Battletech

[Deepcrush]

Who here is interested in this Universe?

[Tyyr]

I am.

[Deepcrush]

I was thinking about maybe getting some thoughts on our next big RP being something different then 40k. Battletech seemed like a good idea to me. So I'm here asking for everyones thoughts on it.

[Mark]

Battletech is the one where the guys drive giant robot transformers, right?

[Deepcrush]

That would be Gundam or Robotech. Battletech is a little different. It's a lot more like having Adeptus Astartes Terminators and Dreadnoughts and only them. Clashing together in battle.

[Coalition]

Battletech is the one where the guys drive giant robot transformers, right?

Various transforming robot cartoons:
Robotix? Opening for those who don't know/remember.
Orbots
Gobots
Voltron
Transforming vehicles

Battletech is here:
http://www.classicbattletech.com/
RPG Quick Start Rules
Quick Start Rules
Introductory Record Sheets
Additional Quick Start Record Sheets
An overview of Battletech

[Deepcrush]

Thanks for the data.

[Vic]

I am, never played the RP side though, just the table top.

[Deepcrush]

My guess would be they'd work out much the same. We would have to pick out if we were all part of one faction or multiple factions then pick out our mission statement. After that we can just go a little crazy and throw out some ideas of where to go from there.

[Tyyr]

I love CBT, I have about fifty mech minis in various stages of painting in my den.

I loathe the direction they've gone with the background. The Jihad and the Dark Age are just so very very weak in my opinion. To top it off the last time the clans got any attention was about 1998 and then it was a firm boot in the ass telling the clans, "We're sick of playing with you in the fiction, get out of the way so we can do something else." Twilight of the Clans sucked so much ass.

[Deepcrush]

For me it seemed to die after Tukayyid. As if they just could figure where to go from there.

[Mikey]

I'm so out of touch with the Battletech universe, it isn't even funny. The last time I looked at it was probably about 20 years ago.

[Deepcrush]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Clans

This site here has a lot of great briefs on everything. You can read up on the basics in a day or so.

http://ppc.warhawkenterprises.com/1.html

This site here is also pretty good. Their write ups on the clans give a lot of good intel but again its brief format.

[Tyyr]

I can agree with Tukayyid. They moved to a point in the timeline where there wasn't a whole lot of room for the battle in Battletech. The Clans had the brakes put on the. Only the Falcons and the Jags could claim any new worlds in the IS and if only they moved it would be in a small enough force for the IS to push them back. They needed the Wolves and the Bears to be moving as well to spread out the IS troops. On the IS side the Fed Com and the Combine were, while not on speaking terms, at least not ready to shoot one another on sight. If they did get into it the Clans would piss on the Truce and come storming south. Marik was richer but still not strong enough to really piss off the Fed-Com and the Capellans are always assholes. The writers were still constrained though in that they couldn't do too much in the IS because if they destabilized things they'd set the clanners off again and while victorious the cuts had been ripped out of the Com Guards. There was no way the boys in white could bail the IS's collective asses out of the fire again.

So all in all they were stuck with a universe that for fifteen years they'd have to live with things being pretty much stable or else the clanners would come eat what was left of the Combine and Lyrans. In the end the writers decided to rid themselves of the clans. In the end a big portion of the fanbase watched their factions get played like chumps in the most horribly contrived manner and sidelined for no good reason other than the writers didn't want to have to deal with them anymore. Now they have the gall too look around dumbfounded and ask, "You mean some people don't like the Jihad? You mean you guys don't like that you haven't gotten much in the way of new toys to play with since 1990?"

[Deepcrush]

Pretty much on the head there Tyyr.

Another problem. How the frak did they take out Clan Smoke Jaguar so quickly??? They had 13 battle ready front line Galaxies. Most of which were Battle and Assault rated mechs! Granted I'm a bit biased since I was a Smoke Jaguar Mech Pilot. But still, a single Comstar Mech division is only equal to a single Clan Galaxy. Even then the Comstar would out number the Clan forces 2 to 1 in mechs. How did a bunch of House Troop Mechs numbering only a dozen divisions take out the whole Smoke Jaguar Clan?! Absolute frak up!

Next problem, Clan Jade Falcon beating Clan Wolf to a draw in a war??? Did they even read their own work before hand? Clan Wolf took over the same number of worlds as ALL THE OTHER INVADING CLANS COMBINED! And that was only after they DOWN BID the other Clans...