15 replies to this topic

[T9FURY]

Hi all, as I have every interntion of getting into MWO I wanted to find out if there are any wow out of this world books on Battletech Lore, in short, the history anf maybe tech manuals and that sort of thing.
I have come across books like;

Battletech; 25 Years
Classic Battletech Techmanual
CBT Technical Readout: 3039

I have come across various Read Outs ****, I am not finding very good descriptions on what the books actually are, I'm not sure if they are Tech books, history books, game rules, or novels.
I would prefer listings of books rather than online content so I can read it anywhere other than on my system.

Regards

[Lightdragon]

though i dont support torrenting there is a massive megatorrent up on the piratebay with most of the bt books over the last 25 years called battletech 101 but on the same note if you like the book youre reading up on in that torrent go out and purchase it to have a hard copy

Edited by Lightdragon, 01 July 2012 - 08:34 AM.

[Vandul]

You can find all of the Technical Readouts here: http://www.mechground.com/

Ebay and Amazon are great resources as well for paper product.

[Atlas3060]

I have no idea if my post will help, but here goes.
Lore within the Battletech Universe can be broken up into Novels, Sourcebooks, and Technical read outs.
http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=3498 is a link from the Battletech table top site called "GETTING STARTED: AS A READER OF FICTION…"

Novels are just that: stories within the Universe itself told from the perspective of being right there.
http://www.sarna.net...ttleTech_novels A list of the most recent printed novels out there. Some are reprints, some are the German ones (non canon I think).

http://www.battlecor.../BC2/index.html Battlecorps is the online service where we recieve electronic stories straight from the authors. Mainly in PDF form, they do sell some in epub and mobi formats. However the PDFs are free if you have a subscription within the release date of a story. For example: If a story was released last week I have free access to it FOREVER, even if I let my subscription lapse then come back again another month. However within the months I am not subscribed I don't get those specific stories, but I can back purchase them for a small fee.

This site is also important because it has the Battleshop. That is the shopping cart for online purchases if you want to get anything Battletech related they have available. There are other sites as well like drive thru pdf and such, but I tend to just shop here.
This also serves as a shopping cart for Catalyst game lab's other product lines like Shadowrun.

Now onto Sourcebooks, because these aren't totally in character at times. There are elements within that are for game masters and players to play with certain rules. However the fluff/lore/stories within these are told from within the Universe. It is like a general receiving a lengthy report on a specific subject (like the Clans coming) and how the Universe has reacted to it.

The writing styles have shifted a bit for some books as the years went on because we lost the ability to publish printed novels. So right around the Jihad and the Republic age the shift went from a "here's what has happened within XXXX years" to a "We are actually at this moment and here's what's going on" approach. Now certain books tend to wrap up what happened in the earlier publication to settle questions and provide a bit of the earlier writing style though.

Technical Read Outs are part fluff/lore part inner workings of the game. Let's take Tech Read Out 3039 for example.
(http://bg.battletech...039_Preview.pdf) Here's the free PDF sample of that book for those interested. This was provided by the Battletech site link I showed earlier.

Within this example we see an intro from an in-Universe PoV and this entry of the Pegasus Hover Tank. This shows the history of the tank itself. Where it was made, why it was made, who used it mostly, where it is deployed, and a notable pilot sometimes. Variants are described, but from a Lore perspective this isn't useful too much. The next page shows the stats from the game. So it serves both the gamer and the reader of the history.

[SOGNeon]

I have either hard copy or PDF or most every book produced up through catalyst 35302 jyhad hotspots... I strongly agree with light dragon. if you like the book, try to get a hard copy. supporting the company helps keep the game going.

the answer to your question unfortunatly lies in a question. what is it you are looking for?

your source books have the most information on cultures within the game... field manuals tell you about the different houses, mejor mercinary units, clans, etc the thing to remember is it depends on when a given book was published as to when in the game timeline it is based. for example, I have #1698 Field Manual: Draconis Combine sitting next to me. it is written from a perspective after the invasion of the clans, but before the development of the new starleage and the innersphere rallying against the clans. I think it is basicly set around 3055-3057 but I also have #1620 House kurita in PDF. it is set before the invasion of the clans around 3025 in the fourth succession war. between the two there is a LOT of history and culture to be learned of the draconis combine. every house/faction has the same. the clans are not so well written up as yet. the first two clanbooks where released at the start of the 90's with wolf, then jade falcon. many years later, they did a set of field manuals which covered several clans each, so while it gave you more of a glimps into the culture of the clans, it lacked the detail given to the great houses...

the TRO's give you information about the mechs, vehicles, aerospace, etc and in doing so, they tell a li'l about who uses them primarily, and what varients are suposed to be out there, but it only tells you a li'l bit about the cultures. on the otherhand it is great for getting to know the equipment, learning it's strengths and weaknesses, etc.

if you want to delv into the novels, look for those by michael stackpole... he was responcible for most of the timeline development with the novels.

[T9FURY]

I had the board game Battletech when it came out when I was kid, so learned nothing about the history, I just liked playing the game. Then I played a few of the cg games and loved them, especially MW4M and BK, now I only really learned a little about equipment and the houses via these games, but as MWO is going to be a long term thing, and hopefully my clan will get involved so I want to learn more. I think I have enough links from you guys to get me started and from there I will no doubt find more info, if MWO is as good as I remember MW4 was in it's day I shall be playing for a long time, PDF's are ok, but I prefer hard or paperback copies so I can take them anywhere, maybe read them at work. But we'll see.
But thanks for the links everyone, much appreciated.

