25 replies to this topic

[Gayang3]

Hey fellow Mechs, with the new faction challenge I have been faced with the decision of selecting a faction. So far I've scored about 500kills and countless hours but have not seen why I should belong to any clan/house. I have been in the default LONE WOLF faction.

So my question to you guys is, is there any point in belonging to a certain faction? Meaning, do we get special clan only weapons or mechs (now or in the future)? Is the game play any different? And is there a certain clan that you would recommend?

Thanks loads in advance

[Joseph Mallan]

The Best faction is which ever one fits your views or Combat style.

Edited by Joseph Mallan, 23 May 2014 - 06:01 AM.

[IIIuminaughty]

Cw hasn't came out so there isnt no better faction. But we all know which ever faction I join will be the best

[Lootee]

Lady Death Trevaline's merry band of space butt pirates have the most fun of any faction.

[AlmightyAeng]

At the moment, choice of faction has literally no effect on gameplay whatsoever.

It MAY effect some things if Community Warfare ever comes out.

[Strum Wealh]

PanchoTortilla, on 23 May 2014 - 06:26 AM, said:

Lady Death Trevaline's merry band of space butt pirates have the most fun of any faction.

Though, Paula Trevaline herself is currently rotting in a FedCom prison...

"However, 3042, the 9th FedCom RCT was dispatched to Periphery by First Prince Hanse Davion to hunt Trevaline down. The conflict cost the Davion's' over nine hundred infantry, a battalion Armor Vehicles, and two companies of BattleMechs. However, in the end, they succeeding in capturing Lady Death and bring her to justice on New Syrtis. There she was sent to maximum-security prison for twenty-two years, until she managed to escape her Davion captors in 3064 during the FedCom Civil War."

[ShadowWolf Kell]

Joseph Mallan, on 23 May 2014 - 05:58 AM, said:

The Best faction is which ever one fits your views or Combat style.

Quick run down....


House Steiner - Lots of sausages, beer and sauerkraut.

House Kurita - Sushi, Octopuss, Shark and anything fishy. Sake only at room temperature.

House Liao - Moo goo Gai Pan and Kung Pao Beef, nuff said.

House Davion - Tea, Scones and Blood Pudding. And chips. Lots and lots of chips.

House Marik - All you can eat buffet. The menu changes daily because they can never decide what to put on it.

[Strum Wealh]

Gayang3, on 23 May 2014 - 05:57 AM, said:

Hey fellow Mechs, with the new faction challenge I have been faced with the decision of selecting a faction. So far I've scored about 500kills and countless hours but have not seen why I should belong to any clan/house. I have been in the default LONE WOLF faction.

So my question to you guys is, is there any point in belonging to a certain faction? Meaning, do we get special clan only weapons or mechs (now or in the future)? Is the game play any different? And is there a certain clan that you would recommend?

Thanks loads in advance

With regard to the technical/gameplay-mechanics aspect:
The different factions currently have no effect with regard to gameplay.
PGI's eventual plans for how faction choice might affect gameplay are summarized (by user DirePhoenix) here.

Quote

In an NG/NG podcast interview with Russ Bullock (NGNG #105, 22:30), he said that faction play is where Clan players play with Clan Mechs and Inner Sphere players play with Inner Sphere 'mechs. In public (non-faction) matches, players can use whatever they want, although the Clan Mechs are weighted as being 5 tons heavier for balance purposes.

In regards to Inner Sphere mechs among Inner Sphere factions, all IS mechs will be available to all IS players in faction play. However, 'mechs will be more or less expensive to purchase depending on if your faction has the factory where that 'mech is produced within its territory. For example: DRG-1N Dragons are made within the Draconis Combine (House Kurita). Kurita players will be able to purchase Dragons for cheaper than Davion players who will have to pay full black market prices for that 'mech.

It is unknown how or if PGI will handle the ease of switching factions on a whim like you can do now by going to your profile page and clicking a button to change your faction allegiance.

With regard to the flavor/roleplaying aspect:
I consider my post here to be a fairly good summary.

