41 replies to this topic

[Ryedog]

there are no shortages of factions in the battletech universe. Which one is your favorite and why?

[Threat Doc]

Canon - Wolf's Dragoons, because they were a Clan unit come to determine the strengths and weaknesses of all five Houses and, halfway through, were dumped by their commanders, left to their own command and devices, and then they turned around and helped to Inner Sphere, their new home, to prepare for the resumption of the invasion once they finally found out it was taking place.

Fanon - Armageddon Unlimited, my mercenary unit, because it's mine, the Command & Staff, my friends -past and present- and I determine the direction of this unit and what we're going to do, where we're going to fight. It's something I can share with my friends and co-warriors, and we can enjoy fighting together, when the time comes, as we have in the past.

[Tremor]

They are all pretty awesome.

Edit: Except Word of Blake. They are the "bro's" of the Battletech universe.

Edited by Tremor, 25 May 2012 - 02:25 PM.

[Stone Wall]

Just for me, i perfer house kurita mainly because of their japanese like culture and the way their warriors follow the Bushido code

[The Yeti]

Personally, i like the clans, mostly due to the lore of the society. i envision myself as an elemental warrior. larger than the average human, with the intelligence to fight with honor. and beacuse as a kid my first foray into battletech was the MechWarrior 2: 31st century video game....

[Victor MacGregor]

I like the post-Schism ComStar the best. By getting rid of all the Cult of Personality types, what you have left are the straight-lace computer nerds. Hopefully that meant sending an HPG message faster

[Stahlseele]

Snords Irregulars.
More or Less the Fun Division of the Wolf Dragoons.

Else i like the Mech-Variants of the FWL.
I like the Culture of the Draconis Combine.
I like the Women of the Confederation Capella.
I like the Wikings of the Free Republic Rasalhague.
I like the Steiner Military way of thinking ("This Scout-Lance needs one Banshee, one Zeus, one Charger and one Atlas")
I like the Hanseatic League because it's basically where i live right now ^^

[oldClint]

I'm going to noob your world here... but..

Is there any benefit to aligning yourself to any particular faction for the time being?

The teams appear random when I jump in a match, even people in the same "faction" on opposite teams etc?

Is there an overall score for each faction, or do they compete in any way? Within MWO. Or is this just purely part of the lore and back story?

[Zen Archer]

My favorites:

1. Davion - the "good guys", but not above being sneaky when called for.
2. Gray Death Legion - underdogs who overcame great odds to make it in the big time.
3. ComStar - so much behind the scenes roleplay possibilities...

[Felicitatem Parco]

I'll move this thread to Battletech Discussion... if anyone wants it moved back to Off Topic, then please PM me or report it and it can be shunted back to whence it came....

[Kyone Akashi]

I'm firmly convinced that there is no single "best" BT faction as so many of them have such an interesting backstory and unique characteristics that they are bound to appeal to a wide range of people. And who are we to judge what persons should like more?

Personally, however, I've gone Kurita for two reasons: first, the feudal Japanese inspiration with its many layered traditions and distinctive visual style and warrior code, and secondly the extreme clash of the old world and the new, as perfectly exemplified in this picture. Also, they have cool 80s style MechWarrior uniforms.

Ironically, if it wasn't for Kurita, I would have likely gone to their nemesis - House Davion. The almost cliché "cowboy'esque" appearance of their troops/uniforms tickles my space opera nerve in just the right way.

... which is probably why my third favorite faction isn't any faction at all, but mercenaries in general. The thought of a (relatively) small independent bunch of ragtag soldiers of fortune pulling through with equal parts skill and luck, concerned only for next week's pay and the wellbeing of their own small group, just feels like a dangerously attractive sort of freedom to me. As an added bonus, these groups can have members from all other Successor States or even the Periphery, making it an interesting cultural melting pot.

[Stormwolf]

There is no "best" faction in the setting, that's what i love about it. Even the Davions can be seen as warmongers and backstabbers when you look at them objectively.

[Grey Black]

Best is such a subjective term... It's impossible to say without just playing favorites.

That said... My personal favorite factions are,in no particular order, the Magistracy of Canopus, Clan Ghost Bear, and the Saint Ives Compact.

Saint Ives is a province of the Capellans that basically said, "screw this, we want our freedom" and produced badasses such as Kai Allard Liao. Additionally, they decided not to join the villains of House Davion, so bonus points awarded.

Vegas in space is all I have to say about the Magistracy of Canopus.

Finally, the odd one out here is Clan Ghost Bear. I really appreciate their sense of honor and really like that they actually joined the Inner Sphere after the Great Refusal. In addition, while they're not usually the aggressors, you better run if you **** them off. There's more to this, but I'm posting from mg phone, expect an edit later.

Of the Big 5, House Liao is usually my favorite. They treat their citizens well, make you earn your citizenship, and have my favorite mechs evar, t he Cataphract, Raven, and Catapult. Also, they perfected Triple Strength Myomer, a piece of equipment every mech should have. Yes, it was sabotaged at first, but then they fixed it.

[Karl Streiger]

Don't listen to others - just kind option to fill you with propaganda - there is a best faction...
Free Republic of Skye. Because when you are with the majority you are with the false side.
We are no puppet of Steiner - we don't throw allive a soldiers live just for policy.
All the time Skye has felt the bit of the snake (DCM) or the talons of the trush (FWL) but we resist - we don't yield... may it be fist, dragon, eagle or sword.

