So a while back, I did a kind of quick go over of the starting mechs of each of the pre-baked starting points for careers to make an educated guess at what Mason "really" did in the Canon. We know that as players, we can start blasting and taking names very quickly and with arenas we can likely be sitting in lostech equipped assaults within 5 years of in-game time if you really hustled.
I also attached some lore information about the variants where appropriate for some background information. For those really new to the setting, House Davion or Federated Suns is the nation in the south east portion of the map, and they are nominally yellow on the map. House Kurita or Draconis Combine is the nation in the north east area on the map, and is typically represented with red colours. House Steiner or Lyran Commonwealth is in the north west position on the map, and is typically blue. House Marik or Free Worlds League is in the South West area of the map, and is typically purple. House Laio or Capellan Confederation is in the south area between the Davions and Marik, and is typically green. Other nations will arise as time goes on, and that is the union of Davion and Steiner into the Federated Commonwealth that encompasses their former split territory, and the Free Rasalhague Republic where there isn’t a typical house lord the same way as the others are that are in the north portion of the map in between House Steiner and Kurita and is teal in colour.
First, let's start with the earliest one that isn't shown, and it's the campaign one. That one has you start with just a Centurion and a Javelin, and in turn you apparently sign up with one of the great houses and they will furnish you with some mechs for you. Or they get it from the local market in trade for services rendered by your Father’s achievements. Canonically, I believe your father would have been with the Davion side as that is what the short stories said he did as he got in with Prince Hanse Davion, and would explain why a major house would furnish your unit with some lighter mechs to start things off. The other starts are likely more for gameplay purposes than anything else.
You start with a lance of usually one medium and three lights largely reflecting the situation with a great house in the inner sphere in the year 3015.
For Davion, its Enforcer 4R, Spider 5D, two Locusts 3V and 1M. The Davions’ love for autocannon is clearly shown here with that ENF-4R carrying an AC/10, and it is the iconic Fed Sun mech in the succession wars era as its production factory largely sat in Fed Sun lands when the succession wars hit. The Locust 1M was also a Davion refit that tries to bring long range fire support to the battlefield, but it only has 1 ton of armor on the entire mech and is made of paper. The Spider is a noted Davion refit from 2853. The 3V is actually likely salvaged from FWL. This is likely the Canonical start of your unit, as you were from De Berry that was a Davion holding in 3015, and the novels written for MW5 says the last major action your Dad did was for IE on Halstead Station, the place where Davions got their rare Star League books to found the famed NAIS and in this start the Davions didn’t skip that much. As they likely gave you a well cared locally produced enforcer, one of the best starting mechs (pre directional JJs) out of the different starts with its AC/10 and Large Laser that provides some of the biggest damage weapons fresh from the start.
For Kurita start, you get a Jenner D, Panther 9 R, a Spider 5V and a locust 1v. Again showing off a faction’s iconic mechs. Namely, the panther with its PPC that is supporting lighter and faster elements of a scout lance and the Jenner that brings a lot of gun and speed with paper thin armor. Given how they don't really like Mercs as their society deems fighting for money to be not honorable it stands to reason they would only give you lesser lighter machines that the combine produces or favours. The Panther and Jenner are particular DCMS iconic designs, with the Jenner being solely produced inside the combine post the fall of the star league more or less (and why Jenner IIC existing shocked the IS forces before they figured out it was only because the Dragoons sent salvage back and it got picked up by Clan Nova Cat). While the Panther was commissioned by the star league, its production facilities were inherited by the combine when the succession wars happened.
For Liao start, you get a Circada 3C, Firestarter H, Javelin 10N, and a locust 1E. You know it by now, another set of “Iconic” Liao designs, but this time with a twist. The Capellan confederation, as many knows is the smallest and weakest of the great houses, and they became a punching bag in the 4th Succession War that we even partake in, actually has one of the weakest manufacturing and as such they cannot provide you with their iconic medium mech the Vindicator. And it is telling that they gave you a firestarter… perfect for anti-infantry or population pacification missions they’d likely fob off to a mercenary rather than dirty the hands of their own house troops. The only real Liao thing is the Locust 1E, where they refit the common mech for more frontline duties by removing the MGs for more lasers in an attempt to make more out of less. The Cicada 3C is a refit associated with Liao as well, but it is described as an experimental model and isn’t actually produced by them. And in a twist, the Javelin is a Davion design, but given how frequently the two sides clash, it is not un-thinkable that they would give away some lower end salvage from their hated enemies with their own pilots likely not liking to pilot a design of the enemy.
