49 replies to this topic

[Katzenwolf]

So, lately, my friend and I have been really getting into Mechwarrior Online. He's a Steiner, and keeps going on about them rolling in heavy assault mechs and stuff. So what house would fit a person in a light mech, best?

I primarily use Locusts. Weak, but my favorite. So far I use Locusts, Ravens, Jenners, and maybe the Spider Trial mech. But anything slower than 130 usually gathers dust.

Suggestions?


Edit: So I chose house Kurita after getting a suggestion to read up on the Factions on sarna.net. I wonder why I don't see a lot of Kurita in my matches?

Edited by Katzenwolf, 31 March 2014 - 02:22 PM.

[AlmightyAeng]

Honestly? Whatever one you want. It's all fluff.

Traditionally, Davions use a lot of lights and mediums...and heavily favor JJ on most models (The incredibly Davion-iconic Jagermech being an exception).

[Gtbuck]

House doesn't matter at all at this point unless you're trying to role play. Hopefully at some point soon community warfare will start to phase in and at that point the house you belong to will have implications though at this moment we're not sure exactly how it will impact the game.

[luxebo]

It really doesn't matter until CW comes in as of right now. Totally up to you and what unit you would like to join in. If you want to join Steiner and your friend as well (even though they are more lore based around Atlases and quad DDC supreme Steiner scout lances), you should join in. If you like a certain class of mech it shouldn't affect your choice in faction selection.

[Katzenwolf]

Oh, I thought houses gave bonuses or maybe I just got mislead? I was hoping to join whatever one had bonuses for the Locust or light mechs in general. But I guess if it's all Lore for the moment (Until Timberwolf comes out), then what House was known to use the Locusts or other Light mechs?

[luxebo]

Katzenwolf, on 31 March 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

Oh, I thought houses gave bonuses or maybe I just got mislead? I was hoping to join whatever one had bonuses for the Locust or light mechs in general. But I guess if it's all Lore for the moment (Until Timberwolf comes out), then what House was known to use the Locusts or other Light mechs?

Locusts are really common throughout the battletech universe iirc. Spiders I believe are Kurita or Davion? Jenners are Kurita for sure (esp JR7-K). Ravens are Liao, with 2X being Davion. Commandos are Steiner mainly. I'm not sure what Firestarters usually have as a faction, Davion?

The faction challenge was just a little thing where you could potentially earn MC and such, but is really hard to win. As of right now though houses don't have a true purpose other than choice of who you align with.

[Jacon Ceronia]

Katzenwolf, on 31 March 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

then what House was known to use the Locusts or other Light mechs?

All of them used a healthy portion of lights. Back in the day, lights were the most common mechs on the battlefield. Bar none. Anymore, heavies and assaults are flat-out more popular among players, so fluff has adapted to reflect this (in both MWO and the table top). Just like originally, MechWarrior and Battletech had a very 'Mad Max' + 'Dune' like quality to its politics, and technology level (in many facets, actually). As time has gone on though, the flavor has shifted to a very high-tech, wealthy, advanced society. In some ways it’s a shame. In others, its improved.

Back to your question; you should pick your house from your own lineage. I’m German, Scottish, and Swedish. So, I could be a Northwind Highlander (Scottish), Steiner (German), or The Free Rasalhague Republic (Swedish). Of course the lineage of these houses is a little more complicated than this, but you can get a better idea reading up on the great houses of the Inner Sphere at sarna.net or from the source books themselves. I’m mostly Swedish (on both sides) so the FRR was a natural choice (for me). Good luck.

[IraqiWalker]

This article gives you the best description of each one of the great houses.

[Ovion]

Yeah, Locusts are one of the most common, if not the most common chasis with thousands in use.

Furthermore, to my knowledge for the most part you're representing Mercs in the employ of the houses, so it doesn't necasarily matter what you pilot.

[Cataphractos]

While it looks like I'm a couple hours late to this party, I'll say once more what I've said before:
Each of the Inner Sphere's "Houses" has a Handbook, which is a broad view of the society, and a Field Manual, which focuses on its military. You may want to look for a copy if you're really interested; though of course I can't advocate PDF piracy, I know that a lot of the Handbooks and Field Manuals are out of print.

As far as House Kurita goes...be extremely careful. As written in canonical materials, Kurita and Liao come veeeeeerrrrrrry close to Embarrassing Sterotype country.

[Koniving]

Jenners are a Kurita staple. Ravens and Cataphracts are a Liao invention but heavily used (and stolen) by the Davions.

Perhaps this can help.
http://www.sarna.net...ory:BattleMechs
Please note you have to look the house up by actual faction name.
Example: Liao? Capellan Confederation.
Davion? "Federated Suns."
Kurita? "Draconis Combine."

The Capellan Confederation is an "Autocratic state with a controlled economy," essentially communism with one person ultimately in charge.

Rasalhague is probably the only democratic nation. Many are more or less monarchies of one sort or another, with the richest being the Lyran Alliance (Steiners). Hence Steiner's notoriety for big mechs.

