Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

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Grayson Death Carlyle said:
Clan uniforms in the cutscenes look way too much like Kuritan uniforms imo, also the HUD reminds me of Halo 4 and 5 kinda. The whole thing seems a bit too clean and modern sci-fi where I would expect it to be a bit grittier, but I could just be retarded.
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Inner Sphere I definitely expect it to be more "lived in." Clanners... maybe get a pass on that. But yeah, it doesn't quite have the vibe I want, but it's probably close enough. As long as it has mod support (they haven't confirmed it) I'll be happy.

There's a chance they'll nuke mod support cause it makes DLC harder to sell, tho...
 
HTTP Error 404 said:
Inner Sphere I definitely expect it to be more "lived in." Clanners... maybe get a pass on that.
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Clans could swing either way there. Sure, they're bigger sticklers for procedure... but at the same time these are the guys who abhor waste and recycle everything. So their shit should look clean but worn out. Like, a Timber Wolf freshly deployed should have a pristine paintjob and be very clean, but also be full of patches and repairs since the thing probably got knocked out and salvaged at least eight times since the Golden Century.

That's a problem all of modern BT has, though. Everything looks a bit too clean and new, even though the setting is essentially post-apocalyptic and even freshly-built vehicles and buildings undergo a lot of wear and hard use very quickly. Ironically, I think this might be more an issue with the switch to digital art over pencil-and-ink illustrations. Everything looks extremely straight and neat. And beveled, of course. There is no corner Current Year BT won't bevel.
 
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Corn Flakes said:
There is no corner Current Year BT won't bevel.
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Take a look at this illustration of a circle from the latest TRO:
mechwarrior.png
 
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Corn Flakes said:
Clans could swing either way there. Sure, they're bigger sticklers for procedure... but at the same time these are the guys who abhor waste and recycle everything. So their shit should look clean but worn out. Like, a Timber Wolf freshly deployed should have a pristine paintjob and be very clean, but also be full of patches and repairs since the thing probably got knocked out and salvaged at least eight times since the Golden Century.

That's a problem all of modern BT has, though. Everything looks a bit too clean and new, even though the setting is essentially post-apocalyptic and even freshly-built vehicles and buildings undergo a lot of wear and hard use very quickly. Ironically, I think this might be more an issue with the switch to digital art over pencil-and-ink illustrations. Everything looks extremely straight and neat. And beveled, of course. There is no corner Current Year BT won't bevel.
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Do the clanners not have the ability to make new mechs et all? I thought the reusing of mechs for centuries was primarily an IS thing.
 
HTTP Error 404 said:
Do the clanners not have the ability to make new mechs et all? I thought the reusing of mechs for centuries was primarily an IS thing.
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They can build new 'Mechs just fine, but their homeworlds are relatively resource starved compared to the IS, and coming out of the Pentagon Civil War they were very averse to "wasting" resources (unless those are Warriors' lives, I guess). Their whole ritualized system of bidding and one-on-one combat with outright destruction of enemy assets being frowned upon comes out of that. There's greater honor in winning a battle with the least amount of assets employed, not just because it's a display of skill, but also because there's less wastage and fewer opportunities for things to be damaged in such a way they cannot be repaired after the battle.

Ideally for the Clans, every 'Mech destroyed in a Trial can be salvaged and put back into service as many times as the MechTechs can do it. And anything that's getting too old and outdated is sent to garrison units or simply gets mothballed for future use. Take the Dire Wolf, Clan Wolf's flagship, for example. That thing was originally a Star League ship. The Clans 100% had the technology to build new WarShip classes, but since the Sovetskii Soyuz worked fine for them they just kept repairing and refurbishing it over 300 years of hard use. Likewise, there are Star League 'Mechs in solahma and second-line units, not necessarily due to a lack of new BattleMechs, but because they still work fine.

So, while the Inner Sphere kept repairing old 'Mechs due to not being able to produce half that stuff anymore, the Clans do it out of habit.
 
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Grayson Death Carlyle said:
Clan uniforms in the cutscenes look way too much like Kuritan uniforms imo, also the HUD reminds me of Halo 4 and 5 kinda. The whole thing seems a bit too clean and modern sci-fi where I would expect it to be a bit grittier, but I could just be retarded.
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I might have an over attachement to MWO's but the HUD does feel like a bit of a step down, I did notice on a second look the lack of L/R side indicators on the paperdolls which is odd. The real issue is how overly big and harder to read the weapons loadout is, since MW4 the loadout section has essentially been the same and it has been because it works really well so its a case of change for the sake of change.
 
Moja Zemlja said:
I might have an over attachement to MWO's but the HUD does feel like a bit of a step down, I did notice on a second look the lack of L/R side indicators on the paperdolls which is odd. The real issue is how overly big and harder to read the weapons loadout is, since MW4 the loadout section has essentially been the same and it has been because it works really well so its a case of change for the sake of change.
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It would amuse me to no end if they started simplifying the combat mechanics to try and capture the fortnite / call of duty / etc types.
 
