113 replies to this topic

[Julian Langsdorf III]

The FWL is not the generic American faction. They were originally going to be the generic Roman faction early in Battletech's construction but then the writers gave that to the Marians. Despite that fact you can still see traces of it today (the eagle, the Parliament with guys in white and purple robes, the Free Worlds Legions and their crest, a roman helmet).

EU is a better comparison but still not on the mark either, unless India became part of the EU and nobody told me. That's what stumps people about the FWL, its not generic FWL = real world anything. Like the Clans, its a construct of the Battletech universe and requires some in-depth reading and study to understand. There is no one-liner that sums it up with more than 15% accuracy.

Thomas Marik tried to turn them into the "King Arthur...Knights of the Round Table" faction, with some success. Though that is really just limited to him and his Knights of the Inner Sphere. But it did become a notable trend and fad among the general public in the 3050s within the FWL's already dizzying patchwork of cultures and ideologies.

I didn't understand the FWL for years until I sat down with a copy of FM: FWL and Handbook: House Marik, and really studied it all. The breakup of the League in the Jihad, also did a good job of bringing the FWL's component parts (its provinces) front and center by making them separate entities. In effect it tore apart the confusing mosaic and let you study the individual pieces more closely. If you understand those, you will understand the League pretty well.

All that said, you don't have to devote tons of study to the FWL to be a fan. In this era , in this kind of game, just shout "For the Free Worlds League! For the Captain-General!" and open fire.

Edited by Julian Langsdorf III, 13 January 2014 - 12:11 PM.

[Grey Black]

Draconis Combine: Japan IN SPAAACE!
Federated Suns: Western Europe IN SPAAACE!
Capellan Confederation: Communist China IN SPAAACE!
Free Worlds League: Eastern Europe IN SPAAACE!
Lyran Commonwealth: Germany IN SPAAACE!
Free Rassauhague Republic: Vikings IN SPAAACE!
ComStar: AT&T IN SPAAACE!
Word of Blake: Verizon IN SPAAACE!
Clans: {Godwin's Law} Germany IN SPAAACE!
Magistracy of Canopus: Vegas IN SPAAACE!
Outworlds Alliance: Amish IN SPAAACE!
Taurian Concordat: ..... Crazy mofos IN SPAAACE! (?)

[Sealawyer]

Grey Black, on 13 January 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:

Taurian Concordat: ..... Crazy mofos IN SPAAACE! (?)

Maybe Mad Max in space?

[Odins Fist]

Rearick, on 25 October 2013 - 06:32 AM, said:

"Difference Between Factions?"

There is no difference, Community Warfare doesn't exist yet, come back in October 2014, that is the conservative estimate given by the powers that be for the implementation of CW.. That's OCTOBER 2014...

[Grey Black]

Marack Drock, on 13 January 2014 - 07:06 PM, said:

I can sum up the factions rather nicely I think:

Steiner- Power raving lunatics known for half of everything that involves really bad leaders
Kruita- Warlike, honor obsessed (not close to the Clan honor), and leaded by people who speak Japanese.
Liao- Run by a Dictator and is rather pathetic as far as the Great Houses go (look at their territory maps every 20 years it just gets smaller and smaller).
Davion- Prone to being good overall but get leaders that are less intelligent then dead people.
FRL- A bunch of people just getting into everyone Else's business.
Marik- Striven with Civil war, were a part of WoB (on WoB side too).

This is the Great factions in a nut shell.

My response to Davion is Hanse Davion. The reason Liao is pathetic in 3050 is because of that magnificent *******. Better to characterize them as warmongering psychopaths who believe it's their way of the highway and are willing to do anything to ensure their rise to power.

[AztecD]

Poor/Burnouts = Periphery

Yes this is where the units i played in NBT where all from, CF, MoC and our beloved RC. We fieled the cannon mechs available to us and still kicked mech behind.

Sadly i dont think we will see any periphery units in MWO

[Odanan]

Grey Black, on 13 January 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:

Draconis Combine: Japan IN SPAAACE!
Federated Suns: Western Europe IN SPAAACE!
Capellan Confederation: Communist China IN SPAAACE!
Free Worlds League: Eastern Europe IN SPAAACE!
Lyran Commonwealth: Germany IN SPAAACE!
Free Rassauhague Republic: Vikings IN SPAAACE!
ComStar: AT&T IN SPAAACE!
Word of Blake: Verizon IN SPAAACE!
Clans: {Godwin's Law} Germany IN SPAAACE!
Magistracy of Canopus: Vegas IN SPAAACE!
Outworlds Alliance: Amish IN SPAAACE!
Taurian Concordat: ..... Crazy mofos IN SPAAACE! (?)

Word of Blake: "Apple in Space" (they have the tech and they are fanatical)

And please, Rasalhague has nothing of Vikings (except for the north-Germanic blood).
Vikings were mostly the seafaring pillagers and raiders (there is nothing romantic in the terror they spread across coastal Europe).

I would classify Rasalhague as "space Scandinavian" or "space Norsemen" instead.

If there are "space Vikings" in the BT universe, they are the Smoke Jaguar (burning planets = burning villages).

AztecD, on 13 January 2014 - 07:43 PM, said:

Poor/Burnouts = Periphery

Yes this is where the units i played in NBT where all from, CF, MoC and our beloved RC. We fieled the cannon mechs available to us and still kicked mech behind.

Sadly i dont think we will see any periphery units in MWO

Rocket Launchers! (I wish...)

[Kyone Akashi]

Odanan, on 14 January 2014 - 02:45 AM, said:

Rocket Launchers! (I wish...)

wtb MRMs

[Alexia]

I don't even fit the faction who's flag flies next to my name, rumor has it I'm a quadruple spy of sorts... or misguided hehe. Davion, that pilots with space vikings (SoR), that is seen with some of the jade falcons, that also has been helping a certain WoB fanatic... !

