152 replies to this topic

[Team Leader]

Seriously here guys. There now exists the opportunity to do it. The history of an entire universe doesn't have to be decided by some obscure books. It would be a lot of work, but it would let the players themselves decide the fate of the Inner Sphere through their direct actions and inaction. Planets could be desolated, empires could grow or be completely erased, mercenary corps could grow to immense power or be systematically hunted. We don't have to get rid of the BT universe, just make a new one and give it priority. Maybe even just influence the canon in small, rippling waves that represent what could have been. BattleTek was born of someones imagination, why can't people who also want to live that dream have a say in where it goes? Sure, you might ask "why?", but I'll ask you... "Why NOT?". Just... Think about it. Let it seep into your mind, and discuss the potential outcomes of this possible world-changing evolution.

I should point out, before this gets too serious, that I'm not saying we should change anything (or what would be changed), but I'm just asking if you could as a group have a real impression on the game, wouldn't you want to?

Edit: I'm surprised this is still an ongoing discussion. Sorry if I offended some hardcore BattleTekers, wasn't my intention to insult the game or universe or even the books. But I realize what the DEVS have said, and I really doubt any changes to canon would take place, unless it was hampering gameplay, which by the way is what MWO is all about: having fun and shooting stuff!

Edited by Team Leader, 11 June 2012 - 11:59 AM.

[DocBach]

I do admit even though I'm a rabid board game fan, I'd love to see an alternate universe where the Clans get beat back to Strana Mechty so the Federated Commonwealth can enslave the rest of the Inner Sphere after winning the Fifth Succession War.

[Team Leader]

I'm not trying to troll diehard-BT fans here, I'm just saying open your mind and see the potential behind the newest installment of Mechwarrior!

[Skylarr]

no

[Jad Ivask]

Eh, I'd prefer not to see a total rewrite. Theres a lot of history there, a lot of player memories, and a lot of hard work put into the story. Rewriting it all would cheapen the whole franchise.

Now, I'd certainly be for some cleaning up. Fix some of the more glaring plotholes, clarify some messed up lore where multiple sources contradict each other, even retcon a few things if necesseary but leave that for extreme cases. Again, a total rewrite would be bad, but a freshening up and a bit of spring cleaning would do wonders. Less rebuilding, more polishing.

[Tincan Nightmare]

So why call it battletech or mechwarrior to begin with? Its like making a Star Wars game and saying 'ok in this game the empire never came about and were going to play what would have happened if the republic had continued on.' If you want to make some radical offshoot that diverges from where the whole concept came from, why not just make your own game that has nothing to do with it? And believe me, I am not a fan of alot of the storylines that came about after Twlight of the Clans, but its like creating a WWII game and changing it so that the Axis powers won.

[Draxern]

No sounds good in theory but never leave it up to the players they tend to **** it up 100% of the time.....

[ZekeTheZealot]

Draxern, on 10 June 2012 - 07:36 PM, said:

No sounds good in theory but never leave it up to the players they tend to **** it up 100% of the time.....

Agreed. I know a few people who would Assassinate Victor within a week. And then i would have to firebomb some jerkbags. No one touches my prince, dangit.

Edit: Stupid censorbot.

Edited by ZekeTheZealot, 10 June 2012 - 07:42 PM.

[PANZERBUNNY]

DocBach, on 10 June 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

I do admit even though I'm a rabid board game fan, I'd love to see an alternate universe where the Clans get beat back to Strana Mechty so the Federated Commonwealth can enslave the rest of the Inner Sphere after winning the Fifth Succession War.

The IS barely had the means to stay together to defeat one Clan let alone all or many of them,

They don't have the resources or willingness to strip the many, many regiments needed or even have the naval assets to remotely spare on such a massive operation. It would be akin to another exodus.

Events will happen as they happened in the BT timeline, but can we interact with those events like In Hearts of Iron where the player choice can bring about different versionsof events?

We'll find out.

Edited by PANZERBUNNY, 10 June 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[Milo Talon]

To me, they aren't some obscure books. I was playing before the Clans ever showed up, and I've followed the story as it progressed, so I'm against changing canon. The BT universe is a huge place, so you can focus on an region/Clan/group that wasn't covered as closely in the books without rewriting everything. IRL on Earth alone, just consider how many battles, revolutions, etc. that have taken place that you could write stories about that had nothing to do with the World Wars, for example.

[Rot Wulf]

Epic no, I love the story and would hate to see it changed for the sake of some notion of balance.

Balance makes no sense in the galaxy of the Battletech lore that precedes this point in history. That reasoning is a Chewbacca defense, why would the clans with their ideals of proxy war to preserve technology, with the scientist caste second only to the warrior caste. It would make no sense for the total war inner sphere to be on level footing with them.

[Deathz Jester]

I'm a pretty hardcore fan of battletech, but I'd love to be able to (within reasonable boundaries) alter the timeline.

For example I'd love to be able to have the FRR beat back the clans.

