13 replies to this topic

[Project Chaos]

So, I'm not sure if this even belongs in this forum. But I am fairly lacking in battletech lore, mostly because battletech was before my time.

Though I am extremely interested in it now, I want to learn all I can.

Thing is, I don't know much about the factions. I know about the inner sphere, and the clans, but when it comes to individual clans or factions, I don't know much.

I choose Draconis Combine right now, because they follow the old school Samurai government of Feudal Japan, which is actually my favorite culture in real life.

But I feel like from what I've read, clans are just better, and much less limited than IS. So I would like to choose a clan, I just don't know how to choose.

So, my question to you all is, how do you pick a clan? What draws you to a certain clan? How should I best do my research on each clan?

I don't know much, but so far I'm leaning towards Clan Jade Falcon. Mostly because they seem pretty "asian" which reminds me of the Draconis Combine. But to be fair I know nothing about the Jade Falcons.

Anyways, thanks in advance for any advice or help.

[Rina Fujimoto]

Well I'm sure someone will recommend you a bunch of Battletech books, your best bet for now is to just get on sarna and start reading:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page

Sarna is the Battletech wiki, it pretty much has huge pages on all sorts of faction lore, info, history and battles, just go to the clan subsection right there on the front page and start reading.

That's what I did anyway, my only experience with BT was playing MW2 and 4, so Sarna really helped me out a lot, it's all a good read, Battletech is a pretty good setting (even if it does get kinda silly sometimes, but well, it was the 80's)

[VIPER2207]

I'm also not very deep in the lore (sad thing), but i can answer some of your questions.

1: you can not choose any clans yet, because they did not arrive until today
2: if you want to get informations about clans, houses, mechs and anything else in the battletech-universe, i would recommend www.sarna.net as a good reference

Edit: damn, too late... haruko beat me

Edited by VIPER2207, 22 September 2013 - 10:51 PM.

[L1f3H4ck]

http://mwomercs.com/...-and-the-story/

This contains a link to a brief guide to the history of the Inner Sphere.

[Dalziel Hasek Davion]

Don't necessarily fall prey to the simplistic view that "the clans are just better". The clans have superior technology, sure - but they are considerably more restrictive in their social and cultural structures. The clan honour code places considerable constraints on individual and group behaviour in battle and demands they operate with the least amount of firepower sufficient for a task. Their 'Mechs are designed using specific design parameters that can limit them under certain circumstances.

The difficulty is in reflecting that in a game like this where people play the clans for a variety of reasons other than cultural heritage. I would not suggest for a moment that everyone playing a clanner is only doing so for access to the advanced 'Mechs and weapons. It can probably be summed up by "Because... Timberwolf."

The main source of information about the clans and their culture can be found in the book "The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky". http://www.sarna.net...ors_of_Kerensky

[Sadistic Savior]

Project Chaos, on 22 September 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

So, I'm not sure if this even belongs in this forum. But I am fairly lacking in battletech lore, mostly because battletech was before my time.

Though I am extremely interested in it now, I want to learn all I can.

Thing is, I don't know much about the factions. I know about the inner sphere, and the clans, but when it comes to individual clans or factions, I don't know much.

Here you go:

http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__2722993

That is a list of the novels you should read and in what order. Those suggestions focus on the Clan period, around the time this game starts.

If you want the ADHD version, go to this site:

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

Lots of detailed info there with references. It draw upon the novels and rules supplements from the board game (which is what this MMO draws from as well).

Factions:
Inner Sphere - http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Inner_Sphere
Clans - http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Clans
Mercs - http://www.sarna.net...lemental_Update

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I choose Draconis Combine right now, because they follow the old school Samurai government of Feudal Japan, which is actually my favorite culture in real life.

One thing you will learn about BT cultures is that the lines are very blurred. There has been a lot of cross-pollination in the last thousand years.

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But I feel like from what I've read, clans are just better, and much less limited than IS.

