20 replies to this topic

[PeteZone]

Well, I'm confused about factions and the current era of the MechWarrior universe. Firstly, I live in Sydney, Australia and I've taken a look at ComStar on sarna.net and since their headquarters are situated in Sydney, Australia, should I be joining with them? Will there be more Australians to play with in that faction?

Secondly, with the faction display pictures that are available, are they the factions that are in this current era? I ask this because I'm actually confused whether there is going to be or is at the moment, are ComStar group that is playable in MechWarrior Online.

Anyway, if ComStar isn't a great choice, please lead me in the right direction in terms of my location and most importantly, don't be bias.

Thanks, PeteZone.

[Stormwolf]

Comstar controls Earth in the current timeframe, they have a variety of offices/installations in other countries.

Better read this universe guide first to get a clearer picture of the universe and the factions:
http://bg.battletech...iverseGuide.pdf

The factions for the current timeframe are discussed more indepth here:
http://www.sarna.net...s#Clan_Invasion

[Morashtak]

When you picked your icon you were given the entire list of factions to choose from. ComStar does not have an icon therefore it is not a playable faction. One could go Lone Wolf and pretend they were a ComStar operative it would not be official at this time.

[Iron Wardog]

Actually, in the current timeline Comstar's HQ is Hilton Head Island in the USA (and is so until the Blakists destroy it IIRC).

[Strum Wealh]

In addition to Stormwolf's post above...

Strum Wealh, on 09 December 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

The major divisions of the Inner Sphere are defined by the five Successor States (feudal nation-states that once composed a UN-like body called the Star League), each ruled by one of the Great Houses. They are:

Federated Suns:
Ruled by: House Davion
Government: Constitutional Aristocracy (Western European feudal stylings)
Dominant Language(s): English (official), French, German
Dominant Religion(s): Christianity (Interfaith Church), Buddhism, Judaism

Lyran Commonwealth:
Ruled by: House Steiner
Government: Constitutional Monarchy (with German feudal stylings)
Dominant Language(s): English and German (official), Scottish Gaelic, Italian, French
Dominant Religion(s): Christian (Protestant), Judaism, Muslim

Draconis Combine:
Ruled by: House Kurita
Government: Military Dictatorship (with Japanese feudal stylings)
Dominant Language(s): Japanese (official), Arabic, English
Dominant Religion(s): Shinto (official), Buddhism, Islam

Capellan Confederation:
Ruled by: House Liao
Government: Dictatorship (with Chinese feudal stylings)
Dominant Language(s): Chinese (Mandarin, official), Chinese (Cantonese), Russian, English, Hindi
Dominant Religion(s): Buddhism, Taoism, Hindu

Free Worlds League:
Ruled by: House Marik
Basis: multicultural, with strong European, American and Indian influences
Government: Representative Democracy (mixture of regional and federal authorities with great autonomy for its component regions)

At this point in the timeline (late 3040s), the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth are united (by the marriage of their respective rulers, Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner) into one state called the Federated Commonwealth.

Other Inner Sphere powers include the Free Rasalhague Republic (between the Lyran side of the FedCom and the Combine), the St. Ives Compact (between the FedSuns side of the FedCom and the Confederation), ComStar (the organization that controls the interstellar comunications network and located on Terra/Earth, at the center of the Inner Sphere), and the Periphery Realms (located at the edges of the inner Sphere).

The Clans are the descendants of the self-exiled bulk (~80%) of the original Star League's military who left (with much of their advanced military equipment) for deep space following the collapse of the Star League government. There are a number of Clans, with each organized into a very rigid military caste system (the castes are Warrior, Technician, Scientist, Merchant, and Laborer; the outlaws/rebels/undesirables form an unofficial "Bandit Caste"), and having been lead by the Russian-descended general Alexandr Kerensky (named after a real-world historical figure) and his son Nicholas Kerensky (who actually founded the Clans as the society we know today), their speech is mostly English with a mixture of radio-shorthand-friendly terms ("aff" for "affirmative"/"yes", "neg" for "negative"/"no", and such), shortenings of common words/phrases ("ristar" for "rising star", "powless" for "powerless", and such; of interest is the fact that Clansmen generally frown on the use of contractions, despite the use of such shorthand) and the Kerenskys' native Russian (the name of the Clan capital world, Strana Mechty, is actually Russian for "Land of Dreams").

Strum Wealh, on 16 February 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

To expand on the second-to-last paragraph: I would say that the FRR represents Scandinavia and northern Europe, St. Ives represents Taiwan, the Periphery Realms collectively represent the "Developing World", and ComStar is essentially a combination of the Illuminati, the Vatican, and phone companies, and the postal services.

