your average merc unit is more like a company. And it doesn't usually own any Jump transport...
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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
Posts: 1618
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 10:54 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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As the Dragoons are a Davion merc unit (at least for now) why would Liao or Marik trust them as intermedaries.
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DarkAdder
Clan Star Adder
Star Commander
Joined: 10-Jan-2004 00:00
Posts: 604
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 11:48 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Since about the Clan invasion, the Dragoons have been independants. They dont have an 'exclusive' contract, though they do have a planet ceeded to them by Hanse Davion.
Personally, I think that the MRBC isnt a bad idea. If Im running a merkie company, I want to know if my prospective employer is on the up-and-up. The last thing I would want is to be hired on for a phenominal rate, then get dropped and abandoned on some god-forsaken rock. If Im a company, I would want to know that I can trust my mercs to stay when someone offers them double to 'look the other way'.
Theres even a MechWarrior RPG where you get busted by the MRBC. And let me tell you, those guys dont screw around.
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StarRaven
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
Joined: 01-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 1138
Location: United States
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 11:57 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Because the Dragoons have worked for everyone at one time or another. That either makes them universally trustworthy, or universally dishonest; the writers say that it's trustworthy.
The MRBC thing seems like something most mercs would agree to. Like Nightmare says, most of them are pretty small units. How are Wilson's Hussars supposed to keep people from screwing them? It's not like they're a major threat, since I doubt they're any more than a battalion, if that. With the MRBC, now you've got someone who says "no, you can't decide not to pay them after they've already done the job for you." But without the MRBC, the best the Hussars can do is "please pay us, Celestial Wisdom." If he doesn't want to pay them, they can either take it, go work for Davion, or attack that there supply base, which is guarded by a nice fat regiment of McCarron's Armored Cavalry. The only problem is enforcement. I assume that the MRBC has some means of getting Successor States to pay up; if not, then the whole thing falls apart and the MRBC is useless.
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Moonlapse Vertigo
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Captain
Joined: 02-Mar-2004 00:00
Posts: 207
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 12:22 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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The MRBC can't force houses to pay anything, but they can "blacklist" the house and let other mercenary units know they might not be being paid if they work for them. If the Houses offense is especially greivous, I beleive any mercanry unit can leave their service without it being considered a default of contract. I don't see how this would be the units with out their own transports though.
If I was a mercenary, I would rather register with the MRBC than not.
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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
Kommandant-General
Joined: 03-May-2002 00:00
Posts: 2214
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 12:32 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Well, why trust any mercenary? They all fight for money. 
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A tree fall in the forest, and no one is around, and it hits a mime. Does anyone care?
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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
Posts: 1618
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 21:02 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Better to avoid fighting at all if you can help it. 
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DarkAdder
Clan Star Adder
Star Commander
Joined: 10-Jan-2004 00:00
Posts: 604
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| Posted: 26-Oct-2004 23:03 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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The way I understood it, an Employer would hire a company and deposit the cash in an accout held by the MRBC (sans a processing fee) and the Merc would then be on the hook to do the job. Once the job was finished the MRBC would release the payment (sans a second fee, around 5-ish %) and both Employer and Mercenary would go their seperate ways.
If an incident happened, the MRBC would investigate. If the Employer was guilty, the Employer would be fined (or worse) and then 'blacklisted'. Employers cant screw over Mercs, not without finding their offers rejected.
If the Merc was at fault, they could be fined and 'blacklisted', meaning that they would be unhirable by just about anyone. Nobody wants to hire a Merc company that doesnt do its job.
Occasionally, either an Employer or Merc company can break their contract without penaly to either side. I cant remember the particulars, though.
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bladewind
Free Rasalhague Republic
Major General
Joined: 02-Oct-2004 00:00
Posts: 1054
Location: Singapore
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| Posted: 27-Oct-2004 03:02 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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it must be stated in the TOC. For example:
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By mid-3011, Lieutenant Colonel Waco discovered that Maximilian Liao had hired the hated Wolf's Dragoons. Angered by this breach of contract, the Waco Rangers raided Liao's supply bases on Korion and departed Capellan space. Liao was outraged, feeling justified in hiring any mercenary unit he wished According to the contract, however, Liao was supposed to have given the Rangers advance notice of his intention to hire Wolf's Dragoons so that they could leave Liao's employ officially Thus, the Waco Rangers gained a large amount of spare parts, and Liao was left cursing the peculiarities of mercenaries.
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 27-Oct-2004 08:13 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Quote:
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On 2004-10-26 10:54, mud wrote:
As the Dragoons are a Davion merc unit (at least for now) why would Liao or Marik trust them as intermedaries.
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The Dragoons are NOT an Davion Merc unit they are independant unit that has the world of Outreach as their own...has been that way since the 4th Sesucession War ended.
So they aren't controled by anyone thus makes them the perfect or the least bias source to be a part of the MRBC and they themselves follow the rulings posted by the MRBC when it deals with a hired Dragoon unit.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
Posts: 1618
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| Posted: 27-Oct-2004 16:53 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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They hold Outreach as a fief from Lord Davion; they are therefore indebted to House Davion.
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Stinger
The Knights of Chaos
General
Joined: 30-Apr-2002 00:00
Posts: 1833
Location: United States
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| Posted: 27-Oct-2004 18:16 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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Indebted yes. A house unit? No.
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Stinger
If it's "creepy" to use the Internet, military satellites, and robot aircraft to find a house full of gorgeous young models so I can drop in on them unexpected, then FINE, I'm "creepy". Howard Wolowitz. BBT.
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Moonlapse Vertigo
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Captain
Joined: 02-Mar-2004 00:00
Posts: 207
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| Posted: 27-Oct-2004 19:25 Post subject: RE: The MRBC |
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One of their regiments is garrisoning* Tikinov for Liao, so Hasek and Davion can't reatake it.
*if that is a word
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