/btg/ Battletech General!

>>51796189
haha butte hold

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The Holy Trinity of BattleTech Eras

>Best introductory ruleset
>Best advanced ruleset
>Best story

if your favorite era is not in this picture you have shit taste and should consider sudoku

>>51796189
>hatchetman
>the family mech
Damn greenhorns...

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What happens here?

>>51796485
Mostly? Fuck and All. Space is big, etc.

>>51796485
here where?

>>51796485
Little to nothing, sadly. Also, Jarnfolk.

>>51796485
dumb question here
what are rifts and nebulas and they have any purpose in BattleTech universe?

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

> The Axumite Providence was established on October 11th, 2245 by colonists fleeing from the Outer Reaches Rebellion. The Uhuru Settlement Group was composed of settlers from twenty-first century North-eastern African regions of Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Libya, and Ethiopia

What a cornucopia this polity must be.

>>51796560

>have any purpose in BattleTech universe?

They make it sound more hard science-y. Protip: It's not.

>>51796560
The rifts and nebulas are real stellar phenomenon, the former being light opaque and the latter being light emitting. Mostly they don't have any purpose beyond being real things in space and presumably being hard as hell to transit and map.

>>51796587
It's apparently actually pretty well off for an obscure deep periphery colony stretch.
Most of the other ones turned out to be horrible disasters, but the Axumites actually did fine

>>51796609

>being hard as hell to transit

Real stellar nebulae are functionally hard vacuum. The lunar atmosphere is a dense ocean of air compared to them.

>>51796634
Something something Jump drives something something magic. Watch Jumpships not be able to charge in them because reasons.

>>51796418

>Was that really him shitting his pants? I thought it was a "just as planned" thing.

It was the fight to determine the overall result of the Refusal War and Chistu knew he didn't have so much as a snowball's chance in hell if he fought fair.

I wonder why the humans in battletech just stopped expanding. There must be literally millions of worlds out there, why not just push your borders out, absorb periphery states and colonize every possible planet instead of just bickering over borders? They have Hitlers wildest dream of Lebensraum going on, the galaxy is functionally infinite, just go and grab it-

>>51796652
There shouldn't be any reason for a JumpShip to not be able to charge in them. Granted, they'd likely have to charge using their engines rather than solar sails, but that should be fine. Jumping out may be hard, as depending upon the nebulae's composition there may be severe magnetic and similar effects that will play merry hell with any kind of sensor and electronic.

>>51796678
Easy. Time for expansion. Jumps take a lot of time between them, which means you're limited to what supplies you can carry. You have to find planets that are of marginal habitability and have resources that justify the expense required in settling them. The further out you go, the harder it is to get supplies and more in, so unless you're literally landing on a planet of solid <extremely valuable mineral/ore here>, it makes it less practical to do so.

>>51796505
Something about that is scary. All the human civilizations so far from Terra living and dying in the dark while the great houses and clans don't even know of their existence.

Wasn't there an ISP book that talked about corporate or ComStar explorers finding distant worlds in the periphery that looked like they'd been nuked over or something?

>>51796713

You dont just expand for immediate resources. You will eventually gain population and power from even the tiniest dirtball. Seeding worlds with colonists and making them self-sufficent isnt hard. Getting to the world is hard.


Just imagine how we would explode over Mars if we could easily travel there. You always have a slew of wannabe prospectors, loners, adventurers, refugees, people wanting to start a new life and such for prospecting colonists. Slap a couple thousand of them down, give them tools and some hydroponics then wish them good luck and go next planet.

>>51796757
Personally I view it as one big HFY thread for the setting. If I was going to be insane enough to add Aliens, all humanity finds are signs circa 2781 that scream ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE in the various trade languages of their species. 300+ years and humanity is still bashing each other over the head for control of the Homeworld.

>>51796288
>Although a campaign in which the Regulan Hussars, Orloff Grenadiers, the Legionnaires, Knights of the Inner Sphere, and Marik Militia form a five-man band fighting a guerilla war to keep freedom alive in the Inner Sphere would be fuckin' sweet.

FUND IT

KotIS as the protagonist
Orloff Grenadiers as the wise big guy
Regulan Hussars as the hot-blooded chick
Legionnaires as the sarcastic anti-hero
Marik Militia as the smart youngster with potential

>>51796678
The science aspect of BTU does not make sense. It seems no one wants to create new things or explore new places. The loss of technology during SW or the technology curve of the Clans are just two examples of how writers don't give a fuck about how scientific evolution works

For a science fiction game Battletech is very outdated. It truly feels like 80s in space, more than it should

>>51796782

So Revelation Space, basically?

>>51796485
>all of those RWR outposts

Interesting...

>>51796757

I wonder what if just fanatic ComStar guy sent out a colony ship thousands of lightyears away and then find a hidden colony somewhere to preserve humams if something horrible happened to the inner sphere. What if those humans completely forgot about their heritage and think their colony as their homeworld? What if they advanced real fast with all the SL databanks and got together an explorer armada with some improved KF drives? What if they bumped into the clan homeworlds?

>>51796805

And then they all fight eachother!

>>51796762
What you get out of said colonization is important, too. If the planet had some kind of resource that could be easily exploited, but was far less Earth-like and required some kind of techno-adaptation (anything from heatsuits or snowsuits to full on biodomes), it'd be a higher priority for explorers and settlers than a near-Earth planet with no significant resources.

>>51796809

People do though.

It's just that for a period of time between roughly when the Star League fell and the early mid 3030s ComStar was killing anyone who looked into anything more advanced than "Maybe there's a more effective way to light fires than banging two rocks together" and everyone was spending their resources fighting to stay alive rather than on colonisation programs.

The desire was there, but the ability wasn't.

>>51796678
See also: Muninn's occasional post about his dream of Battletech's Age of Discovery plot line. He was talking about it a couple of threads ago, should be easy to find.

>>51796810
Probably not quite so bleak, but instead a general "avoid these fucking man-apes at all costs, they like their atomics."

>>51796809
>For a science fiction game Battletech is very outdated. It truly feels like 80s in space, more than it should
BattleTech was pretty blatantly Mad Max in outer space with mechs instead of Police Interceptors. Exploration was unfeasible because no one could build the ships necessary or even keep them running properly.

>>51796713
Take the Succession Wars for example. You live in a shit world affected by nuclear war and you have the option to run away to a shit but peaceful world.

We know what real people would chose, as similar situations happened through our history, but in Battletech human race is too apathetic to colonize space on its own

>>51796831
>>51796837
Frankly, it would be worth it just to set up a manufacturing facility your opponents can't find to raid and where you can do research without ComStar having easy access.

>>51796831
And then they invent robots and the robots turn on them and the survivors rally in a ragtag fleet based around one capital ship and they try to find their way back to their ancient homeworld?

>>51796833

Every planet must have some kind of resources. As long the planet isnt actively hostile it can be colonized. Hell, even hostile planets can be dome citied up eventually. The sooner you seed them the sooner you will have planets with billions of humans sprawling on them

>>51796815
What's up with them? They're so far from home.

Spooky.

>>51796884
>yfw the FedCom conquers the Dracs and Caps and turns to the FWL...only to discover they used a couple hundred years of peace to create a sprawling network of colonies that have advanced science and manufacturing without anyone fucking with them.

