Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[Corn Flakes]

I'm a lore nerd, so yea. I love the actual game but you get tired of nerds trying to mix/max literally everything. Maybe I'm just autistic.

So am I, but BattleTech is and has always been a very "hero"-centric setting. Powerful men shaping history and all that. Those settings live and die on their writers, and none of the actual plot staff at FASA were writers. You usually see those crappy characters being much better explored in the novels, and even those can be a bit hit and miss. There's only so much even a great writer can do with Katherine "I'm harder to kill than a cockroach" Steiner.

The whole middle of the Dark Age was weird. Late Dark Age is pretty kino as they pretty much stop on the whole limited mech shit and some of the new stuff coming out of IlClan is pretty cool as well.

Not gonna lie, I like some of the stuff coming out of IlClan, but the prevalence of mixed tech irks me. The 'Mechs themselves tend to be fairly balanced, but it opens too big a window for the munchkins to design their "perfect" (read: boring) mixed-tech machines.

Stupid question: Why are dropships spherical? I guess it's a fairly durable shape with the lowest possible surface area to volume ratio, but it still strikes me as a weird choice for a spaceship shape.

There are plenty of plane-shaped dropships. A whole category of them, they're called Aerodyne dropships. Case in point: our good friend, the Leopard.

The MechWarrior games liked using Overlords or Hrothgars (which are still noncanon, by the way) because they're very large and very striking objects/targets when you're running around getting shot at. In-universe, Spheroid dropships are very common because they're theoretically the most efficient way to use internal space and building materials, since you don't have to spend anything on lift surfaces. Both Aerodyne and Spheroid dropships are VTOL craft, so if you're going to fit downward thrusters large enough to keep the ship flying and able to make re-entry, you might as well ditch the wings altogether.

 

[BlackDragoons]

There are plenty of plane-shaped dropships. A whole category of them, they're called Aerodyne dropships. Case in point: our good friend, the Leopard.
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Honestly that is what happens when cultures mix especially after a big thing like the Clan Invasion invoked. They tried pushing it back with the Jihad/Dark Age and people got pissed. Rightly so.


Also on the dropship you get shit like this https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Conquistador

 

[Snekposter]

Kai

Kai was actually introduced during the Clan Invasion with along with VSD. And to be fair, when your old men are Justin Allard and Hanse Davion, one arguably the finest MechWarrior alive and the other a man who outsmarted the entire Inner Sphere, came damn fucking close to giving away the entire Capellan Confederation as a wedding gift, and forcibly yanked military tactics towards practical combined arms instead of dueling MechWarriors... yeah, being terrified about living up to expectations makes a whole lot of sense.

A Clan RAC20 is like 6 guns strapped together, I think that qualifies as "guns, guns and more guns".

Also FCCW as a setting is the tits.

Now you're just splitting hairs. Or is it BattleMechs since we're talking AC/20 shells?

 

[Corn Flakes]

Honestly that is what happens when cultures mix especially after a big thing like the Clan Invasion invoked. They tried pushing it back with the Jihad/Dark Age and people got pissed. Rightly so.

In principle I don't have a problem with ClanTech becoming more available in the Inner Sphere. As I said, the canon designs in the post-Dark Ages tend to be interesting, overspecialized, or kinda bad. I find all these things good, because they foster variety in unit composition.

What irks me is that it also opens precedent for the mouthbreathers to build even more obnoxious boats, either as Omnis or as custom designs. Hyper-optimized 'Mechs are just not fun to play against when you run Canon configurations exclusively.

 

[BlackDragoons]

In principle I don't have a problem with ClanTech becoming more available in the Inner Sphere. As I said, the canon designs in the post-Dark Ages tend to be interesting, overspecialized, or kinda bad. I find all these things good, because they foster variety in unit composition.

What irks me is that it also opens precedent for the mouthbreathers to build even more obnoxious boats, either as Omnis or as custom designs. Hyper-optimized 'Mechs are just not fun to play against when you run Canon configurations exclusively.

Oh I agree on that. But when it comes to campaigns I give it a pass. We also did a month of games where you had money and you would get cash to upgrade yours mechs. But you could only replace weapons if they where the same type.


