Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[Balr0g]

When you think about what ComStar did during and after the succession wars they were a bit more like space AT&T sponsored by the NSA and CIA. Especially when you consider how far back they were holding technological development once the wars started dying down.

But then they let one Mercenary unit slip away with copies of the Helm memory core. Also they didn't act when the Outworls Alliance introduced the first new Mech after more then a century plus shortly thereafter the Lyran Commonwealth brings new Mechs (Hatchetman and Wolfhound) into the fray.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

But then they let one Mercenary unit slip away with copies of the Helm memory core.

Well, "let them slip away" might be an understatement. They murdered 12 million people to avoid it being found, then engaged in some other shenanigans in an attempt to keep this thing under lock and key including a false flag attack on the NAIS.

 

[TFT-A9]

Also it's not like ComStar is above fucking up, or playing the "I'm not owned, I'm not owned" game. Or misjudging what the knock-on consequences would be from any given event in their hubris.

Reminder that Myndo Waterly's bullshit with Operation SCORPION was a thing and that was a hysterically bad fuckup.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Yeah, ComStar is powerful but they're still staffed by humans. They fuck up as much as everybody else, it's just they're in a good position to correct their fuckups stealthily, what with having agents in literally 99% of inhabited worlds.

 

[Balr0g]

Also it's not like ComStar is above fucking up, or playing the "I'm not owned, I'm not owned" game. Or misjudging what the knock-on consequences would be from any given event in their hubris.

Reminder that Myndo Waterly's bullshit with Operation SCORPION was a thing and that was a hysterically bad fuckup.

Or their HPG interdiction for the FedSuns during the 4th Succession Wars only to have the Suns going "Oh we have this nifty black boxes. We manage" And funny enough when Focht joined Comstar he tried to use Comstar's might more subtly (despite his former straightforward "Hammertime" military strategy) while Waterly used the blunt hammer approach

 

[Corn Flakes]

Or their HPG interdiction for the FedSuns during the 4th Succession Wars only to have the Suns going "Oh we have this nifty black boxes. We manage" And funny enough when Focht joined Comstar he tried to use Comstar's might more subtly (despite his former straightforward "Hammertime" military strategy) while Waterly used the blunt hammer approach

Myndo Waterly was a Word of Blake-tier true believer, and had joined ComStar literally straight out of college. It's no wonder she was insane enough even her underlings (like Sharilar Mori) started plotting against her.

Meanwhile, Focht was a Steiner with over 40 years of combat experience before he was volunteered to join ComStar. Say what you will about the Steiners, they might get into bitter feuds over personal disagreements, but as a rule these guys are not exactly ideologues.

 

[Balr0g]

Myndo Waterly was a Word of Blake-tier true believer, and had joined ComStar literally straight out of college. It's no wonder she was insane enough even her underlings (like Sharilar Mori) started plotting against her.

Meanwhile, Focht was a Steiner with over 40 years of combat experience before he was volunteered to join ComStar. Say what you will about the Steiners, they might get into bitter feuds over personal disagreements, but as a rule these guys are not exactly ideologues.

Well Focht or rather Frederick Steiner had a "enlightment" when Theodore shot his eye and then banned him into a Buddhist cloister. Before that he was a rather naive fellow who had a decent military record. Myndo Waterly on the other hand never understood that using Comstar's influence should be done subtle not with brute force. And in the end it caused then nearly everything. Imagine if the Great houses had said "Ok we take the HPG stations suckers" after Operation Scorpion. Comstar would have been bankrupt.

 

[BlackDragoons]

Well Focht or rather Frederick Steiner had a "enlightment" when Theodore shot his eye and then banned him into a Buddhist cloister. Before that he was a rather naive fellow who had a decent military record. Myndo Waterly on the other hand never understood that using Comstar's influence should be done subtle not with brute force. And in the end it caused then nearly everything. Imagine if the Great houses had said "Ok we take the HPG stations suckers" after Operation Scorpion. Comstar would have been bankrupt.

