50 replies to this topic

[Rhapsode]

I cried a tear of joy reading this thread.

I eagerly await the sad news of Phelan Kell's mysterious disappearance (and likely untimely death).

[Skylarr]

Quote

The Kell Hounds were one of the first House units (contracted by the Free Rasalhague Republic) to face the Clans. In 3049, the Kell Hound's Third Battalion fought a running battle with elements of Clan Wolf on The Rock while hunting pirates who used the planet as their base of operations. Though the Hounds fought with their typical skill and tenacity, they were no match for the superior weaponry and skill of the Clan pilots; eventually the entire battalion was destroyed. However, Phelan Kell, son of Morgan, would be taken captive by the Wolves and rise through the ranks of the Wolf Clan to eventually stand as one of their Khans.

gilliam is correct. The Rock is about 6 jumps from the Inner Sphere. The closest IS planet is on the FedCom border to the Periphery. The remainder of the Battalion would send a message back to thier contract holder, the FRR. So you are talking about months of waiting. Even then it would not be made public knowledge. It would be Top Secret Intel.

The only thing we will see are report in the Announcement Forum. They will be The InnerSphereNews reporting Companies demanding the Houses to look into heavy Pirate activity because they lost contact with their JumpShips in the Periphery.

Edited by Skylarr, 03 August 2012 - 04:14 PM.

[Dayuhan]

Phelan Kell only became historical in hindsite. Before he was simply a commander of some Mercenary lance in the Periphery hunting Pirates - Mercenaries disaapearing on the Periphery while hunting Pirates is not exactly Headline news. Except for the Kell Hounds, Phelan Kell is just another Merc (and Merc's are not particularly popular in the FRR anyway). If one small unit on Pirate Hunting duty disappears - well the FRR needs to hire another Mercenary unit to take their place - end of story. No news, no fanfare, just another missing presumed KIA.

[Graefin Zeppelin]

Ah Phelan is fine just seen him (Look at my location)

[Zygwen]

Acording to the novel I have sitting on my desk, Phelan's first contact with the Clans is August 13th. 3049. Not the 7th. Unless it has changed in different printings of the novel.

[General Peron]

Yep, according to Sarna, it was in August 13th http://www.sarna.net/wiki/3049

[gilliam]

Dayuhan, on 03 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

Phelan Kell only became historical in hindsite. Before he was simply a commander of some Mercenary lance in the Periphery hunting Pirates - Mercenaries disaapearing on the Periphery while hunting Pirates is not exactly Headline news. Except for the Kell Hounds, Phelan Kell is just another Merc (and Merc's are not particularly popular in the FRR anyway). If one small unit on Pirate Hunting duty disappears - well the FRR needs to hire another Mercenary unit to take their place - end of story. No news, no fanfare, just another missing presumed KIA.

I suppose there is a slight chance of the following headline in a few months: "Leader of prominent mercenary group mourns loss of son" The Kell Hounds are a fairly well known, and Morgan Kell has some importance. Of course the counter statement to that is that there's probably plenty of other mercenary organizations that are a family business, so that won't be a particularly fresh story.

[Shad0wsFury]

Someone might have said it already, but it was the 13th of August when Phelan and his lance (maybe company?) disappeared.

Realistically, it could be days, weeks or even months before that news might be made public.

Make no mistake about it, the Clans ARE coming. Most of the actual famous battles don't occur until 3050 though, and the first Inner Sphere victories over the Clans weren't until later in 3050.

I imagine we might hear about it in the news, and at some point before the end of the calendar year, there will be some level of Clan engagement, but how or when that will take place is anyone's guess. When/if that happens, it's likely we as Inner Sphere pilots will get brutally rolled by a random Clan team.

The silver lining is, we (hopefully) have Twycross, Wolcott, Luthien and Tukayyid to look forward to (along with many other minor battles)

[gilliam]

For Ya'll's perusal
http://www.sarna.net...eration_Revival

The first clan forays into the Inner Sphere proper were in March and April 3050, so that's 8 months away.

[Undercover Brother]

Raalic, on 03 August 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

INTRIGUING! I am surprised this connection hadn't been made before.

GuntherK, on 03 August 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

Phelan Kell was only with a lance of mechs. He sent the video of his battle back to his unit that returned with the first battle footage of the clans. Kell Hounds didnt lost a regiment.
For about a year there were only contacts in the periphery. The inner sphere houses will not know an invasion is coming for months.

I am in no hurry for the clans arrival, kuritans and capelans are enough to keep me busy and having some serious fun for a long time !

Frank Rhodes, on 03 August 2012 - 02:12 PM, said:

But it would take months for news to get back about the regiment suffering heavy losses to a unknown foe, and his MIA status.

^^ beat me to it.

Arnie1808, on 03 August 2012 - 02:17 PM, said:

yeah but nobody knows its the Clans or who the Clans are.
Most people think its either aliens or Kerensky's heirs come back to help the inner sphere (the latter being what actually happened there where no little green men going around probing people lol) but they didn't come back and help as we all know.


We could possibly (POSSIBLY!) see some clan 'Mechs but you'll be getting your butt kicked by them and not actually be using them!**
Best talk to ComStar they know more than anyone (if you can get them to talk lol)

**This could be done by letting just the Dev team have the clan 'Mechs so when you drop into a game the Dev's have clan 'Mechs and wipe the floor with your lance/lance's but if you manage to damage or destroy some of them you get a lot more credits/XP?