Pretty cool to see a roided out 3R at the end of the game.

 

[Bassomatic]

One thing I kinda do like and it seems to bleed over to MWO for balance reasons is the clans might be "better" but they aren't as flexible. IS has 5 PPC kinds? Now the Clan ERPPC is just fucking stupid good don't get me wrong and I'd NEVER kick one out of bed or not take as salvage doing anything in my power like shedding armor dropping heat sinks or down sizing an engine to strap one on my machines but the IS got more toys to play with because in lore, keep trying and need to make things even.

I can't tell you how many times I've been playing as clanners and wanted a snub nose PPC for example. Once your down in shorter ranges the SN is a beast (also 9 hex short range longest of the game)

One of the nicest mechs to throw out and is canon (I forget the name off hand) is just a basic bitch Thug a great brawler, that's swapped to clan tech.

minmaxers have been around since intro tech but back then all they did was make everything a hunchback 4p because the ML is the best bang for buck (even in later eras) There's an old again canon mech a thunderbolt tallman with like 10 MLs... what she does with DHS boring... but damn good.

Part of the game to me is flavor, and keeping mech sorta like it is, now some short comings or bad use you let slide, but I'm never going to (unless playing a campaign and struggling) slap a fucking LBX on an archer. It just feels dirty. I do enjoy that pirate build also but I like to keep things kinda how they are, work with what I've got and since even my group we rarley use infantry, just yank MGs no reason to have those time bombs sitting around.

 

[Urbanmech]

One thing I kinda do like and it seems to bleed over to MWO for balance reasons is the clans might be "better" but they aren't as flexible. IS has 5 PPC kinds? Now the Clan ERPPC is just fucking stupid good don't get me wrong and I'd NEVER kick one out of bed or not take as salvage doing anything in my power like shedding armor dropping heat sinks or down sizing an engine to strap one on my machines but the IS got more toys to play with because in lore, keep trying and need to make things even.

I can't tell you how many times I've been playing as clanners and wanted a snub nose PPC for example. Once your down in shorter ranges the SN is a beast (also 9 hex short range longest of the game)

One of the nicest mechs to throw out and is canon (I forget the name off hand) is just a basic bitch Thug a great brawler, that's swapped to clan tech.

minmaxers have been around since intro tech but back then all they did was make everything a hunchback 4p because the ML is the best bang for buck (even in later eras) There's an old again canon mech a thunderbolt tallman with like 10 MLs... what she does with DHS boring... but damn good.

Part of the game to me is flavor, and keeping mech sorta like it is, now some short comings or bad use you let slide, but I'm never going to (unless playing a campaign and struggling) slap a fucking LBX on an archer. It just feels dirty. I do enjoy that pirate build also but I like to keep things kinda how they are, work with what I've got and since even my group we rarley use infantry, just yank MGs no reason to have those time bombs sitting around.

I always preferred 3025 TR stock, the mechs seem to have more personality compared to later eras with more variants and definitely more than Omnimechs.

 

[ComStar]

I've always liked Battletech, but it took me a loooong time to get to the tabletop version. I was always more of a gamer, and only recently bought the boxset and managed to wrangle my friends into trying it. Even had a Mechwarior Destiny/tabletop mashup campaign ready to go, but then my daughter happened

Spoiler: Computer game opinions

MW2:Mercs was the coolest shit i had ever seen back when i was 10, and i spent way too much time playing it. Thinking back, it had some really odd mechs as well. Who seriously remembers or uses Bombardiers, Nagas, Phantoms and Grizzlies? The Kodiak was OP as fuck though.

MW3 was also a game i spent too much time on. Couldn't get very far into the campaign, but instant action was good enough. Awesome intro

By the time MW4 arrived, i had drifted away from the series apart from a short Living Legends stint, and then nothing really happened until MWO hit. And i really liked MWO too, despite all the unbalanced shit, occasional crappy maps, peekaboo matches and fucking retards you get saddled with. Too bad only one of my friends played semi-regularly, so there wasn't as much jolly co-operation as i had hoped. Think i got tired of MWO just as they were releasing the Kodiak packs, which sucked because i bough that pack and haven't even tried them outside of the training grounds...