>>51796862

Assuming you knew how to set up a manufacturing plant worth a damn, or could get the stuff to research, much less do that without ComStar noticing.

These are kind of the basic conceits of the setting though. It's like complaining about cowboys being in a western movie otherwise.

>>51796924
Imagine if Hanse had set the NAIS up somewhere it couldn't be fucked with.

Admittedly, imagine Hanse had set up more than one school, or that ComStar can't get away with hundreds of thousands of assassinations without anyone figuring it out, or...

The setting and its "basic conceits" are shit, the mechs are cool.

>>51796953

There are justifications for centralized and limited advanced research like that, especially with centuries of war and entrenchment into political sides like the sphere has by the time NAIS was set up.

Do we think it's stupid? Yes.

But it also does make sense if you filter it through the situation at the time. Kind of. The fact that Hanse is also an autocrat likely played a factor as to why NAIS is only one campus on New Avalon.

>>51796953
>Imagine if Hanse had set the NAIS up somewhere it couldn't be fucked with.

I mean, he pretty much did. He stopped 36 Com Guard mechs and the NAIS janitors and night staff stopped however many commandos you can cram into an Overlord that's already carrying mechs.

Speaking of which, how many infantry could you cram on an Overlord full with mechs?

>>51797080
Technically none. Infantry really can't be fitted into cargo bays due to lifesupport and similar requirements.

Depending upon security staff and warrior status, you could probably drum up a platoon's worth on short notice, but they wouldn't be proper infantry.

>>51796837
>ComStar was killing anyone who looked into anything more advanced than "Maybe there's a more effective way to light fires than banging two rocks together"

This is the most stupid thing in the entire fluff and most of the fans accept is as plausible.

Think of your city. It probably has a college where some hundreds of students go. The college will have some doctors, masters and many graduates. Everyone there has the capacity to improve their field of work in some way. Your city also have other professionals and people that learn on their own how to do things. Okay? Now expand this to the entire known universe of the Inner Sphere.

What the fluff claimed C* did is impossible to accomplish. We have two options here:

- comstar killed EVERYONE that could provide any scientific progress. That means it would kill every college professor, every student and most of the professionals in the space. The universe would fall apart, not enter in Mad Max mode. you don't have medics, engineers or anyone that could become a medic or engineer; it is the fall of any civilization.

- comstar killed only the most important scientists. Bullshit, lesser professionals would pick up their place. Knowledge can be passed to others. Backups exist, reverse engineering exist. For this supposition work we have to believe that who's left has no desire and capability to improve things, which is also impossible.

In both cases C* not only don't have the manpower for such but they would attract so many attention to them it would be their downfall. and even if they actually managed to do this impossible task, there's no way the Inner Sphere could had revert this state from 3025 to 3050


My headcanon to explain this bullshit is that they never lost the knowledge, it was simply a lack of resources allied with financial struggle of centuries of war. Blaming comstar is too unbelievable

>>51797128
Well the Overlord has something in the range of 50 tons of cargo space and six aerospace fighter cubicles (as far as I know the Com Guards didn't use planes in their raid).

Not calling you wrong, and purely spitballing here, but what would you have to do to convert any of that space to carry infantry? And what are the rules of how many infantry per ton?

Just asking for the sake of working that raid out in my mind.

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Pick one and give feedback on what you do or don't like.

>>51797184
BTW, I'm not bitching at anyone here. Is just that I'll never find acceptable the in-universe explanation

>>51797080
>Hanse stopping the raid

Best moment in BT history! Read this:

>The BattleMaster's canopy shattered as an SRM burst against it. Hanse felt the stinging fire of shrapnel as pieces of the polarized glass sliced into his left arm. A trickle of blood slicked the command couch's left arm. Hanse narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the left joystick control. There it is, Mr. Green. I bleed for the Federated Suns. Is it not my right to demand the same from my people?

>>51797220

I like the look of the cockpit on I more than III. Also not fond of III's shoulder pads.

>>51797184
And yet amusingly, most BT fans I've seen talk about this seem to think le robe assassin man is the more plausible of the two.

>>51797220
Left looks like a young Hauptman, right looks like Warhammer IIC. I chose left

>>51797184
IIRC in the original fluff colleges and technical schools weren't that common. Hell, at least one sourcebook from the era Holy Shroud was mentioned said most inner sphere worlds aren't self sufficient in terms of water.

>>51797263
>most inner sphere worlds aren't self sufficient in terms of water.
>one of the easiest things to produce given BT's fusion/fission power

>>51797263

>Hell, at least one sourcebook from the era Holy Shroud was mentioned said most inner sphere worlds aren't self sufficient in terms of water.

That sounds fucking retarded. If you have the energy, like space magic fusion reactors you can literally make water out of rocks through the wonders of chemistry. Or just eternally recycle and purify it.

>>51797218
That 31 (actually) tons of cargo is split amongst fuel, spare and replacement parts, ammunition, and other odds and ends to support said 36 'mechs and 6 ASFs. Note that none of it is actually part of the DropShip's own spare parts cache -- that's counted separately, including a separate cache of food+water for all personnel: DropShip, warrior, and bay technician.

Each platoon of infantry will take up 5 tons per bay. That gives them the life support necessary to exist and not cause the ship to need to visit a planet sooner rather than later due to overtaxed CO2 scrubbers and more. That does NOT include food+water, which needs about 1 ton per 200 people per day. The Overlord carries 19 tons of said supplies, which lasts about 30 days for its 126 personnel. Simply dropping 5 tons of cargo space and adding in an infantry bay makes 30 days go down to 25.

>>51797273
>>51797288
I mean I agree, I'm just trying to provide some context for Holy Shroud. If BT was rewritten I'm sure they'd change it.

The new BT fluff basically makes it a different universe from that of the early characters like Hanse and Justin.

>>51797273

Dude, if you put more than three seconds of thought into it you considered the problem a lot longer than FASA ever did.

>>51797184

Honestly I just tend to say "ComStar" as short hand. They were by far the biggest culprit but the Houses were merrily trying to researchers to defect, raiding research outposts, and killing off each other's scientists as fast as they could as well.

And once you fall to a certain point, reverse engineering may well be impossible. Consider handing a Blackbird to the Wright brothers before they got their flyer working. OK, they now have physical proof that you can fly, and fly faster than they thought possible, but how far are they going to get in reverse-engineering it? That's where the Houses were pretty much after the 1st SW with a bunch of SL tech, much less by the time of the 3rd.

>>5179734

>And once you fall to a certain point, reverse engineering may well be impossible. Consider handing a Blackbird to the Wright brothers before they got their flyer working. OK, they now have physical proof that you can fly, and fly faster than they thought possible, but how far are they going to get in reverse-engineering it?

Measure it and do high-school tier physics to achieve functional wing ratios, lift coefficent and other data that can help you downscale. Take apart the engines and realize how simple the concept of a single-axis jet engine is. Chemically analyze the metal alloys.

Its not hard to reverse engineer the general working concept of something.

>>51797388

They'd have to invent the tools to take it apart first, then grapple with the way the Blackbird was designed, then the materials, then the automation, then...