To expand on the last paragraph: I would say that the Clans collectively represent the "great conquering hordes" of the past (e.g. the Mongols under Genghis Khan, the Macedonians under Alexander III, the Romans during the expansion of the Roman Empire, and so on), while each Clan individually represents a separate society - the Ghost Bears are generally thought to be Scandinavian (like the FRR, with whom they later merged), the Smoke Jaguars are thought to represent (stereotypes of) the warrior tribes of Africa's past (most notably the Zulu Kingdom), the Nova Cats are thought to have been modeled on (stereotypes of) Native American societies, and so on.

Also, this post by CaveMan (and the post immediately following it) explains a bit more about the Clans' socio-economic structure.

Additionally, there is MWO's own "Factions" page...

[Peiper]

At this point in the battletech universe, Comstar is neutral. Think of them as a quasi-religious corporation.

Gonna paraphrase here, fluff experts. This guy is new, so I'm gonna oversimplify.

In the future, after we've explored and colonized hundreds of planets in every direction from Terra/Earth, the worlds are run by nobleman, who have their fiefs, and are nominally loyal to a first lord. Land and title is granted through heredity and/or by meritorious service. At one time, all of the planets were united under the banner of the Star League. After the death of the last First Lord of the Star League fall of the Star League - who had no direct heir, the lords of several noble houses claimed they should be the next first lord. They all had legitimate claim, but were not willing to share power and so the succession wars happened. After four succession wars, five Great Houses rule most of the Inner Sphere (the known/civilized worlds). They each are unique in their governments and ethnic makeups. One thing NONE of them could agree on is who is first lord, so Comstar was born. Following the divine word of Blake, who wrote a holy book that Comstar follows, Comstar took control of the HPG grid and became the stewards of Earth. HPG = HyperPulse Generators = interplanetary email. They have remained neutral for the past few hundred years quietly hoarding all of the star league era technology they can find, and doing their best to prevent any of the other houses from getting their hands on it.

While they claim to be neutral, they do manipulate the Houses to keep any of them from becoming too powerful and taking over the inner sphere - and thus claiming the title of First Lord AND taking control of the throne - Earth.

At this point in time, Comstar has it's own secret military which includes the best of the best battlemechs the inner sphere has to offer. It is based upon Star League aka LosTech designs and is in every way superior to the technology of the Great Houses. They have garrisoned troops and battlemechs at all the HPG's (typically one on each planet) ostensibly for safety, but really to be ready to take control of everything once the Great Houses smash each other senseless. The Word of Blake, as preached by the monastic acolytes of Comstar are waiting for everything to fall apart so they can lead the rest of the inner sphere to enlightenment. As they control all the interplanetary Email through the HPG grid, they are privy to all the communications from all the Houses, citizens, military, and factions so they can quietly manipulate everyone toward their goals.

In Mechwarrior Online, at this time, Comstar controls only Earth as a planet, and no other planets. They are neutral and do not take part (directly) in military action. Comstar will eventually show it's cards to everyone, but even then I doubt we will be able to play them.

So, Petezone, here's what I would recommend. If you don't want to read a bunch of novels and Battletech sourcebooks, just look at the Great Houses and align yourself to one. OR, if you know some others who are going to play the game with you, choose together who you want to serve, OR form a mercenary group. If you just want to play the field until you find the right home, you can always go 'lone wolf' and freelance having no loyalty, and thus gaining no benefits from it with the exception that you can play for or against anyone.

Hope this helps you and everyone else who might have the same questions.

[PeteZone]

Peiper, on 04 April 2012 - 02:57 AM, said:

At this point in the battletech universe, Comstar is neutral. Think of them as a quasi-religious corporation.

Gonna paraphrase here, fluff experts. This guy is new, so I'm gonna oversimplify.

In the future, after we've explored and colonized hundreds of planets in every direction from Terra/Earth, the worlds are run by nobleman, who have their fiefs, and are nominally loyal to a first lord. Land and title is granted through heredity and/or by meritorious service. At one time, all of the planets were united under the banner of the Star League. After the death of the last First Lord of the Star League fall of the Star League - who had no direct heir, the lords of several noble houses claimed they should be the next first lord. They all had legitimate claim, but were not willing to share power and so the succession wars happened. After four succession wars, five Great Houses rule most of the Inner Sphere (the known/civilized worlds). They each are unique in their governments and ethnic makeups. One thing NONE of them could agree on is who is first lord, so Comstar was born. Following the divine word of Blake, who wrote a holy book that Comstar follows, Comstar took control of the HPG grid and became the stewards of Earth. HPG = HyperPulse Generators = interplanetary email. They have remained neutral for the past few hundred years quietly hoarding all of the star league era technology they can find, and doing their best to prevent any of the other houses from getting their hands on it.

While they claim to be neutral, they do manipulate the Houses to keep any of them from becoming too powerful and taking over the inner sphere - and thus claiming the title of First Lord AND taking control of the throne - Earth.

