 November 25, 2012 - 11:12am | OK my happy creative legions here's a question that is bothering me as it is not really covered in the canon material (for this one I am including Zeb's). The Megacorps are supposedly just as powerful as most of the established planets with all their buying and selling and service providing. While most of them is pretty obvious what is going on, three of them have me a little stumped: GodCo has a planet full of Yazirians dedicated to terraforming planets. Trouble is no planets listed are said to be still under terraforming. So what or better yet where are they terraforming? Merco is a mercenary organization. While some security jobs sound likely and black ops missions are usually profitable you don't get a Megacorp based on these. No you need wars and alot of them to be and remain profitable. While some enemies are listed it would seem they need alot more to field an entire Megacorp of soldiers. Also do they field starships? A dozen were lost during the Laco war were they warships or just freighters? Wartech is said to be the most profitable. They sell guns. Lots and lots of guns. Talking Matrix armory for every police and Star Law station amounts of guns to be a Megacorp. Since my experience showed the US Army will use a 20 year old weapon and then pass it on to a minor power who is buying all these guns and having to have them replaced to buy more. Is the Frontier really that wild and woolly? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 25, 2012 - 12:48pm | I've always seen MerCo and their rivals, Galactic Task Force, Inc., as the utlimate in temp staffing companies. While MerCo is more heavily focused on the military side of things, they liek GTF also employ and place non-military professions. In addition ot the soldiers, you need the engineers, drivers, cooks, janitors, etc to keep the system running and MerCo supplies them all. I can also see MerCo as the "go to" company for any security services. You just found a huge vein of gold and want some security for your mining operation? Call up the local MerCo branch office and and hire a security detail for 3 months while you mine the strike. Want a security force for your manufacturing plant but don't want to deal with the bureacracy of payroll, heath insurance, etc.? Hire one out from MerCo. You make a single lump payment for services to MerCo and they handle the details. And this could be a contract that runs for decades. Add to that non-military services (granted that is more GTF than MerCo) and you may outsource cooking, janatorial, technical, robotics, or any other service as well to MerCo or GTF. If you have things like this going on in hundreds or thousands of places on a planet on all the planets on the Frontier, plus throw in your big occasional real battle and you have a pretty big business. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 November 25, 2012 - 12:55pm | Good questions. On GodCo I have wondered the same exact thing. Maybe it was too big of a topic to take on before the series got axed? There needs to be something terraformed... I think a part of the problem is that in the canon modules there seems to always to be sentient creatures like on Mahg Mar for example that terraforming would kill off. MerCo - I would say they were huge in Laco's War, I woud infer that to mean armed ships. I think the game setting again uses the Sathar as a means to keep the corps from running amok, or we would see a lot more from them. In fact this is one of the main reasons I plan to push back the Sathar after SW2 in my campaign, because I want to see the corps become more free to do their thing... WarTech - I like the WarTech weapons in the SFman issues and use the R&D angle to account for their success. |
 November 25, 2012 - 5:01pm | I took the stand that if GODCo is in the terraforming business then they must be doing just that. Throw in the Star Exodue and the lost Garden of Yazira and the quazi religious oblication of the Fo1 to recreate the Garden of Yazira on Yazira blessed world and they are busy with Hentz first and all the other yaz colonies recreating them in the image of Yazira. The founding of the mega corp saw the yazirian expertese in terra forming being exported everywhere in the Frontier, not just for planetary re-engineering but for closed habbitats on moons or as consultants to companies with ag ships and to outright planetary re-engineering. The Rim has a lot of high population systems and some of them have to be terraformed worlds. As to weapons manufacturing- we have to discuss what the manufacturing culture is: are things made to last or are they made as consumables under the theories of "controlled obsolecence" There is a field of engineers that actually plan the failure of the holo projector you just bought (timed for just after the warrentee runs out) and are developing the latest and greatest that you'll just have to have. if the weapon is made to last then it will be kicking around decades latter but if made as a consumable item then not. Generally though weapons are made to last as you dont want it breaking down as that could be bad. On one level i think they were just imagining a setting on an ad hoc basis and not thinking things through too deeply as the game was targeted at 12 years olds. yet her we are 30 years latter playing around with it trying to make sense of it, and having fun with it, I hope. I did with the timeline project. So I think we should discuss what the manufacturing culture is than kick around what the implications are for weapons manufacturers. One thing is certian that you are not going to have both cultures operating side by side, it will be one thing or the other. and likely its consumables and controlled obsolecense I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 25, 2012 - 5:25pm | On the manufacturer side of things I remember showing up at a base wide (Fort Lewis) shooting competition with the same M-16 I had used in the field the month before. The Special Forces unit on post showed up with brand new M-16s each engraved with the Special Forces symbol on the magazine well. Want to guess who had iron sights and who had radium glow in the dark sights? Military equipment has to be made to a higher standard unless the military doesn't really care for its soldiers (hey it happens) but even in built to last equipment there are still vast differences in quality. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 25, 2012 - 6:42pm | Military equipment has to be made to a higher standard unless the military doesn't really care for its soldiers (hey it happens) but even in built to last equipment there are still vast differences in quality. Depends on the part of the military, too. My unit was poorly supplied when I was in during the cold war. We still had JEEPS!!! We got our first Hummvs as I was getting out. We also had M16a1 even though the a2 was out. I'm sure more 'important' units had better gear though, because we would train with different units a couple times a year and we always had the crappiest stuff compared to others. @ Jedion - great points on the planned obsolescence. One thing I would note however, is that in the firearms culture there can kind of be another view... I was an avid shooter and had quite a pistol collection before I left the gunshine state for the People's Republic of New York. I used to shoot with lots of different people, and know some cops that enjoyed it as well. For anyone that seemed to know what they were doing, there were certain manufacturers that would get all the business. Others would get the business of those looking for a cheap gun. I think in the particular field of firearms, unlike say electronics or personal vehicles, there is more of a demand for quality since there is a personal stake in getting quality. |
November 25, 2012 - 8:05pm | Yeah I suspected that guns were a different animal. My Dad's engineering degree involved controlled obsolecense- we talked about it a lot because as a teen i just couldn't believe what I was hearing. It just offended my sense of justice as a teen ager. the cynical adult that I am now recognizes the value of using it in setting. So: WarTech is the quality manufacturer of weapons and who is the cheap manufacturer? (Terl Obar and I have resurected a 10 year old internet article on low quality item manufacturers One of which is Oni Senda and its notorious for setting up fron corporations that have similar names to legit companies and sell for as long as they can get away with it. Tom worked up a good half dozen of the knock off corporate logos based on the legit logos in Zebs. IITC there was a little more to be written for that but perhaps its time to rush that article to the top of the pile for issue 4) Next: ideas on how to represent controlled warrenty failure in items on the equipment list? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 25, 2012 - 8:16pm | Three ways to go for cheap guns. 1) A subsidary of Wartech known for making guns that are going to sit in the bedside table drawer and never leave. 2) A minor branch of another somewhat related Megacorp. Say Merco makes laser pistols for the security guards who are working at keeping the undesirables out of the city dump. Yep real high quality demand there. 3) A small company who knows they can only compete with the big guys by going quantity over quality. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 25, 2012 - 8:18pm | I think the warranty failure is not so much a problem unless the PCs are buying used equipment since most campaigns do not last the years it takes a warranty to run out. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 25, 2012 - 9:53pm | Three ways to go for cheap guns. 1) A subsidary of Wartech known for making guns that are going to sit in the bedside table drawer and never leave. 2) A minor branch of another somewhat related Megacorp. Say Merco makes laser pistols for the security guards who are working at keeping the undesirables out of the city dump. Yep real high quality demand there. 3) A small company who knows they can only compete with the big guys by going quantity over quality. @RT - "It's got SONY guts! Same as Sony!" lol. Knock offs are a great idea. How about a "Wahr-Tekk" back alley kind of knock off (like fake Gucci bags in NYC)? Perhaps a disputable patent derivation like apple suing people because they apparently invented the phone. For example: Say War Tech is the big dog (like Glock/S&W) - some companies can follow the engineering principle with slight tweaks legally. I think about the S&W M&P line. They are a LOT like Glocks, but not as good. 4) The "tall order" Kel-Tec and the Ruger LCP are examples of someone trying to make a small concealable handgun. It's a small pistol (.380 IIRC) that is about the size of a billfold. Problem is they just stink. But people buy them in droves because they hope they can obtain the impossible. The big companies don't usually go for it b/c they don't want to trash their rep. They'll go as small as they can with it still working. Examples would be the baby Glock and the S&W 637/642 2" snubby revolvers. They just plain work, but they're not as small as the LCP or Kel-Tec. If there was some 'tall order' like an Uber-concealable holdout pistol, but it has a malfunction chance? Hi cap mags from a third party that break easily? |
 November 26, 2012 - 10:41am | Some good thoughts here - I had come up with my own solutions regarding the mercenary megacorps years ago, but I like what I am hearing. That's why we have this community! Keep up the ideas! As far as GodCo and terraforming, I said that most of the moons were terraformed. I also made up extra planets in each system, and had them be ones that got terraformed. |
November 26, 2012 - 1:10pm | Perhaps some of the terraforming is strictly engineering projects- beamed energy arrays with ones closer to the system primary beaming energy to an array at the L1 Lagrange point (the stable point directly between the star and planet) and this energy is used to warm the fledgling atmosphere making the planet inhabitable outside the habitable zone for that star. As i think about terraforming its actually a multi-disciplinary field with lots of different applications. Even a colony that has been colonized for a few generations might contract for some "nip/tuck" to tweak the planet's biosphere I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2012 - 8:41pm |
Godco OK my
creative legions I have taken your words of wisdom and put them to some use.