I bought MW5 on release, even got Epic because fuck Steam loyalty and Epic's business practices, i wanted MW5 NOW. And it was a bit shit to be honest. It's basically singleplayer MWO with vehicles and helos, not-really-random maps and a crap mechlab. Mods make it better, but it's still an endless string of Instant Action missions with halfassed merc company management tacked on. the HBS version does this right, MW5 does not.

Then again, i get to kill vehicles by stomping on them and swat tons of helicopters so i'm pretty OK with it anyway. The combat's way better than MWO as well.

Strategy wise, i rather liked Mechcommander. The sequel is decent. As for Battletech (the HBS game), i have 520 hours in it. I fucking love Battletech Roguetech. Enough said

I cannot fathom why, but my favorite successor state is the Capellan Confederation. I hate real life communism with a passion, but those Cappie fuckers have a certain je ne sais quoi.

Favorite clan? Wolverine. I honestly find the clans pretty boring and approve of them killing each other in ritualized genocidal war, but Clan Wolverine got a raw deal

One of the nicest mechs to throw out and is canon (I forget the name off hand) is just a basic bitch Thug a great brawler, that's swapped to clan tech.

Speaking of Thugs, ever run the José custom variant? Always liked the idea of it stalking around in some urban jungle like an 80-ton Predator...

 

[TFT-A9]

I've always liked Battletech, but it took me a loooong time to get to the tabletop version. I was always more of a gamer, and only recently bought the boxset and managed to wrangle my friends into trying it. Even had a Mechwarior Destiny/tabletop mashup campaign ready to go, but then my daughter happened

Spoiler: Computer game opinions

MW2:Mercs was the coolest shit i had ever seen back when i was 10, and i spent way too much time playing it. Thinking back, it had some really odd mechs as well. Who seriously remembers or uses Bombardiers, Nagas, Phantoms and Grizzlies? The Kodiak was OP as fuck though.

MW3 was also a game i spent too much time on. Couldn't get very far into the campaign, but instant action was good enough. Awesome intro

By the time MW4 arrived, i had drifted away from the series apart from a short Living Legends stint, and then nothing really happened until MWO hit. And i really liked MWO too, despite all the unbalanced shit, occasional crappy maps, peekaboo matches and fucking retards you get saddled with. Too bad only one of my friends played semi-regularly, so there wasn't as much jolly co-operation as i had hoped. Think i got tired of MWO just as they were releasing the Kodiak packs, which sucked because i bough that pack and haven't even tried them outside of the training grounds...

I bought MW5 on release, even got Epic because fuck Steam loyalty and Epic's business practices, i wanted MW5 NOW. And it was a bit shit to be honest. It's basically singleplayer MWO with vehicles and helos, not-really-random maps and a crap mechlab. Mods make it better, but it's still an endless string of Instant Action missions with halfassed merc company management tacked on. the HBS version does this right, MW5 does not.

Then again, i get to kill vehicles by stomping on them and swat tons of helicopters so i'm pretty OK with it anyway. The combat's way better than MWO as well.

Strategy wise, i rather liked Mechcommander. The sequel is decent. As for Battletech (the HBS game), i have 520 hours in it. I fucking love Battletech Roguetech. Enough said

I cannot fathom why, but my favorite successor state is the Capellan Confederation. I hate real life communism with a passion, but those Cappie fuckers have a certain je ne sais quoi.

Favorite clan? Wolverine. I honestly find the clans pretty boring and approve of them killing each other in ritualized genocidal war, but Clan Wolverine got a raw deal


Speaking of Thugs, ever run the José custom variant? Always liked the idea of it stalking around in some urban jungle like an 80-ton Predator...

The Capellans are in the position of perpetual underdog in the IS, and for a reason - they're hilariously poor compared to every other Successor State. They're conniving, sneaky bastards.

They're also damned fucking GOOD at sticking around, despite the odds being against them. They suffered through insane and inept leadership, being worked over by having the fucking plot-armored bastards in the FedSuns as neighbors... their literacy rate is bar-none the highest in the entire IS, and while a great deal of their forces are forced to make do with the equivalent of a three-line rifle and a mule cart they tend to be absolutely fucking fanatical (do not fuck with the Death Commandos, just don't, they're completely fucking insane and evil). If the Davions weren't on their border they likely would have already devoured the Free Worlds League, which can't stop hitting itself in the face repeatedly.