[Lt muffins]

Personally I see no reason to change the timeline, sure there is many things that i would want changed.

But remember that BATTLETECH is BATTLETECH no matter how you look at it.

I admit I hate the jihad and the dark age era with a vengeance.

If we are to change the timeline we would need to create another name for the universe as it would no longer be the battletech proper that we know.

Edited by Lt muffins, 10 June 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Rot Wulf, on 10 June 2012 - 07:51 PM, said:

Epic no, I love the story and would hate to see it changed for the sake of some notion of balance.

Balance makes no sense in the galaxy of the Battletech lore that precedes this point in history. That reasoning is a Chewbacca defense, why would the clans with their ideals of proxy war to preserve technology, with the scientist caste second only to the warrior caste. It would make no sense for the total war inner sphere to be on level footing with them.

Say the House lords did decide on massive join offensives, it would only be so they could carry out covert attacks against their IS enemies....everyone would be planning or waiting for it.

In terms of resources on hand after the Clans initial appearence and decimation of Mech regiments....the martial force just isn't available.

The DCMS still hasn't gone through it's massive overhaul, moving away from honour fighting one V one against opponents, including the Clans.

A life in service to the DCMS in defeat and victory, doign away with honour suicide still hasn't been abolished. Commanders would fight to the death even with sure defeat in sight. A couple years before this change.

[TheMadTypist]

As much as I hate the idea of splitting the player base (as in, I really hope they don't do this ever ever EVER), it might be interesting if they had a "canon history" server and a "player driven history" server. Just to see what would happen.

But it's easier to create content for a universe that's going to be ticking over on a predefined schedule than to adapt what you're working on to what the players have managed to do this week. And since I equate "easier to create" with "more", I think we're all better off if they stick to the script.

[Evinthal]

My gut reaction to the thread title was an emphatic "NO!" but after reading on I decided to go with an apathetic "m'eh" approach. See I know there is a lot of crying and moaning over the Clans from the 3025 crowd, and then you have the whole camp who thinks the Jihad is garbage, and even later on you have the people who think the Dark Ages/Age of Destruction is poppycock, however I have to take a step back and look at those things this way: If something drastic hadn't been done, the game more or less would have stagnated long ago.

Let's face it.

Sure there may be some things I don't agree with or like, but all in all I have come to find far more that I do like than I don't like.

And you know what I like THE MOST about the Battletech line? The fact that I've seen so very little use of the "RetCon Hammer"

[Rot Wulf]

PANZERBUNNY, on 10 June 2012 - 07:57 PM, said:

Say the House lords did decide on massive join offensives, it would only be so they could carry out covert attacks against their IS enemies....everyone would be planning or waiting for it.

In terms of resources on hand after the Clans initial appearence and decimation of Mech regiments....the martial force just isn't available.

The DCMS still hasn't gone through it's massive overhaul, moving away from honour fighting one V one against opponents, including the Clans.

A life in service to the DCMS in defeat and victory, doign away with honour suicide still hasn't been abolished. Commanders would fight to the death even with sure defeat in sight. A couple years before this change.

It would not be in the nature of groups that have fought bloody wars for centuries to join together suddenly like that. It is not Human nature, it makes no sense. They would not know what threat the clans posed until they had a strong foothold in the inner sphere. Another history to that would make no sense, it would simply be unrealistic and silly.

[Mechsniper]

Some deviation will be necessary if territorial control is to truly be up for grabs. Who would want to be clan with guaranteed defeat? Or what if a cannon house fell completely? It will be interesting to see the devs angle on all this, but I think we start in the universe, but it will be somewhat flexible to the known.

[BanditRaptor]

Tincan Nightmare, on 10 June 2012 - 07:34 PM, said:

So why call it battletech or mechwarrior to begin with? Its like making a Star Wars game and saying 'ok in this game the empire never came about and were going to play what would have happened if the republic had continued on.' If you want to make some radical offshoot that diverges from where the whole concept came from, why not just make your own game that has nothing to do with it? And believe me, I am not a fan of alot of the storylines that came about after Twlight of the Clans, but its like creating a WWII game and changing it so that the Axis powers won.

Uh, I'm pretty sure everything you've listed here has been done at least once in various works of fiction.

The deal is, MWO is an ALTERNATE continuity. This is like 2009 Star Trek. This is a different universe.

The original Battletech timeline is still there, it will always be there, nothing will be changing that and this game will certainly not change that.

This is battletech, except what if the players had control over how the timeline went, and fought for how the timeline should go with skill and between matches? That makes this a different battletech, and so I say in this new, alternate universe that has no sway over the original canon at all, why not go crazy with it? It's not hurting anything, and I honestly don't see why anyone would oppose this given it won't be effecting the official timeline in the least and it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

Just ease back, relax, and recognize that MWO will forever be an ALTERNATE continuity, not the main one, and have fun with it.

[Xantars]

I SAY NO LET CANNON RUN LIKE IT HAS BEFORE