127 replies to this topic

[Strum Wealh]

As of April 29th, 2016, we have 71 'Mech chassis announced, with the following insignia:

01: Jenner - generic Draconis Combine emblem
02: Atlas - no insignia
03: Hunchback - generic Federated Suns emblem
04: Dragon - no insignia
05: Catapult - 4th Tau Ceti Rangers
06: Centurion - 39th Avalon Hussars
07: Commando - 10th Lyran Regulars
08: Awesome - 1st Regulan Hussars
09: Raven - 1st Crucis Lancers
10: Cicada - 3rd Hussars
11: Cataphract - Waco Rangers
12: Stalker - Grim Determination
13: Trebuchet - 17th Donegal Guards
14: JagerMech - Simonson's Cutthroats
15: Spider - Black Omen
16: Flea - 2nd Night Stalkers
17: Highlander - Hansen's Roughriders
18: Blackjack - 4th Deneb Light Cavalry
19: Orion - 15th Marik Militia
20: Victor - Davion Heavy Guards RCT
21: Quickdraw - Warrior House Lu Sann
22: Locust - 3rd Fusiliers of Oriente
23: Shadow Hawk - Dynasty Guard
24: Thunderbolt - Genyosha (1st, 2nd)
25: BattleMaster - Smithson's Chinese Bandits
26: Kintaro - 1st Ghost Regiment
27: Wolverine - Robinson Battle Academy
28: Griffin - 17th Recon Regiment ("Camacho's Caballeros")
29: Masakari - Clan Wolf, Iota Galaxy
30: Mad Cat - Clan Smoke Jaguar, Alpha Galaxy
31: Ryoken - Clan Jade Falcon, Delta Galaxy
32: Puma - Clan Ghost Bear, Omicron Galaxy
33: Daishi - Clan Smoke Jaguar, Epsilon Galaxy
34: Thor - Clan Diamond Shark, Beta Galaxy
35: Black Hawk - Clan Nova Cat, Alpha Galaxy
36: Uller - Clan Steel Viper, Beta Galaxy
37: Firestarter - Canned Heat
38: Banshee - 4th Arkab Legion
39: Vindicator - 5th McCarron's Armored Calvary
40: Koshi - Clan Smoke Jaguar, Delta Galaxy
41: Fenris - Clan Wolf, Delta Galaxy
42: Loki - Clan Ghost Bear, Alpha Galaxy
43: Man O War - Clan Jade Falcon, Gamma Galaxy
44: Vulture - Clan Wolf, Beta Galaxy
45: King Crab - Greenburg's Godzillas
46: Panther - Sword of Light (1st or 2nd)
47: Enforcer - Raman Draconis March Militia
48: Grasshopper - Bronson's Horde
49: Zeus - 15th Arcturan Guards
50: UrbanMech - Kirkpatrick's Invaders
51: Gladiator - no emblem/insignia
52: Cauldron-Born - no emblem/insignia
53: Shadow Cat - no emblem/insignia
54: Hankyu - no emblem/insignia
55: Wolfhound - no emblem/insignia
56: Crab - no emblem/insignia
57: Black Knight - no emblem/insignia
58: Mauler - no emblem/insignia
59: Marauder - no emblem/insignia
60: Highlnder IIC - no emblem/insignia
61: Orion IIC - no emblem/insignia
62: Hunchback IIC - no emblem/insignia
63: Jenner IIC - no emblem/insignia
64: Warhammer - no emblem/insignia
65: Rifleman - no emblem/insignia
66: Archer - no emblem/insignia
67: Kodiak - no emblem/insignia
68: Phoenix Hawk - Crescent Hawks
69: Dragonfly: - no emblem/insignia
70: Cyclops - no emblem/insignia
71: Night Gyr - no emblem/insignia

Federated Suns (House Davion): 7
Draconis Combine (House Kurita): 6
Capellan Confederation (House Liao): 4
Free Worlds League (House Marik): 3
Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner): 3
Free Rasalhague Republic: 1
Mercenaries: 12

Clan Diamond Shark: 1
Clan Ghost Bear: 2
Clan Jade Falcon: 2
Clan Nova Cat: 1
Clan Smoke Jaguar: 3
Clan Steel Viper:1
Clan Wolf: 3

Lone Wolves, no emblem/insignia: 22

Hero 'Mechs:

• Yen-Lo-Wang (Justin Allard) - FedSuns (MIIO operative)
  
• Ilya Muromets (Grigori Kovalenko) - CapCon (independent merc)
  
