14 replies to this topic

[Tor Gungnir]

I just picked Steiner because they have the cool armoured gauntlet insignia, but I really like to know about the different factions. Looking them up on a Wiki for the MechWarrior universe did my skull in though so....

[Damocles]

So what

[Redshift2k5]

[Koniving]

Guy two posts above me is certainly being rude.

Tor Gungnir, on 27 June 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

I just picked Steiner because they have the cool armoured gauntlet insignia, but I really like to know about the different factions. Looking them up on a Wiki for the MechWarrior universe did my skull in though so....

Got you covered with video versions. This encouraged me to do the mech lore vids that I'm working on.

http://mwomercs.com/...ior-battletech/

There's two long vids with detailed lore (2 part), and then further down is a third vid with a short-hand version that also covers the incoming clan invasion.

It covers the universe more than the individual groups, but it gives you a little bit of info along those lines.

The Steiners would be Space Germany, btw.

Edited by Koniving, 27 June 2013 - 02:17 PM.

[Sadistic Savior]

Tor Gungnir, on 27 June 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

I just picked Steiner because they have the cool armoured gauntlet insignia, but I really like to know about the different factions. Looking them up on a Wiki for the MechWarrior universe did my skull in though so....

Davion and Steiner are generally considered the good guys. The Combine is very authoritarian with a heavy Japanese flavor, and usually sides with Laio. The Capellan Confederation (Laio) are generally the most "bad", analogous to North Korea except that they are a lot more competent than North Korea. They have a pseudo-commie government but are technically a monarchy. The Free Worlds League generally sides with the Combine and Laio, though they are basically neutral for the most part.

All major powers except the Free Worlds League and Raasalhague are Monarchies of some type. The FWL is a confederation of lots of different governments led by a single powerful house. Raasalhague is the closest thing to a true democracy in all of Battletech.

Steiner and Davion merged before the time the game is set into the Federated Commonwealth...so loyalty to one is generally loyalty to the other. They are more than just allies...they are technically all one government now. Their children (Victor and Katherine) can lay claim to both thrones. The FedCom is definitely the single most powerful of the major powers...even before they merged, Davion was the most powerful. There are obviously limits though...Davion was never able to conquer Laio even though they are the weakest. In the time the game is set, all inner sphere powers are kinda-sorta allies, since the Clans are a threat to all of them.

It's actually a lot more complicated than this, but that is a rough and simplistic overview.

Redshift2k5, on 27 June 2013 - 02:12 PM, said:

LOL! Yes, that about covers it.

[Marvyn Dodgers]

Did you try sarna.net? Look under Inner Sphere factions.

Good luck, and sorry about your skull but there is a lot of backstory out there (and some of it is timeline dependent)

Edited by Marvyn Dodgers, 27 June 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[Hayden]

St. Ives should be on there as "Space Taiwan", just saying.

[Koniving]

An idea of the politics behind things as portrayed in MechCommander 2, 13 years ahead of us.

[Ursus_Spiritus]

To OP:
There is much lore to the Battletech/Mechwarrior realm, it is good to know it as that will help with aspects of the game that are, and may well be.

There may be characters, factions, story lines, politics and other aspects of the realm you come to identify with and find appealing.

Koniving, on 27 June 2013 - 02:55 PM, said:

An idea of the politics behind things as portrayed in MechCommander 2, 13 years ahead of us.

I have never seen this before... I have played MC2 countless times....

Edited by 8100d 5p4tt3r, 27 June 2013 - 03:08 PM.

[Maelstrum]

Thought I'd clarify a bit the names of each factions (keeping the original "comparisons" of course!).

[Koniving]

Was the opening intro before you started a game.

[Sephlock]

Davions are good, Steiners are dumb but well intentioned (they get tricked a lot), Kuritans are noble but misguided, Liaos are evil, Mariks are useless milquetoasts that are just kind of there. Also there's various shenanigans with their leadership.

[Tor Gungnir]

Leftover Space VIkings? I'm sold!

EDIT: Also, what the fudge, Space Amish? How on earth did the Amish get to space? Are their mechs wooden and drawn by horses, too?

Edited by Tor Gungnir, 27 June 2013 - 05:48 PM.

[Dirk Le Daring]

This should help......http://mwomercs.com/game/factions

[Tor Gungnir]

Dirk Le Daring, on 27 June 2013 - 05:55 PM, said:

This should help......http://mwomercs.com/game/factions

"In the mid-twenty-third century, citizens of the Federal Republics of Norway, Sweden and Finland emigrated to Rasalhague."

How can I NOT pick these guys now?! It is a shame about missing out on Denmark though, but just between you and me I never truly trusted them Danes....

Edited by Tor Gungnir, 27 June 2013 - 05:58 PM.