By the end of the 3rd SW, 'Mechs were bordering on being magical for how well they were understood. They may as well have been produced by Leprechauns for all anyone was able to grok the science behind them, much less shit like JumpShips or SL mega-construction or terraforming.

>>51797184
Or, ya know, they controlled the communications between institutions, they could just tamper with the knowledge share so that no-one could reproduce anyone else's work and it's grind to a stand still without really requiring all that many assassinations.

One man working in a vacuum wouldn't push very far into development, especially if he didn't have advanced workshops to support it.

>>51797184
This is bullshit though. If you actually participated in any kind of cutting edge research or manufacturing, you'd know there's very limited little groups of people that pidgeon hole into very specific fields and only their students and maybe a couple rivals actually know what's going on there.

You could bomb the shit out of Texas A&M and completely destroy the last 50 years of pecan breeding research and a good chunk of wheat genetic modification as well.

In Battletech, this scales up the more advanced you get in technology, in an exacerbation of the real world. In 1850, you could be cutting edge in three fields. Today you get to be a small fraction of one.

Combine that with not having Federal Repository style backups of knowledge and it's really easy to cripple both the knowledge base and the the manufacturing of a place.

>>51797448

But anon, reality is unrealistic and you don't get to just bring facts and reason into things like that.

I've tried similar arguments in the past and you just get "but that's retarded" and/or "but BT doesn't have to be like that."

>>51797425

>They'd have to invent the tools to take it apart first

You can take apart everything if you have enough time or force.

>then grapple with the way the Blackbird was designed

No they dont. They dont have to know how the avioics wortk in order to know how it flies.

>then the materials

Deducing the composition of metal alloys is trivial even by early 20th century standards.

>then the automation,

What the fuck they have to automate?

You take engineers for idiots.


>By the end of the 3rd SW, 'Mechs were bordering on being magical for how well they were understood. They may as well have been produced by Leprechauns for all anyone was able to grok the science behind them, much less shit like JumpShips or SL mega-construction or terraforming.


They had LosTech but it was not space magic, they still manufactured new mechs here and there.

>>51797489

>No they dont. They dont have to know how the avioics wortk in order to know how it flies.
>What the fuck they have to automate?

Hahaha holy fuck.

I really hope you're not in charge of anything more critical than tying your shoes of a morning, because a cursory Wiki read will reveal how wrong you are about pretty much everything in that post.

>>51797437
That's also very easy to discover. In the first few years of practice the researchers would have found out, publish a shitload of papers about this and have invented their own "pidgeon mail" system to share knowledge. C* should control in-planet communication too, or this wouldn't work in the biggest and most important planets in IS.

The technology loss is not a simple matter to discuss because we don't know how a generalized loss of basic knowledge in a civilization with so many ways to share information. At the end of the day we will not have an answer, but IMO it is nice to theorize

>>51797550

>You take engineers for idiots.

I actually an engineer bro. You slid down to schoolyard insults because you got so upset over an interner arguement.

And that was even just your analogy, your actual point was just as wrong.

>>51797588
>C* should control in-planet communication too, or this wouldn't work in the biggest and most important planets in IS.

Not him but they do canonically. They're the cable company, the mailman and the interplanetary bank on top of their HPG stuff.

>>51797600

>i can't spell
>but i'm rly rly smart
>you should believe me, i'm on the internet

The Blackbird's design came about because a bunch of autists sat around and said "I know the conventional wisdom says we should do /this/, but what if we do /that/ instead?", several aspects of it rely on it being able to fly faster than the Wrights could have imagined, and the whole fucking thing is computer controlled because it's too unstable for a human to handle it, even if they are the best test pilots of a generation.

This is about the same problem a 'Mech researcher in 3020 faces. The fusion engine is barely understood. Gyros are extremely complex. The sensor system and electronics verge on being a mystery. How the whole thing goes together is beyond anyone short of Dr. Banzai.

And that's for 'Mechs, one of the most ubiquitous elements of the setting.

>>51797448
>This is bullshit though. If you actually participated in any kind of cutting edge research or manufacturing

Except I do, anon. Computer scientist here working R&D for a Silicon Valley company.

You used TI as example, but that's not what happened in Battletech. It is like they destroyed the entire semi conductor industry plus every document generated by them plus the people who trained those professionals working in semi conductor industry plus the material used to train those professionals plus any equipment used for manufacturing semi conductors. And then comstar found and killed everyone who tried to replicate the lost semi conductor technology

>>51797615
That's really, really, really, really stupid.
Then again, we use Google and Google products all day and it is literally the same thing.

>>51797722
Actually you didn't use Texas Instruments as example. Damn, I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. good night, fellow Battletech fans who had to read my rants

>>51797703

If it flies physics apply to it. You can measure the airframe with a bunch of tape and apply high school physics. Its not magic. Its physics. Staying in the air has nothing to do with how advanced it is. The same basic rules apply to everything. Its like comparing a hollowed out log to a carrier. Yes its vastly more advanced but you dont have to know whats its antennae for or how its internal lighting works to understand why it stays afloat.


>This is about the same problem a 'Mech researcher in 3020 faces. The fusion engine is barely understood. Gyros are extremely complex

And again, wrong as shit.They were still producing mechs in 3025, just not as good as the SLDF ones.

>>51797220
I like the arms of the right better, but that may just be down to them being cleaned up. I like the weapon locations better on the left for the most part shoulder mounted triangle lasers for sweet Predator reference except for the lrm15s/APgauss(?) where it looks better on the right.

Honestly the right looks like something out of Marik while the left looks either clan or heavily influenced by clan, like someone said a young hauptmann. So depending on where its supposed to come from thats my vote.

>>51797722

I'll give you three guesses as to what Operation Holy Shroud and the Succession Wars did.

>>51797722
No it's not. They're still clear in the realm of 26th century technology in most respects in the late 3rd War.

This is more like if you destroyed intel's ultramodern silicon wafer facilities and all the company secrets for 10nm production as well as the people working on the project.

>>51797822

>And again, wrong as shit.

Try reading the fluff, anon.

'Mechs were being produced. The processes involved in that were largely as well-understood as 'Mechs themselves. Which is to say barely, if it all.

Things changed dramatically after the Helm revival, but before that things were pretty damn bleak.

>>51797842

And then if AMD and AT&T killed anyone at Intel who tried to re-start the research, while Intel and AT&T tried to kill off everyone at AMD doing the same.

For over 200 years. While also destroying lesser tech.

>>51797872

That was more FASAnomics than lost technology.

>>51797900
Literal corporate warfare. You know it's bad when you're handing the interns assault rifles to protect the pentium lines.

>>51797823
>Honestly the right looks like something out of Marik while the left looks either clan or heavily influenced by clan

What makes you say that?

I know BattleTech is relatively big in Germany - what other countries have notable BT presence?

>>51795884
>>51796653
In regards to BT balance, I actually think Battletech is more comparable to historical-style wargames; it's much bigger on recreating scenarios and simulating conflicts (within the confines of its own universe, of course), rather than a "bring your own list" type wargame in the style that WFB and 40k pioneered.

That doesn't necessarily invalidate the balanced list style of play, just that the game system in the 80s probably wasn't really designed with that in mind - BV didn't come around till much later.