[Dauphni]

The only significant difference between the factions as they are in the game right now is in the actual players.

Davion generally attracts the tryhards who think they are playing as the ‘good guys’ and are therefore better than everyone else. Expect a lot of abuse hurled your way if you encounter them in-game.
Kurita is another faction with a lot of tryhards. Has a huge superiority complex from fetishising its ‘code of honour’. Most likely to run off by themselves and screw over their own team in pursuit of glory.
Steiner is full of actual Germans, and its players tend to be a little more level-headed. Not much else to say. These people know what they're doing.
Marik is relatively casual and laid back. We're here because we love the game, the setting and the lore.
Liao are Goons, even if they've mostly abandoned the game by now.
Rasalhague are rebels, if they're not actual Scandinavians. Very diverse, and you can expect anything from them.

Edited by Uite Dauphni, 18 January 2014 - 01:01 PM.

[Strum Wealh]

Uite Dauphni, on 18 January 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

Davion generally attracts the tryhards who think they are playing as the ‘good guys’ and are therefore better than everyone else. Expect a lot of abuse hurled your way if you encounter them in-game.

Well now, some of us are quite non-abusive, and tend to adhere to "the space knight thing" at least as well as the average like-minded Kurita player adheres to "the space samurai thing"!

Uite Dauphni, on 18 January 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

Rasalhague are rebels, if they're not actual Scandinavians. Very diverse, and you can expect anything from them.

Don't forget the Clanners-in-waiting!

[Dauphni]

Oh definitely, you have people of all kinds in every faction. These are generalisations based on my personal experiences, but if someone is shouting at you through chat, I've found it's most likely a Davion.

So yeah, of course not all Davion is like that, it's just that it's more common there. The same goes for my comments about all other factions, obviously. There are plenty of tryhards among us Mariks as well for example, but their numbers are less significant, relatively speaking.

[Dauphni]

And let's not get started on those clanners...

[FERAL TIGER]

This is an awesome post, being new to BT lore this answered soooo many questions.

THANKS EVERYONE

[martian]

Free Worlds League

Austro-Hungarian Empire in space

(or - if you want to go deeper in the past - Holy Roman Empire)

[Grey Black]

Odanan, on 14 January 2014 - 02:45 AM, said:

And please, Rasalhague has nothing of Vikings (except for the north-Germanic blood).
Vikings were mostly the seafaring pillagers and raiders (there is nothing romantic in the terror they spread across coastal Europe).

I would classify Rasalhague as "space Scandinavian" or "space Norsemen" instead.

My response would be that Vikings are badass. Rasalhague is badass. Vikings and Rasalhague come from Scandinavia. If both exhibit similar qualities, then they are the same for the purposes of raw generalization (Out of one billion, 0.99999 is close enough to 1 for the purposes of estimation). Rasalhague and Vikings exhibit badassness and come from Scandinavia. Therefore, Rasalhague are Vikings.

Also: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Viking

This is a Rasalhague mech.

[Odanan]

Grey Black, on 22 January 2014 - 11:56 AM, said:

My response would be that Vikings are badass. Rasalhague is badass. Vikings and Rasalhague come from Scandinavia. If both exhibit similar qualities, then they are the same for the purposes of raw generalization (Out of one billion, 0.99999 is close enough to 1 for the purposes of estimation). Rasalhague and Vikings exhibit badassness and come from Scandinavia. Therefore, Rasalhague are Vikings.

Sorry but your logic makes no sense.

And you should learn more about the Vikings. Not all Scandinavian were Vikings.
Vikings were basically pirates. Their common practice when landing in a shore was to pillage, burn and kill entire villages. I don't see this behavior in the Rasalhague faction. FRR are strongly nationalists but they are not very aggressive towards their neighbors (and I never heard about Rasalhagues invading and razing planets) They are also not great travelers or explorers. So, apart from the same origins, they have few in common with the Vikings.

Grey Black, on 22 January 2014 - 11:56 AM, said:

Also: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Viking

This is a Rasalhague mech.

So what? That's the same of saying the creators of the Hoplite mech are Greek.

[Moku]

Steiner is blue and looks cool. All factions have pros and cons within the Battletech lore so we can go back and forward all day.

The reality and difference is House Steiner has lots of great active North America teams and strong German teams. We have a large Skye Rangers Brigade organization with multiple units and a shared House Steiner Hub Teamspeak server with several different groups. The German teams are quite large and organized.

[Kyone Akashi]

All factions have badasses as well as simpletons, and they all enjoy an awesome or pitiful portrayal all depending on which author writes what book with what plot set in what era. Anyone who has not yet realized this: I urge you to broaden your horizon and read some books not focused on your currently favorite faction.

In my opinion, it's really just a question of what style one gravitates more to.

Edited by Kyone Akashi, 23 January 2014 - 09:50 AM.

[Dauphni]

Kyone Akashi, on 23 January 2014 - 09:49 AM, said:

All factions have badasses as well as simpletons, and they all enjoy an awesome or pitiful portrayal all depending on which author writes what book with what plot set in what era. Anyone who has not yet realized this: I urge you to broaden your horizon and read some books not focused on your currently favorite faction.

It's not always that easy. Some factions are quite neglected in the novels compared to others.

I mean, the Capellan Confederation are almost exlusively the bad guys, and the Free Worlds hardly get even that. Now compare that to the Federated Suns, who feature heavily in at least half of all the novels. Same thing with the clans.

Of course, the actual sourcebooks themselves are a little more balanced, since they try to be more encyclopedic in format, but that's a poor substitute for the raw characterisation the novels provide.