Except they don't practice slavery. I'll be the first to tell you (and I think Randall Bills will be the second) to tell you that the Clan society and how the invasion was handled was a mistake, but the Clans never really had a chance to win. The only reason the Warden Clans fought to be included in the invasion was so they could keep the Crusaders from reaching Terra and becoming an IlClan. If Clan Wolf had known that there were more Comstar 'mechs than Clan 'mechs they would have let the Crusaders waste their toumans on trying to take Terra and then wiped the Crusaders out. Randall has said if he could go back and do things his way he would do it differently. Lorewise, the Clans were like WWII Germany or Napoleonic France - they had an initial advantage, both in gear and in tactics. But they never had a chance to really win in the long run. All they could hope for is to strike hard and deep to force a political ending to the conflict. Their losses were irreplacable and once the economies of the big powers really got moving (and preparing their armies for total war) the ending was without a doubt. Giving the IS 25 years to catch up (more importantly, 25 years to train a million 'mechwarriors) was the final nail in the coffin.
The Clans never had an unbeatable tech advantage on tabletop. I mean, stock Clan 'mechs (Timber Wolves and Ebon Jags at the very least had MGs) still had to dump their MG ammo to avoid the 1000+ damage from a lucky crit. Gauss ridles and ERPPCs worked just fine for IS 'mechs, those were the weapons that ruled the tabletop.
Smith Gibson, on 16 January 2018 - 11:39 AM, said:
I've loved BattleTech since it first came out as a Table-Top game in the '80s. I loved the struggle against almost impossible odds with the difference in technology between the invading Clans and the Inner Sphere. I want to continue that feeling and I can't get it if I play the better technology side. If I wanted to simply win because it was a generic robots with lasers game I would play Clans. Instead I want to win against the odds by playing the underdog. I take it as a point of pride that I haven't decided to take the easy route to winning.
I admit to one petty aspect of my decision though. In the lore of BattleTech the Clans practice slavery, so that's what I remember each time I'm tempted to switch sides so I can win more. I see the clans as "the bad guys" and simply don't enjoy any game that make me play the villains.
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