>>51798454
If I recall it's actually the most popular miniature mecha wargame in Japan as well. I also hear there's someplace in South America where it's also popular... I want to say it's Argentina or something. I don't even know where I heard that but I do remember hearing it.

>>51796609
>>51796634
>>51796652
>>51796691

Ships work fine in them, but they are stellar formation areas and get blown away by mature stars.

A practical effect? There will be zero planets remotely capable of supporting life in one, as the stars there will be 1-2 billion years old.

>>51797425
Nope?

New Avalon, Terra, Luthrin.. there were a lot of planets that understood perfectly well how fusion engines, advanced computers and nurohemlets work, and every other part of a 'mech is pretty much Tech Level B if we are being honest.

The Inner Sphere, even in the darkest days, never dropped under Tech Rating D. New fusion engines and jump drives were being made in 3028

>>51799077
Darkest days was earlier. Hanse and crew had already starting kicking things back into gear with the NAIS in 3015. Not too fair to use Terra as an example either since they were cut off from the rest of the universe and maintained full SL tech level and knowledge.

Your main point is right though. People had Tech D. It's just technology never spreads around whole states very well no matter the era. Most of the computers and stuff sold around the sphere use the same philosophy as those hand crank things sent by the boatload to unstable parts of Africa. Doesn't help that a lot of Inner Sphere stuff gets undercut by its own populace. You have stuff like the population of Glengarry rioting to keep robots out of service jobs and locals of even planetary capitals preferring ICE and Fuel Cell vehicles by the score over anything more advanced.

Part of that is because most Battletech worlds don't give a shit about the environment or pollution or things like that, so they just go with whatever is easiest and cheapest outside their military.

>>51799077

>New fusion engines and jump drives were being made in 3028

They really didn't understand how though.

Seriously in the old lore they're like "Well, we give it this much raw material, and then a while later the factory gives us the thing." Jump drives are even more poorly understood than that, in the 3020s they genuinely feared, and genuinely had reason to fear, that within a generation or so fusion engines would become lostech and jump drives would follow.

But then the Helm core hit.

It wasn't just a big deal because it taught people how to make LB-Xs.

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>>51796485
Map scale get on my level.

>>51799670
Finish your kickstarter you lazy nigger

>>51799694
But I'm busy ilclanning D:

>>51799701
Who cares? Finish one thing. Then finish the next thing. And work harder.

>>51799388
Gray Norton, a nobody from nowhere, knows enough to talk at length about fusion engines in Thunder Rift.

In some places yeah, people were Legit Retarded tech wise and had hit Tech Rating B or god forbid A, but there were still schools teaching people how to build and maintain fusion reactors up to the size used by major drop-ships.

Unless the FedCom snowballing it's way to victory drove everyone else to start nuking every major world and production center it wasn't realistic that you'd hit the collapse of society and the loss of everything past stone age tech.

Major shipyards in the inner sphere might only be making a dozen jumpships a year at the worst of it, but they were still building K-F drives, parts for K-F drives, and understood how K-F drives worked and would preserve that knowledge..

Unless/until they got nuked to fuck of course. New Avalon isn't a great example of the average of the inner sphere, either. There were places where fusion engines had reached lostech, and plenty of worlds where even maintaining internal combustion engines and water desalination plants was lost.

>>51799737
>water desalination plants

My understanding is most of them were more having problems maintaining the terraform scale plants and dealing with heavy metals and toxic chemicals, as well as the sheer volume required. Little towns in bumfuck could run completely off the power plant of a bug and several did. But planetary scale water for tens or hundreds of millions required much bigger power plants, almost none of which were fusion.

Even in the Dark Age, there was that one collection of worlds that had very advanced recycling but needed water imports to make up the difference. One was trying to build a fleet of processing satellites for ice asteroids in their home system but their offworld technicians abandoned them and the project after the HPG net went down.

>>51799737

I think you mean Grayson Carlyle, and he's always been played up as a tech genius. Not necessarily to Banzai levels, but still.

K-F Drives also weren't fully understood. They knew how they worked in broad strokes, IE, you charge them up, you run the calculations, you jump, but why they were constructed the way the were was completely off the table and the mechanics of K-F travel even more so. They were only just beginning to be re-learned at New Avalon in the Warrior trilogy.

>>51800314
You know, I just can't believe that. it would be like saying that today you could wipe out everyone who knew how to fix and build cars. Someone has to repair the mechs and make new parts for them, someone has to patch up the drives of broken jumpships, etc.

There might be a rough patch as everything crashed and the surviving astechs and such figured it all out again, but I just can't believe that things would ever get that mystical in terms of tech.

>>51800314
>Relearned

K/F drives are sort of a terrible example because even in universe literally nobody has ever understood what the hell they do, other then maybe the scientist that invited them. NAIS figured out how to slap a battery on them and that was the most they'd ever advanced after being invited.

>Grayson Carlyle

Is also the one in Thunder Rift. A very smart cookie.

>>51800363
Not him but even in later years, hyperspace theory is so complex that only sections of comstar and a few clanners really could grasp it on the most advanced level to actually do new shit instead of aping existing designs.

Even Tucker Harwell in the Dark Age described as the best genius they've had in generations, knows less about advanced hyperspace mechanics than the best robes in 3025.

So people knew roughly stuff about hyperspace cores as far as "this needs to be a single germanium crystal this size, and needs to be charged at this rate, and can extend a KF-field this size, and has this range" but as far as why, not so much.

>>51800363
People never lost the knowledge of how to build them, it's just that in cannon the fundamental principles of how they operate aren't resolved with quantum mechanics or relativity. So magic-tech but not lost-tech, because they never had it.

Lostech is more that some things were getting destroyed, and the infrastructure to keep making them destroyed, faster then they could be replaced.

From the start of the succession wars to the 3030s there was less places that could build fusion reactors or nurohelmets each year.

Extend the trend forward, and sooner or later 'less' could have become 'zero'.

Of course it wasn't steady loss. 90% of it was lost in the first orgy of violence where nukeing orbital foundries, shipyard, factories and training centers was a valid tactic.

By the time the game properly 'starts' in 3025 there was a deliberate attempt by almost everyone to keep the basic infrastructure intact. No targeting HPGs or jumpships, no matter how tempting, and no nukes.

>>51800363
>someone has to patch up the drives of broken jumpships

You don't. Busted drives have always needed a brand new replacement. Ones that are actually busted anyway, not like a blown helium seal. Mainline jumpships are even designed to be able to be taken apart in space to remove the core from the spine.

>>51800363

>You know, I just can't believe that

Well, tough luck. That's how the setting was written.

>>51800455

>People never lost the knowledge of how to build them, it's just that in cannon the fundamental principles of how they operate aren't resolved with quantum mechanics or relativity.

Well, kinda. They had no idea how the black-box factories made stuff worked, but they understood X materials in, Y product out. The intervening steps may as well have involved Svartálfar blacksmiths for all they knew.

>>51800389
The WoB was making Superjumps or whatever, and someone made the Wall.

>>51800411
So 3025, which the other anon is saying is the worst period in terms of knowledge loss and such, is better off than the 31XX's?

>>51800626
>Well, tough luck. That's how the setting was written.

I don't care, it's still dumb.

>>51800626
>Well, tough luck. That's how the setting was written.

Look, just admit it was badly written and we can all go on with our lives.