---

My first touch of Free Skye was withing the Warrior Trilogy while those Aldo Lestrade was pain... Frederick Steiner was another story - and i still think that Katharina show her real face when she sentenced the 10th Lyran Guards - the Elephants to dead because of a political failure of their CO... don't forget the 10th was the unit of herself...she fought with them they rescued Hesperus II under her command...and she throw them away like pawns.

Not the first time
She als selled her daughter - for some minor military aide -
Aide that was used to free worlds that formerly belonged to the Tamar Pact, worlds that had nearly drown in the blood of their population when the DCMS captured them during 1st to 3rd Succession Wars.
But not enough for her crimes she also gave that worlds away...for nothing.

Thats my reason - next to the cool looking Skye Jaeger parade shema and there regimental story... although not written yet.

Tremor, on 25 May 2012 - 02:23 PM, said:

Edit: Except Word of Blake. They are the "bro's" of the Battletech universe.

Oh...sometimes to have the best tech available it means to have sympathie with the devil.

[Khanahar]

Kyone Akashi, on 01 June 2013 - 09:22 AM, said:

I'm firmly convinced that there is no single "best" BT faction as so many of them have such an interesting backstory and unique characteristics that they are bound to appeal to a wide range of people. And who are we to judge what persons should like more?

This is, to me, one of the coolest things about BT. Faction "balance" is wonked as hell, intentionally, in universe terms. But players line up for the 5 of them in astonishingly close to even numbers.

As a youngin' one of my formative BT experiences was actually reading a debate on a forum about the best faction. It was before I frequented forums, and I had found it searching for 'mech affiliations for my fun-project version of MechCommander3. And I was fascinated by how convincingly everyone argued for their factions. There aren't a lot of universes out there with such even distribution of popularity among fans. It makes them a great way to express personality and really get into the game universe.

Bonus:

.............Lawful.......Neutral.......Chaotic
Good.....Davion......FRR..........Good Mercs (Wolf's Dragoons, Northwind Highlanders, etc.)
Neutral...ComStar...Steiner......True Mercs
Evil........Kurita........Liao..........WoB/Pirates

Edited by Khanahar, 03 June 2013 - 04:07 AM.

[Fishhawk]

Marik, because when I started playing with my friends, it was the only Faction not "represented" and as I read about them I thought they had a pretty diverse history.

Knights of the Inner Sphere were one of my favorites.

And Wolf's Dragoons, naturally.

[Victor Morson]

I have to go with the Free Worlds League, during the years of the Clan invasion.

They did a great job building a plausible way to take a civil war torn house nobody cared as much about and turning them into a massive powerhouse that could easily take on the battered FedCom.

.... then the Jihad happened which threw all that out of the window in favor of "buncha cultists on ships with nukes." I'm still bitter about the Jihad not instead being a war of misinformation that turned the now suped-up FWL into a duped weapon of mass destruction.

But anyway, for that brief time*, they were awesome.

* The years definitely do matter. Hanse's FedSuns era made FedSuns fun - willing to play dirty, even against their own people and no white hats in sight; likewise Steiner in the same era was made up of merchants and socialites who promoted their generals through parties, thus they have more resources than the other houses - even more 'mechs, but awful leadership.

Compare that with the same factions a few years later and they're like parodies of themselves. Davion turned into the underdog loveable good guys and everyone in Steiner became a sociopath that can't wait to commit war crimes. So definitely include the era when talking about a faction.

[Khanahar]

Victor Morson, on 03 June 2013 - 04:47 AM, said:

But anyway, for that brief time*, they were awesome.

* The years definitely do matter...

So definitely include the era when talking about a faction.

There are 3 Star Wars movies.
There was 1 Matrix Movie.
Kerrigan is the Queen B*tch of the Universe.
Veronica Mars ends with the S2 finale.
Scrubs ended the day we met Kim.
There are no Narnia movies.
Orcs are scary demon worshippers.
The Ted/Robin subplot ended in that episode where he told the kids he finally was over her (like 30 episodes ago).
Sherlock Holmes died killing Moriarty.
...and everything after Operation Bulldog never happened.

[Jaroth Corbett]

Kay Wolf, on 25 May 2012 - 02:14 PM, said:

Canon - Wolf's Dragoons, because they were a Clan unit come to determine the strengths and weaknesses of all five Houses and, halfway through, were dumped by their commanders, left to their own command and devices, and then they turned around and helped to Inner Sphere, their new home, to prepare for the resumption of the invasion once they finally found out it was taking place.

Fanon - Armageddon Unlimited, my mercenary unit, because it's mine, the Command & Staff, my friends -past and present- and I determine the direction of this unit and what we're going to do, where we're going to fight. It's something I can share with my friends and co-warriors, and we can enjoy fighting together, when the time comes, as we have in the past.

Once again you have your facts screwed up. They were not dumped & left to their own devices. Kerlin Ward commanded them to help the IS prepare for the Clan invasion.

[Pht]

Fedsuns. Because you can at lest be RIGHT when you tell the thug (pardon, "noble") that he's doing something illegal.