0
Q.What is a "Mad Cat"?
A. The "Mad Cat" is a Clan heavy omni-mech weighing in 75 tons and armed with a wide array of firepower, and has become one of the most iconic battlemechs of battletech. Hence why it is on the cover of multiple Battletech/Mechwarrior games/books.
Q. I've heard the "Mad Cat" referred to as a Timber Wolf, why?
A. "Mad Cat" is the name it has become commonly known as, its real name is Timber Wolf, its nickname comes from it vaguely resembling a cross-over of the Marauder (Mad) and the Catapult (Cat). Canonically speaking what happened was this : (The targeting computer on Phelan Kell's Wolfhound' switched between MAD and CAT when trying to identify it; Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht later officially designated it "Mad Cat".)
Q. When will I get to see/pilot one? -Amendment (6/19/14)
A. The Clan invasion has started, anyone who has purchased, with real money, the Clan Battlemechs either via À la carte or through one of the packages will have access to them (as of this amendment). The other thing to keep in mind is that if you did not purchase the pack, you will have to wait until each of the mechs is released individually through a patch where you can then buy it in-game for C-bills, which are earned by playing the game. As far as community warfare "gameplay" goes, I do not have information on this other than what has already been posted in regards to CW. Purchase link here: http://www.mwomercs.com/clans
Q. So what does that mean?
A. PGI has released a planned Release Calender for the current clan-mechs follow this link: CLAN MECH RELEASE SCHEDULE
Q. I bought one of the Clan packages or à la carte mechs, but I do not see it, where is it?
A. Read this : WHERE'S MY CLAN PURCHASE?
Q. You keep saying the word Clan, what do you mean?
A. The Clans are a group of self-exiled individuals who were originally from the Star League Defense Force (SLDF) this is where it might get a bit complicated for some people, but in short, a group of people splintered off from "our" space and went off on their own to start anew. They have different technology than the Inner Sphere and different battlemechs.
Q. How many Clans are there?
A. There are a total of 22* Clans: Blood Spirit, Burrock, Cloud Cobra, Coyote, Diamond Shark (Sea Fox), Fire Mandrill, Ghost Bear, Goliath Scorpion, Hell's Horses, Ice Hellion, Jade Falcon, Mongoose, Nova Cat, , Smoke Jaguar, Snow Raven, Star Adder, Steel Viper, Stone Lion, Widowmaker, Wolf, Wolf in Exile, Jade Wolf, Wolverine (The not named clan). *Not all 22 clans existed at the same time, for example(s), Widowmaker was absorbed by clan Wolf, Clan Burrock is later absorbed by Star Adder, Clan Wolf-in-Exile did not exist until Clan Wolf had the Refusal War with Clan Jade Falcon, Wolverine was wiped out due to holding different views than the other Clans, and Clan Jade Wolf was only in existence for 19 days....
Q. I've heard mention of "Warden" & "Crusader" clans, what does that mean?
A. "Warden Clans were a political alliance of Clans who believed that Aleksandr Kerensky's Hidden Hope doctrine espoused the belief that the descendants of the Star League-in-exile should protect the Inner Sphere from any external threats.
Crusader Clans were a political alliance of Clans who believed that Aleksandr Kerensky's Hidden Hope Doctrine espoused the descendants of the Star League in Exile returning to the Inner Sphere to conquer it and, thus, save it from itself."