Can we all stop pissing and moaning about something that was written 3 years ago and have a design challenge or something?

Maybe the classic "post a pic of a non-BT mech and then stat it for BT"? Always good to see new art.

>>51800637
>WoB superjumps and the Wall

The early 31st century is the worst, unless for some reason you pay attention to anything WoB, though there is a pretty broad consensus that you should not.

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>>51800670
You are going to need some primitive tech for this.

>>51800637
>So 3025, which the other anon is saying is the worst period in terms of knowledge loss and such, is better off than the 31XX's?

The really educated part of Comstar broke off with the Word of Blake. After the Jihad, all that disappeared. The Successor States are generally better off, but their gains are all in the smaller scale stuff. They can make Clantech weapons, but they can't hollow a warship drydock out of a moon.

>>51800707

>They can make Clantech weapons, but they can't hollow a warship drydock out of a moon.

WoB couldn't do that either. Nor ComStar at their height. The Ruins of Gabriel and Titan yards were inherited from the Star League.

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>>51800670
Stat this for BT.

>>51796678
>>51796713
It's kinda expensive as most planets don't carry sufficient water and I think the colonial-era water meteorit fleet isn't around any longer.

Also IRL pretty much every colonly had to deal with suffering 90% losses every couple of years for a long time unless they had natives to pick up their slack. Even in tempered regions like North America, so colonies don't generally make it without something like the English explicitly criminalizing a lot of their own people, putting them into bondage and forcefully shipping them off overseas backing them up.

>>51800737
WoB could make new Castle Brians and extensively refitted Gabriel prior to losing it and then stripping it. That's close enough.

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>>51800670
I have a suggestion

>>51800738
Ultralight with 2 SRM 2's and an MG.

>>51796854
>You live in a shit world affected by nuclear war and you have the option to run away to a shit but peaceful world.

>Be Fedcom
>try to run away
>Dropship, Jumpship and the resources we've amassed get impounded and repurposed for our lord's current war

>>51796854
>Take the Succession Wars for example. You live in a shit world affected by nuclear war and you have the option to run away to a shit but peaceful world.

That literally happened in the Succession Wars though. Did you never read the backstories of the Marians or the Outworlds or Niops during that time? People fled in droves to the Periphery and beyond.

>>51800819
I've did and I've seen other examples too, but I am not sure about the scale of this exodus. I had the impression it was a really small number of people fleeing, not like we see in Syria today, for example

>>51800867
It was a shit ton in the First War but trickles down as jumpships and dropships become ever rarer. Never stops though. The Marians still got enough refuges in the middle of the 3rd War to colonize several planets.

>>51797184
Just flat wrong.

>>51800759

They were still only able to restore Gabriel to a fraction of its initial capabilities, and it could only repair existing ships. Under the SL it could manufacture WarShips, it wasn't just a fleet base.

Castle Brians though, I don't think they made any more of those. Either way what really separates a Brian from just a tough-as-shit fortified position is how well-hidden most Castles Brian are and how extensive the mega-engineering was to make them. The SL thought nothing of draining and then re-filling entire *seas* to put in a new Castle, and I don't recall WoB doing anything even near as impressive as that.

>>51799737
>grey noton was in decision at thunder rift
Huh

>>51800637
>it's still dumb
It's literally happened to humans in real life. Get over it and move on.

>>51801197
>I don't think they made any more of those.
They did. That was the thing behind the whole "Maginot Worlds" deal.

>I don't recall WoB doing anything even near as impressive as that.
Flip through JHS:Terra again. They preferred to refit existing places but they weren't afraid to start from scratch.

>>51801229
Please name a time that an interstellar society relying on advanced technology was reduced to such a state that everyone thought it was magic.

Oh, wait.

>>51801345
Please name a time an interstellar state was able to maintain its level of tech without succumbing to a dark age.

Oh, wait. you're retarded.

>>51801345

>battletech
>warhammer 40K
>numenara
>tons of sci-fi novels

>>51801402
Nice example, fuckboy.

>>51801423
>in real life

>>51801402
>I don't have an example so I'll call him a retard

Where's that guy to spam football ref memes when you need him?

>This design has the look of something that was influenced by Natasha Kerensky who also had a hand in the larger Linebacker’s configs.

Ran across this line in a recent MotW article on the OF, and I was wondering where else it ever talked about Nasty K's preferences, particularly in the novels.

>>51801464
>Nasty K's preferences, particularly in the novels.

She's a fucking munchkin who loves firepower. That line is because she's most famous for driving a warhammer though. So 2 PPC's, SRM's, and a point blank firestarter are what they mean. She has at least 2 PPC's on all her rides including her OG Marauder, her Warhammer, and the Daishi Widowmaker.

>>51801435
>>51801451
Where's your example, samefag? I assumed you were being sarcastic but it's a little sad you weren't.

>>51801345
>>51801435
Holy shit ironic posts

>>51801435
trolling and shitposting isn't appreciated here

>>51801539
*aren't

When using jump jets can I land facing any direction or do I land on the same direction I started from?

>>51801167
After reading the entire thread you would know it literally isn't.

>>51801229
Never in our society we had such widespread loss of basic technology and infrastructure as in Battletech.

>>51801579

Any facing.

>>51801464

Very little about the Linebacker makes any sense.

Replacing the Timber Wolf with that thing is fucking retarded. Using it to round out their fast Stars or phase out the Adder, sure, but a little whacky for the latter, but to replace the best-designed base chassis the Clans have with an over-engined, under-armed piece of shit like that...

>>51801634

Well yeah, because we're on one planet and there's over a thousand in BT.

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>>51796189
Is this filename accurate?

>>51802680
>Plague Pidgeons
>Picture is of healthy pidgeon

You can do better.

>>51802706
>Trash pidgeon
>Healthy

>>51802680
I'm out of the loop, why this bird is so famous right now?

>>51803025

/pol/ memed so hard normies thing its a nazi hate symbol like pepe

>>51796985
>Your 4000 bv Clan assault randomly gets an LBX2 cockpit crit three turns in? Game over man.
>Then don't create a force that's so skewed towards any one Mech design
>Don't play a Clan pilot in a heavy mech, a very ordinary thing
>Fuck you and the Savannah Master swarm you rode in with.

If you're playing in such a small BV game that a single Clan heavy (and not the 4k BV assault like you originally claimed) represents half or more of your starting BV...then you shouldn't be fielding a Clan heavy.

If you accept that a fielding a Clan heavy is going to cost, say 3200 BV in total, then you really shouldn't be fielding one in less than about 10,000 BV. That way the lucky loss of that single Mech isn't going to render the entire game completely pointless.

If your games aren't that big, than either accept that luck is part of the game and your choices are what put the game out of reach, or stop fielding expensive individual units which can be 1-shotted. Field lighter and cheaper Mechs. Or play bigger games. Either way, the choice and fault is yours, so quit whining and change the way you play.

>>51803025
It started as some random emoticon on Facebook, then /pol/ decided to do a disinformation campaign and say it was the face of facism/Nazism/alt-right/etc/etc. It worked.

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>>51803387
And the communist left, being the mindless zombies they are, ate it up without question?

Oh my lord.