• Fang & Flame (Donald & Martin Takeda) - DCMS (Sun Zhang MechWarrior Academy instructors)
  
• Death's Knell (Bono Duganmare) - LCAF (22nd Skye Rangers)
  
• Pretty Baby (Danielle Peterson) - AFFS (Chisholm's Raiders)
  
• The X-5 (Leopold Crawford) - FWLM (Gibson Federated BattleMechs test pilot)
  
• Heavy Metal (Rhonda Snord) - Merc (Snord's Irregulars)
  
• Misery (J. Elliot Jamison) - Merc (Wolf's Dragoons)
  
• Firebrand (Donald Vincent) - Merc (independent merc)
  
• Dragon Slayer (Ardan Sortek) - AFFS (Prince's Champion)
  
• Golden Boy (unknown pilot) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• Protector (Aleksandr Kerensky) - original Star League Defense Force (from one of Kerensky's formal titles: "Protector of the Star League"); later salvaged & rebuilt as a standard ON1-K for Theodore Kurita
  
• Boar's Head (Rodney Van Kleven) - AFFS (6th Syrtis Fusiliers)
  
• Jester (Leigh Voss) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• Oxide (unknown pilot) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• Grid Iron (unknown pilot) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• Ember (Portia Ryan) - Pirate (Scourge Company, Tortuga Dominion)
  
• La Malinche ("El Guapo") - Merc (Old Crows)
  
• Huginn (Odin Sigurd) - Kungsarme (unknown unit)
  
• IV-Four (Ivy Upsalom) - Pirate (Redjack Ryan's pirate 'Mech force)
  
• Loup de Guerre (Peter Chandler) - FWLM (Regulan Hussars)
  
• The Arrow (Michael Ubodo) - AFFS (8th Deneb Light Calvary)
  
• HellSlinger (unknown pilot) - original Star League Defense Force (Martial Olympiad competition unit)
  
• Anansi (unknown pilot) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• St. Ives' Blues (Michael Jones) - SIMC (2nd St. Ives Lancers)
  
• Sparky (Elle Bennett) - LCAF (5th Donegal Guards)
  
• Pirates' Bane (Lori Kalmar-Carlyle) - Merc (Gray Death Legion)
  
• Gray Death (Grayson Carlyle) - Merc (Gray Death Legion)
  
• Top Dog (Mary Tallman) - AFFS (Bremond Draconis March Militia)
  
• Quarantine (unknown pilot) - (unknown affiliation)
  
• Bounty Hunter II (The Bounty Hunter) - Merc (Independent Merc)
  
• Black Widow (Natasha Kerensky) - Merc (Wolf's Dragoons)
  
• Legend Killer (Gray Norton) - Merc (Independent Merc & Solaris Gladiator)
  
• Tempest (Morgan Kell) - Merc (Kell Hounds)
  
• Spirit Bear (Laurie Tseng) - CGB (332nd Assault Cluster)
  
• Roc (Paul Masters) - FWLM (1st Knights of the Inner Sphere)
  
• Kuroi Kiri (Shin Yodama) - DCMS (14th Legion of Vega)
  
• Medusa (Dwilt Radick) - CW (16th Battle Cluster)
  
• Sleipnir (Ariana Winston) - Merc (Eridani Light Horse)
  
• Jade Kite (Timur Malthus) - CJF (Turkina Keshik)

Bolded Hero 'Mechs have some known degree of basis in BattleTech lore (usually as being attributed to a famous or notable pilot associated with the chassis), while those that are not bolded are currently assumed to be wholly original creations of Piranha Games, Inc.

Your thoughts?

Edited by Strum Wealh, 26 May 2016 - 08:47 AM.

[BFett]

In summary, there are a lot of benifits to play as a house and a merc corp, but not many benifits to playing as a lone wolf.

[Enig]

Well considering we have zero reliable info on community warfare who knows. They keep internally iterating, we really have no clue what to expect outside of what they tell us, and they tell us a lot of stuff that doesn't follow through.

[Adrienne Vorton]

BFett, on 17 October 2012 - 08:08 PM, said:

In summary, there are a lot of benifits to play as a house and a merc corp, but not many benifits to playing as a lone wolf.

yep, thats btw what has been stated from the very beginning at the community warfare devblog...

in summary: you can play as a lonewolf, but if you want the real kick, houses and merc corps are the thing to go with...
makes sense to me tbh^^

(btw, as far as i know, you can play in houseunits even as a casual/ soloplayer... merc corps on the other hand are what they are: player run and player driven...

lonewolf will just means, that you don´t join a house or merc corp, and thus don´t get all the nice things that participating in a unit will give you...good when you just want to play a few matches a day and don´t care about the meta game...)

