golambo, on 02 June 2012 - 03:40 AM, said:
I like the Davions mostly more because they have arguably the best military structure in the inner sphere, and have a fair number of colorful characters, places, and mechs I've always favored.
Speaking of militaries specifically, I like the CCAF a lot because it's much the opposite of the the AFFS. I think the
laissez-faire command of the CCAF allowed for a lot of units, ideas, and characters that carried the beginnings of something truly original in sci-fi, almost real in their conglomeration of themes we used to find interesting in the 1980s.
I find Davion structure to be too rigid (Really? Units whose only defining trait is that they have Heavy 'Mechs? Come on.) and many of their frontline 'Mechs to be extraordinarily cheesy (so they can beat the bad guys, of course! Why tout that you're an Autocannon faction when you have the BEST missile boats AND energy boats?). Then the fact that they end up in bed with the faction that makes almost EVERY 'Mech only serves to make them more bland in my eyes. To me, "having everything" and "being the best at it all because there's no other way we can be" is just reeking of adolescent fantasy to me.
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And while Davions are really noted for having a lot of corrupt low level lords and a really spotty standard of living, at least not everyone in the leadership is painted as so consistently bad. Liao uses completely needless human rights abuses abound in the fiction at nearly every level of leadership. Davions got some bright spots among compared the (sic) callous execution of civilians en mass.
That's an impression colored highly by excessive reading of the Warrior Trilogy, and also ignorance of the overall reality that the Inner Sphere as a story is trying to present. Not everyone can be happy in feudalism, and those (both in- and out-of-universe) who try to believe otherwise are simply deceiving themselves.
BattleTech has long left behind its infantile stage of black-and-white Mad Max culture, and the good and bad things that happen are now depicted almost like a facsimile testament to the achievements and downfalls of mankind, making it far deeper than the great majority of science fiction plots out there nowadays.
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As for Liao, all the factions aren't that great but I just find the mustache twirling villianism too off putting, and green just isn't my favorite color.
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They're practically the hipster faction of Battletech now though, and they enjoy such popular support among players they're hardly going to be an underdog in game anymore, especially with the Goons involved. I look forward to the challenge at least, because I know Liao is going to have some of the best and brightest and I cant shoot kuritans.
Also note that I am Davion fan and hardcore socialist, the fans aren't all died from the same wool.
Best be trollin', FedRat. I see Capellan-bashing up and down mwomercs.com/forums, all day and night. Besides, most people don't go Capellan because they want to feel good about being evil. I'll leave the real reasons to your imagination, however.