>>51803648
>mindless
The irony in this post is palpable

What are some good Shadow Hawk, Goliath, and/or Scorpion models?

Warhammer or Marauder? Which do you prefer?

>>51804073
Marauder, easy.

>>51804073
The 'hammer. If it's good enough for Nasty K, it's good enough for me.

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>>51804073
Out of the standard models, I use the Warhammer for performance, and the Marauder for looks. I love the look of both of them, but the Marauder just has that old feel commander's mech feel to it. The Warhammer feels like a mech-of-the-line mech. And as much as I like the Marauder, I don't do well performance-wise with it. Maybe it's the dice gods or I haven't sacrificed enough virgin Marik pilots to appease them as it doesn't like it when I am in direct control of the standard versions.

>>51804073

Probably the Warhammer.

The Marauder is nice but it's too poorly armed for my tastes.

Guys, c'mon! Don't fight over the details written over the past 30 years.

>>51804073
Warhammer. Love the design visually, the Marauder suffers from a severe case of being a chicken.

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>>51801451

I was sleeping.

>>51801435
>>51801519
>>51801402

>>51798097
Sounds like an anime series that I'd like to watch.

>>51804863
Well, he attacked both. So there's a penalty but the points stand.

>>51804073
I like lances of three warhammers lead by a marauder

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>>51804073
>>51804312

The tale of the tape..

MAD vs WHM
Mass: 75t vs 70t
Speed: Tie (43kph)
Armor: 11.5t vs 10t
Heat Sinks: 16 vs 18

Weapons are where it really comes down to. The heart of either is 2x PPC backed up by 2 Medium Lasers, but the MAD focuses on long range with an AC 5, while the Warhammer goes for a grab bag of brawling, close range weapons with a couple MG, Small Lasers and a SRM 6.

I do really like the warhammer. It's a very good brawling 70 tonner, something you don't see many of. The Marauder is iconic and one of the best 3025 direct fire support machines.

>>51804045
Goliaths in my experience working best as fire support mechs. I prefer the 3M, 3L, and 5W when I'm not playing introtech.

All three of those are pretty flawed designs though, so I tend to make custom variants and play those instead.

>>51805546

Fair enough, I wasn't awake enough to spam a bunch of them for an argument that appears to have quieted itself down.

Now I kinda want to do a Warhammer II in MAD-II style and see how it works out

>>51805883
Do it. Not until you mentioned it have I ever thought how much it's needed to be a thing.

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>>51805883
>>51805897
I had a similar idea and ended up with this

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>>51806070

Slightly different take on it.

>>51805724
>All three of those are pretty flawed designs though
>dougram based mech is a flawed design
I'm upset by this

>>51806511
The Griffin and Thunderbolt both rock pretty hard.

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>>51806657
Can somebody please tell me how to use a regular Griffin effectively? Heat sink management is a bitch and i end up most of the time only able to fire one weapon at a time. It's a bad one-trick pony. I do a lot better with the old Shad and Wolverine.

>>51806791
Basically, your choices are walking/running and firing both weapons for a few turns before you have to cool down, jumping and firing the PPC for a turn or two then cooling down, or the jumping alpha followed by a turn of cooling the fuck down, hotshot.
Nothing but the jumping alpha will put you immediately in the red zone, and the mech has 5j anyways, so it can overheat pretty gracefully. Just jump into some woods and don't shoot any of your guns.

Or just bringing a 1S.

>>51804863
Doesn't apply to the last one. Guy was being deliberately retarded.

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>>51805883
>>51805897
here's the 3025 models, which I quite like and think I'll use in the future.

I figure fluffwise it'd be the result of someone, maybe in the periphery looking at the marauder II and going "I bet we could do that with a Warhammer", and then producing this thing
I ended up giving the second one LRMs to emulate the original macross mech's shoulder missiles

>>51806977
Yeah pretty much that's what I have been doing. Unfortunately because of the weapons load-out more often than not the pot shots the Griffins in my care don't perform as well as something small like a Firestarter getting up close and personal. It might be just bad rolls, but many, MANY times all those Griffins can do is fire only one weapon at a time without severe problems, and misses at that, even when conditions are favorable. Hell, even when I play Megamek the computer doesn't do well with them.
Maybe the 1S is the only way to go.

>>51806791

Put two of them behind the archons throne. Not very good for anything else.

I need BT character art.

Share your favorites.

Got a VS match question:

One BattleMaster, pilot rated as a 1/2
Vs
One Panther
One Locust
One Griffin
One Marauder
One Stinger
One Scorpion
One Centurion
One Crusader
One Cicada
All their pilots rated 5/6

Basic introtech variants for all mechs involved.

>>51804472
We can only fight about details written in the last 15 years :^(

>>51806511
Yeah I feel your pain because I love the Goliath, it's biggest problem is it tries to have good armor and good speed which ends up compromising is firepower, especially because as a quad it inherently lacks critspace.

>>51807230
If the panther, griffin, marauder, and cent don't manage to get a headshot, and if none of them manage to get a TAC or surround it and crit the ammo from behind, I would imagine the Battlemaster would win.

Depends on how close the engagement starts though, they could all possibly kick it to death before the beemer finishes off enough enemies.

>>51807085
Interesting. I don't think I've seen a mech bracket LLs and PPCs together before

>>51807375
There IS that one rifleman, but I don't think I've ever seen it on the table

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>download Mechwarrior 2
>chose Jade Falcon because reasons
>start with the tutorial
>having a blast
>finish tutorial
>liked the game so much I replay the tutorial
>again
>and again
>Literally my favorite game ever
>Never touched the campaign, though. Too many unnecessary options

This is how I imagine introtech-only guys playing other games

>>51807085

>"I bet we could do that with a Warhammer",

That sounds like a nice joint venture between the Canopians, Taurians and Capellans.

>>51803332
Well I'm not the guy who said a Clan assault, I was simply commenting on the issue.

And it's impossible to control for the luck in BT, even with light, cheap units. It lessens the impact, but losing 1200 BV to a lucky crit is still pretty bad. And, inherently, the issue is luck, so there's no expectation that the game will balance itself - I could lose 1200 BV and then headcap your assault, or I could lose 1200 BV and then two turns later lose 2000 more to another random crit.

From a game design standpoint, BT simply has too much swinginess that's based on non-skill factors. It doesn't feel good to kill an enemy unit with a cockpit TAC or something, because you did nothing special to get that result, and when your enemy gets that result you can't say "Damn, well played", you just curse the shitty dice.

>>51807748
Only one of those three actually builds warhammers, though.
Built by the bulls and exported to the other two makes sense though.

>>51807230
The Beemer is utterly fucked.

>>51807715
Lol

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>>51807715
All of the options that make the tabletop shitty make video games better, desu. Being able to make a murder-ball of death with the best tech and earning all the monies to advance your machines to be better than any mentioned in lore before is fun when it's a solo adventure and you're competing against a universe.

It's insufferable to play against, though. I like introtech mostly because the balancing in the game is shit, no matter what kind of balancing you try to use.

A better example is probably
>download Mechwarrior 2
>decide MWO is better anyways
>get bored of both of them and start playing CoD instead

>>51807825

They could still all pitch in to build a line on Detroit that ships the design to all three powers.

I find the spirit of cooperation to be lacking as far as their alliance goes.