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 18 October 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[BFalcon]

BFett, on 17 October 2012 - 08:08 PM, said:

In summary, there are a lot of benifits to play as a house and a merc corp, but not many benifits to playing as a lone wolf.

Well, in all fairness, it makes sense - a Lone Wolf would need to pay for their own repair facilities (or rental on another units'), their own ammo supplies and spares, their own dropship transport, any jumps needed... and they get the crappiest contracts if they work on their own, but might be used to create a unit for a mission, if only for the duration of that campaign (to defend a planet, for example) and would be free to move on at the end. Might also find work on their own in poor planets where the locals just need advice and/or training, as long as their credentials are good enough.

A merc unit would have all those costs shared throughout the whole unit with some shortcuts on, for example, ammo and spares (where several mechs might use the same components - engines for example) but also might actually manage to OWN the dropship and, on very rare occasions, the jumpship too. Mercs only get what they can afford to pay for, but they also get the better contracts.

House units, of course, get assigned dropships, get use of House jumpships (or get to commandeer civilians in time of war) and get assigned spares as they need them (and might manage to beg/borrow/steal spares from other allied units, where mercs probably would not). Repair facilities would, 99% of the time, already be in place or would be shipped with the unit and all costs would be covered by the unit's supply chain itself - spares and personnel might be lacking in low-grade units though.

Given all this, hardly surprising that the Mercs and House units have the upper hand... although Lone Wolves come into their own when used as recruits for merc units, since they already have their mechs and might already be on-scene... so might be able to negotiate a higher wage for the duration...

OP: excellent and interesting work - keep it up. Thanks.

[Strum Wealh]

Also: the Leopard-class DropShip (from the Feb. 29 "Wednesday Hot Drop") is displaying the emblem of the 3rd Free World Legionnaires.

[Strum Wealh]

Bump to show that the Blackjack has been added to the opening post.

[Strum Wealh]

Bump to show that the Orion has been added to the opening post.

[Booran]

For us not that into the lore, which mechs belong to which faction? Name of the unit doesn't help me much..

[Apoc1138]

Booran, on 11 February 2013 - 02:50 AM, said:

For us not that into the lore, which mechs belong to which faction? Name of the unit doesn't help me much..

if you click each of the links above, the faction ones usually have the faction logo displayed fairly prominently
although, just because a mech release note has a particular logo on it, doesn't necessarily mean that that mech is closely tied to (only) that faction in the lore either

e.g. in the "lore" the Trebuchet was invented by the star league but after the first succession war became almost exclusively free worlds league for a time - however the logo they've decided to depict on the link above is Steiner

the links above for the unit names also tell you what faction that unit belonged to, and you can search the mech names on Sarna.net for the fluff behind them

[Strum Wealh]

Bump to show that the Victor has been added to the opening post.

[Lefty Lucy]

Remember that due to the prevalence of salvage in BT, and a long history of mech factories that change hands during the many wars, there really are very few mechs that only specific factions have access to. Just because a mech is wearing certain insignia on the introduction art doesn't mean that they are trying to imply that the mech will be specific to that faction.

[Tennex]

do i sense some favoritism

Edited by Tennex, 26 May 2013 - 04:30 AM.

[Tennex]

Adrienne Vorton, on 18 October 2012 - 01:17 AM, said:

yep, thats btw what has been stated from the very beginning at the community warfare devblog...

in summary: you can play as a lonewolf, but if you want the real kick, houses and merc corps are the thing to go with...
makes sense to me tbh^^

(btw, as far as i know, you can play in houseunits even as a casual/ soloplayer... merc corps on the other hand are what they are: player run and player driven...

lonewolf will just means, that you don´t join a house or merc corp, and thus don´t get all the nice things that participating in a unit will give you...good when you just want to play a few matches a day and don´t care about the meta game...)

so if they can't incentivize playing lone wolf. how will get flexible solo players to fill up spots?

having a useless faction alignment is always dumb. they should incentivize playing LW that way there will be less waiting time.

give lone wolves bonuses like faster cbill or something, to get people to fill those spots.

Edited by Tennex, 26 May 2013 - 04:34 AM.

