Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[William Murderface]

Civil War is a good plot device when you don't want to throw the whole setting into a meat grinder instead of having the usual good vs. bad.

We've had all of three major universe shaking events: The wedding and Fourth Succession War, the Clan Invasion, and the Jihad. Everything else has been limited to a front or two or a civil war. The ComStar schism, the FCCW, the FWL one all moved the plot line forward, but it wasn't like they drew everyone in (yes I know everyone was sooner or later involved in the FCCW but only in limited ways like the Falcon Incursion or Sun-Tzu taking the opportunity to annex St. Ives while everyone else had their attention elsewhere) . The Jihad was just the same "us vs. them" we get a lot. We got it with Operation Bulldog/Serpent but it was limited. Operation Guerrero was limited. The CC's invasion of the ROTS was limited. The DC invading the FS was limited. Even Alaric and the Falcons invading Terra was limited because none of those ended in a huge Succession War scale event. Even the Wars of Reaving were essentially limited because it was a Clan internal war.

The GB civil war is a way to get the Bears behind Alaric without upsetting the apple cart too much.

I will happily eat crow if Alaric taking Terra leads to a free-for-all though. Something where every faction is just shooting everyone else for a number of years and the end result is the survivors looking around at something they never could have imagined before Alaric showed up in the Sol system.

 

[Corn Flakes]

On different news,

https://twitter.com/bpardoe870/status/1633554104252334081

I think the kids these days call this "a most definite kek".

Either someone really dun goofed at Catalyst, or they're really out of influencers to shill their stuff.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

On different news,
View attachment 4748882

https://twitter.com/bpardoe870/status/1633554104252334081

I think the kids these days call this "a most definite kek".

Either someone really dun goofed at Catalyst, or they're really out of influencers to shill their stuff.

With all due respect to Mr. Pardoe, show us the receipts. You're not employed by them, you shouldn't be under an NDA.

Trust, but verify.

That being said, Catalyst's current management does strike me as dimwitted enough to try and email Pardoe to get him to help with the next KS...

 

[White Devil]

I hope it's true, and fuck 'em.

 

[Corn Flakes]

With all due respect to Mr. Pardoe, show us the receipts. You're not employed by them, you shouldn't be under an NDA.

Trust, but verify.

That being said, Catalyst's current management does strike me as dimwitted enough to try and email Pardoe to get him to help with the next KS...

He claims they sent him three emails, which... honestly, indicates to me their PR team was going above and beyond "just CC everybody in the creators contact list".

Would be nice if Pardoe were less of a boomer and actually screencapped the emails, but that's the kind of stuff that's probably seen unfavorably in the publishing world even if you're not directly employed by the company anymore.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

He claims they sent him three emails, which... honestly, indicates to me their PR team was going above and beyond "just CC everybody in the creators contact list".

Would be nice if Pardoe were less of a boomer and actually screencapped the emails, but that's the kind of stuff that's probably seen unfavorably in the publishing world even if you're not directly employed by the company anymore.

He was in a protracted slapfight with that Faith McCloskey loon. If he hasn't learned to save the receipts he's an idiot.

Your point about saving embarrassing emails making you a pariah holds some weight, though honestly I thought Pardoe had no more fucks to give.

 

[Corn Flakes]

He was in a protracted slapfight with that Faith McCloskey loon. If he hasn't learned to save the receipts he's an idiot.

Your point about saving embarrassing emails making you a pariah holds some weight, though honestly I thought Pardoe had no more fucks to give.

I'm sure he still has the emails in his inbox, he just didn't screencap them for all of twitter to see. As for him trying to avoid becoming a pariah, he has no fucks left to give to Catalyst, but he's still an openly conservative professional writer in a publishing world that's increasingly hostile to people like him. The more measured he is with his responses, the fewer reasons jittery publishers would have to drop him or refuse to accept his submissions.

Of course, this is all speculation. It could very well simply be that nobody asked him for the receipts over on twitter. In fact, that's quite likely. Everybody was very quick to jump to his support.

 

[Bassomatic]

I want anything to advance the plot.

I say this as a Wolf fan boy. I also will say, I liked them because my intro to BT was the cartoon and got MW2 quickly after and anyone fighting the green birds was by default good.

 

[William Murderface]

He was in a protracted slapfight with that Faith McCloskey loon. If he hasn't learned to save the receipts he's an idiot.

Your point about saving embarrassing emails making you a pariah holds some weight, though honestly I thought Pardoe had no more fucks to give.

I can see three scenarios about how this panned out:

1) Pardoe was just hard to work with, either personally or professionally, and CGL used this as excuse to just say we're sick of you and not renewing your contract. Based on some statements, when factcheckers would point out mistakes he would just ignore them and break out the "I helped write TRO 3025 way back when and have been here ever since so I can't be wrong" card.
2) CGL has a bunch of younger guys running the show who decided they wanted to be on the right side of history or whatever and didn't really care about the facts, just the optics of not simply accepting the word of a man LARPing as a troon.
3) McCloskey and his allies went to Topps or Fanatics who told CGL they didn't want the bad press and because Pardoe's contract was expiring anyway, simply to not renew said contract.