Got a 3-man lance in need of a fourth. Suggestions?
ON1-M Orion
MAD-7D Marauder
AV1-O Avatar

Was considering either a Bandersnatch or the WHM-8D.

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And here people wonder how mechs can get up and walk around.

>>51807941
That rear leg stub looks like a rear-firing ML.
Cannot unsee.

>>51807981
>the Word of Blake's final wunderwaffe

>>51807933
Seems like a Davion lance due to the Marauder, so maybe something of theirs like a Centurion, Enforcer, Enfield, or Dervish. What era?

>>51807933
Bandersnatch sounds like a good choice.

>>51808019
It's not a Davion lance. Mercenary, but we have good relations with the FedSuns so we can get some of their gear fairly easily. We're currently in late 3070/early 3080.

>>51807832

Ironically I think he's listing the stuff Hanse killed in the Warrior trilogy. I know the Griffin was there for sure.

>>51808090
Cool, but this is the table, not a novel.

>>51808041
So a FedSuns lance, got it.

>>51807748
I imagined it as a 3030s machine, and at that time the taurians didn't like the capellans and the canopians were actively invading the CapCon.
I actually thought of it as being a possible joint deal with the FWL, though, since the FWL were also fans of warhammers, had no beef with the Taurians whatsoever and were in some need of assaults at the time.
>>51807879
that's because the whole alliance was a total scam to benefit the CapCon and hose the other two partners (but mostly the taurians, because unlike the MoC, no writer gave a shit about them, least of all coleman)

>>51807840

I want a roleplaying game set into the BT world was a clan warrior. Literally nothing but endless trials and shit talking and the cult of the warrior focused on the player.

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>>51808186

>>51808194

To be honest, I'd probably show a preference more for the Taurians than the Canopians, as technically the Capellans and Taurians have much in common given their strong (and perhaps not undeserved) loathing for the Federated Suns that exceeds homicidal.

But then again, the Canopians are closer so.

>>51808859
Isn't the Taurians' crazy hatred towards the Suns a result of the shit the WoB did?

I thought before that they were just staunchly isolationist and independent.

>>51808904

They tried to fuck over the Suns several times starting the Star League times and got BTFO worse and worse each time.

>>51808904
>>51808997
The Taurians are basically "Stop hitting yourself: the faction"

>>51808904

The Taurians spite toward the Suns is due (primarily) to the Suns actions during the Reunification Wars.

A sizable stretch of Taurian territory was added to he Suns realm, in addition to the damage wrought by the Star League fighting in conjunction with the Suns on that front.

So the atomic destruction they leveled against the Suns by the time of the Jihad doesn't look too undeserved to many.

The Taurians also never signed the Ares Accords so.

>>51796809
>It truly feels like 80s in space, more than it should
that's what makes it awesome

>>51808859
>To be honest, I'd probably show a preference more for the Taurians than the Canopians
Yes, but you aren't loren coleman, who rather dislikes the taurians

>>51808859
>as technically the Capellans and Taurians have much in common given their strong (and perhaps not undeserved) loathing for the Federated Suns that exceeds homicidal.
Right up to FM:P, the taurians were known to be wildly distrustful bordering on outright hatred of the CapCon
You know how they didn't sign the ares conventions? That was mostly because of the long history of vicious war crimes the capellans commited in the early days of the concordat.

>>51797220
prefer I

Anyone have the stats for the Banshee Aerospace Fighter from the cartoon. I've heard its a flying garbage can. Also has it ever appeared outside of the cartoon? Its not in any of the TROs that I can find.

>>51809430

>Its not in any of the TROs that I can find.

It's said to be in Experimental Technical Readout: Boondoggles

>>51800670

Witness the CGL mafia diversion team at work.

>>51809452
You're right. It is in there.

Wow. I can see why that design never went anywhere. Only 2ML on a 50T ASF is just silly.

Since we've now got a Warhammer II, Marauder II and Rifleman II, we need a Archer II and Longbow II to complete the Fat Destroid set

>>51809548
Don't forget a fat Ost

>>51808997
>>51809040
That's not really how it happened. inb4 paranoid "medron" accusations.

>>51809215
that's what makes it stupid.

>>51809497
I just like to get an infusion of non-BT mecha

Do the Lyrans have any really notable badass units?

Like the Davion Guards, Death Commandos, Knights of the Inner Sphere or Sword of Light?

>>51800670
>>51809837
>Maybe the classic "post a pic of a non-BT mech and then stat it for BT"? Always good to see new art.
I'll do some from Palladium's robotech RPG

Actually the old Mekton miniatures (of which were relatively few) were pretty nice and were a similar size to BTs. I got one lying around here somewhere that I'll dig out tomorrow.

>>51809918

Probably their Jaeger units or any of the Guards.

>>51809918
The Kell Hounds :^)

>>51809918
The Crescent Hawks.

>>51810203
Which Guards? Because the closest I can think of, the 10th Lyran, cucked their own homeland to stay on New Avalon and serve Yvonne.
I mean "fuck the Lyran state and fuck her brother, the goddamn Archon," right?

>>51809670
Fuck off medron

>>51810246

I just prefer to ignore all the Katherine bullshit out of existence.

LITERALLY all she had to is to say: "hey Vic, want me to rule our realm so you can go and bone your kurita-hime and do soldier stuff without any responsibility?"

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>>51800670
Will an old battle armor do?

Trying to figure out why some people can view the /btg/RO text fine, and others get random gibberish using nonexistent characters.

To help us figure out what the problem is, download the TRO preview here: https://www.mediafire.com/?8yfdymaxs40a5js

If you can read it normally, great.
If you see garbled text, missing stats next to the art, blank pages, or any other weirdness, take a screenshot and post it here, preferably including info about what PDF reader you're using, etc.

>>51810265
Ok then

>>51810287
>LITERALLY all she had to is to say: "hey Vic, gimme the dick"

Fixed.

Anyone here a fan of the original Star League Defense Force?

Like does anyone here play SLDF era games? Or is it mostly 3025, Jihad and Dark Age?

>>51810287
Correction: all vic had to do was go three for three on princesses

>>51810480
Yes. Though I end up playing the RWA so that I can be the even more evil SLDF. Also so I can have CASPAR drones.

>>51810480
>being a fan of the SLDF

What's there to like? Needing stupidly overpowered forces to put down a few peripherats? Letting one of aid peripherats sneak everything out from under you while twirling the most obviously evil mustache of all time? Pussying out from the aftermath and running off to form a group of yiffing cosplayers?

The Star League is literally the worst faction in BattleTech.

>>51810379
Glad to see blog posts coming out on a consistent schedule.

Relevant detail for anyone else who contributed but isn't getting email updates from the blog:

>If you want to up your contribution level to get into a higher tier this is the time to do so, since it's a lot easier to work the rewards in now rather than later.

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>>51810379
Tried it on Foxit reader version 8.02 on a 10+ old comp and it opened and displayed like an Amsterdam whore just fine.

>>51810578
>Glad to see blog posts coming out on a consistent schedule.

Thanks. I've actually got the next couple written and scheduled to post automatically, which is nice. I hate writing the damn things so it's a lot easier to sit down and do a batch of them at once.