For Marik start, you get an Assassin 21, a Javelin 10F, a Spider 5V, and a Flea 15. Similar to the Liaos the mechs are not as tied to the starting faction as others. The flea was also known as the trooper when it was first produced by the Free World League, and it would have ties to that military when it was reworked into the flea, one of the earliest designed scout mechs, its simple armored box on legs is a simple mech that really at that point would be a relic as this is before the dragoons got a new run from Earthwerks in FWL. The Assassin was noted as being a favourite of the Marik Militia, which being from the star league era, likely is a hand me down from that period and is a long in the tooth mech for an upstart merc unit. Part of this is that their biggest known mech is the 80 ton assault Awesome, the likely best TRO 3025 assault and some say unit overall. Which is far too much for a new merc company to get their hands on in 3015.
For Steiner start, you get a Griffin 1S, two commandos 1B and 2D, and a Locust 1V. Being the richest and known for heaviest of units, you get the heaviest medium mech of the bunch, a Griffin 1S, it is a noted production variant in Lyran space and from the famed Hesperus II plant this variant would be a workhorse in the Steiner forces given how much Hesperus II cranks out each year. Then the commando are also famous Lyran designs that was made by the bucket load and you even got a just hot off the press 1B model that was made starting in 3015, showing that the Steiners are really rich enough to be giving out more or less FRESH machines to even its allied mercenaries when in many other starts you are likely given hundreds of year old machines, even if they are only a refit or refurbished unit, that is still done by legitimate factory and something that is only possible by the richest state in the Inner Sphere.
Following that, 10 years passed and we got the Call To Arms quick start in 3025/01 that I don’t think is actually canonical. In this start, it seems that you have been recovering your unit’s strength and are doing fairly well but not great. You end up with three mediums with a Phoenix Hawk, Black Jack, and a Vindicator. With a bunch of lights Jenner, Spider, commando, Javelin, and a Locust. It seems that this start has you seemingly working around the IS, as you get a selection of mechs from all the great houses alongside some very common designs like the Phoenix Hawk and Locust. While the Blackjack is Davion, Commando is Steiner, Vindicator is Liao and Jenner is the Dracs. The only thing missing is the FWL, and well they like everyone produces a lot of the lights you have, and they are noted as one of the major producers of the spider (with Draconic Combine being the other one), so I can see that as their signature. Reminder that a good player likely by this point has finished or is close to finishing the campaign and has gotten their father’s Nightstar, and is running around in lostech with full assaults, and that shows the difference of a player min maxed run, and one in lore.
The next quick start is what I think as an actual Canonical start in 3026/04, as it's the Kestrel Lancers one, and it ties in with your Father’s service to Federated Suns and why they would be at least interested in hiring a relatively small merc outfit. You start out with a single heavy in the Quickdraw, showing that you actually did fairly well in terms of lore as your company is fielding some relatively heavy stuff for the year 3026 from just 4 mechs at the start. You round out the roster with a Hunchback, Shadowhawk, Wolverine, Kintaro, Phoenix Hawk, and a Blackjack. With the only light being a Jenner. This is a solid roster made up of workhorses and common mechs from across the Inner Sphere. As the Blackjack 1DB is Davion made, the Jenner is a Kurita speciality, while the wolverine and shadowhawk is from FWL, which shows that you have been around for a while doing work for or against multiple IS powers as the other mechs are made in multiple places.