So it may be any single one of those or a combination of any of the three, although there were some statements made that insinuate that at least part of CGL's decision came from on high, which means either Coleman or the Topps/Fanatics suits angles.

 

[William Murderface]

I want anything to advance the plot.

I say this as a Wolf fan boy. I also will say, I liked them because my intro to BT was the cartoon and got MW2 quickly after and anyone fighting the green birds was by default good.

I have no problem with that. I latched on to the FedSuns when the original House Davion book came out because of their Camelot in Space propaganda appealed to me, being a 14 year old who loved le Morte d'Arthur. I just wish they hadn't been the setting's designated whipping boy since the end of the Fourth Succession War. But still, "God and Davion!" is my battle cry.

 

[Snekposter]

I have no problem with that. I latched on to the FedSuns when the original House Davion book came out because of their Camelot in Space propaganda appealed to me, being a 14 year old who loved le Morte d'Arthur. I just wish they hadn't been the setting's designated whipping boy since the end of the Fourth Succession War. But still, "God and Davion!" is my battle cry.

And now the current Popemobile is a bright gold Regent. Deus lo vult!

Best part is there's a templar-themed cross-style paint scheme in MW5, so you can easily RP as a bunch of wandering Crusaders.

Plus there's actual knights templar running around blowing shit up in God's name.

 

[William Murderface]

And now the current Popemobile is a bright gold Regent. Deus lo vult!

Best part is there's a templar-themed cross-style paint scheme in MW5, so you can easily RP as a bunch of wandering Crusaders.

Plus there's actual knights templar running around blowing shit up in God's name.

I like to think as they watch the Popemobile lumbering towards them, with the Space Knights Templar in tow, and raining God's Merciful Love down on them in the process, at least one Drac soldier will look at the guy in the foxhole next to him and ask, "so, in retrospect, do you think murdering the last pope might have been a bad idea?"

 

[Snekposter]

I like to think as they watch the Popemobile lumbering towards them, with the Space Knights Templar in tow, and raining God's Merciful Love down on them in the process, at least one Drac soldier will look at the guy in the foxhole next to him and ask, "so, in retrospect, do you think murdering the last pope might have been a bad idea?"

The Space Pope better be using the A Configuration because I can't think of a better way for God to strike people down with lightning bolts than a trio of CERPPC's backed with PPC Capacitors. Runs hot as fuck when all three are fired at max charge (60 heat with 52 dissipation) so you better use your coolant pod that round.

 

[William Murderface]

The Space Pope better be using the A Configuration because I can't think of a better way for God to strike people down with lightning bolts than a trio of CERPPC's backed with PPC Capacitors. Runs hot as fuck when all three are fired at max charge (60 heat with 52 dissipation) so you better use your coolant pod that round.

Time to break out the Awesome-8Q 3-3-2 firing pattern again.

 

[Snekposter]

Time to break out the Awesome-8Q 3-3-2 firing pattern again.

Na, its beyond heat-neutral when fired without the capacitor since that's only 45 heat, and you can't fire a PPC in the same turn you charge the capacitor. Even if that 2 is used to charge one of the PPC's up that's still only 50 when you fire and 20 heat when you fire 2 and charge the third, so you can run a 3-2-3-2 pattern with it no problem, since charging the capacitor is heat-less.

The Capacitor must be located in the same location as the PPC to which it is mounted. The Capacitor is required to be charged before firing. So long as the capacitor is charged, the next shot fired by the associated PPC deals an additional five damage and increases the heat generated from firing that weapon by five points. If the associated PPC is not fired by the end of the firing phase, the energy may be permitted to dissipate, generating no heat, or else retain the charge, generating another five points of heat. The associated PPC may not be fired on the same turn that the capacitor is charged. An Attack roll of 2 with a capacitor-charged PPC burns out the system before it can fire, inflicting a critical hit on the capacitor slot as well as the first slot of the corresponding weapon (but does not explode), dealing no damage to the target.
The PPC Capacitor is compatible with both standard and ER versions of the PPC, including Clan versions of the weapon. The PPC Capacitor can be mounted on Combat Vehicles or other units which do not track heat (except for ProtoMechs) provided they carry enough heat sinks to compensate for what the PPC Capacitor produces when it is used, along with the heat produced by the PPC itself.
Critical Hit effects: One critical hit to the Capacitor disables both the capacitor and the associated PPC, although the PPC is not considered damaged and may be rendered usable for combat with a five minute repair check at easy difficulty. Two critical hits to a PPC Capacitor renders it completely destroyed, and one hit causes a difficult repair job which costs 75% of the purchase price and takes three days of repair time.

