46 replies to this topic

[perfectblue]

I am only briefly versed on history of Battletech, and I would like to further my understanding before this game is released.

From my understanding this game takes place one year prior to the clan invasion, when the 5 innersphere houses are still at war with each other. Once the clans return they run a rampage devastating the innersphere with their advanced technology. What eventually stops them, and how do the 5 houses survive this?

In addition, What happens then from a gameplay standpoint once the clans return, will some of the mechs become completely obsolete?

[Onager Kell]

unfortunately Comstar stops them...and a truce ensues for a time, it was a porxy battle for Terra on the planet Tukkayid

[infinite xaer0]

http://www.sarna.net...tle_of_Tukayyid
^ for the lore, read that.

as far as what happens when the clans are introduced to the game? your guess is as good as mine..

[Aaron DeChavilier]

the clans suffer a string of defeats at the hands of IS forces either through sheer luck or atrocious losses.
The clan invasion force leader, the ilKhan, is killed when an FRR fighter pilot crashes her crippled ship into the bridge of the clan command ship. This causes the clans to halt the invasion to pick a new leader.

The Battle of Luthien was won primarily because Hanse Davion of the Federated Commonwealth dispatched the two of the greatest merc companies in the sphere to bolster the defense: the Wolfs Dragoons, and the Kell Hounds.

finally the clans are brought to a complete stop when Comstar makes them an offer: the ComGuard (Comstar's Army) will fight the Clans in a proxy battle for Earth, on the planet Tukayyid. This results in a 15 year ceasefire, that ends with the IS counterattack of Operation Bull Dog and TaskForce Serpent. These operations eliminate Clan Smoke Jaguar permanently, and through a Trial of Refusal, ends the clan threat once and for all.

after that the clans become another facet of the Inner Sphere, they raid each other, neighboring Houses, etc. Most mechs aren't obsolete, just maybe not the best, refit packs can only extend the shelf-life of a mech so much.

there it is in brief, for in-depth, go to Sarna

[Onager Kell]

basically comstar had a hidden army that was full of mechs from the star league era (which puts them on equal footing with the clans). and they beat the clans by forcing them to fight a protracted battle. the clans lost the terms of battle and the were forced into a truce. the clever precentor martial of comstar A. Focht(F. Steiner) and the Clan Wolf leader Ulric Kerensky hatched the plan. Ulric was a member of the Warden faction inside the clans and wanted to protect the IS not conquer it.

[Kanatta Jing]

Old school Mechs are still used as work horses after the Clan Invasion.

Upgraded a bit but still the nice cheap junkers they always was.

And that is what our first bunch of Mechs will be. Our reliable money makers.

[geck0 icaza]

perfectblue, on 23 May 2012 - 09:21 AM, said:

From my understanding this game takes place one year prior to the clan invasion, when the 5 innersphere houses are still at war with each other. Once the clans return they run a rampage devastating the innersphere with their advanced technology. What eventually stops them, and how do the 5 houses survive this?

We call this pulling a Stackpole. nah j/k a great set of novels to read for this info would be the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy. An online search can easily draw them up.

[Onager Kell]

ahhh Stackpole, he was my fav of the BT/MW authors.

Coleman was good too, but i loved Stackpole's novels. I wish WHK had written few more.

Did anyone ever read the Warstrider series? that's what i picked up as a kid after reading all the BT books out at the time

[Jaroth Corbett]

perfectblue, on 23 May 2012 - 09:21 AM, said:

I am only briefly versed on history of Battletech, and I would like to further my understanding before this game is released.

From my understanding this game takes place one year prior to the clan invasion, when the 5 innersphere houses are still at war with each other. Once the clans return they run a rampage devastating the innersphere with their advanced technology. What eventually stops them, and how do the 5 houses survive this?

In addition, What happens then from a gameplay standpoint once the clans return, will some of the mechs become completely obsolete?

The Clans main aim was Terra (Earth). Whether Warden or Crusader, reestablishing the Star League was paramount. The Clans dealt the IS a series of serious blows, then a fighter pilot made a suicide run at a Clan ship that happened to have the ilKhan (war leader) on it, killing him. The Clans were forced to recall their bloodnamed warriors to Clan space to elect a new ilKhan, giving the IS about a year IIRC to recuperate, rearm & resupply. It was during this lull that a popular mercenary group (Wolf's Dragoons) revealed they were in fact from the Clans & would help the IS fight them by providing mechs that were way better than the IS had out, training & tactics. During this time the 5 well really 4, "Great Houses" , decided to put aside their differences to fight a common enemy.

Up to this point, ComStar (which is basically the telecommunications monopoly of the IS that behaves like a religious order) was helping the Clans by cutting off, slowing down or diverting communication between the "Great Houses". When they learned the Clans true goal was Terra, they decided to oppose them. A man named Focht proposed a daring idea to the new ilKhan Ulric Kerensky. ComStar would field their troops, the ComGuards, (who they kept secret from the IS) on a planet called Tukayyid. This planet would serve as a proxy for Terra. If the Clans won, they would get Terra immediately & ComStar would serve as their administrative arm. If the IS won the Clans would have to stop incursions into the IS for 15 years. They would hold onto whatever worlds they had before Tukayyid, but anything past Tukayyid they would not be able to invade & capture.

Oh almost forgot, the IS reformed the Star League on their own. (sham as it was)

That should cover it. If you need details, read the books.

