12 replies to this topic

[Cotelio]

I've read a couple posts about how well the mechs (more specifically, battlemechs vs omnimechs posts) fit the canon, so as someone farily new to the series ( I've only played a little of the Crysis mod :x ) my question is thus: what is the lore for MechWarrior? It seems farily intresting, and I'd love to get into it. Is there a book or series of books to read, or do I just need to go play through all the games?

[Sporkosophy]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page

[Adridos]

Well, you can look into bg.battletech.com for a basic rundown of all factions and eras. There are also all books listed on that page.

If you want to go into detail on certain mechs and events, the Sarna.net is the place for you.

[Carl Wrede]

There is an enormous amount of info on the Battletech tabletop game, Mechwarrior RPG, computergames and all the novels written about the BT universe.

[IIntrude]

This is a list from Sarna of many of the Battletech Novels. I have recently started re-reading them, it had been a long time since I last did so. Even now, over a decade later they are still entertaining and great books that draw you into the universe.

[Jacob Davion]

It depends. It depends on who you are as a person and how you view the BattleTech universe. If you're like me, then you'd know alot of critical space things for gaming with different mechs. But sometimes, it can be useful to read novels and such. The reason being is because in those novels, you never know, but there could be a backstory to the reason of a mech's creation. For example, the Hellstar. When I came across this mech, it was during gaming. But I liked it so much that I wanted to find out what faction it came from and all the other details. It turned out that Clan Wolf-In-Exile needed workhorse designs to rebuild their touman, after exile. So they made that legendary monster. But truth be told, nobody's gonna call you a stupid person if you don't know the WHOLE universe story from start to finish. For example, I don't know everything about the Draconis Combine. Although you may be wondering why I'm not apart of that Successor State, I have to be loyal to my mercenary unit. But anyways, there are some things that you don't HAVE to know in order to be more successful in the game here. On this site, its a game, not a trivia. For example, one thing you'll really want to know down the road is that the HAG 40 weighs 16 tons, takes up 10 crit slots, and basically has the firepower of two LRM-20s and there are three rounds per ton for it. Or, in todays time zone, the AC/20 weighs 14 tons, and takes up 10 crit slots, and has 5 rounds per ton. Those are the kind of things that would be more beneficial for you to know at this point. If you're part of a mercenary unit like me, you can let all of your superiors handle the political stuff. And that also goes for if you're part of a Successor State. Here, this site should be heaven for you: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ just type in the search bar whatever you'd like to know. Oh, and all the mechs that have been released on this site have been there before this game ever came out. So pretty much everything is on that site except the novels and the technical readouts. Also, in case you didn't pick up on this, when someone says TRO, that's an abbreviation for technical readout.

[Cotelio]

Wow, there's so much! I look forward to reading these when I get the chance. Hopefully my library has a few (dozen) of them.

Edit:

Jacob Davion, on 02 June 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

It depends. It depends on who you are as a person and how you view the BattleTech universe. If you're like me, then you'd know alot of critical space things for gaming with different mechs. But sometimes, it can be useful to read novels and such. The reason being is because in those novels, you never know, but there could be a backstory to the reason of a mech's creation. For example, the Hellstar. When I came across this mech, it was during gaming. But I liked it so much that I wanted to find out what faction it came from and all the other details. It turned out that Clan Wolf-In-Exile needed workhorse designs to rebuild their touman, after exile. So they made that legendary monster. But truth be told, nobody's gonna call you a stupid person if you don't know the WHOLE universe story from start to finish. For example, I don't know everything about the Draconis Combine. Although you may be wondering why I'm not apart of that Successor State, I have to be loyal to my mercenary unit. But anyways, there are some things that you don't HAVE to know in order to be more successful in the game here. On this site, its a game, not a trivia. For example, one thing you'll really want to know down the road is that the HAG 40 weighs 16 tons, takes up 10 crit slots, and basically has the firepower of two LRM-20s and there are three rounds per ton for it. Or, in todays time zone, the AC/20 weighs 14 tons, and takes up 10 crit slots, and has 5 rounds per ton. Those are the kind of things that would be more beneficial for you to know at this point. If you're part of a mercenary unit like me, you can let all of your superiors handle the political stuff. And that also goes for if you're part of a Successor State. Here, this site should be heaven for you: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ just type in the search bar whatever you'd like to know. Oh, and all the mechs that have been released on this site have been there before this game ever came out. So pretty much everything is on that site except the novels and the technical readouts. Also, in case you didn't pick up on this, when someone says TRO, that's an abbreviation for technical readout.

Oh, I know I don't need to know the lore to play a game, I just like to. I tend to find the kind of thing intresting.

Edited by Cotelio, 02 June 2012 - 09:00 AM.

[Koshiro Wraith Michaels]

There's all KINDS of stuff, from a whole line of novels, to bits of backstory in the tabletop sourcebooks, to the video games. You might find the Blood of Kerensky books interesting, and the Twilight of the Clans might interest you too.

[yaay]

iintrude, on 02 June 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

Even now, over a decade later they are still entertaining and great books that draw you into the universe.

iintrude, on 02 June 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

they are still entertaining and great books

iintrude, on 02 June 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

great books

bahahaha

[Siilk]

yaay, on 02 June 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

bahahaha

And that is funny why, exactly? Sure, some of the BT books are not that great but there is a number quite tasteful ones that could be recommended to any sci-fi fan.

[yaay]

because the majority of it is wall to wall mary sues fighting cartoonishly overblown evil villains, that manages to somehow shrink a galaxy-wide setting into a terrible character-driven melodrama. I don't think FASA even paid stackpole for some of his stuff. But hey, flicking through a battletech novel until you find the phrase MAN-MADE LIGHTNING™ is a great drinking game

[BlindSide]

Actually the earlier books are quite good, it wasn't till they became Titled Mechwarrior that they got progressively ridiculous...... I still have a number of BattleTech Titled books I'm reading through. Michael A. Stackpole was my favorite Author of the series tho the way he can paint the image of battle in your minds eye with a couple paragraphs is pretty impressive.

[Arikiel]

Go to your local library/bookstore and demand Battletech novels!