Clicking this button, will show a list of Crusader Clans
Spoiler
Clicking this button, will show a list of Warden Clans
Spoiler
Q. Weren't all battlemechs made at the same time, why cant we just have them all now?
A. No, this is incorrect. All battlemechs have different manufacturing dates, and to my knowledge PGI is following these dates to the letter. For example today's date in battletech would be June 19, 3049. "We" do not have it because "we" are not the Clans. Only the "Clans" have Clan mechs, however there is nothing keeping you from owning both Clan and Innersphere mechs. A useful site for finding manufacturing dates is here you type in the name of the mech you are looking for and it will list all of its variants and information. The timeline had been reset to 3049, and you might notice we were not invaded until after that year, this is explained in this post RETURNING TO 3049
Q. Why can't I have all the cool Clan weaponry yet?
A. Well as I said above due to manufacturing/invasion dates certain equipment and battlemechs/variants are not available until certain dates. So weapons like the ER Medium Laser, Streak SRM 6s, Ultra Autocannon 20s, wont show up until you own a Clan mech or they decide to release Innersphere versions of them. Generally sarna has information on the weapons' appearance dates if you look under the "production information" section under the weapons picture. Also clan weaponry/equipment currently is only available on Clan battlemechs; as per the last paragraph in Omnimech Rules & Construction link at the bottom of this post.
Q. You mentioned "omni-mech" earlier what is that?
A. Quoted from sarna: "An OmniMech is a (sub-)type of BattleMech that does not feature a fixed weapon configuration, but instead has the ability to replace or change its loadout with modular OmniMech-compatible Omni-pods. Omni-pods can be a wide range of weapon systems and even a limited selection of structural components. Therefore, the capabilities of an OmniMech are only limited by the amount of pod space it possesses (both in mass and bulk), and reconfiguration time." They have various pros and cons that are listed on the sarna link. A list of omni-mechs can be found here, notice however that not all of them are clan, because eventually the Inner Sphere started manufacturing omni-mechs of their own. In short that means that if I have an omni-hardpoint on my mech, I am not restricted to just one weapon type. I may equip an energy, ballistic, or missile weapon to the slot, if the mech design allows for it. 2 major draw-backs of clan tech is that it is vastly more expensive than Inner Sphere tech, and they are not fully modular. Meaning that "an OmniMech's structural components: its engine, internal structure, armor and any equipment installed on the base chassis of OmniMech are "hard-wired" and cannot be modified outside of a total redesign of the 'Mech."
Mentioned above is the Lore description of an omni mech, the in-game interpretation of this is outlined in some of the links at the bottom of this page, a more indepth look can be seen on Smurfy's Online Mechlab to see loadouts of mechs.
Q. Will the Clans be a playable faction?
A. Quotes:
"Posted 03 May 2012 - 03:27 PM
Since Clans are Factions, and not player run (at launch), this would fall under the Faction Unit rules.
Players can earn the privilege to be a member by earning loyalty points and performing certain feats/actions."
source: Here
"Posted 30 July 2012 - 10:11 PM
I think we would need to be brain dead to not want to sell Mad Cats to players. We have design and balance issues to figure out but we will get it sorted so players can play as the clans "
Source: Here
-Amendment: Yes they will be; source http://www.mwomercs.com/clans
(This link may disappear after purchase date is cut off)
The current Clan Battlemechs that are available for early purchase are as follows, in order of tonnage high -low. Note I have listed them Clanname/Innsphere name, they are not two different mechs
- Direwolf/Daishi - 100 Tons
- Warhawk/Masakari - 85 Tons
- Timberwolf/MadCat - 75 Tons
- Summoner/Thor - 70 Tons
- Stormcrow/Ryoken - 55 Tons
- Nova/Blackhawk - 50 Tons
- Adder/Puma - 35 Tons
- Kit Fox/ Uller - 30 Tons
- TARGETING COMPUTERS AND COMMAND CONSOLE
- CLAN MECH SPECIFICATIONS
- OMNIMECH RULES AND CONSTRUCTION
- CLAN COLLECTIONS - BADGES
- Smurfy's Online Mechlab (Weaponsystems) -clan tech will say clan tech.
- This is a link (They're Here) to a very nice hype/lore thread devoted to the Clans, created by Koniving (a very helpful member of the community)
Edited by Iron Harlequin, 18 June 2014 - 11:56 PM.
I remember thinking when that first came out, ERPPC's one shotting a JJing mech? ERPPC/MG's config? No, no, no, no, no. 