Here are some ideas I came up with for the three mega corps we were dealing
with. First I came up with some departments which
these mega corps operates. Note each of them has the usual departments any
corporation has such as advertising, public relations, being resources,
finance, legal, commissary etc, etc. These are the ones in which these mega
corps make their big credits. Here we
go, first off: Godco Godco starts
with a little known fact. More than half of their employees who are all Family
of One members are NOT on Hentz. Face it, these guys are terraformers. This is
not a telecommuting job. You have to be there on site for years at a time
because Terraforming does not happen overnight. Now this may seem to be against
the idea of the Family of One everyone has of them as label wearing religious
fanatics but this is actually a good thing and they are one of the few mega
corps who can pull this off. You should remember that Most of the Family of One
members are born on Hentz. They are raised in the Family of One and are whole
hearted supporters of the Family of One. They view the time they get to spend
off of Hentz as missionary time to spread the word about the family and recruit
new members. Of course all those who are given permission to leave Hentz have
had their loyalty to the Family of One verified. Defections from the Family of
One are not taken well by the upper management. Now for
the different departments in the Godco mega corp: Initial
Survey:
Specialists from many different disciplines will go to the heavenly body the
client is interested in and determine if it is even possible for the heavenly
body to be terraformed. If it is possible then they will begin to form the plan
and collect the necessary data for the main planners back on Hentz. They can
also call in additional specialists for further research and data collection. Planetary
Stabilization:
Before the work on the heavenly body can begin terraforming it needs to have
any wild and dangerous planetary effects eliminated or at least reduced but
definitely catalogued. One common area of work is the installation of planet
wide magnetic stabilizers to allow the planet to hold an atmosphere. Atmosphere
Restructure and Creation:
Pretty self explanatory they either make the atmosphere more breathable to the
majority of races or they create one from scratch by bringing in ice asteroids
and melting them down and releasing the oxygen. Liquid
Purifiers: The
basis for all life is water. If a heavenly body is to become a life sustaining
planet then it needs a very good and very large and very clean supply of the
wet stuff. Again they either make the water more drinkable to the majority of
races or they create the wet stuff from scratch by bringing in ice asteroids
and melting them down. Soil
Conditioners:
Having breathable air and drinkable water brought in is great but if the ground
you walk on burns your feet off it does not do any good. The soil must also be
able to support the plants being brought in and be able to filter the water
brought in (soil is not just the top six inches people). Since this is a planet
wide effort it obviously takes quite a long time to accomplish. Flora
and Fauna Developers:
This is one area where the client has a great deal of say so. While they can
often use life forms from other planets they can also alter them to fit the new
world or create brand new life forms for the planet. This work begins long
before the heavenly body is ready to receive them so everything will be ready
for transport to the new world. Godco does not like to let its genetics work be
done off Hentz. Too much opportunity for corporate spying. The most difficult
part of this work is making each individual component of the ecosystem fit in
and that a perfect balance is able to be self maintained. Planetary
Monitors: Godco
does not just make a planet and leave once the new owners take over. They leave
behind many teams from all the different departments to make sure everything is
going according to the plan created and then modified and reworked. Nothing as
big a rebuilding a planet to specific requirements goes off without a hitch and
Godco stands by to make sure any problems that might develop are spotted and
corrected even before they can develop. Environmental
Rebuilders:
After a Sathar attack or a corporate war or a star ship crash or heavily
polluted industrial area then the environment of even a naturally developed
planet can be severely compromised. Godco can work the miracle of recovery and
assist in bringing back what once was. The United Planetary Federation has been
known to pick up the tab for some of these events. Specialty
Items: Sometimes
a being just wants something that is not generally available. Maybe they want an
actual flying leper tortoise or a new breed of were frogs to hunt or a tree
that can produce strawberries in the winter. Godco not only works out the order
but also how the order will fit into the existing environment and not damage
it. Their most famous order was for color coded juxtaposing farlaxes so that
the gamblers at the Juxtapose Arena on Outer Dramune could more easily
