Shifty McSwift, on 24 October 2017 - 09:11 PM, said:
Ah, OK, so then giant robot wars make total sense now with that knowledge, thanks guy /s
Okay, I'll give you a non-smart-*** answer.
It's actually a LOT less resource intensive to build a mech or tank than a Starship.
In the first Succession Wars alone, Warships-of which there were hundreds-were destroyed en masse, and they were all but extinct after the Second Succession War. To that end, most Houses-when they regained the ability to make new Warships-found that they were still incredibly costly, and use them more to defend locations or provide a force multiplier on their own territory. While exceptions exist-mostly Word of Blake Examples there, post-SWs-The loss of the resources of a Warship, combined with the sheer scarcity of them, and relative 'inferiority' compared to massed Assault Dropships and Pocket Warships (Both of which are more capable of acting independently of a fleet in-system, but are also all-but-helpless when it comes to interstellar travel), means that Warships are overall just too much of a financial and political problem compared to the much cheaper and more ubiquitous dropship.
Also requiring mention is that the goal of most fights in Battletech isn't to annihilate infrastructure, at least in the more 'sensible' (Read: Pragmatic) eras post-1st and 2nd SWs. A large amount of emphasis is put onto taking and holding infrastructure, equipment, etc. etc. You see a microcosm of this in the Clans, who trial to trade/keep/maintain a military surplus among eachother, as opposed to simply leveling one another in bouts of omnicidal rage, Wars of Reaving notwithstanding. (And even then, the Society made it perfectly clear that their intent was the usurpation of the Warrior Caste, not necessarily the dissolution of all things Clan. It stands to reason that Clan Society would not be much different if they had succeeded, aside from the obvious change of Warrior Caste to either second or third rung on the ladder.)
TL;DR; They don't Warship Spam because Warships are incredibly costly (As in, several times more expensive than a full company of Dire Wolves), because you can spam Dropships that do pretty well for cheaper, and that the goal in Battletech isn't to destroy the actual infrastructure of the enemy, but to take it as your own.
EDIT; Unless you hate the enemy that much. But most people think "I'll just take this ****** IS weapon and melt it down to make my SUPERIOR CLAN AUTOCANNON", so even the Clanners partake in this. Because the Clanners are apparently all about not wasting crap.
Edited by Catten Hart, 25 October 2017 - 04:44 PM.