Hinokaze, on 03 August 2012 - 02:36 PM, said:

Don't forget about Wolf's Dragoons they knew what was happening, This is also the time Natasha Leaves back for the clans, and like there are world war 2 conspiracies that England knew about pearl harbor, the rumor is Hanse Davion Knew about the clans already as well.

Nice to see someone OTHER THAN ME knows what the hell they were talking about. Oh yeah, Phelan didn't succeed in sending Battle ROM footage back to anyone... That was Hohiro Kurita to did that while battling a couple mechs and a crap-ton of Elementals.

I already posted all of this over a month ago.

[Zygwen]

Phelan's Battle ROM was sent priority back to Kell Hound home base. Comstar kept a copy. The Precentor Martial and the Primus discussed its implecations on the 15th of September. This means that bother the Kell Hounds and Comstar where aware that something was up somewhere between August 13th and September 15th. They probably were aware August 14th because HPG really don't take that long to transmit signals accross the galaxy. If the mesage was relayed by Jump Ship or Black Box then it would have taken weeks. However, this was not the case.

[Semyon Drakon]

Guys it wasn't the entire 2nd Regiment, it was a company OF the 2nd regiment. The rest of the KH 2nd Regiment was on Arc Royal.

Semyon

[JeepCJ8]

If Clan invasion does enter the game, perhapes the clan forces should not be player factions, It would be a good way to enter a "coop battle" against a hard foe, it would give the players a unlikely opportunity to salvage clan tech to incorporate into their garages. The reality is, I know a lot of battletech players that feel that the clans ruined the game, where I do not agree with that opinion it is something to keep in mind. I would like to see 3049 continue for a while in any event.

Edited by JeepCJ8, 03 August 2012 - 09:18 PM.

[gilliam]

Zygwen, on 03 August 2012 - 08:22 PM, said:

Phelan's Battle ROM was sent priority back to Kell Hound home base. Comstar kept a copy. The Precentor Martial and the Primus discussed its implecations on the 15th of September. This means that bother the Kell Hounds and Comstar where aware that something was up somewhere between August 13th and September 15th. They probably were aware August 14th because HPG really don't take that long to transmit signals accross the galaxy. If the mesage was relayed by Jump Ship or Black Box then it would have taken weeks. However, this was not the case.

So it was actually sent priority? That changes things. Usually a message could sit for days or week with a bunch of other messages waiting for the transmitter to send everything in batch mode. Trying to send or receive messages outside of the first circuit makes the post office seem fast by comparison.

[Saber Avalon]

Dayuhan, on 03 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

Phelan Kell only became historical in hindsite. Before he was simply a commander of some Mercenary lance in the Periphery hunting Pirates - Mercenaries disaapearing on the Periphery while hunting Pirates is not exactly Headline news. Except for the Kell Hounds, Phelan Kell is just another Merc (and Merc's are not particularly popular in the FRR anyway). If one small unit on Pirate Hunting duty disappears - well the FRR needs to hire another Mercenary unit to take their place - end of story. No news, no fanfare, just another missing presumed KIA.

Uh.... Phelan Kell is Morgan Kell's son. Morgan Kell is the co-founder, along with his brother, of the Kell Hounds. The Kell Hounds are pretty famous merc unit and the founder's son going missing to pirates? Who is an accomplished Mechwarrior? Seems like that'd hit a headline to me. He's not just any merc.

[Bishop Steiner]

Seems to me that if the Devs are fans of the Fluff... Aug 7 would be the perfect time to release.... the WOLFHOUND!

[Zygwen]

Lethal Heritage Chapter 9 p94
"My concern was due tp the Kell Hounds spending so much of their own money to transmit a message to their home base"

Sounds like a priority message to me. Plus the fact that the Kell Hounds had already admitted defeat by the time the Primus and Presentor Martial had their conversation.

[Breaker Bastion]

no Natasha didnt leave for clan held territory until after the death of the Ilkhan leo which was months into the war and in rasalhague space

[Skylarr]

Zygwen, on 03 August 2012 - 08:22 PM, said:

Phelan's Battle ROM was sent priority back to Kell Hound home base. Comstar kept a copy. The Precentor Martial and the Primus discussed its implecations on the 15th of September. This means that bother the Kell Hounds and Comstar where aware that something was up somewhere between August 13th and September 15th. They probably were aware August 14th because HPG really don't take that long to transmit signals accross the galaxy. If the mesage was relayed by Jump Ship or Black Box then it would have taken weeks. However, this was not the case.

This is not correct because Inner Sphere Jumpships do not have carry an HPG or a Black Box. If The Rock was hit on the 13 it would take the Dropship days to get to the Jumpship. I will suggest that maybe the Jumpship was at a Pirate Point and it was only hours away from the planet.

Then it is 4 Jumps the Inner Sphere. After each jump a JumpShip needs about a week to recharge before they can jump again. Then the Dropship would need another week to move from the Zenith and Nadir jump point to planet's surface.

So 4 weeks is correct.

Edited by Skylarr, 04 August 2012 - 12:16 AM.

[Burnt Nipples]

I hope Clans as a playable faction doesn't arrive anytime soon. I'm split on the clans, but generally dislike them (conceptually, balance-wise, an rationality wise). I think they could be developed reasonably as an adversary for CO-OP play against the clans in a way that was very dangerous/risky but potentially very profitable for IS pilots, but I rather hope they aren't a selectable faction for at least a couple years (real time).

ps. Various mercenary units, house units, pirate organizations, and periphery Kingdoms are plenty interesting in my opinion. My mercenary handbook is downstairs when (what year/month) did the Waco Rangers have their heir apparent (Leader's son) killed by the Wolf's Dragoons?