determine which one had won. Micro
Environments: So
you do not want an entire moon redone. Say it just is not big enough to hold an
atmosphere or have enough gravity. You could build a dome on the moon to hold
your population. But why let your beings inhabit a dreary tunnel system. Let
Godco’s Micro Environment Division design a small enclosed and self sustaining
world inside the doom for you. The savings in mental and physical health
insurance costs will pay for the costs of establishing one. Do it for your
beings and you will love it too. Naming
Department: With
hundreds of new species and orders and creatures and occasionally new entire
lines of creatures and planetary systems constantly being discovered, Godco does
not want any of its creations to share a name with them. So they have Family of
One members scattered throughout the entire inhabited sphere of space to keep
themselves informed of all the latest registered names. Another
thing most beings do not realize about Godco is that while they use the
standard transport services of the Frontier they also have a vast collection of
specialty ships. Many of them with unique instrumentation on them and unique
configurations. They are manned and maintained by Family of One members and
almost never have outsiders allowed on them. We can
pretty safely assume that each system had only one inhabitable planet to start.
Since keeping things in system is much easier than scattering them light years
apart many planetary governments have another planet or two or several moons
terraformed. This gives them many options for development and much greater
control over the areas since they are so much closer. Of course Family of One
Godco members are present as they continue the work of terraforming or check
that the terraforming has stuck. Tomorrow
Merco Please stay tuned. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 27, 2012 - 9:03pm | @RT, that is a very nice write up for GodCo. That ominously puts the Fo1 on every planet and in everyones business. That could prove very dangerous. |
 November 28, 2012 - 9:41pm | Fantastic! One thing I would add is that the vast majority of the work done is in taking planets with immature biospheres and making them core four compatible. Planets that are of the right size but barren are a much longer haul and would only be coming available for habitation a hundred or more years after terraforming started. And these worlds would have the initial work starting in domes to speed the process while the environment is developing. Again I love the write up and would love to see you expand this. Last thought. Think of how GodCo would react to the Erona and their biotechnology? I can see them contracting with them for their technology and placing a lot of staff on Volturnus. Erona would also end up on some of the GodCo terraforming projects. -iggy |
November 29, 2012 - 4:33am | Will work on Godco some more. Need to repost the Merco one here goes. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 29, 2012 - 4:34am |
Merco OK my
creative legions here is the second mega corp. This one is not as extensive as
Godco but really what mortal can be as extensive as god? (That’s a Joke) We have all seen the recruiting poster. You
can’t miss it since it is plastered everywhere. One member of each of the Core
Four in each quarter separated by crossed lightning flashes. The Yazirian in
the upper left gliding down into battle with a Khad’ dan ready to strike. The
Dralasite in the lower left almost flattened, sneaking under rolls of razor
wire with a dagger in each limb. The Vrusk in the lower right knocking out four
opponents with four different limbs at the same time. Last the Human female in
the torn tank top firing a huge laser rifle with one hand and the other arm
raised and signaling for the others to come to her and the caption saying “Join
the Fight, Join Merco” Here we
go, first off: Merco Merco starts
with a little known fact. More than three quarters of their employees who are
all fully qualified with weapons NEVER fire one except during training. Face it,
warfare in the modern era needs a lot more support than it needs beings to beat
each other over the head. Merco makes most of its profits from these divisions
than from the shooter divisions. Now for
the different departments in the Merco mega corp: Warrior
Units: The basic
combat units everything thinks Merco consists of. These can be ordered in sizes
from squad to division and equipped in a wide variety of ways. It is known that
Land Fleet usually hires Merco Warrior Units to play opposing forces for their
units for evaluation purposes. Security
Units: Whether
it is a museum at Zebulon University or a factory on New Streel or a school
crossing point or the Miss Lossend tiara, when you need it protected then you
need the Merco Sercurity Units. Some beings are under the impression that the
Security Units are filled with Warrior Unit personnel who are close to
retirement. Actually Merco has a very strict policy of NOT allowing employees
to transfer from the Warrior Units to the Security Units and vice versa. Merco