Actually they did just that. When word got out that this was going on the Great House forcibly siezed control of the HPG networks.

 

[Balr0g]

Actually they did just that. When word got out that this was going on the Great House forcibly siezed control of the HPG networks.

True but after the reformation of Comstar they gave control of the HPG stations back to Comstar

 

[TFT-A9]

Alright I'm just going to have to uninstall/reinstall and start fresh with mods because it won't fucking update to the latest version of anything

I wish I could slap Russ for the EGS deal

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

But then they let one Mercenary unit slip away with copies of the Helm memory core. Also they didn't act when the Outworls Alliance introduced the first new Mech after more then a century plus shortly thereafter the Lyran Commonwealth brings new Mechs (Hatchetman and Wolfhound) into the fray.

What design came out of the Outworlds Alliance?

Also, neither the Wolfhound, Hatchetman, or the Cataphract (another new design) incorporated any new technology (except for maybe the full head ejection system). That might've been considered small potatoes, considering the far more serious ramifications of the Helm Memory Core.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Also, neither the Wolfhound, Hatchetman, or the Cataphract (another new design) incorporated any new technology (except for maybe the full head ejection system). That might've been considered small potatoes, considering the far more serious ramifications of the Helm Memory Core.

The Helm Memory Core didn't just contain specs for end-user LosTech (ER lasers, Ultra Autocannons, etc), it also contained a wealth of design, production and manufacturing technology that had been lost through the Succession Wars. So there's a good chance the industrial boom between the Grey Death Legion giving ComStar the middle finger and the Clan Invasion was also affected by the Helm Memory Core.

Plus we shouldn't forget that even before the Helm Memory Core the Inner Sphere was starting to head towards a technological renaissance. The New Avalon Institute of Science was founded in 3016, and with the Federated Commonwealth being formed in 3028 it was a given that any developments from the NAIS would first spread to the Steiner side, and then through the rest of the Inner Sphere through industrial espionage, salvage, or just plain production licenses. The Helm Memory Core just gave that process a big boost.

 

[Bassomatic]

What design came out of the Outworlds Alliance?

Also, neither the Wolfhound, Hatchetman, or the Cataphract (another new design) incorporated any new technology (except for maybe the full head ejection system). That might've been considered small potatoes, considering the far more serious ramifications of the Helm Memory Core.

Cataphract is a disgusting cappie idea. You put an XL in it as Thor/god intended and call it a Ceaser and make sure like a proper Germanic say it Ka-sier

 

[Balr0g]

What design came out of the Outworlds Alliance?

The design was the Merlin which came out I think in 3010. It was a suprise to everyone because it came out of the tech poor Outworlds Alliance. Probably the reason Comstar turned a blind eye.

And as a side note: the Helm memory core wasn't even a complete copy of the so called Prometheus dastabse which contains the entire knowledge the Star League accumulated over it's existence. In essence it's the holy grail for every lostech prospector. Though if we take the now Ilclan era tech most of it is most likely outdated except perhaps the tech for the Megaengineering and medical tech like Cryo chambers

 

[BlackDragoons]

I need to start cataloging the bt novels I've been acquiring, makes it easier to know what I need when I'm hitting up used book stores.

 

[Snekposter]

The design was the Merlin which came out I think in 3010. It was a suprise to everyone because it came out of the tech poor Outworlds Alliance. Probably the reason Comstar turned a blind eye.

And as a side note: the Helm memory core wasn't even a complete copy of the so called Prometheus dastabse which contains the entire knowledge the Star League accumulated over it's existence. In essence it's the holy grail for every lostech prospector. Though if we take the now Ilclan era tech most of it is most likely outdated except perhaps the tech for the Megaengineering and medical tech like Cryo chambers

ComStar deliberately ignored it because A. the Merlin wasn't exactly going to show up anywhere else anytime soon and B. it would be a fucking terrible idea to engage in their usual glow-in-the-dark operations since that would just draw attention to whatever the Outworlds Alliance had been up to. Not to say they weren't terrified of its arrival, but they were smart enough to realize doing anything about it showing up would just make matters worse. Best just bury it and make sure zero proof of its existence leaks out to the Inner Sphere to keep them from getting ideas.