They are not really better...if they were better they would have won. The Clans have their own limitations, many of them self-imposed. Comstar alone defeated all the best clans combined, and they did it using inferior technology.

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So, my question to you all is, how do you pick a clan? What draws you to a certain clan? How should I best do my research on each clan?

Use Sarna and read about them. Thats a good start.

The Clans are generally divided into two major camps...the wardens are the good guys. They want to protect the Inner Sphere, not subjugate it. The Crusaders are the bad guys...they see the inner sphere governments as unworthy and want to subjugate them.

Jade Falcon is a hardcore crusader clan, but have been greatly weakened because of some stupid decisions their Khans made. They are competent though and still dangerous.

The Smoke Jaguars were the most powerful crusader clan, but they were annihilated by the supposedly inferior forces of the inner sphere. As of the late 3050s they don't exist anymore. They were responsible for a lot of atrocities (including the razing of a major civilian city from orbit). They were so aggressive that even other crusaders hated them.

Wolf started out as a Warden and fractured into a crusader clan. But even the crusader wolves are weirdly liberal as Clanners go. Their adaptability is what has helped them stay on top almost from the beginning.

The Ghost Bears are Warden. They ended up bonding with the Rasalhague government eventually. Their thing is family...they are very loyal to each other. They were allied with Wolf for a long time.

The Nova Cats started out as Crusaders and became wardens eventually, and were abjured by the other clans because they were getting too touchy-feely with the inner sphere. They eventually bonded with the Draconis Combine and are no longer recognized as Clan by any of the other clans.

The Steel Vipers are one of the more minor invading clans, and they are hardcore crusaders. Steel vipers have unusually harsh training requirements (even for the clans) that result in few warriors but of higher caliber.

The Diamond sharks are uncomfortably cozy with their Merchant caste, and the Merchants are the defacto rulers of the clan, which p*sses off the other clans. Most warriors also double as unofficial merchants as well. There is a bunch of drama surrounding their symbol...they used to be Clan Sea Fox, but the scientists of a competing clan were d*cks and created the diamond shark to kill off their clan symbol. So they took the name of the diamond shark instead. They are officially wardens right now, though they have waffled in the past.

Edited by Sadistic Savior, 23 September 2013 - 07:01 AM.

[Sadistic Savior]

Project Chaos, on 22 September 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

I don't know much, but so far I'm leaning towards Clan Jade Falcon. Mostly because they seem pretty "asian" which reminds me of the Draconis Combine. But to be fair I know nothing about the Jade Falcons.

None of the Clans are dominated by a single human culture. If anything they all seem mostly American to me in the lore. They all speak English as their primary language, even though their gene pools are racially diverse (there are black and asian clansmen in lore...several of the Smoke Jaguar bloodlines are black).

[Moses Lanknau]

keep in mind, mwo has not much to do with the lore. its a cryengine based tactical shooter with mechworrior-overlay that lacks the complexety and variety of its more complete predecessors - its not your fathers mechwarrior - its in any perspective cheaper!

most clan warriors may be genetitcal enhanced but what they have added in strength, reflexes and senses is easily made up by thier weired pride for beeing better in person and society than any other ... they have not faced real war for almost 6 generations and so they are not well well prepaired for fighting on the burned grounds the great houses leave for the 'winner'.

nations like today are gone, there is no evil 'china' populated mostly by slit eyed 'asians', and yes there are blond 'samurai' ... even in the combine or confedration, but in general, this isnt even a thread in battletech lore.

Edited by CSR Moses Lanknau, 23 September 2013 - 07:28 PM.

[Sadistic Savior]

CSR Moses Lanknau, on 23 September 2013 - 07:24 PM, said:

keep in mind, mwo has not much to do with the lore. its a cryengine based tactical shooter with mechworrior-overlay that lacks the complexety and variety of its more complete predecessors - its not your fathers mechwarrior - its in any perspective cheaper!

MWO is closer to the lore than any Battletech game that has been published so far, MMO or not.