Quote

As far as traditional weapon affinities go:

• FedSuns: small-to-medium autocannons (AC/2, AC/5, AC/10), backed by energy/missiles
  
• DracCom: high-energy weapons (pulse lasers, PPCs), backed by missiles
  
• CapCon: EWAR, backed by ballistics/energy
  
• FWL: missiles, backed by lasers (as the FWL is known to typically lack PPCs)
  
• Lyrans: large ballistics (AC/20, Gauss Rifle), backed by energy/missiles

The FRR isn't really part of either of the alliances (but is most friendly to the FedSuns and FWL and least friendly to the DracCom (primarily) and Lyrans (secondarily), IIRC), and doesn't really have an established affinity in terms of weaponry.

Does that help to address the primary questions?

----------

Also, to bite into the RP sub-discussion...

My take on a short generalization of each faction:

• Federated Suns/House Davion: essentially the British Empire, with some additional French overtones
  
• Lyran Commonwealth/House Steiner: essentially the Holy Roman Empire, with heavy German overtones
  
• Draconis Combine/House Kurita: essentially early Showa Era (roundabout WWI/WWII) Japan, with a smattering of other cultures (mainly Arabic) represented
  
• Capellan Confederation/House Liao: essentially Qing Dynasty Era China, with a smattering of other cultures (mainly Russian and Scottish) represented
  
• Free Worlds League/House Marik: essentially the Ottoman Empire, with some Indian and American overtones
  
• Free Rasalhague Republic: essentially the Swedish Empire, with some American overtones
  
• The Clans (to be made available eventually) collectively represent the "great conquering hordes" and "romanticized noble savages" of the past (e.g. the Mongols under Genghis Khan, the Macedonians under Alexander III, the Romans during the expansion of the Roman Empire, and so on), while each Clan individually represents a separate society - the Ghost Bears are generally thought to be Scandinavian (like the FRR, with whom they later merged) and modeled in the spirit of the (romanticized) Vikings, the Smoke Jaguars are thought to represent (stereotypes of) the warrior tribes of Africa's past (most notably the Zulu Kingdom), the Nova Cats are thought to have been modeled on (stereotypes of) Native American societies (with the Wanapum, Cheyenne, and/or Sioux likely serving as primary inspirations), and so on.

[Odins Fist]

Gayang3, on 23 May 2014 - 05:57 AM, said:

"Whats The Deal With Factions? Is There A Best Faction ?"

There are NO factions yet, those little pictures are just place holders until community warfare is implemented.

Nobody in the known Universe knows when community warfare will be done and implemented, so at the moment Factions literally mean NOTHING.

[627]

actually faction just decides which jokes you will here in the prematch chat.

But don't take mariks, those are the teamkillers of the inner sphere.

Oh and FRR... well if you like to play civilzation 5 with the one-city-only setting this could be for you.

[Gayang3]

Strum Wealh, on 23 May 2014 - 09:04 AM, said:

With regard to the technical/gameplay-mechanics aspect:
The different factions currently have no effect with regard to gameplay.
PGI's eventual plans for how faction choice might affect gameplay are summarized (by user DirePhoenix) here.

With regard to the flavor/roleplaying aspect:
I consider my post here to be a fairly good summary.

Wow, thanks for the reply buddy. This was very helpful.

Whats EWAR (the one that Capcon is good at)?

[Adridos]

Gayang3, on 23 May 2014 - 11:28 AM, said:

Whats EWAR (the one that Capcon is good at)?

ECM mastery, Stealth armor, et cetera. In the game, you're only looking at ECM.

[AlmightyAeng]

ShadowWolf Kell, on 23 May 2014 - 08:56 AM, said:

Quick run down....


House Steiner - Lots of sausages, beer and sauerkraut.

House Kurita - Sushi, Octopuss, Shark and anything fishy. Sake only at room temperature.

House Liao - Moo goo Gai Pan and Kung Pao Beef, nuff said.

House Davion - Tea, Scones and Blood Pudding. And chips. Lots and lots of chips.

House Marik - All you can eat buffet. The menu changes daily because they can never decide what to put on it.

Mercs working for the Federated Commonwealth - Beer and Chips.

[Strum Wealh]

Gayang3, on 23 May 2014 - 11:28 AM, said:

Wow, thanks for the reply buddy. This was very helpful.

Whats EWAR (the one that Capcon is good at)?

