Ok, so to me most appealing contracts are MASTIKA, TORA and FUSILIER.
The FC contract against TC forces in BUFFALO is just 3 jumps from New Syrtis and well away from almost anything else. It's Cadre with 60% transport, 40% salvage, 0% straight support and 80% BLC. Not all that appealing. While it's A rated gear, it's Periphery A rated gear. Meh. Each lance gets less than 1MM up front and less than 700M each month. Not sure where we're supposed to come out ahead given where we're ending up.
FWL contract against LA in MASTIKA is more promising. Each lance gets over 2MM up front and just over 1MM per month. It's Elite/A LA, so good salvage plus for a number of folks easier recruiting as it's same faction. At a minimum good pilots. It's 60% transport, 60% salvage, 0% straight support and 40% BLC. High BLC is nice, but we tend to get more mileage from salvage than BLC especially as more mechs are dropped due to engine damage than being cored. Gravity is light, but not inherently detrimental. It provides extra tactical flexibility, but you only run risks if you try to make use of it as opposed to high gravity where it just slows everything down. OpFor could destroy legs just as easily and if so makes for easier salvage. We also have the benefit that it's still pretty close to Terra and therefore more contract flexibility in the future. Has potential.
ADDER is LA vs FWL. Over 5MM per lance up front for the garrison contract, around 800M per month for the 20 month duration. Gravity should be a non-factor, it's Vet/B FWL which I believe Rob indicated is pretty much the same as A rated gear. Might be repetitive. Transport is 100%, Salvage 30%, Straight Support 0% and BLC is 60%. Salvage is a bit low. The upfront compared to others is nice. We'd have the opportunity to rotate lances out for training, so decent at least for XP and for getting warehouses in order. Not my favorite for sure, but not worthless. Soft pass as Rob would say.
FUSILIER is LA vs. Drac, something most of the unit can get behind. Up front and monthly is similar to MASTIKA. Elite Drac pilots and A rated gear provide for some nice pickups especially when you consider salvage. Transport is 100%, Salvage is a whopping 90%, Straight Support 0% and BLC is 40%. Gravity is light, but with the same caveats again as MASTIKA. Now for the 2 potentially more significant concerns. I believe DC may still be targeting Merc pilots on the battlefield. That means if you get out, you may lose pilots. Not good. Second, it's House command. We get 0 - 4 units each mission (regular troops in D grade rides) and losses are contract hits and could result in us getting black listed from LA contracts for a while or even have them turn on us. Keeping those units functional is a solid priority every mission. Makes the missions harder and mission COs should strongly consider who runs them. Lots of upside for this contract, the biggest risk is in long term employment effects and possible pilot deaths. Probably the best of the bunch, but not a must take.
TORA is Drac vs. Wolf. On the upside, finally facing a clan other than Jade Falcons for a change. It's C rated gear which is mostly 2nd line, increasing the likelihood of either parts or being able to field the units as are. Working for the DC though means we'll be told to consider ourselves lucky that they don't execute us at the end despite how we perform. No end of contract bonuses for sure. Gravity is similar to MASTIKA and FUSILIER. Transport is 100%, Salvage is 30%, Straight Support 0%, BLC is 80%. Base pay we make more than 2MM each lance up front and probably closer to 1.3MM per month after. Liaison which works in our favor and BLC should we lose something is a plus. Salvage of 30% is less than ideal, but most lances are in good shape, so hopefully while needing to be selective in what we take, it's still manageable. Vet clan pilots so could be some decent pickups here as well. Has potential.
Overall I'm probably still leaning towards FUSILIER, but could certainly be happy with TORA or MASTIKA and still think a garrison contract would be a good idea soon, though can be flexible.
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Topic: May 3059 Contract Market (Read 1268 times)