I played the TT game for a long time...IMO, this game is far more enjoyable, and certainly requires more skill (both strategic and tactical). The TT game relied mostly on chance and allowed you exploit the vague rules. For example, in TT movement is in chunks of many meters at a time...elevation and time are also in chunks. Here, you can get more "resolution"...a matter of feet could be the difference between getting hit or surviving. A matter of a second could spoil a kill sh0t. You do not get that in the original TT game.

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nations like today are gone, there is no evil 'china' populated mostly by slit eyed 'asians'

It is only the government that is evil. Not the people in general. The Chinese masses do not control their government the way that we control ours. They are basically pets of the CCP.

Edited by Sadistic Savior, 24 September 2013 - 07:41 AM.

[VIPER2207]

Sadistic Savior, on 24 September 2013 - 07:40 AM, said:

The TT game relied mostly on chance and allowed you exploit the vague rules

yeah, maybe, but if you did exploit something sometimes, none would have played again with you

[Sadistic Savior]

VIPER2207, on 24 September 2013 - 10:01 AM, said:

yeah, maybe, but if you did exploit something sometimes, none would have played again with you

What I mean by "exploit" is that the movement was imprecise...you could not move halfway around a canyon wall for example. It was all or nothing.

In MWO, you can expose only half your mech around a wall...so if all your weapons are in the exposed arm, you can hit the enemy and still have cover. TT had no rules to allow for that.

[Nick Makiaveli]

Sadistic Savior, on 24 September 2013 - 07:40 AM, said:

..IMO, this game is far more enjoyable, and certainly requires more skill (both strategic and tactical).

Hmm....I thought you were a proponent of charging into the middle of the field to duke it out and thought those who tried to use tactics (like base capping) were griefers etc. and that this game wouldn't be sophisticated until CW came out?

CSR Moses Lanknau, on 23 September 2013 - 07:24 PM, said:

nations like today are gone, there is no evil 'china' populated mostly by slit eyed 'asians', and yes there are blond 'samurai' ... even in the combine or confedration, but in general, this isnt even a thread in battletech lore.

Umm.....are you insulting the Chinese people, or am I misreading you?

Also, if you read published material, both rules and novels, there is plenty of references to other cultures, races etc. in all the Houses. Lastly, the Capellan Confederation isn't Japanese and thus doesn't have samurai. Technically The Draconis Combine isn't Japanese either, they just adopted and adapted the culture and the ruling family happens to be of Japanese descent. Sorenson comes to mind right alongside the Sword of Light regiments when I think of Kurita.

[Sadistic Savior]

Nick Makiaveli, on 24 September 2013 - 11:53 AM, said:

Hmm....I thought you were a proponent of charging into the middle of the field to duke it out and thought those who tried to use tactics (like base capping)

Base capping does not necessarily = tactics. Not sure where you got that idea. You might be surprised to learn that it is actually possible to employ tactics without ever capping at all.

No really. Even militaries in real life can do it. It's totally true.

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Umm.....are you insulting the Chinese people, or am I misreading you?

I am insulting the Chinese government. The Chinese government and the Chinese people are not the same thing. The government does not answer to the people there.

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Also, if you read published material, both rules and novels, there is plenty of references to other cultures, races etc.

Yes. But they all have dominant languages and cultures in a given area. The Clans are no different. I have never seen a reference, either in rulebooks or novels, indicating any of the Clans speak anything other than formal Star League era English.

Remember, they are all descended from a single source: Kerensky's exodus. They would have all come from the same background (Star League military). The members tied too closely to their own cultures were weeded out in the war after the Exodus. That was why Nicholas Kerensky formed the clans in the first place. Conformity (and the rejection of individual Inner Sphere cultures) was encouraged among the clans. This certainly would have extended to language.

Edited by Sadistic Savior, 24 September 2013 - 03:04 PM.

[MortVent]

For me the older lore is best, the post invasion/jhaid... leaves a lot to be desired. things got way out of whack in powerscaling and just in general.

I actually liked the old pre invasion stories best