"EWAR" = Electronic Warfare

Somewhat more broadly, it includes sensor systems (it was the Capellan Confederation that recovered the Beagle Active Probe first) and sensor countermeasures (it was also the Capellan Confederation that recovered the Guardian ECM Suite first, as well as invent Stealth Armor much later in the BattleTech timeline from where MWO takes place).

They also have a thing for mines - "the Capellan Confederation has long relied on mines to make up for its lack of military forces", the first Battle Armor scale Mine Dispenser & a number of specialized mine types were developed by the Capellans, and "the CCAF is the largest user of Thunder LRMs in the Inner Sphere" despite said missiles having been first rediscovered by the Federated Commonwealth.

However, mines and mine-laying equipment are rarely implemented in MechWarrior games, so characterization of Capellan specialties tends to fall back to EWAR gear.

[Ngamok]

Base Turret Faction, they cover both sides.

[Chemie]

Factions are critical to earning your loyalty points.

Oh...wait...never mind.

[Strum Wealh]

So... as for why one might want to affiliate/ally with the FedSuns, specifically (and mainly from an in-universe perspective):

• Culturally, the Federated Suns is based on an Anglo-American model - in many ways, it is a lot like a mish-mash of the old British Empire, the current Commonwealth of Nations, and the modern United States (which, if that is or is close to one's real-world cultural affiliation, can provide a sense of comforting familiarity).
  
• As a result - and especially in contrast to the likes of the Capellan Confederation and the Draconis Combine - the Federation represents a generally more "open" and liberal society - to the point that the leadership is publicly criticized and challenged by the media without undue worry of being snatched out of their homes and offices at any hour and ending up with a "9mm third eye" or a sudden case of headlessness .
  
• Given the combination of the Suns' mostly-British social model and the Davion family's ultimately-French heritage (said to be a region in southwest France called Gascony), the AFFS MechWarriors are typically depicted as filling a role analogous to that of (usually, the romanticized version of) the Western European knight.
  
• Moreso than the other realms, the FedSuns is usually depicted as being interested in the recovery and development of non-military technologies (as well as military technologies).
  
• The AFFS tends to have a fixation - almost to the point of obsession - and an affinity for the autocannon.
  
• The FedSuns was the only nation to respond favorably to the Lyrans' proposal to try to reunite humanity under a common banner - the result was the formation of the Federated Commonwealth.
  
• The current head of state, Hanse Davion, is basically what one would call a "magnificent b*****d". As an example, he addressed the most vocal critic of the Suns' nationwide education program (one Robin DeCaster) by making her the Minister of Education; "Now she is the one responsible for the government’s education policy and she’s the one forced to defend herself against the critics. It’s a beautiful example of how to handle your opponents."
  
• Also, the FedSuns is the home nation of the company that developed the Marauder - the Greatest BattleMech of All Time.

Though, it's not as though the FedSuns is without its own problems - the education system and technological prowess begins to become less prevalent and effective as one moves away from the largest population centers (to the point that some whole worlds might more closely resemble the stereotypical 19th or 20th century American South than what one might expect of a 31st century interstellar federation).

Literature-wise, the FedSuns is sometimes portrayed as "the Hero faction" and occasionally "the Mary Sue faction" (though, not to anywhere near the same (extreme) degree as Clan Wolf ) - FedSuns characters in those instances can (but do not always) come off as any one or more of: arrogant, haughty, overly self-righteous, and even outright bland.
Though, that is not to say that FedSuns characters do not or are incapable of running the full spectrum of character types...

[Davers]

House Marik is the worst House except for all the others.

[JohnnyWayne]

Well, the heritage house of the USA (House Cameron) was eradicated, as far as I know. Feds are rather british than US - american.

Edited by JohnnyWayne, 23 May 2014 - 01:52 PM.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Strum Wealh, on 23 May 2014 - 09:04 AM, said:

[*]Free Worlds League/House Marik: essentially the Ottoman Empire, with some Indian and American overtones

Just wanted to say that the FWL doesn't feel like the Ottoman Empire. They did not have enough civil unrest as the FWL.

So I'd say there are more parallels to be found with the Seleucid Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Empire than the Ottomans.