[dragnier1]

luxebo, on 31 March 2014 - 12:25 PM, said:

Locusts are really common throughout the battletech universe iirc. Spiders I believe are Kurita or Davion? Jenners are Kurita for sure (esp JR7-K). Ravens are Liao, with 2X being Davion. Commandos are Steiner mainly. I'm not sure what Firestarters usually have as a faction, Davion?

The faction challenge was just a little thing where you could potentially earn MC and such, but is really hard to win. As of right now though houses don't have a true purpose other than choice of who you align with.

firestarters are like locusts, all houses have them.

[luxebo]

dragnier1, on 01 April 2014 - 01:19 PM, said:

firestarters are like locusts, all houses have them.

Alright, thanks. And Spiders I looked up are mainly Kuritan, though Marik has some plans from it.

[Wildstreak]

Truthfully, you could find any Mech in any House. It is just the rarity of how often you find them based on who produces them and what House buys/uses them a lot.

Example - Ravens are made in House Liao territory and thus were used by them first. However, over wartime, damaged Units such as Ravens can be captured by enemies and repaired for their use. Given Liao usually fought Davion, Davion can be considered to have captured some and repaired part of those for use.

Further you have Mercenary Units that could have done the same, either repaired damaged ones for use or in Liao service obtained them legally. Then these Merc Units go elsewhere and some opponent of their gets a hold of the Merc's Ravens and repairs them. Merc Units may also sell off equipment such as Ravens so you get it off the market.

Simple version, Mechs are like personal vehicles, you may get one second, third or higher hand having previous owners. Certain wear is not reflected in game, both online and TT, that is why you 'magically' can always repair Mechs to pristine condition.

Usually, the last letter of a Mech designator shows who uses it a lot with rare exceptions.

Jenner-K is Kurita obviously.
Jenner-D is Davion.
Jenner-F is a designator given by the company that made them so does not represent any particular House.

[Archon Adam Steiner]

Sarna is a decent resource, but some of their information isn't cited properly... rather like a badly-written Wikipedia article, some areas are purely opinion as opposed to fact. For instance, several Houses are ascribed 'American' influence, yet America was seldom ever mentioned in canon, and certainly was not a core founding culture of any House. Erroneous tidbits abound, like this one, but unless you're a lore-nut, there's no need to mind.

Reading the novels and/or Handbooks is the best way to form an opinion of the Houses, Clans, Periphery powers, and others. There is simply an astounding amount of detail to the Battletech universe, and the vast majority of it is very well-written. The series emerged in the mid-to-late 80's, and is solidly grounded in Cold War-esque intrigue and ideology.

[IraqiWalker]

Arrachtas, on 01 April 2014 - 05:07 PM, said:

Sarna is a decent resource, but some of their information isn't cited properly... rather like a badly-written Wikipedia article, some areas are purely opinion as opposed to fact. For instance, several Houses are ascribed 'American' influence, yet America was seldom ever mentioned in canon, and certainly was not a core founding culture of any House.

A lot of people see some "America" ideas in House Davion. I see them as Knightly Britain (think crusades-era) in space. The in-breeding does help with that.

[Wildstreak]

IraqiWalker, on 01 April 2014 - 05:26 PM, said:

A lot of people see some "America" ideas in House Davion. I see them as Knightly Britain (think crusades-era) in space. The in-breeding does help with that.

Given Britain helped make America and Canada, it could be influenced by all 3.
Personally I think the Houses have broader influence even though top level royalty makes it seem narrow. Many planets never had their personal influence described.

[AlmightyAeng]

IraqiWalker, on 01 April 2014 - 05:26 PM, said:

A lot of people see some "America" ideas in House Davion. I see them as Knightly Britain (think crusades-era) in space. The in-breeding does help with that.

Honestly, I've always thought of Davion as holding onto a LOT of French chivalric values with a sprinkling of American libertarian policy.

[Alaskan Nobody]

IraqiWalker, on 01 April 2014 - 05:26 PM, said:

Davion=Britian

Ghost Badger, on 02 April 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

Davion=French+America (would that be parts of Canada I wonder? )

One of the awesome (and sad) things about the series is that there really isn't an "America" or other countries (unless the RotS counts.....)

All of the factions have elements of it - but none of them fit.

They all have elements of a lot of places (there is even a group of worlds mostly settled by the Polynesians! which looks spelled wrong..)- without being a copy-paste of those places.


Closest you get to one of the factions being one of the modern day factions is probably the Combine - which is more Japanese fanboyism (and largely presented as such) than actual Japanese.

[AlmightyAeng]

Shar Wolf, on 02 April 2014 - 09:03 AM, said:

Closest you get to one of the factions being one of the modern day factions is probably the Combine - which is more Japanese fanboyism (and largely presented as such) than actual Japanese.

"But....sir...the chassis won't take that kind of structural stress...and...the armor placement makes no sense...and..."
"Shut it gaijin! IMMA MAKE ME A SAMURAI ROBOT!"

Nah...Kuritans are pretty much RIGHT out of the history books...

Edited by Ghost Badger, 02 April 2014 - 11:03 AM.