tests all potential applicants for many things. One of them is that whether a
being is good at offensive or defensive operations and then they are stuck
there. Merco learned long ago that those who make good gung ho attack till your
all dead or they are types are not real good at sitting down and watching
things that usually do not move or becoming part of the background while
attending a diplomatic party. Merco in fact uses their own Security Units as
guards at their Warrior Unit base camps and supply dumps. As many a young
Warrior Unit recruit as learned, not listening to the instructions of the
Security Unit guard can easily land you in the hospital. Special
Environment Unit:
Need someone to protect or attack the underwater mining complex of a rival or
maybe the moon base of a pirate organization or a raid on a gas siphoning
complex on a corrosive atmosphere world? Then we have the beings for you. Each
of these Special Environment Units specialize in one type of environment so
that they perform all actions just like natural born killers. Depending on the
unit there may be a wait until their services are available. Electronic
Security Unit:
The basis for all warfare is information. It may be nice to know that the
asteroid belt you want defended contains Frecklalium but not letting the ones
who want to raid it know which seven asteroids actually have that precious
precious crystal is very important. The Electronic Security Unit will insure no
own gets anywhere near your precious precious information. Note these units are
always accompanied by Security Units for the protection of the personnel, the
equipment, the software and you (maybe). Civil
Affairs Unit: Typhoon
Katie Bell wipe out your southern coast or a corporate war roll over a city or
two or a couple of our Warrior Units are cleaning out an infestation of
Quickdeaths and you need to house 10,000 Saurians for a couple of months. Call
up our Civil Affairs Units and we can handle all of your civilians concerns.
Please be sure to specify which races will need aid when you place your order. Upkeep
Unit: So you
have the best fighters in the Frontier and they are all ready to go with the
latest Wartech Battle Tanks. But no one knows how to change the air and septic
filters to keep them running. We have highly trained, skilled and equipped
maintenance units who will come in and take care of all your preventative and
repair maintenance needs. Unlike Wartech our Upkeep Units will be on the battle
flied with you and keep you at the edge of the fight. NOTE These units are also
involved in salvaging enemy equipment from the battle flied for Merco’s use or
for resale or for scrap. This is said to be one of their most profitable areas. Intelligence
Units: Need to
know something and know it now. Our Intelligence Units can find it out for you
using all of the latest information gathering techniques. Please NOTE all means
of information gathering are perfectly legal and NEVER involve illegal methods
like hacking, torture, blackmail, kidnapping, arson to cover tracks all methods
are strictly on the up and up. (See our reps for more information on this
subject) NOTE 2 Intelligence Units and Electronic Security Units frequently
work with and against each other. Black
Ops Units:
Officially these units do not exist. But every planetary ruler and mega corp
CEO and a lot of very wealthy beings have their contact information hidden in
safes and other very secure locations. What they are capable and willing to do
is not known, not even by the units themselves until asked. One thing is known.
A Sathar attack force was headed for Snowball. Merco accidently let it be
transmitted in the clear one of the Black Ops Units nicknames in the clear and
“someone” responded that they were ready in the clear. The Sathar immediately
retreated. BIG NOTE
Secrecy is a major part of Merco’s operations. Also they will never accept a
contract where they go against their own units. For this reason they insist
that they be allowed to turn down any contract for any reason. The usual reason
most potential clients assume is that the other side has already hired them.
Some potential clients in fact attempt to get a contract just to see if they
will be turned down. Merco has developed methods to accept contracts and
fulfill them without going against themselves. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 29, 2012 - 7:44am | @ RT - This is really good stuff. One tiny critique before it goes in the SFman...  I would think either Maintenance or Support would be a better term than Upkeep for a type of division or unit. At least if the nomenclature is based on earth standards. Just a thought. I really like these writeups! |
November 29, 2012 - 8:55am | These are great. I'd love to have percentages and pie charts showing the break up of the divisions. -iggy |
November 29, 2012 - 4:46pm | Pie! I love pie. send some over here and make sure it is not with ice cream on top. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 29, 2012 - 8:28pm | OK I have now started a Project for Megacorps. Let's take this to the next level. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
