113 replies to this topic

[Kyone Akashi]

Sure, it's a matter of focus - but if you look hard enough, you're bound to find something you like. Hell, if it weren't for Kurita, I would have gone Davion or Merc. Kind of interesting, given what Combine citizen think about those two groups!

A lot of stuff you can also make up yourself, in your own mind. Study a faction, then think about what's possible. In MWO, you are the author of your own story, and even Liao or the FWL have ample room for individual heroics.

[Molossian Dog]

Uite, you would be right about 10-15 years ago. The guys currently running the Battletech universe have given House Marik more than its share of attention. In sourcebooks and novels.

Sidenote: I haven´t read all and don´t know if the comparison has already been made:

I see House Marik as the Holy Roman Empire in space.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Uite Dauphni, on 23 January 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

I mean, the Capellan Confederation are almost exlusively the bad guys

They were rather bad for the Clan Invasion and the war before that, but they had some pretty crappy leadership there to.
(Maximilian and Romano would have given ANY faction a bad name)

However some time after Sun Tzu took over, they got a lot better reputation (haven't read that stuff, but Kai was willing to work with his cousin, and help him rebuild the CC - which would have NEVER happened with his aunt or grandfather)

[ValdnadHartagga]

Sun-Tzu was a bad guy, but at least he was a reasonable bad guy.

[Molossian Dog]

Marack Drock, on 24 January 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

...
Marik- They like to help out WoB and nuke innocent people without care.
...

I beg to differ. The Mariks like to help out the Wobbies.
The guys nuking innocent people because Wobbies hide among them are us, the Regulans.

[Chaotee]

Some pretty amusing insights. Although everyone seems to to be focusing on the cultural & political stuff. When it comes down to playstyle from lore:

Kurita generally has the best individual warriors:
http://www.sarna.net...irst_Hidden_War

Davion has the best military structure (the best leadership and organizational ability):
http://www.sarna.net...tal_Combat_Team

Steiner has the best factories and equipment:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Hesperus_II


Marik tends to come in second in all three of those categories, which you think would make them unstoppable, but instead they spend more than half their time fighting amongst themselves:
http://www.sarna.net...Andurien_Crisis
http://www.sarna.net...Marik_Civil_War

Liao are the underdogs, with good warriors but generally the worst equipment, leadership and mech variants, this forces them to be the most flexible and rely on subterfuge the most:
http://www.sarna.net..._-_Organization

[Odanan]

Chaote, on 24 January 2014 - 04:20 PM, said:

Some pretty amusing insights. Although everyone seems to to be focusing on the cultural & political stuff. When it comes down to playstyle from lore:

Kurita generally has the best individual warriors:
http://www.sarna.net...irst_Hidden_War

Davion has the best military structure (the best leadership and organizational ability):
http://www.sarna.net...tal_Combat_Team

Steiner has the best factories and equipment:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Hesperus_II


Marik tends to come in second in all three of those categories, which you think would make them unstoppable, but instead they spend more than half their time fighting amongst themselves:
http://www.sarna.net...Andurien_Crisis
http://www.sarna.net...Marik_Civil_War

Liao are the underdogs, with good warriors but generally the worst equipment, leadership and mech variants, this forces them to be the most flexible and rely on subterfuge the most:
http://www.sarna.net..._-_Organization

I like this.

I would add some more characteristics:

Kurita: greater morale/loyalty (Bushido);
Steiner: bigger mechs;
Marik: great Combined Arms tactics;
Liao: yes, subterfuge, subterfuge, subterfuge. (and the most feared Special Ops)

Edited by Odanan, 24 January 2014 - 04:53 PM.

[Julian Langsdorf III]

Then don't be a Regulan. By the time we get to that point in history, calling a Regulan a "FWLer" or a "Marik" is an insult, and vice versa. They aren't the same faction anymore once the Jihad kicks off. And plenty of former-FWLers are actively fighting the Wobbies, both within League space, and in the drive on Terra itself.

But...that's kinda also the interesting part. Watching a nation fracture into pieces.

Edited by Julian Langsdorf III, 25 January 2014 - 05:51 AM.

[Julian Langsdorf III]

Yup.

Lets move on...this thread is supposedly here to help people learn about different factions via the sharing of information such as relevant facts. It sounds like your mind is made up and I'm not interested in debating it (nor is that the purpose of this thread). I hope others will avoid the bait as well.

Edited by Julian Langsdorf III, 25 January 2014 - 05:56 AM.