So, if I'm reading the rules right, its no heat to charge, but five heat to keep the charge over a turn where the PPC isn't fired (and 15 heat is nothing to anything with DHS, never mind something with 26 of them), so you can keep the capacitors charged as soon as you deploy, then when you fire you engage the coolant pod to go from 52 dissipation to 78 dissipation, negating the extra heat, and then switch to a 3-2-3-2 cycle where one PPC is taken out of cycle every round to charge, which also means you run heat-neutral.

 

[William Murderface]

3-2-3-2 pattern?

At least try it out on the false Pope in Rome. He's wandering around Vatican City, blessing stuff, and before he knows it the front gate gets kicked in by the Popemobile and his battalions of Space Knights Templar. I'm not sure which awesome bit of pre-kill quip to go with, but in the end it doesn't really matter. A quick press of the trigger and the rightful heir of St. Peter's Keys heals the debate between Rome and New Avalon over which pope is the correct one once and for all.

He may ask the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople if he wants to try his luck too or does he think that particular schism is over...

 

[Corn Flakes]

Back to the subject of the future of the timeline: that this new Clan Star League is going to last at least a hundred years does indicate to me that they really wanted to do a skip and unify the Clan and Inner Sphere tech bases under a new tech base standard.

Rename old IS gear to "Archaic Medium Laser" or "Obsolete AC/10" or whatever naming convention they settle on, have the Technology Base field say "Post-Clan" or "Unified", then switch all the "default" gear to be Clan-spec except for the Inner Sphere exclusives and rebalance everything. It's likely to be a clusterfuck at the start and all the greybeards and grognards are going to yell bloody murder, but this isn't the 80s anymore: people have access to the internet and errata, and I don't think there are a lot of people out there still playing old editions of the game. If they are, they'll be playing with the older TROs anyway. If they're smart, they'll put out a free PDF with the stat blocks for all the new/rebalanced gear.

That might still be the plan, but man they're gonna need some balls of steel to pull off a rework of that scale on an almost 40-year old game.

 

[William Murderface]

As far as the storyline ilClan goes, who knows how that pans out. It may even end up that the writers go so far as all but eliminating the Clans entirely and the ilClan making reports in 3250 is just some tiny group of pretenders thinking they're somehow going to make it back to the top of the heap the same way I'm sure that somewhere there are a couple of dozen guys in Europe who are going to bring back the Holy Roman Empire somehow, someway.

Now for the rules, conceptually I can see just making Clan tech as the standard tech and labelling everything else experimental, obsolete, primitive, or prototype. I'm just concerned about the execution. Part of the appeal of BattleTech is that I can play any skirmish from the Age of War to the ilClan era and that I can pass my character's Mech from father to son to his son and so on, just swapping out parts here and there as I choose to. I'm very leery about CGL or whoever not mucking with the ruleset too much that the basic rules are changed and that newer players simply sticking with Clan or "neostandard" or whatever it is. And it does beg the question about what they would do about the basic boxed set we've been using since BattleTech 2nd Ed came out in 1986 if suddenly stuff like the Medium Laser and ammo bombs and 4/5 MechWarriors were obsolete. And how do you get newer players who have only ever used cERPPCs and CASE and XL engines to want to go back to that technology aside from a one-off game?

Can CGL or whoever do it? Sure, and maybe it's even inevitable, that Herb's vision of Clan tech as standard will come true. Will it drive off a lot of the graybeard grognards? Sure. But so did the Jihad and ClickyTech stuff.

I don't have the answers, but then again I'm a Forever '67 guy who still uses the BMRr ruleset. I keep up with the changes in tech and fluff and storyline and will freely steal for my own writings, but there isn't much after FASA closed it's doors that I worry about.

 

[Balr0g]

I get the feeling the new Ilclan League will follow the storyline of Nicolas Kerensky: establish a new order but a few years after the founder (in this case Alaric) dies a stupid death. Then we get a new quiet phase but this time the League breaks apart quickly because we get another outside threat in the form of the Homeworld Clans who decided to smash the place after hearing a dirty inbred Clanner declared a new Star League

Also in terms of tech: the Recguides somehow seem to give the trend that we get the "normal" Mewchs and then "Royal (in this case clan spec) Mechs. JKust like in the Star League when nearly every mainstream Mech got it's Royal version for the elite thios time we have the SL tech MEchs for the plebs and the Clan tech Mechs for the big guys. Heck lorew wise you could sell it as "This pilot has managed to climb into the prestigious ranks of the Gunslingers so therefore we grant him upgrades" or something like that. Then again all houses have the ability to build Clan spec weapons at this point so maybe this won't happen.

 

[William Murderface]

I suppose at least part of it would depend on how it gets presented game-wise. If there's a box set that comes with the basic 3025 rules, an intermediate rulebook that brings in IS advanced tech and vehicles and VTOL, and an advanced rulebook that introduced Clan tech with BA, Protos, and a couple of cards with appropriate tech on them (Basic Obsolete, Advanced Obsolete aka Star League and IS Advanced, and Clan/3250 Standard) with a brief setting book, that might work. Save stuff like primitive and prototype and experimental techs and AeroSpace and terrain and campaign stuff for other rulebooks. Throw in a few minis and maps.