MachtWerk

MachtWerk is a major manufacturer of Mechs and Mech parts of all types primarily located on Tiegel in the Near Periphery. It produced Mechs for several major powers in a virtually uninterrupted fashion for nearly 500 years.

## Company Information

### Primary Sites

* Tiegel
* Zhuhai
* Ravenstein

### Specialty

Heavily armored BattleMechs

MachtWerk and its primary Mech plants on Tiegel were originally created by Tadeao Amaris as a part of his massive military build-up of the Rim Worlds Republic under his regency for his then-sickly cousin Selenta Amaris. It was an ambitious project, taking eight years to build, and by the time it was completed in late 2648, Tadeo would only see its fruits for a few years before being ousted by Selenta for stirring tensions with the Lyran Commonwealth and Star League as a whole. Nonetheless, the plant would go on to becoming a major contributor to the Republic's military strength up until its dissolution, expending its assets to open new plants on Zhuhai

During the Amaris Civil War, MachtWerk became an important target during Alexander Kerensky's blitzkrieg of the Rim World Republic, though its location on the northwestern quadrant of the Republic would leave it for the later stages of that campaign. While Tiegel's surface was conquered relatively easily by the SLDF, the underwater nature of the primary Mech factories protecting it from most types of bombardments or attack and the presence of Castle Brian on the world made the prospect of razing the plants a difficult and complex one. The battles for the Zhuhai plants were far more bloody, and the assembly lines there were destroyed via nuclear bombardment by a fanatical Division of the Amaris Dragoons after the capital was occupied by the SLDF and all counter-attacks were repulsed.

In the end, Kerensky simply did not have time or manpower to waste on extraneous objectives and protracted sieges, as he wanted to preserve his forces for the reconquest of the Terran Hegemony. Instead, the SLDF looted all they could from MachtWerk's stockpiles of Mech and parts, conscripted the Mechs into SLDF service - especially the Leviathans - and had demolition charges planted at strategic locations inside the plant, its access tunnels, and the outer dome before moving on to the real battle in the Terran Hegemony. For better or worse, Kerensky over-estimated the plant's vulnerability to such attacks, and it was not completely flooded. Within less than a year, water had been pumped out and the access tunnels repaired.

After the end of the Civil War and the dissolution of the Republic, Tiegel was rapidly annexed by the Lyran Commonwealth, and with it, MachtWerk's assembly lines. As the Succession Wars progressed, MachtWerk would go on to become one of the Commonwealth's largest Mech manufacturers. It became the target of many unsuccessful attacks, both overt and covert, by the Draconis combine, but all of them were repelled due to the plant's highly defensible location. These attacks became more and more intense as the Succession Wars progressed and facilities were destroyed across the entire Inner Sphere, leaving MachtWerl's Tiegel plant as one of the last factories capable of producing Double Heat Sinks and XL Engines in the Commonwealth. Despite the lack of major damage to the plant, this ability would nonetheless eventually become lost due to a breakdown in off-world supply lines.

During the Clan Invasions, Tiegel and its BattleMech assembly lines would become an important target for Clan Jade Falcon, who successfully wrested the world from the Lyrans in 3050. The Falcons retooled most of the old Heavy production lines to manufacture Hellbringer and Mad Dogs within the Inner Sphere, while the Medium and Assault lines continued to produce Fire Eeels and Leviathans respectively. Production numbers suffered however as the population struggled to adapt to life under Clan occupation.

The MachtWerk factories would once again change hands almost bloodlessly as Tiegel was taken by Clan Ashen Corsac as its adoptive Homeworld during the FedCom Civil War. Under Corsac rule, production numbers recovered and the Medium and and Assault lines saw modernization. It would then once again see assaults as both the Lyran Commonwealth and Clan Jade Falcon made attempts at reconquering the world and its highly valuable Mech lines.

Throughout the following decade, attempts were made by Clan Ashen Corsac to decontaminate and repair the ruins of the Zhuhai factories, while the construction of new production lines were begun on Ravenstein, with the Ravenstein Experimental Bureau subsidiary being established to experiment with new, unusual Mech designs and components. The result of this new cooperation and technological renaissance would be the emergence in 3075 of two new 'families' of Mechs, including two tripod Mech designs and a number of new and adapted 'high durability' Mechs characterized by their use of foamed Iridium composite Reinforced Structure and Reflective Armor.

## Layout

MachtWerk's primary plant on Tiegel is located on the seabed of the coastal waters off the shore from the capital city of Kern and sits roughly 150m. This means that attacking it with Mechs at all is extremely dangerous as it exposes them to potential Crush Depths, on top of the dangers of breached hulls. Though the location is no secret, the water shields the plant from most types of bombardments save intense nuclear or mass driver strikes.

The primary means of getting in and out of the plant involves a set of underground maglev lines and elevators below the seafloor which lead directly to Kern's industrial centers. These tunnels are fitted with extensive pump networks and compartmentalized bulkheads, which allows to contain any flooding from structural breach, but also to trap and flood attackers on purpose in specific sections of the tunnels. As the tunnels are the most obvious and simplest means of reaching the plant, the strategy has been repeatedly used, generally with no survivors.

The factory itself is Double-hulled, with two successive layers of structural shells ensuring that even if the outer structure is breached, any flooding is immediately contained. The assembly lines within are individual, modular units each with their own geothermal plants and self-contained production apparatus. Further underground storage facilities and living quarters allow the workers to remain on site for protracted amounts of time during a siege.

## Products

MachtWerk's manufacturing lines are detailed above, broken down by location

### Tiegel

**Mechs**
 Fire Eel | Medium BattleMech
 Fire Eel IIC | Medium OmniMech
 Hellbringer
 Mad Dog
 Stalking Corsac | Light BattleMech

**Engines**
 MachtWerk X280
 MachtWerk X300
 MachtWerk X325
 MachtWerk X350

### Zhuhai

**Note**: The Zhuhai facilities were targeted by nuclear weapons during the Amaris Civil War and were rendered completely inoperational until restored by the Corsacs in the late 3060s early 3070s. It only functions at 35% capacity as of 3080.