[Dayuhan]

On the 20th of August 3028 the 4th Succession War was officially hearalded with Hanse Davion's words at his wedding on Terra "My dear . . . . I give you the Capellan Confederation." The war against the Confederation stripped House Liao of most of its industry and two of its districts - the St. Ives Compact, which seceded from the Confederation and became an independent entity under the protection of the Federated Commonwealth, and the Tikonev Republic which was absorbed into the Federated Commonwealth as the Sarna March. Shortly after this invasion ended in 3030 the weakened Capellan Confederation was attacked again by the Magistracy of Canopus and the Andurien Duchy but the Confederation managed to repulse the attack and secure its borders by 3035.

The Draconis Combine was also invaded during the 4th Succession War with a two-front attack from the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns. The Lyrans had already been fomenting rebellion in the Draconis Combine's Rasalhague district and the uprising of Rasalhague was supported by invading Lyran units. Meanwhile, the Federated Suns began a successive waves of attacks on the Combines other border. The Combine was expected to crumble under the two-front attack, but through un-orthodox tactics and the unexpected reinforcements from "Ghost regiments" fielding 'mechs that had not been seen since the 1st Succession War the Combine managed to stem Federated Commonwealth invasion and begin a counter-invasion. The Combine's solution to the Lyran invasion was even more unorthodox - the Combine acknowledged the Rasalhague government in exile as the rightful rulers of the Free Rasalhague Republic and withdrew its troops from the newly formed republic. This sudden reversal forced the Lyran Commonwealth to cede the worlds they had captured to the newly formed Free Rasalhague Republic. While the Draconis Combine list the Rasalhague district, their loss turned into a gain as the FRR was now a buffer between the Draconis Combine and the Federated Commonwealth.

The only major power not significantly changed by the 4th Succession War was the Free Worlds League. While the League made a tentative probe alongs its Lyran border the League spent most of the 4th Succession War dealing with internal power struggles.

Perhaps the greatest surprise of the 4th Succession War came from Terra where the previously neutral ComStar makes it home. Comstar became an active participant in the 4th Succession War aiding the Draconis Combine against the united Federated Commonwealth attacks. This aid came in the form of loans of Star League vintage Battlemechs and a Communication blackout across against the Federated Suns. At the end of the 4th Succession War ComStar won right to place ComStar Battlemechs to protect all the HPG stations in the Inner Sphere - these Hyper-Pulse Generator Stations were the only means of interstellar communication between solar systems and all HPG stations were owned and operated by ComStar.

[Onager Kell]

yea that fighter pilot was Phelan Kell's woman, Tyra Miraborg...that should rile those FRR fans up into a frenzy when the clans finally come

[Skylarr]

Tyra Miraborg's Aerospace Fighter was badly damaged. Know she would be picked off by the enemy's Aerospace she decided to run her Aerospace into the bridge of the nearest Warship. She had no idea that the IlKhan was on that Bridge.

[Aaron DeChavilier]

Skylarr, on 23 May 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

Tyra Miraborg's Aerospace Fighter was badly damaged. Know she would be picked off by the enemy's Aerospace she decided to run her Aerospace into the bridge of the nearest Warship. She had no idea that the IlKhan was on that Bridge.

hence the victory through sheer luck

[Chunkymonkey]

GO Stackpole. Lets keep this relevant though, so maybe in a year the could make a new factions for the different clans but make it so that you have to test in.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Hopefully this game will pick up steam on release and continue growing when the clans invade. When they arrive it could bring in clan only players and take some from existing factions creating a nice balance beteen existing forces.

[Solis Obscuri]

Skylarr, on 23 May 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

Tyra Miraborg's Aerospace Fighter was badly damaged. Know she would be picked off by the enemy's Aerospace she decided to run her Aerospace into the bridge of the nearest Warship. She had no idea that the IlKhan was on that Bridge.

She also got something like 16 lines in the Remembrance for pulling that one off - few bloodnamed Clan warriors get that much mention.

Quote

Tyra of the Rasalhague led,
Forth her fiery flying Drakøns,
Gallant in bronze. A warrior woman whose hands
Were unskilled in the ways of hearth and home,
In skills of war she was hard and trained
To leave behind the airy winds and fight
Where the void is eternal and life fleeting.
Tyra and her warriors fought
Like crazed demons above Radstadt.
When her fighter was crippled by ours,
And her life leaked away into the endless night,
She chose to die
And sent her fighter like a spear
Through the Dire Wolf, claiming as isorla
Our mighty ilKhan's life. Sing of our loss, warriors!
Sing, but of Tyra also,
For though an enemy, her courage none can deny.
—The Remembrance, Passage 294, Verse 8, Lines 17-33

[Philfy]

I loved the irony that Phelan was on the ship and was the one that saved Ulric - not knowing at the time it was Tyra who'd rammed the bridge.

Wish they'd do a re-print of the BT novels.. there's 4 missing from my collection

[Skylarr]

Phelan's actions proved he was a die hard Wolf. He chose the life of his fellow wolf clanner, who was his bitter enemy, over the life of person who was from another clan. Even though it was the IlKhan.

[Onager Kell]

vlad was a ******! i'm just glad Phelan got Ranna in the end...and got back home.

now the real controversy is who was better. Phelan or Kai?

[Chunkymonkey]

Kai, Phelen was using Clan technology when they fought to the death in a simulation, so even though Kai used the Yen Lo Wang, it was still a very old mech even if it had new technology. Also, Ever wonder why they never mention the TSM in any other books by any other authors except in Blood Legacy.