Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

I know the answer is "big stompy robots are cool, bro" but I want to think about the logistics of warfare during the age of war/star league/reunification war: in comparison the SLDF went to wage war with a relatively large number of small units comprised of big stompy robots supported by mechanized regiments of regular armored fighting vehicles. In comparison in the Heavy Gear setting the Terrans had a far smaller number of independent colonies to reconquer but chose as their solution gene-modded vat grown soldiers driving fusion powered hover-tanks with plasma cannons as their primary combat formation (instead of regiments of battlemechs that probably cost more than they are worth). The SLDF would have gotten far more combat ability per transport tonnage if they'd focused on such a project instead of battlemechs. My essential strategic complaint is: can you conquer a world with 12-16 big stompy robots that will be gone to another theater within 3 months?

In Heavy Gear: Terra Nova's primary factions of course came to war together against those goddamned Earthers and put their essentially protomech vehicles to work and once they had put the Terrans on the backfoot they started sending out blackops people with starships and mechs to go start breaking things because things on the homefront were secured by the two previously feuding factions.
 
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Giant robots haven't ever made a lick of sense as combat vehicles, but they're really cool so people overlook their utter inefficiency at their stated job. But if I had to bullshit something up, it would be that, at least as of pre-Clans era, most worlds in the inner sphere are backwater hicktowns populated by peasants and shitty "nobility" who may have a handful of tanks and a couple aerospace fighters sitting around as the local garrison. A couple lances of lights or mediums would more than suffice to faceroll all over the local militia and slaughter scores of infantry before they fuck off somewhere else. Could they hold the world all on their own? No. But they could crack the stiffest resistance before a cheaper occupying force moves in to relieve them.
 
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Wasn't part of the lore that those backwaters had industrial mechs, and thus when things go to shit you could up-arm them and then from there everyone developed purpose designed versions? It's been forever.

From a physics perspective it just makes no sense of course. You could make an argument the walking action could help you over some terrain but you're trading that for much higher ground pressure than tracks or maybe even wheels. And the lower CG of armored vehicles would enable much more powerful weapons and eliminates that whole 'lol fell over' thing.

"Taking the entire planet" is a problem with almost every depiction of sci-fi combat I've seen. You're not dropping enough mass on a planet to fight the built-in production capability of even a colony let alone a fully settled world. (In Battletech you could say this is countered by 'nobody knows how to make jack shit anymore', however.) Sci-fi settings also generally go 'okay dropped on this planet, hard fought battle, but cleaned up in six months'. Which is ludicrous. You're talking in essence a WW2-scale battle to take over a planet - even with future tech it will take years to resolve.
 
not william stenchever said:
My essential strategic complaint is: can you conquer a world with 12-16 big stompy robots that will be gone to another theater within 3 months?
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In Battletech mechs are in many ways vastly superior to tanks so they act as the big stick you use to beat the actual enemy force into submission which is then where garrison forces of infantry, combat vehicles and light mechs come in to act as a garrison. Still enough punch to fight an insurgency but not taking away from your main battleforce.
 
I would certainly hope that after this kickstarter people would stop backing them after the colossal amount of fuck ups. I say hope because I know the new playerbase is full of consoomers willing to enter bid wars for the force packs people are putting up on eBay.
 
Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech? Not what you think is the best mech but what is the one you like the most. For me? There's no question: The Thunderbolt.
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For me it's a tie between the Thunderbolt and the Battlemaster. Two tough and flexible mechs that can fill a multitude of roles and look damn good while doing it too. From a lore perspective though I like the Marauder, for the novelty that it's design is so well liked in-universe that everybody and their grandmother wanted to copy it.
 
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Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech? Not what you think is the best mech but what is the one you like the most. For me? There's no question: The Thunderbolt.
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Probably the Shadow Cat. I love how boxy it is. It's not even trying to look humanoid and that's the kinda mech I like. It being the starter mech in MW4 Vengeance cinches the deal for me. Close second would be the Uziel, for the same reasons.

Although honorable mention goes to the RG:IlClan version of the Incubus/Vixen. It went from full anime bullshit to something that retained the general design language but actually looks like it belongs in BattleTech.
 
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Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech?
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Shadow Hawk and it's not even close. It looks perfect. Laser in the arm, missiles in the chest/head and a shoulder cannon. It's the Vitruvian Man of Battlemechs. I use the 5M all the time on the tabletop just so I get to see it on the table. I run it with a RAC5 in MW5. I'll use it in Clans if it's available. Not that abortion the clanners slapped together though. I wouldn't hit a dog in the ass with a IIC. A Shadow Hawk without a shoulder cannon is an affront to the design.
 
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Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech? Not what you think is the best mech but what is the one you like the most. For me? There's no question: The Thunderbolt.
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The Panther, I love trooper mechs and I feel like its one of the only trooper light mech that actually does the concept right.
 
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Corn Flakes said:
Although honorable mention goes to the RG:IlClan version of the Incubus/Vixen. It went from full anime bullshit to something that retained the general design language but actually looks like it belongs in BattleTech.
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A lot of the early mechs look like anime bullshit because they basically are. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Unseen
Mech designs were licensed from some company that imports anime shows by FASA, although it was later found they didn't have the right to license out designs like that. (Or something like that, at least.) This has led to some really chinky, ugly designs from that time. Some of the art in the original books doesn't help either imo.
Griffin.jpg
Ugly shitbox.
 
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Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech? Not what you think is the best mech but what is the one you like the most. For me? There's no question: The Thunderbolt.
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The Stalker. In a world of carboard box humanoid mechs the Antonov on chicken legs reigns supreme. Also love the train cockpit.
 
Tactical Wizard said:
A question for the thread: What's your favorite 'Mech? Not what you think is the best mech but what is the one you like the most. For me? There's no question: The Thunderbolt.
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My first introduction to the setting were the old DOS mechwarrior game and one of the SNES games.

The SNES one had all original mechs for some stupid reason so I'll skip those (the one with a PPC as each arm + IIRC a spinal mount one was kino), but the DOS one had Locusts, Battlemasters, and Jenners. Probably my favorite is the Locust. It's shit, but it was fun slamming to the Battlemaster's backs and unloading until their armor failed. Eventually.
 
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Moja Zemlja said:
The Panther, I love trooper mechs and I feel like its one of the only trooper light mech that actually does the concept right.
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Maybe intro tech. I would argue the wolfhound is well not just the counter but also a great trooper.

As for favorite mech. Enforcer. I just love it. I know it's not great but, so many memories of it doing work in crescent hawks revenge.

4/6/4 AC 10 LL SL armor. Great heat. Only down side is can't force a psr unless at 3 hex :/
 
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Either the Thunderbolt (reliable if a bit toasty), the Archer (can a Catapult flip off enemy targets as it rains down missles?) or the Firestarter (I was a pyromaniac as a kid, so this brings back childlike joy to me).
 
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Abella said:
Timberwolf, it’s always been a solid mech and used to be the poster mech for the franchise.
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Pops favorite mech. You gotta love a mech so fucking good they have to write it out of lore so it stops being a rape train.

Also love all the choices so far. In regards to the catapult, I remember being a little basso. Learning to play and kinda derping around aimlessly with my catapult and she was ammo dry.

Older guy (probably like 17 looking back) explains no get in their and zap and kick (to the extreme) yeah catapults are way more a brawler than you think and happen to have a lot of lrms lol.

4 meds and a 65 ton kick is no joke for intro tech!
 
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I'll add another vote for Marauder

The thing just looks like it should, nothing wasted nothing added. Don't hurt that I'm a bit of a Macross fan too.
 
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