Anyone done any work for Comstar?

[Strontiumdog]

I see they are lurking about in the northern part of the map but they don't seem to want my business.

[Veritas]

Comstar isn't overtly active at this time and they aren't really the sort of organization to contract outside help

[CoyoteJohn]

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

Comstar isn't overtly active at this time and they aren't really the sort of organization to contract outside help

Especially considering they have a "neutral" stance where most political schemes are concerned...and the fact that the ComGuard still have access to some LosTech.

[Nine-ball]

Originally posted by Shrike:

I see they are lurking about in the northern part of the map but they don't seem to want my business.

The Comguard does most of their work for them. Comstar's military arm is tasked entirely with guarding HPG stations, other installations, and Terra. They've got all that covered, and they don't engage in skirmishes, preferring to remain plausibly neutral. In truth, they are not neutral at all and will manipulate communications to keep the Successor States from growing too powerful, but they don't need mercenaries for that.

The only part of ComStar to employ mercenaries with any frequency is the Explorer Corps, and they'll often do that whilst hiding their identity. The Explorer Corps specializes in discovering new worlds, and more commonly, sniffing out Star League tech. Where they do employ mercenaries to secure worlds or create distractions, they never tell them what they're actually after. Last thing they want is the mercenaries looking for their tech hoard.

Comstar is just not that open to mercenaries because of how jealously they guard their technology. They are space Church and space Corporate Empire.

[Veritas]

Originally posted by CoyoteJohn:

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

Comstar isn't overtly active at this time and they aren't really the sort of organization to contract outside help

Especially considering they have a "neutral" stance where most political schemes are concerned...and the fact that the ComGuard still have access to some LosTech.

The ComGuard isn't even publicly known yet.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by CoyoteJohn:

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

Comstar isn't overtly active at this time and they aren't really the sort of organization to contract outside help

Especially considering they have a "neutral" stance where most political schemes are concerned...and the fact that the ComGuard still have access to some LosTech.

... ComStar has access to almost ALL of the LosTech. And Star-League-quality Battlemech factories on Terra herself. :)

A fact they keep carefully under wraps until the Clan Invasion forces their hand (ComStar was planning on eventually doing the same thing: conquering the whole IS. But unlike the Clans, being privy to EVERYone's secret transmissions, ComStar knew the time wsn't right for that). They had to reveal their SLDF-quality ComGuard units at the Battle of Tukayyid, and believe me, the Great houses certainly sat up and took notice.

[Nine-ball]

Oh, I forgot to mention an interesting lore tidbit. You know that mission where you take and blow up an SLDF base?

Well, Comstar has a great deal of influence over the MRBC, they arbitrate it, and they would totally blacklist you forever for that. It happened to the Gray Death Legion for years, until the Primus decided that since the damage was done already there was no point in keeping them from participating any longer.

[Strontiumdog]

seemed too good to be true, I was hoping for some SDLF lostech but I guess it's the entire antithesis of their religious calling in 3025.....Maybe in 3051...

[Watchman]

Given ComStar's lack of public military assets on one hand and massive economic muscle on the other it'd actually make a whole lot of sense for them to hire mercs to deal with idiots who make trouble for them despite their "untouchable" status. Pirates and other already-seriously lawless types readily come to mind as the kinds of nuisances that might require "troubleshooting", especially out in the Periphery where you can't complain to the local House representative...

[Nine-ball]

Originally posted by Watchman:

Given ComStar's lack of public military assets on one hand and massive economic muscle on the other it'd actually make a whole lot of sense for them to hire mercs to deal with idiots who make trouble for them despite their "untouchable" status. Pirates and other already-seriously lawless types readily come to mind as the kinds of nuisances that might require "troubleshooting", especially out in the Periphery where you can't complain to the local House representative...

That's the thing, though, nobody makes trouble with ComStar, except for Hanse Davion in the Fourth Succession War. If you screw with them, they'll shut off your space internet.

ComStar plays the long game, letting the great houses batter each other into barbarism, with a plan to swoop in and take control once they are weak enough, posing as a neutral entity all the while.

Speaking of which, I don't know why people are saying the ComGuard was a secret. It wasn't, ComStar regulary fielded battlemechs, vehicles, aerospace craft, and infantry throughout the Succession Wars to protect HPG installations.

The secret was that they had SLDF Lostech battlemechs, regiments of them, stored away. They finally had to expose themselves when the Clans invaded and the ComGuard marched in full force on Tukayyid for a proxy battle to gain a truce agreement for the Inner Sphere.

Comstar doesn't generally use mercenaries BECAUSE they want to appear neutral. Like I said before, only the explorer corps uses them with any regularity, and that regularity is sparse.

[Watchman]

You think Periphery pirates with "wanted dead" type prices on their heads to begin with give a toss about ComStar's untouchability? They're exactly the sort of trouble desperate and/or crazy enough to raid CS facilities and shipping for parts and sundry - and one of the more obviously expedient ways for the organisation to deal with such problems, especially in the absence of effective local authorities, is to pay a half-decent merc force operating in the area to go and shoot them dead.

[Valen]

3025

As a Comstar spokesperson I can tell you that all rumors of employing mercenaries or lost tech weapons of war is just false rumor. Our primary mission is to maintain the HPG communications network. Our secondary mission is to promote peaceful relations through the known periphery and maintain a historical library of events.

[Nine-ball]

Originally posted by Watchman:

You think Periphery pirates with "wanted dead" type prices on their heads to begin with give a toss about ComStar's untouchability? They're exactly the sort of trouble desperate and/or crazy enough to raid CS facilities and shipping for parts and sundry - and one of the more obviously expedient ways for the organisation to deal with such problems, especially in the absence of effective local authorities, is to pay a half-decent merc force operating in the area to go and shoot them dead.

Yes, they do give a toss, mostly BECAUSE they're in the Periphery. HPGs are extremely rare in that reach of space, and tend to have entire nations protecting them, not to mention the wrath of the ComGuard.

According to the ComStar sourcebook, they have written into their usage contracts that sovereign powers must assit them in defense. And people think their ISPs ask too much.

I'm sure there were more HPGs and outposts in the past, but according to the canon, most of them were destroyed and/or raided, just like you suggest. Now, the only ones left are in well-protected space.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by Watchman:

You think Periphery pirates with "wanted dead" type prices on their heads to begin with give a toss about ComStar's untouchability?

... ComStar whispers in the ear of the Great House(s) nearest that Pirate, and before too long, said Pirate is in an unmarked grave, along with everyone who ever even had a drink with her.

[Watchman]

Doesn't mean the regular supply and personnel-rotation shipments to such outlying facilities are safe. Moreover the pirates themselves already exist outside "polite society" and can't really access the HPG network anyway, nor do they have much need to either. Conversely there's some obvious incentive for them to try to knock out the local HPG station during a raid to hamper communications with possible reinforcements...

They also tend to be "mad, bad and dangerous to know" and not necessarily terribly concerned over possible reprisals.

[Watchman]

Originally posted by GM Pax:

... ComStar whispers in the ear of the Great House(s) nearest that Pirate, and before too long, said Pirate is in an unmarked grave, along with everyone who ever even had a drink with her.

The Houses don't generally send forces far into Periphery, and moreover in some cases CANNOT - the FedSun/Taurian border comes to mind as an effective "DO NOT CROSS" line and one fairly relevant to the game area at that.

So, yes, much more practical to contact local operators.