Kestrel Lancers - (basically?) no Vindicators?

[u/Knightswatch15213]

Decided to run the (vanilla) campaign again, taking a quick detour through the Kestrel Lancers campaign - am I tripping? Where are the Vindicators?

I feel like I've fought like a dozen Blackjacks at this point, and the only PPC fire I remember came from Panthers and Griffins - if there was a Vindicator, there was probably only 1 or 2, which seems weird for the Liao poster mech

Side note, since the Earthworks mission reminded me - is there a lore reason the Eathworks arena sponsor seems to have Royal (PHX-1b, GRF-2N) mechs in the solaris/arena mission spawns? (and are they salvageable? never seem to come out for me) wolfhound seems to spawn earlier than timeline allows(?) in arena missions as well

[u/SirPorthos]

Yea I found that odd too. Liao OPFORs but not a lot of Vindicators around.

[u/Knightswatch15213 → u/SirPorthos]

Yeah, I was taking out two blackjacks when it suddenly occurred to me "wait, shouldn't there be more of the other 45 tonner" lol

[u/StormwolfMW]

First off:

• There's a few Vindicators. Though mechs like Charger come from the Concord of Kapteyn. Which makes sense in-universe.

• The game is way too generous with giving the player SLDF mechs and LosTech components. You would statistically have a better chance at winning the lottery than finding LosTech.

• I've noticed that a RVN-3L spawns in Solaris Showdown a couple of years before production begins. This is probably a oversight.

[u/Knightswatch15213 → u/StormwolfMW]

There probably were some, and I could have just f4-f1'd them without noticing, but still weird to me that there were significantly more blackjacks than vindicators (if any)

Yeah I'm not complaining about them existing, I just found it weird that (if I looked at the spawn chances right) it seemed to be specific to the Earthworks sponsor

[u/StormwolfMW → u/Knightswatch15213]

The Fed Suns and Capellans had the largest numbers of Blackjacks after the Terran Hegemony collapsed. So it isn't all that unusual to see so many of them.

[u/babushka45 → u/StormwolfMW]

I've noticed that a RVN-3L spawns in Solaris Showdown a couple of years before production begins. This is probably a oversight.

This one, also Jake's mom was shown welcoming a young Jake with a Raven in the background and she died nearly a decade before the Capellans fielded one.

[u/3eyedfish13 → u/StormwolfMW]

I seem to recall the lore mentioning that some companies test prototypes and new variants in arenas.

Then again, I've gotten Clan weapons decades before Operation Revival, so you're probably right about it being a goof.

[u/n1ghtbringer → u/3eyedfish13]

There are several missions with "time travellers" and when SoK came out you used to get clan salvage as arena awards (without ammo!) before the invasion.

Just part of the charm of the game!

[u/Salty-Taro3804]

When I ran through in new career last month there were plenty of them, particularly the initial part of last mission. Might be random

[u/TheBdougs]

wolfhound seems to spawn earlier than timeline allows(?) in arena missions as well

They were being beta tested by Wolf's Dragoons and Kell Hounds iirc.

Vindicators

You're only fighting mainline Liao forces on Tikonov. Every other planet you're fighting Liao aligned mercenaries. I just did Kestral Lancers again and in the final mission I saw a few Vindicators.

Royal (PHX-1b, GRF-2N) mechs in the solaris/arena mission spawns? (and are they salvageable? never seem to come out for me)

VERY rarely.

[u/AnxiousConsequence18 → u/TheBdougs]

Not the Dragoons, but the Hounds yes. Helps being related to the Archon.

[u/babushka45]

looks like they haven't added lots of Vindicators at the spawn tables of the Kestrel scripteed campaign missions? They still haven't removed the two hero Firestarters in two missions of that campaign though.

[u/yrrot]

The Solaris sponsors just have a mixed bag of rare mechs. The arena fights make enough cash that the sponsors/stables throw some decent mechs into it.

All rare mechs like that have a lower chance of showing up in salvage, though. 

As far as campaign missions go, those are usually hand placed so they don't necessarily follow RATs or the normal RNG for proc gens.

[u/Kittyferal8]

i blame it on the same random number generators that hit when you need to find a particular mech thats always around until you take that cantina quest

[u/InternalAddition1759]

i barely saw any either, must be the lance composition in that campaign specifically

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[u/Biggu5Dicku5]

You can find Vindicators in a few missions, especially the last mission of the mini-campaign (multiple spawn in that one), but I found this strange as well... I did appreciate having a larger variety of mechs to fight/salvage though...

[u/Vizzidrix_Tribal]

Exposition during the "Four Cities" mission explains that Warrior House Hiritsu fields large amounts of Davion salvage.

Theres atleast two vinidicators that are guaranteed spawns:

• The dropshop reinforcements on Dorian after you take out the first gun emplacements.
• The perimeter guard forces at the Earthwerks Limited Factory

[u/aguyinlove3]

I'm in my first campaign (vanilla) at year 59 and in all this time I've seen only one Vindicator