 

[Snekposter]

their literacy rate is bar-none the highest in the entire IS

Its hard to force-feed your citizens propaganda if they can't read. Coincidentally, Joseph Stalin pushed hard for increased literacy rates in the USSR...

If the Davions weren't on their border they likely would have already devoured the Free Worlds League, which can't stop hitting itself in the face repeatedly.

Careful... our resident Awesome is a Civil Wars League fanboy.

 

[TFT-A9]

Its hard to force-feed your citizens propaganda if they can't read. Coincidentally, Joseph Stalin pushed hard for increased literacy rates in the USSR...

Careful... our resident Awesome is a Civil Wars League fanboy.

Yeah but he knows as well as anyone that the FWL's worst enemies are themselves, unfortunately. And absolutely re: propaganda, Cappies LOVE their Xin Sheng propaganda. That said, literacy's a pretty big deal, good reasons or bad. The Cappies are like cockroaches - damn near impossible to completely destroy, even if they are the Space Poors.

 

[Snekposter]

The Cappies are like cockroaches - damn near impossible to completely destroy

No no, the Smoke Jaggies are the fucking cockroaches. We thought they were wiped out... and then it turns out they're the Fidelis, and now they're back as CSJ proper under the Wolf Empire.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Yeah but he knows as well as anyone that the FWL's worst enemies are themselves, unfortunately. And absolutely re: propaganda, Cappies LOVE their Xin Sheng propaganda. That said, literacy's a pretty big deal, good reasons or bad. The Cappies are like cockroaches - damn near impossible to completely destroy, even if they are the Space Poors.

The FWL's worst enemies are themselves, but once an external enemy shows up the FWL then becomes that enemy's worst enemy. Nothing better to get the Provinces to set their differences aside than some Liao fuckery or Steiner incursion near the borders.

In short, the Free Worlds League likes war so much that when they don't have one available they'll do it among themselves. It's probably why they broke up during the Jihad. After getting blueballed by the Clan Invasion and the FedCom Civil War, these guys just had that much war to get out of their system and couldn't hold themselves together.

 

[TFT-A9]

No no, the Smoke Jaggies are the fucking cockroaches. We thought they were wiped out... and then it turns out they're the Fidelis, and now they're back as CSJ proper under the Wolf Empire.

Fuck that shit, this is why I wish we could retcon Jihad/Dark Age out.

The FWL's worst enemies are themselves, but once an external enemy shows up the FWL then becomes that enemy's worst enemy. Nothing better to get the Provinces to set their differences aside than some Liao fuckery or Steiner incursion near the borders.

In short, the Free Worlds League likes war so much that when they don't have one available they'll do it among themselves. It's probably why they broke up during the Jihad. After getting blueballed by the Clan Invasion and the FedCom Civil War, these guys just had that much war to get out of their system and couldn't hold themselves together.

It's kind of sad that most of their impact in the universe as a Successor State can be summed up with Guerrero and Wobbie fuckery. Neglected, and then dragged out when the writers need someone to fuck over. Not even weak or poor, just "Oh, FWL? Right, they're a thing."

 

[Snekposter]

It's kind of sad that most of their impact in the universe as a Successor State can be summed up with Guerrero and Wobbie fuckery. Neglected, and then dragged out when the writers need someone to fuck over. Not even weak or poor, just "Oh, FWL? Right, they're a thing."

Its a bit hard to get your shit together and wage war on your neighbors when you're a parliamentary republic, and not just in name only like the rest of the Sphere, and nobody can agree on who to declare war on and for what reason. Two factions could both want to declare war on the Lyrans over the same planet, but it would go nowhere because they each think the other side's reason is bullshit and they'd refuse to vote for any reason but theirs.

 

[TFT-A9]

Its a bit hard to get your shit together and wage war on your neighbors when you're a parliamentary republic, and not just in name only like the rest of the Sphere, and nobody can agree on who to declare war on and for what reason. Two factions could both want to declare war on the Lyrans over the same planet, but it would go nowhere because they each think the other side's reason is bullshit and they'd refuse to vote for any reason but theirs.

