47 replies to this topic

[Odanan]

Marcobra, on 02 March 2016 - 05:38 PM, said:

Thank you, but %100 of the design credit for the Griff, OST and Warhammer all go to Shimmering Sword, I just made the brush strokes

So you are working together? This is very good news! Keep it up!

[Juodas Varnas]

Marcobra, on 02 March 2016 - 02:44 PM, said:

Actually I did this one, but it's certainly influenced by Alex's work. I've also been working with a lot of Shimmering Sword's recent redesigns so I tried to incorporate some of his design cues as well to help unify the look across all of the Battletech products.

Here's some more of my recent work with with Catalyst if you're interested.
http://marcomazzoni.....com/battletech

Woah, dude.
Your art is awesome. I hope you get to do more of it!

And that Ostscout? Oh my, i wouldn't mind seeing one in MWO now

Edited by Juodas Varnas, 02 March 2016 - 11:12 PM.

[Steinar Bergstol]

Love that cover, and smart move to start with one of the best BT novels ever written. Wolves on the Border is up there with Heir to the Dragon as my favourite BT novels of all time. Both incidentally written by Charrette.

[THE ERASER]

Just bought all the novels yesterday and wil re read them all in the next few weeks. Hope there comes more novels and perhaps all of them will be released in the end. So hyped about that and my E-Book will be pleased.

[STEF_]

WHOA! Is that Wolves on the border?

Really recommend to read it.
Still my fav among the books I read.

[iLLcapitan]

yea yea yea, that gave me some goosebumps... time to remove some dust off long forgotten soft-covers

[invernomuto]

Which book do you suggest to start with the battletech lore?
AFAIK there are two battletech series: the old books, the "Classic Battletech" series (1985-2000) and newer ones ("Dark Ages"). Which are better?
Thanks
D.

[shaterbane]

While it is nice to see them reprinted, I don't see anything new. Wolves on the Border is an almost 30 year old novel. Do like the new cover vs the original though.

Original cover:

[shaterbane]

invernomuto, on 03 March 2016 - 05:44 AM, said:

Which book do you suggest to start with the battletech lore?
AFAIK there are two battletech series: the old books, the "Classic Battletech" series (1985-2000) and newer ones ("Dark Ages"). Which are better?
Thanks
D.

There are actually three. Battletech/Classic Battletech, Mechwarrior, and Mechwarrior Dark Age. Not sure exactly what all the splits are, other than Mechwarrior is original timeline but written/published after the M:DA stuff started coming out. I think.

You could always start at the beginning, if you can find them. Decision at Thunder Rift (the first of the Grey Death Saga, though amazon is listing that one used at $42), or, much harder to find, The Sword and the Dagger.

Though, if you want to get into the heart of it, there is Stackpole's Warrior Trilogy, or for the clan invasion his Legacy of Kerensky trilogy. Stackpole for a while was the core plot novelist.


Personally, my favorites are mid 3050s Victor Milan novels about the merc unit Camacho's Caballeros.

Edited by shaterbane, 03 March 2016 - 07:09 AM.

[Koniving]

Juodas Varnas, on 02 March 2016 - 11:58 AM, said:

Oh man, that Dragon on the cover though!
Look at that high-mounted ballistic!

THAT is how the Dragon should look like here too!

The cover is made by Alex, right? Definitely looks like his art. A solid 5/7.

A proper Dragon, in the proper scale, done properly. Beautiful.

The art has no lower arm actuator right side and a hand actuator left side.
The erroneous print from the TRO has a lower right arm actuator and no left hand actuator.
I'm sure this is the cause of the confusion going around.
MWO used to have the lower arm actuator on the right AND the hand actuator on the left. (Though I see from a glimpse at it now the hand actuator has been removed.)

Here's to hoping when they redo the Dragon, they do it right this time.


Makes it very distinct from the Grand Dragon, which has the elbow and this I believe gives a point to making the Grand Dragon.

Edited by Koniving, 03 March 2016 - 09:13 AM.