Well Focht or rather Frederick Steiner had a "enlightment" when Theodore shot his eye and then banned him into a Buddhist cloister. Before that he was a rather naive fellow who had a decent military record. Myndo Waterly on the other hand never understood that using Comstar's influence should be done subtle not with brute force. And in the end it caused then nearly everything. Imagine if the Great houses had said "Ok we take the HPG stations suckers" after Operation Scorpion. Comstar would have been bankrupt.

Na, what happened is that Freddy Boy got double-fucked by Steiner politics. First it was by Aldo Lestrade during his Italian-quality coup where his men worse their actual dress uniforms under their Davion disguises, and didn't even bother to have the Davion spurs on their boots, and then after he volunteered to take his unit on a suicide mission to remove his dishonor, surrendering himself to Theodore after its success in exchange for his men being allowed to retreat off-world... LOKI agents snuck aboard the Kuritan JumpShips and blew up their primary coolant tanks, and a very pissed Theodore pulled his gun away from Frederick's head at the last split-second as he pulled the trigger after realizing the other man had gotten played just as much as he himself had been. The only "enlightenment" Frederick got from that was that people fond of glow-in-the-dark operations deserve externally induced brain aneurysms. And Myndo Waterly... got what she fucking deserved.

As for Sharilar Mori, she was actually a deep cover operative of the Order of Five Pillars and was inserted by them into ComStar at the ripe age of 14, which is why she fed that data to her true masters in the Combine. Focht spared her afterwards on the condition she give up her Combine loyalties and serve the new, not fucked up ComStar as its Primus.

 

[TFT-A9]

The Merlin is seriously like an uptonned Vindicator.

Which is honestly kind of impressive.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Oh boy, new minis from IWM.

The Cyrano looks pretty sweet and who can say No to a Large Laser flying at almost 200kph?


But check this one out, the Awesome 8R/8T:

Not gonna lie, that thing looks fucking sexy.
Why you'd run that thing instead of the brick-shithouse with its tripple PPC bitchslap is anyone's guess, maybe you just want to piss off the FWL or something, but I'll be damned, that mini promises to be pretty neat.

 

[TFT-A9]

Oh boy, new minis from IWM.

The Cyrano looks pretty sweet and who can say No to a Large Laser flying at almost 200kph?
View attachment 3315009

But check this one out, the Awesome 8R/8T:
View attachment 3315007
Not gonna lie, that thing looks fucking sexy.
Why you'd run that thing instead of the brick-shithouse with its tripple PPC bitchslap is anyone's guess, maybe you just want to piss off the FWL or something, but I'll be damned, that mini promises to be pretty neat.

there are some pretty nifty alternate munitions for LRMs to be fair but you really don't need an 80 ton mech to get them out there

 

[Corn Flakes]

But check this one out, the Awesome 8R/8T:
View attachment 3315007
Not gonna lie, that thing looks fucking sexy.
Why you'd run that thing instead of the brick-shithouse with its tripple PPC bitchslap is anyone's guess, maybe you just want to piss off the FWL or something, but I'll be damned, that mini promises to be pretty neat.

Some people just like Lurms. And as @TFT-A9 said, you can load some pretty nice ammo into those.

Fill one bin with Thunder LRMs, chuck those at a chokepoint and give the other team the good news. Or use one of my favorite alternate ammo ever, the Semi-Guided Lurm. No penalty besides cost (and who's tracking that?) without a spotter, and with a TAG lock you get to ignore all target movement penalties, spotter movement penalties, and the indirect fire penalty.

Sure, you don't need to mount it on an 80-ton 'Mech, but look on the bright side: anyone getting within minimum range of the LRMs still has at least one Large Laser (depending on the model) and a 8-point battlefist to deal with, plus all that armor. That thing is no helpless support-fire 'Mech up close.