At least Guerrero rained on the FedCom parade. (And helped the Cappies shitfuckgoddammit)

 

[Corn Flakes]

It's kind of sad that most of their impact in the universe as a Successor State can be summed up with Guerrero and Wobbie fuckery. Neglected, and then dragged out when the writers need someone to fuck over. Not even weak or poor, just "Oh, FWL? Right, they're a thing."

That's just what happens when you're the setting's designated dumping ground for assorted subfaction ideas. With a good writer behind it, the FWL could be a bottomless well of narrative threads and interesting interactions both within and outside the League. As it was, the League was always the "oh, and these guys too" faction.

I think I said this before, but one of the best things to happen to the Free Worlds League, narratively, was its dissolution. Because it had to come back together, the designers couldn't just erase a Successor State like that (otherwise the Capellans would have long been gobbled up by the FedSuns), so they finally had to tell a story genuinely starring the League. And say what you will about Jessica Halas, she had more narrative initiative in her pinky finger than the previous 10 Captains-General before her combined.

 

[Balr0g]

Its a bit hard to get your shit together and wage war on your neighbors when you're a parliamentary republic, and not just in name only like the rest of the Sphere, and nobody can agree on who to declare war on and for what reason. Two factions could both want to declare war on the Lyrans over the same planet, but it would go nowhere because they each think the other side's reason is bullshit and they'd refuse to vote for any reason but theirs.

Well the FWL WAS a parliament lead spcae nation until the passage of resolution 288 that gave the Captain General near absolute power (for the duration of the crisis which conveniently never went away). And while the League parliament could still exercise some power it wasn't enough. The new League is more of a Republic then it's predecessor ever was with "one planet one vote" style system and a separation of powers to the Captain General and Warden General

And on another note House Liao went from "small underdog" to "Ok fuckers I am in charge now" though their batshit leadership is still there (I mean seriously who in their right minds immolates herself over the loss of a planet which was never yours to begin with???)

 

[A_Callow_Youth]

Not gonna lie, I like some of the stuff coming out of IlClan, but the prevalence of mixed tech irks me. The 'Mechs themselves tend to be fairly balanced, but it opens too big a window for the munchkins to design their "perfect" (read: boring) mixed-tech machines.

Honestly that is what happens when cultures mix especially after a big thing like the Clan Invasion invoked. They tried pushing it back with the Jihad/Dark Age and people got pissed. Rightly so.

Part of it is that an increasing number of IS manufacturers are building shit to Clan spec, but it still gets called Clan tech instead of Sphere, because it's easy to read rules-wise. Between that and the increasing influence of the Clans on the Inner Sphere of late, it might be getting to be time to just remove the distinction altogether.

 

[Snekposter]

Part of it is that an increasing number of IS manufacturers are building shit to Clan spec, but it still gets called Clan tech instead of Sphere, because it's easy to read rules-wise. Between that and the increasing influence of the Clans on the Inner Sphere of late, it might be getting to be time to just remove the distinction altogether.

What the hell will the writers give the Clans once the IS finally reaches parity to keep them OP, though?

Well the FWL WAS a parliament lead spcae nation until the passage of resolution 288 that gave the Captain General near absolute power (for the duration of the crisis which conveniently never went away). And while the League parliament could still exercise some power it wasn't enough. The new League is more of a Republic then it's predecessor ever was with "one planet one vote" style system and a separation of powers to the Captain General and Warden General

More power than in any other Successor State, really. The fact it was so divided internally "helped" that situation. The Captain-General only has so much power when Andurien is threatening to secede. Again.

I'm also just going by what Sarna says about the Captain-Generals:

Still when compared with the other Successor States the Free Worlds League has a rather decentralized and relatively weak government. Much to the frustration of many Captains-General there are certain limits to their authority and powers.

The Home Defense Act in particular made them unable to command the provincial military units without the approval of the provincial leaders and the support of the parliament. The Addendum to the Incorporation, passed by Thomas Marik, eventually solved this particular problem.