[Alexander Steel]

Quote

I beg to differ. The Mariks like to help out the Wobbies.
The guys nuking innocent people because Wobbies hide among them are us, the Regulans.

The Regulans are part of House Marik.. just like the Sister of the Future Leader of House Liao is a member of a Thuggee Death Cult.


You don't get to play the "No True Scottsman" card here... heh.

Quote

Kurita: greater morale/loyalty (Bushido);

The down side of this is that during the clan invasion the Leaders of House Kurita had to order their troops to stop committing Seppuku after they lost to the Clans in battle because they were losing so many of their best warriors and commanders to suicide.

Edited by Alexander Steel, 26 January 2014 - 08:47 AM.

[Sealawyer]

Marack Drock, on 27 January 2014 - 05:24 AM, said:

I forgot that Kruita were suicidal.

We prefer the term Fanatical.

[Kyone Akashi]

Combine samurai do not commit seppuku once they "start to lose", but after attaining great personal failure and shame, or sometimes as a form of protest against their lord. When Kuritan warriors "start to lose", they keep on fighting and seek a glorious death by inflicting maximum damage on the enemy.

Of course, we cannot expect a honorless mercenary to understand these things, given their lack of belief in a greater cause.

[Odanan]

Kyone Akashi, on 29 January 2014 - 08:16 AM, said:

Of course, we cannot expect a honorless mercenary to understand these things, given their lack of belief in a greater cause.

Mercenaries believe in a greater cause: $.

(and you can't spend it if you are dead)

[Abivard]

Who the hell are the FRL?

[Sealawyer]

Abivard, on 31 January 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

Who the hell are the FRL?

I think he means you, although you are more of the "just want to be left the hell alone faction" if you ask me. Which makes you the perfect buffer state between us and the Steiners.

[FelixBlucher]

As far as Marik is concerned, I see them kind of similar as Britain in space. Mainly due to the Knights of the Inner Sphere.

Davion, as was mentioned earlier, is kind of like America in space. Their military has spurs on their boots, and they have a mixture of tactics and distaste for politics. Commanders often raise through the ranks due to skill, and worthiness of a position.

Depending on the generation, Steiner is about trickery, and backstabbing. Military commanders are regularly put through the ranks due to money or political favors. The leader when the clans come has her mother assassinated, and tries it with a few other people.

Liao, easily summed up in one word, "crazy". Though that pertains to the older generations. The leader around the time the clans come is smart, and uses his family history to trick other houses. The best way to describe this generation is, cold and calculating.

Kurita I all about honor and the warrior code. They do change a bit during the current generation, but the underlying foundation doesn't change.

Edit: Minor corrections

Edited by FelixBlucher, 31 January 2014 - 04:08 PM.

[Odanan]

Hmm.. Marik as Britain? Only if you imagine an English port city neighborhood with mostly immigrants (Indians, Eastern European, Hispanic) who fight with each other.

The Free Worlds League is the hardest faction to define.

About Davion, it's more like an union of USA, Canada and England, governed by Westpoint guys.

Steiner is the most political and money-driven faction - sometimes extremely diplomatic (like in the old Katrina's rule), sometimes backstabbing (like her granddaughter's).

Liao is a harsh, paranoid dictatorship that is smoothing with the younger, wiser rulers.

Kurita is represented as evil conquerors in the earlier books, but is improved in later fiction.

And Rasalhague: definitively not vikings. I imagine them more like the Finnish in WW2 (fierce defensive warriors).

[Sealawyer]

There is no real US faction as most of the worlds that were populated by Americans are in the center. So they are diversified among all the houses. They kind of did that on purpose because they wanted to avoid a US faction.

Davion is more French and English medieval court if you will.

Steiner is more like Prussia than anything. With a little Dutch money handling on the side.

Marik is like the Greek city states to me. Divided by politics, but strong when united. And good at trading just like them.

Liao is Chinese and Russian. St. Ives reminds me of Russia when it breaks off.

Kurita is Japan and Middle Eastern / Africa

FRR definitely Scandinavia, I agree with the Finland thing above to, fits perfectly. Think of the clans as the equivalent of the evil WW2 faction. At least I do.

[Julian Langsdorf III]

According to Handbook: House Davion, page 135. English is the national language in the Fed Suns. Though there are some interesting mixed dialects like High Torrence, used by the societal elite in the Crucis March, its a mix of English, French, with some Farsi and Arabic added in.

Edited by Julian Langsdorf III, 31 January 2014 - 05:33 PM.

[Paul Inouye]

It comes down to this... House Kurita and the rest of them.