[Adridos]

Booran, on 11 February 2013 - 02:50 AM, said:

For us not that into the lore, which mechs belong to which faction? Name of the unit doesn't help me much..

Jenner - Kurita
Atlas - Kurita and Steiner
Hunchback - everyone
Dragon - Kurita
Catapult - Liao
Centurion - Davion
Commando - Steiner
Awesome - Marik
Raven - Liao
Cicada - Marik
Cataphract - Liao
Stalker - everyone
Trebuchet - Marik
Jagermech - Davion
Spider - Kurita (only bought from Marik)
Flea - Liao and Marik
Highlander - noone
Blackjack - Davion
Orion - Marik
Victor - Davion (only bought from St.Ives)
Quickdraw - Marik

Edited by Adridos, 05 June 2013 - 09:31 AM.

[Strum Wealh]

Booran, on 11 February 2013 - 02:50 AM, said:

For us not that into the lore, which mechs belong to which faction? Name of the unit doesn't help me much..

Tennex, on 26 May 2013 - 04:23 AM, said:

do i sense some favoritism

The count kept in the opening post is of which Factions are represented by the insignia on the pictured units, rather than necessarily of a given BattleMech's general affiliation with a given faction (though, there does seem to be some correlation).

For example, the released concept art (as of the release of BattleMech 20, the Victor) features the insignia of five (5) FedSuns units (the 39th Avalon Hussars, the 1st Crucis Lancers, the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry, the Davion Heavy Guards RCT, and an unknown affiliate that bears the generic FedSuns emblem), but only one Capellan unit (the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers) and one FRR unit (the 3rd Hussars) are represented.

However, the Devs did indicate, back during the Dev Blog Era in the early days of the forum, that the 'Mechs themselves would not be limited to any particular Faction, but the acquisition prices for said 'Mechs could/would vary as a result of Faction alignment (e.g. a Lyran-aligned player might pay less for an Atlas than, say, a FWL-aligned player might pay for the same Atlas, or a Combined-aligned player might pay less for a Dragon or a Jenner that the Lyran-aligned or FWL-aligned players).
(And on that point, it'll be interesting to see how they'll address the availability and pricing of 'Mechs and equipment across tech bases - I, for one, would not mind PGI generally restricting IS players to IS gear and Clan players to Clan gear, while also generally disallowing MixTech 'Mechs... but, that is another discussion for another thread.)

Though, whether the unit selection for the concept art up to this point is actually indicative of some deliberate "Faction favoritism" on the part of PGI as a whole, or just some part of it (e.g. just the art team as a whole, or just FD, or another individual who is responsible for choosing which Faction/unit is represented for each release) is yet to be determined at this point.

Edited by Strum Wealh, 26 May 2013 - 07:20 AM.

[Adridos]

Actually, when it comes to FD, he is personally a mercenary, so... yeah, definitely biased.

Altough I don' understand the decision to paint that Raven in Davion colours to this day.
There is no possible way a Davion unit could have a 3L at this point in the timeline.

[Strum Wealh]

Adridos, on 26 May 2013 - 05:57 AM, said:

Actually, when it comes to FD, he is personally a mercenary, so... yeah, definitely biased.

Altough I don' understand the decision to paint that Raven in Davion colours to this day.
There is no possible way a Davion unit could have a 3L at this point in the timeline.

"In the Fourth Succession War, the 1st Crucis Lancers attacked Tikonov alongside the other members of the Crucis Lancers brigade. After taking Tikonov, they moved on to attack Achernar and Bharat."

"During the Fourth Succession War, House Davion forces captured many Ravens as they slashed through the Capellan Confederation. Some of these captured BattleMechs were sent to the New Avalon Institute of Science for reverse engineering, but many others were retained to make up combat losses in the units that captured them. The Raven become such a common sight in the AFFS that many civilian observers mistakenly thought the design to be a new Davion ’Mech."
(TRO 3039, pg. 224)

"The CCAF has attempted to retain exclusive control over the Raven, but a variety of factors have seen the design spread to other powers."
"Other examples made their way into Steiner and Davion hands due to clashes between the powers over the years, though Operation Sovereign Justice saw a number of damaged Ravens fall into the hands of Capellan March forces."
"Unfortunately, Chu’s unit fell foul of an AFFS airstrike shortly after one of their daring raids, with several ’Mechs rendered non-functional. Chu’s Raven was one such victim, leg damage meaning it had little chance to evade the pursuing forces. With a heavy heart, demolition explosives were planted to destroy the valuable machine. Unfortunately, it appears the destruction may have been incomplete; a Raven bearing the same designation as Chu’s machine has been identified in the AFFS forces."
(TRO 3050U, pg. 30)

In a word: "salvage".
Basically: the unit in question, as well as the NAIS, would likely have had access to a great many Raven chassis since the 3020s, and could have easily modified some of those into the 3L configuration at a later date (as the NAIS would have had access to the resources to do so), as well as potentially capturing new-construction or refurbished 3Ls (or having captured new-construction or refurbished 3Ls sent to them).