[Juodas Varnas]

Koniving, on 03 March 2016 - 09:04 AM, said:

A proper Dragon, in the proper scale, done properly.

The art has no lower arm actuator right side and a hand actuator left side. The erroneous print has a lower right arm actuator and no left hand actuator.
MWO used to have the lower arm actuator on the right AND the hand actuator on the left. Though I see from a glimpse at it now the hand actuator has been removed.

Here's to hoping when they redo the Dragon, they do it right this time.


Makes it very distinct from the Grand Dragon, which has the elbow.

All of my yes.
(Grand Dragon should also have a humanoid fist instead of the 4-claw)

[Cy Mitchell]

invernomuto, on 03 March 2016 - 05:44 AM, said:

Which book do you suggest to start with the battletech lore?
AFAIK there are two battletech series: the old books, the "Classic Battletech" series (1985-2000) and newer ones ("Dark Ages"). Which are better?
Thanks
D.

I am partial to the classic BattleTech series. I have owned and read at least 44 of the novels. I sold my collection about 5 years ago and sometimes regret that I did. The Warror Trilogy that centers on Hanse Davion and his family is a great place to start. Then follow that up with the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy and last but not least the Twilight of the Clans 8 book series. That reading will give you a solid background in BT and encompasses the present timeline in the MWOnline game.

[chewie]

Another golden oldie that needs to be reprinted.

[ImperialKnight]

for a moment i was excited as i thought there would be new Battletech novels. But they're just re-releasing old ones.

i like how they've marked out which era the story is from though

[Domenoth]

knightsljx, on 03 March 2016 - 07:45 PM, said:

for a moment i was excited as i thought there would be new Battletech novels. But they're just re-releasing old ones.

i like how they've marked out which era the story is from though

While I understand your disappointment, I think it's worth noting that the re-release of these books is actually a big step forward. This is the first time these books have been available as official digital copies.

Up until now, there was a ridiculous legal issue of royalties. There just wasn't an agreement in place and the company holding the rights refused to take the time to make one despite all the original authors already being on board. That appears to have been corrected so people won't have to hunt used book stores or amazon anymore to get a chance to read these.

And who doesn't like books that don't take up any shelf space?

[invernomuto]

I bought "Wolves on the border" on Amazon yesterday because it was very cheap (0,99 euro). I read the first three chapters and so far I like it. The timeline seems the same of MWO (there are the same mechs - year 3023).
I'd like to read the first novels but are too expensive or I cannot find them.

Thanks,
D.

Edited by invernomuto, 04 March 2016 - 01:24 AM.

[Tincan Nightmare]

invernomuto, on 03 March 2016 - 05:44 AM, said:

Which book do you suggest to start with the battletech lore?
AFAIK there are two battletech series: the old books, the "Classic Battletech" series (1985-2000) and newer ones ("Dark Ages"). Which are better?
Thanks
D.

Man if you can find them, (or if Catalyst reprints them all ) I would start with the original novels that came first. Sword and Dagger, Wolves on the Border, Heir to the Dragon, the Warrior trilogy. Those will give you a pretty good 'immersion' into the 'feel' of the classic BT universe. I like a lot of the later novels, but will always have a soft spot for those titles as they were the 'originals'. They also cover a pretty big chunk of BT history, from right before the 4th Succession War and thru to the War of 3039, leaving you right before the Clan invasion. Most of the later novels center around the Clans, and stick in that time period for quite a lot of novels, until you get the 'time warp' of the Dark Ages set decades later.

[ERescue]

@Knightsljx:

EMBERS OF WAR is a new book, details on the page linked in OP. So we ARE getting new books.

[Tincan Nightmare]

Oh and to add to my earlier post, the Gray Death trilogy (Decision at Thunder Rift, Mercenary Star, and The Price of Glory). Can't believe I forgot to mention those! Here's a list of all the BT novels. https://en.wikipedia...ttleTech_novels

Over a 100 novels for BT! Lets hear it for the love of Mechs.

[invernomuto]

Which novels cover the Clan invasion (approximately the same timeline of MWO)?
Those about Kerensky?