AbduluCthuluZulu said:
Eh, clan officials are known to turn a blind eye to recreational sex so long as birth control is used, to be fair. What I'm wondering is if Sea Fox will just pull folks from other castes into their sex industry, or say 'fuck the rules, we like money' and use clan genetic engineering to create a whole new caste of exotic prostitutes to compete with the Canopians.
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They'll even turn a blind eye to sibkin/sibkin (you know, literal brother/sister incest) sex as long as both parties are otherwise responsible.

Turns out when you have no parents or any real family and the existential reality of being mass-produced cannon fodder sets in, you need to find release and intimacy somewhere.
 
I think it might be less weird for the clanners to be overly permissive with sex when it's between closely related vat-born warriors than for the clans to make a caste of literal sex slaves.

I have no idea how fucking brain rotted someone has to be to roll out an idea that is actually more offputting than overly close eugenics siblings.
 
The sibkos aren't necessarily containing genetic relations, at least not close ones. Given the clans' obsessions with bloodlines some degree of relation is probably inevitable, but they'll stick in freeborn kids or other vat-grown kids who were born around the same time. In any event I don't think they consider each other family in any sense like we do. Fun fact, some Israeli perverts tried that whole communal creche child rearing thing back in like the 60s, it eventually fell apart.
 
Grayson Death Carlyle said:
Clan uniforms in the cutscenes look way too much like Kuritan uniforms imo, also the HUD reminds me of Halo 4 and 5 kinda.
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This is slight cope, but I think they're going for uniforms that invoke their SLDF origins. I do actually like how clean the HUD is as a way to illustrate how far beyond the IS they are. Even if it's something as minor as the cockpit systems. That is disregarding how effective it as an actual HUD for the player.

Corn Flakes said:
So their shit should look clean but worn out. Like, a Timber Wolf freshly deployed should have a pristine paintjob and be very clean, but also be full of patches and repairs since the thing probably got knocked out and salvaged at least eight times since the Golden Century.
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The overly clean mech textures is 98% a PGI contrivance, but I could see the Clans giving pretty much everything a complete refit and gussying their mechs up for the Invasion. It's basically their existential mandate. Wardens aside obviously.
 
robobobo said:
The sibkos aren't necessarily containing genetic relations, at least not close ones. Given the clans' obsessions with bloodlines some degree of relation is probably inevitable, but they'll stick in freeborn kids or other vat-grown kids who were born around the same time. In any event I don't think they consider each other family in any sense like we do.
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I was under the impression the clan sibkos were like the scientists mixing the genetics of two warriors from previous times together as if they were a father and mother and growing the kids artificially from that, meaning they would be about as related as siblings or cousins.
not william stenchever said:
I have no idea how fucking brain rotted someone has to be to roll out an idea that is actually more offputting than overly close eugenics siblings.
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I think this is easier to write off when you realize the clans are just basically autistic.
 
robobobo said:
The sibkos aren't necessarily containing genetic relations, at least not close ones. Given the clans' obsessions with bloodlines some degree of relation is probably inevitable, but they'll stick in freeborn kids or other vat-grown kids who were born around the same time. In any event I don't think they consider each other family in any sense like we do.
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Where did you read that Clans mix freeborn into sibkos? The entire point of sibkos is to train trueborns. Freeborns are brought in as adults or young adults and even in the most progressive Clans rarely operate in the same units as trueborns until they have proven themselves in combat.

And unless this got retconned later so the writers could avoid implied underage incest, sibkin being actual siblings is the most common state:
1719149106783.png

(MechWarrior's Guide To the Clans, p 83.)

1719149333216.png

(MechWarrior's Guide To the Clans, p 70.)

Chris Hartford either didn't fully think things through, or he had some weird kinks going on.
 
Corn Flakes said:
Where did you read that Clans mix freeborn into sibkos? The entire point of sibkos is to train trueborns. Freeborns are brought in as adults or young adults and even in the most progressive Clans rarely operate in the same units as trueborns until they have proven themselves in combat.
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I know for a fact the Falcons operated freeborn sibkos. One of those got intentionally ganked by Ter Roshak in a "training accident" involving live landmines so he could have Aidan not-yet-Pryde impersonate one so he could test out a second time. I think the Wolves also did, since the Dragoons had their own take on those that Phelan Kell spent some time in while he was being fostered by them.
 
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Now that I've finished the final renovations on my new place I have a ton of space for gaming, so I'm thinking of setting up a bunch of semi-permanent boards and getting back into BT. Are the Battletech neoprene mats any good, or is there a better 3rd party (I'm not bothered about price, I just want something good quality that won;t fall apart after a few months of use)
Similarly does anyone have any experience with Hextech terrain, or recommendations for BT compatible pre-made stuff?
 
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