[Adridos]

Strum Wealh, on 26 May 2013 - 07:40 AM, said:

"Other examples made their way into Steiner and Davion hands due to clashes between the powers over the years, though Operation Sovereign Justice saw a number of damaged Ravens fall into the hands of Capellan March forces."
"Unfortunately, Chu’s unit fell foul of an AFFS airstrike shortly after one of their daring raids, with several ’Mechs rendered non-functional. Chu’s Raven was one such victim, leg damage meaning it had little chance to evade the pursuing forces. With a heavy heart, demolition explosives were planted to destroy the valuable machine. Unfortunately, it appears the destruction may have been incomplete; a Raven bearing the same designation as Chu’s machine has been identified in the AFFS forces."
(TRO 3050U, pg. 30)

In a word: "salvage".
Basically: the unit in question, as well as the NAIS, would likely have had access to a great many Raven chassis since the 3020s, and could have easily modified some of those into the 3L configuration at a later date (as the NAIS would have had access to the resources to do so), as well as potentially capturing new-construction or refurbished 3Ls (or having captured new-construction or refurbished 3Ls sent to them).

Theh other three quotes were talking about 1X from the 4th Succession War... that's not the mech on the picture. The last quote is from TRO:3050U, but the raven was announced back in 2012-3049.

Lastly, NAIS doesn't have the equipment to keep the 1X operable (that's why 2X was created, FedSuns simply don't have access to EW equipment), let alone 3Ls of which it has seen none of as it was created in 3048 with no clash between the forces happening between then and even now + the border units didn't have top of the line Ravens at all, only prestigious units which were just guarding core worlds at the time.

[Strum Wealh]

Adridos, on 26 May 2013 - 08:11 AM, said:

Theh other three quotes were talking about 1X from the 4th Succession War... that's not the mech on the picture. The last quote is from TRO:3050U, but the raven was announced back in 2012-3049.

Lastly, NAIS doesn't have the equipment to keep the 1X operable (that's why 2X was created, FedSuns simply don't have access to EW equipment), let alone 3Ls of which it has seen none of as it was created in 3048 with no clash between the forces happening between then and even now + the border units didn't have top of the line Ravens at all, only prestigious units which were just guarding core worlds at the time.

There is also the issue of Mechwarriors simply leaving, and taking their 'Mechs with them.

In fact, that is precisely how the Black Thorns mercenary company acquired (or will acquire) a RVN-3L, circa 3054.
"Ajax joined the Black Thorns after fleeing the Warrior House Hiritsu in the Capellan Confederation, evading Liao forces and landing on Outreach with his 'Mech intact."
"When Ajax discovered he could no longer live with the deeds he was being required to commit, he chose to leave the Warrior House and try to right some of the wrongs he had done in its name."
"Though content to Battle the Clans, Ajax secretly hopes to one day fight for the Federated Commonwealth. He would consider such duty a form of payback for the raids and skirmishes in which he fought against House Davion during his days with House Hiritsu."
(From page 14 of The Black Thorns.)

Between disillusioned Capellan MechWarriors joining up with mercs or the AFFC (Ajax likely isn't the only one), already having access to several examples of the chassis (as indicated by the quotes from Sarna and TRO 3039), salvaging of units by the AFFC while repulsing Capellan raids and skirmishes (as indicated by the quotes from TRO 3050U), and the NAIS having access to all of the necessary LosTech, it is hardly unthinkable that the FedSuns (or, rather, the FedCom) and certain Davion-affiliated units would have had access to the 3L (or the gear needed to convert those Ravens they already have into the 3L variant).

That the particular 'Mech in the Raven reveal shows evidence of having the Lancers' emblems placed over those of a Capellan unit (look very closely at the area around the FedSuns emblem, particualrly at the area just below the hilt of the sword ) further supports the notion that the particular 'Mech shown, whether through being salvaged or brought over by its Mechwarrior, is formerly of the CCAF and currently (as of the reveal artwork) affiliated with the FedCom.