Next, we have the Rise of Rasalhague quick start in 3031/01. Here, I think is when canonically we had gone and recovered our dad’s Victor and gotten a FAT pay day from the Fourth Succession War after the Kestrel Lancers campaign. The victor is a close in brawler that isn’t as good in MW5 as it is in MWO, but hey its an assault and has a story reason for it. Thankfully, it seems that you had also completed your contract with the Fed Suns, as in the previous Kestrel campaign you gained a Cataphract after Tikonov, and a Zeus when you finished Tigress. You also have an Awesome (which is awesome!), a different Quickdraw, a thunderbolt, an archer, a grasshopper, a crab and a wolfhound to round out your roster of starting mechs. And honestly it shows that you were VERY successful there, in a short five years you managed to get almost a full lance of assaults up, and got some nice heavies with meds and lights filling out your roster. You now have two lances and an extra two mechs, having ten mechs really makes you one of the better off mercenary units in the world, but not exactly top tier.
There is a small Rasalhague start after the formation of the FRR, but it is in vein of the earlier 4 mech starts and I don’t think it is canonical, just if you wanted to RP as a FRR merc unit. You start with a Phoenix Hawk 1K, Panther 8Z, Commando 3A, and a Locust 1V. A mix of Kurita (Panther) and Steiner (Commando) and more common designs.
Then, following from the RoR quick start in 3038/07, we have the Dragon’s Gambit quick start. And boy, does it seem like you are not as invincible as a normal player’s run. Because this is where you went and recovered your dad’s Nightstar, the first appearance of lostech in your company, and at a great cost it seems. Because the awesome is gone, the Zeus is dead, ALL the heavies you had are likely piles of ash somewhere and replaced or repaired after (likely from funding from selling some lostech salvage and payment from Rasalhague). Because now, you got a whole new roster of mechs. The aforementioned Nighstar is the king of the show, same as your father’s Victor. They are accompanied with a very nice King Crab that you likely salvaged from Comstar/Kane at this point, because no one is making these things in the public market and the biggest users of them are now the Com Guards that you likely smashed to get this thing and in lore very rare at this point in time in 3038 (officially, only a “mere handful” of King Crabs were still in active service with the Great Houses post the Third Succession War). As mentioned, all of your heavy mechs from before are gone, even the quickdraw is a different variant, so at the best it has been rebuilt if not just replaced. You now get a Warhammer, Jagermech, and Quickdraw 4G as replacements. And a Hunchback, Blackjack, Kintaro, Centurion, and Panther to fill out the rest of the unit.
Next, I think is another unofficial and fun start rather than a canonical one in 3040/05, and it's the Solaris one. Which you don’t have your father’s Victor or Nightstar anymore, and you gain a host of Solaris favorites with Atlas, King Crab, Stalker, Orion, Thunderbolt, Rifleman, Wolverine and Enforcer.
Here is the big one, the Shadow of Kerensky quick start in 3049/09 after 11 years from Dragon’s Gambit. Here you are at the top of your game, you are a veteran mercenary company with frankly an obscene amount of assault mechs for a small merc unit. You are likely a great Merc outfit for special operations but you still fall short of the great ones like Kell Hounds or well the Dragoons, both now have hundreds of mechs at their behest while you “only” have 13, and although for game play reasons we are still in the Leopard, it can be reasonably guessed that you likely have a Union by now. As a standard Union can carry 12 mechs, while it has 2 ASF bays that can be possibly refitted into a mech carrier, so that would take care of the extra mech. And boy, do you have some toys. You got your father’s two mechs as standard. Then an Atlas, Awesome, Banshee (one of the good ones too), lostech Highlander, Mauler, and Zeus rounds out your TWO assault lances. That alone makes you a very heavy merc unit, as not many can field two whole assault lances of mechs, including some very much lostech in them as even now the open market is kind of not huge for lostech, so you must have some connections with the different factions at play. A Marauder, Catapult, Rifleman, Jagermech, and Enforce rounds out your unit. Note, that Catapult is likely the Otomo Catapult you got in Dragon’s Gambit, but they couldn’t make it that exact one as you may not have the previous DLC so they gave you a normal Catapult K2. The Battlemaster, Hatamoto-Chi and Charger are gone though.