At this point in time, Comstar has it's own secret military which includes the best of the best battlemechs the inner sphere has to offer. It is based upon Star League aka LosTech designs and is in every way superior to the technology of the Great Houses. They have garrisoned troops and battlemechs at all the HPG's (typically one on each planet) ostensibly for safety, but really to be ready to take control of everything once the Great Houses smash each other senseless. The Word of Blake, as preached by the monastic acolytes of Comstar are waiting for everything to fall apart so they can lead the rest of the inner sphere to enlightenment. As they control all the interplanetary Email through the HPG grid, they are privy to all the communications from all the Houses, citizens, military, and factions so they can quietly manipulate everyone toward their goals.

In Mechwarrior Online, at this time, Comstar controls only Earth as a planet, and no other planets. They are neutral and do not take part (directly) in military action. Comstar will eventually show it's cards to everyone, but even then I doubt we will be able to play them.

So, Petezone, here's what I would recommend. If you don't want to read a bunch of novels and Battletech sourcebooks, just look at the Great Houses and align yourself to one. OR, if you know some others who are going to play the game with you, choose together who you want to serve, OR form a mercenary group. If you just want to play the field until you find the right home, you can always go 'lone wolf' and freelance having no loyalty, and thus gaining no benefits from it with the exception that you can play for or against anyone.

Hope this helps you and everyone else who might have the same questions.

Thanks for the information. I would most definitely research more on all the factions, but I don't want to be in a faction with Americans due to lag issues and such. Whatever Australians are in, I'll join.

[Gigaton]

PeteZone, on 04 April 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

Thanks for the information. I would most definitely research more on all the factions, but I don't want to be in a faction with Americans due to lag issues and such. Whatever Australians are in, I'll join.

How exactly would you get less lag by playing MW:O with other Australians? The game servers would still be in US (or Canada) so everyone would have to connect there no matter where you are.

All factions will have people from all over the world (I'm Finnish myself). You could form an Oceanian merc corp, but you would still have to connect to North American server to play and nothing would force your opponent corps to be from Australia.

TL;DR there will be lag until regional servers are formed.

Edited by Gigaton, 04 April 2012 - 03:24 AM.

[Thorn Hallis]

PeteZone, on 04 April 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

Thanks for the information. I would most definitely research more on all the factions, but I don't want to be in a faction with Americans due to lag issues and such. Whatever Australians are in, I'll join.

The factions are not limitied to a certain player base. You'll probably find north american players in every faction, just like australians, germans or russians.

[Strum Wealh]

1.) Oceanic based servers
2.) Please have a server in Australia

Perhaps it might help to contact some of the players that had posted in those two threads, and find out what groups they had established...?

[LordDeathStrike]

PeteZone, on 04 April 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

Thanks for the information. I would most definitely research more on all the factions, but I don't want to be in a faction with Americans due to lag issues and such. Whatever Australians are in, I'll join.

the servers will all be north american, you sir are boned no matter what.

[El Loco]

Joining a faction has nothing to do with whom you're going to play with. There will be many Australians in whatever faction you join. If you don't want to play with people from a specific geographic region, ask your team members to be where they are from, before you start the match. Don't miss out on a great faction, just because it will be overrun with people from a specific region.

[PeteZone]

LordDeathStrike, on 04 April 2012 - 03:24 AM, said:

the servers will all be north american, you sir are boned no matter what.

Is there evidence? Because if there's not I will be one very sad guy, with 220 latency

[StaggerCheck]

Very good chance that Comstar will become a playable faction when the Clan invasion begins, Pete. Come fight with the FRR and then you can step right out your front door to join up with them.

[Thorn Hallis]

StaggerCheck, on 04 April 2012 - 04:21 AM, said:

Very good chance that Comstar will become a playable faction when the Clan invasion ends, Pete.

Fixed.

[Strum Wealh]

StaggerCheck, on 04 April 2012 - 04:21 AM, said:

Very good chance that Comstar will become a playable faction when the Clan invasion begins, Pete. Come fight with the FRR and then you can step right out your front door to join up with them.

Unless ComStar is kept as "the Dev Faction", with the Com Guards as "the Devs' Private Army of UberMechs"...

[Black Sunder]

Strum Wealh, on 04 April 2012 - 04:50 AM, said:

Unless ComStar is kept as "the Paul Faction", with the Com Guards as "Paul's Private Army of UberMechs"...

Fixed your post.

[SirDenOfYork]

" A house divided cannot stand!" Just saying....

[Black Sunder]

SirDenOfYork, on 04 April 2012 - 05:12 AM, said:

" A house divided cannot stand!" Just saying....

Can't some Urbanmech size duct tape fix that though?

Edited by Black Sunder, 04 April 2012 - 05:20 AM.

[Taelon Zero]

PeteZone, on 04 April 2012 - 03:39 AM, said:

Is there evidence? Because if there's not I will be one very sad guy, with 220 latency

wow... I wish I could get it that low on US servers. (not a joke)