[Pht]

http://www.sarna.net.../Category:Books Look at the page for whatever book you're interested in ... as a very general rule of thumb:


TROs = mech stuff.

Handbooks= lore information, usually about various BTUnivers factions

Scenarios=scenario information for gameplay. A bit thin on lore information beyond the specific scenarios.

Mercs manuals=info on the various merc units.

Field manuals= sort of like the handbooks, but a bit broader in usage. FM: Updates is massive and full of info, but it's post-fedcom civil war.

-----

For the hard to find stuff, www.bookfinder.com/ seems to be an invaluable source in tracking down hard to find things.

The old succession war book house (davion, steiner, marik, drac, cappie) handbooks were released for free a long time ago on the officiall BT website... I'm not sure if they're legal to download anymore, though.

[Congzilla]

Product List:
http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=175

If you are looking for setting information then the catagories you want to look at are:

• Era Reports
  
• Historicals
  
• Plot Sourcebooks
  
• Setting Sourcebooks

The closest books for the time period of MWO would be Era Report: 3052 and Historical: Operation Klondike.

[Lightdragon]

if youre interested in the novels im willing to share them i keep em all in my nook for those who are interested in copies drop me a message own every book (yes even sword and dagger) and all the dark age ones

Edited by Lightdragon, 09 July 2012 - 04:32 PM.

[Watchman]

Vandul, on 01 July 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

You can find all of the Technical Readouts here: http://www.mechground.com/

Ebay and Amazon are great resources as well for paper product.

Mechground.com is the way to go.. I got all the PDF but when not at home, i use that site all the time, still I buy the books, tro, everything to support the Game... but i surely dont want to carry 300 lbs of books when i go play at a friend, IPAD, wireless Connextion and Voila.. instant access to all the TRO well most of it anyway

Cheers

[Fiachdubh]

Like others have mentioned just go to the Catalyst site where you can buy them in digital format. Seen a sample and they are very high quality PDF (download some of the free ones they are offering to see for yourself).

Cannot remember what the prices where but if digital and hardcopy close enough in cost I always go harcopy, no excuse for publishers (in general, not Catalyst) to charge the same or more for a digital copy which they are saving print, storage and transport costs on. Although with ereaders (fantastic things) and pads are making the digital versions more appealing (not to mention less drowning polar bears!)

[wanderer]

Watchman, on 12 July 2012 - 05:34 AM, said:

Mechground.com is the way to go.. I got all the PDF but when not at home, i use that site all the time, still I buy the books, tro, everything to support the Game... but i surely dont want to carry 300 lbs of books when i go play at a friend, IPAD, wireless Connextion and Voila.. instant access to all the TRO well most of it anyway

Cheers

It's worth noting that these sites don't generally have the MOST recent ones- for example, TRO: 3085. But they're perfect for exploring the era in which MWO is set- basically a good primer is reading about the 4th Succession War -> War of 3039 era to get an idea of how the Houses are set up at this point just prior to the Clan Invasion. This is the years where people finally think they're going to dig themselves out of a technological dark age...just before they find out that even lostech is not best-tech anymore.

[Pht]

http://www.bookfinder.com/

You should be able to find nearly every single older book there by using the ISBN number search with the ISBN's from the sarna lists.

[Steinar Bergstol]

I love my Tech Readouts, particularly my original TR 3025 with all the Unseen in it. Was a wonderful piece of work. The best thing about the readouts, apart from giving you bucketloads of mechs to play with, is the way they give you an in-universe explanation for why the mechs were designed as they were, faults and all as well as fleshing out the universe itself with additional information and tidbits like notable pilots, names of planets and manufacturers and stuff like that.

You might also want to pick up BattleTechnology Magazine if you can find any issues of that. I still say it was the finest single-setting gaming magazine written from an In Character point of view I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The early issues in particular (where William H. Keith, the author of the Gray Death Legion books was a prime contributor if memory serves) are particularly good.

[Chuggernaut]

I recommend starting with the original five House books, which are free for download. They cover the game's history really thoroughly and give you an idea of what each House is about. The novels grossly simplify everything to fit better into their world view of the awesome American Davion heroes fighting nefarious Asians, so you can pretty safely skip those unless you're hungry for trite dialogue and lines about man-made lightning causing armor to melt in rivulets down a mech.

For a more contemporary view there's the Field Manuals, which cover a faction's military. They give one page a piece to each individual regiment, and overviews of brigades and academies and such. For a view more about the rest of the faction and not the army, there's the Handbooks, although we're still waiting on Handbook: House Kurita.

[Watchman]

Watchman, on 12 July 2012 - 05:34 AM, said:

Mechground.com is the way to go.. I got all the PDF but when not at home, i use that site all the time, still I buy the books, tro, everything to support the Game... but i surely dont want to carry 300 lbs of books when i go play at a friend, IPAD, wireless Connextion and Voila.. instant access to all the TRO well most of it anyway

Cheers

Was listening on teamspeak with a group playing and i hear mechground is back, i try to find out more,, mechground,.com is not 100% up but it can be using another domain or a sub domain... anyone hear anything?