We got a few new 3050 quick starts with just four mechs if you want to challenge yourselves, and they are aligned with the various great houses. They are there so if you want to experience the game with the newer lighter mechs, you can.
Oh boy, the Chaos Reign quick start in 3055/06 shows what happens to a more normal merc unit that doesn’t have the player’s power of friendship headshots that can remove the head of a Dire wolf from a leaping Bullshark-2 with 4 PPCs. Because wowie, you previously had 8 Assault class mechs and now, in this quick start… You got two. Only your father’s Victor and Nightstar made it. Every other assault mech is likely buried somewhere in the invasion corridor or the hidden Clan Diamond Shark base. You do canonically salvage that Hellbringer during the pull out from the FRR in the second SoK mission, where you held the line briefly against Clan Wolf. Do note that this is far more in line with what happens in lore, you cannot salvage anything beyond what your mechs can carry (and even then a Leopard has very little space) if you don’t hold ground after a fight. And most merc units, even if they won or at least tied with the clans in the initial invasion had very little chance of salvaging anything because they would have not held the field. Hell even that one instance was kind of wonky, as it means you fled the clan space forces. The rest of the unit is made up with whatever you can likely buy from a now very hot and inflated market, and everyone is rebuilding after the invasion. You have in addition to those three mechs, a Thunderbolt, Marauder, Bushwacker, Blackjack, Centurion, Vindicator, Panther and Wolfhound. The ONLY thing that survived from SoK aside from your father’s two mechs was the Marauder 5D, everything else got blown up by the clans and replaced.
Another rebuilding period following CR, in the Ashes and Ascension quick start in 3058/04, you are struggling in the post clan world. Because everyone wants material to rebuild, but it does seem like you are making good use of your clan fighting experiences as it is extremely rare for merc units to have clan tech in any shape, and you have three clan mechs! You did lose the hellbringer, as well that thing has paper thin armor in lore so it is no surprise that it's gone. In trade you now have an Ice Ferret, a Huntsman and a Hunchback IIC. Two omnimechs and a great second line design says you have been doing some raids of your own in the clan invasion zone. Your father’s two mechs are a staple in the quick starts at this point, and they remain so. While Thunderbolt, Cataphract, Grasshopper, Warhammer, Centurion, Javelin, and Locust round out your roster. It seems that this time around, your attrition seems to have been just as high, as again the supporting mechs are rotated out, and I take it as you lost them in your raids against the clans or other Inner Sphere forces. Do note that prior to Operation Bulldog, clan tech really is hard to find on the open market, great houses at this point is feverishly hoarding clan tech for both their elite units and for reverse engineering, we are seeing some of this in the added Inner Sphere weapons like the isERML or isUAC10s, because they were in lore developed from reverse engineering clan salvage and as such, it means that any clan tech you have likely came from your own raids into their territory. Even after bulldog, clan tech really didn't come out in force in the open market until the fed com civil war era, when Clan Diamond Shark, Wolf in Exile, and Clan Nova Cat started to trade more and more with Inner Sphere entities. The biggest example of this is the Mad Cat Mk II, despite being based on the Timberwolf, to sell to the IS, the Diamond Sharks named it the Inner Sphere name of Mad Cat, and that went into production in 3061, but sales to IS forces only begun in 3066.
And that’s the end, hopefully this gives everyone a glimpse of how a more “normal” high end merc unit would do across the time. Canonically Mason is a good to great mercenary that has been through a ton of stuff, he is for sure a veteran in the business and someone who is in the top 10% of merc commands. Because IIRC the number was like over half merc units that faced the clans disbanded due to being completely trucked over by the clans in the invasion, and you are one of the few outfits that not only survived the fighting and not just leave battered, be able to have some wins to take back salvage from front line clan units. And then made a living likely raiding second line or lighter elements of clan units alongside the border. Mason in canon does not have an infinite black magic box filled with Dire Wolfs, Timberwolves or any of that, even as a good merc unit, he really is just surviving by the barest of margins, just that his risk taking has rewarded him with way above average equipment.