Re: reward levels - contributing more personally is nice, but another thing /btg/ could help out with is shilling the project "abroad" - let any other BT fans or communities who might be interested know about it.

>>51810527
The Star League is not a faction, though.

>>51810527
>>51810643
I'm never sure if people here are being sarcastic anymore.

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>>51810379
The Hulagu, is the turret supposed to be 20 tons or 2.0?

>>51810379
Having problems with some stat text. Juzumaru, Knight. Dragonfly, Geist, Veles. They have different font and sometimes these pages crash my pdf reader (Moon+ Reader Pro 3.1 on Android).

>>51810795
Thanks for the info. Please, please take screencaps so I can actually see what's happening where.

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>>51807167

>>51810718
Derp, meant to reply to this too. Will check how the TROs do it, atm I can't remember if 20 is supposed to be the mass the turret holds or if it should just be 2 for the turret itself. Pretty sure it's the latter. Good spot though.

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>>51807167

>>51810379
Everything looks fine on a modern computer running Foxit 8.0.0.624.

First editing error I saw: Dragonfly VTOL. Alt config B has the Thunderbolt mounted in the left torso. That should be either Front or Left Side, depending upon how you have it configured.

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>>51810872
Top is how pages that crash on me looks like, bottom is what normal pages look like

>>51810379
On the Veles page:

>contuberium

Should be "contubernium". Unless the Marians unironically misspell it (and they might, I don't know).

>>51811277
IIRC they do spell it wrong, but I'll double-check.

>>51811172
Thanks. Is it having that page in full screen that crashes it or what? At least it's (blurrily) legible...

>>51810979
Thanks, noted.

>>51811375
Yep, it crashes if I keep too long on it. That's actually why I didn't post a screen shot before.

The font is not a problem, but indicates every page it can crash on me.

>>51810379
I love the Veles and the Brass Bull. Could I get the details for the BRS-B8 variant?

>>51811493
Fascinating. Well, pretty sure that particular issue is caused by the embedded PDF within the PDF, so gotta figure out a way around that...

>>51811500
Not at the moment, record sheets for variants will be released with the TRO.

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>>51800670
>Maybe the classic "post a pic of a non-BT mech and then stat it for BT"?

OK.

>Always good to see new art.

D'oh! Well, if you haven't seen it, it's new to you!

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I realize they're not the most popular faction here, but I'd be interested to see any fan-made mech designs for the Taurians.

Or variants of canon mechs for the Taurians.

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>>51811572
Now I have to dig out my old Viz? issues and enjoy the weird story of Gunhed. Never stop posting these. You really should restat the ultimate war machine as a quadvee now too

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>>51811661
>Now I have to dig out my old Viz? issues and enjoy the weird story of Gunhed.

I'm thinking Kia Asamiya was also artist on Silent Möbius as well.

[quick Google search] Oh yeah, he was!

>Never stop posting these.

Somebody asked a few threads ago if I would put together a PDF with all the drawings, tech readouts, and "marginal thinking" doodles. Maybe if work slows down soon, I'll have a chance. Maybe I could even draw something new!

>You really should restat the ultimate war machine as a quadvee now too

Maybe... there was no such thing back when I drew this. XL engines, pulse lasers, and MASC were new and exciting back then!

>>51811572
"New" in this case meaning "Non-Battletech art I haven't seen", yes, so that works.

It's like a Legacy and a Scopedog made love and had a retarded baby. I kinda like it.

>>51811653
>fan-made mech designs for the Taurians.

See >>51810379

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>>51811885
>It's like a Legacy and a Scopedog made love and had a retarded baby. I kinda like it.

As >>51811661 pointed out, it's from a fantastic movie. I wonder what Brenda Bakke is doing these days. She was in Hot Shots Part Deux with Charlie Sheen...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ax-osVqQEY

>>51807230
Beemer's fucked. It could maybe take a lance alone, but 1v9 is just too many actions against it, the volume of fire will eventually overwhelm him, especially when everyone closes to kicking circle range. Maybe take it down to 1v4 or 1v5.

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>>51811653
here's two from old games of mine
the Ranger started life as a Cataphract variant before it became it's own design, and when I dug it out, and posted it here I discovered that it was basically the hound several years before the hound was the hound, and the Bowie came from the fact that I liked the idea of the hatchetman but not the actual hatchetman.
as for variants virtually everything I used as taurian variants were also used as generic merc models, because this was well before I knew about their (very fun) 3085 whackyness.
I should probably design some as kinda 50s precursors to that stuff

>>51810379

There's a fair few spelling and grammatical issues there.

Still better than actual CGL product though.

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Someone asked to BattleTech-ize the X-1 Alpha from FC:LAPD. I did that many years ago, managed to find the MegaMek conversion file of it. Don't have my original HMP file that had a bunch of fluff written up.

>>51798255
>super late reply
The right one looks like its a relative of the Juliano. Clans have been pushing hard for more animalistic designs and the left has a bit more of an organic feel to it, can kinda see a predatory animal head with the cockpit/CT area, like its an open mouth.

Does anyone have the direct download link to the Battletech Manual beta? I misplaced my PDF and I'm not paying <another> five bucks for something I've already bought and their system won't let me re-download.

>>51809548
The problem is that functionally an Archer II is just gonna be a Longbow that punches people, and a Longbow II is just going to be a regular Longbow with more armor.
A 100-ton Rifleman VI(or whatever the fuck) might be fun though

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>>51811952
I can dig it

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>>51813538
Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.

>>51811572
>>51811661
>>51811952
Got any more mech pics from the movie?

>>51811572
>AC/2 in the head
This is beautiful. I almost want to see if I can somehow make this work on my own custom.

I've been thinking. Which is the absolute worst mech in canon? Like, the one that fits no niche and no one could reasonably find any use of it?

>>51814358
it depends on your definition of "worst"
For pure overall, It's pretty clearly the Targe, but the OG 3050 Panther is moderately close.

for value for money, it's more or less any of the XXL machines, assaults in particular, because one could afford almost a battalion of 3025 thuds for the same price and vastly more utility, but that's cheating because C-Bill balancing is hilarious nonsense

For BV ROI, it's the Dasher D and nothing else even comes close

>>51814489
>not running campaigns that mix C-Bill usage and some BV balancing for battle
Pleb tier desu

>>51814556
I mean it's fair enough in 3025 and 3050+ merc games where you want slow SFE DHS assaults and heavies and nothing else

I've decided what I'm gonna do for my next trashmech deathmatch, five Dasher-Ds against 9 Riflemen-4Ds both of Veteran skill
watch this space, I'm going to throw it together in MegaMek

>>51814634
I'm giving this one to the Dashers.

>>51814489
>For BV ROI, it's the Dasher D and nothing else even comes close

It *is* 5 Tcomp'd cERMLs on a mech that's damn hard to hit and can pop MASC to be even harder. Or get entirely out of your weapon range if it loses init.

Okay /btg/, help an anon out. I want to learn how to play battletech. I have a friend to play with, but have no real clue where to start. Anyone got any advice?

>>51814963
Watch someone play BT or Megamek a few times, then throw yourself into it. Worked for me. Megamek is easier to get into because it knows all the rules already, so you get some idea of what you're doing.

>>51814963
The official site has free starter rules you can use to play. You can use anything for stand-in tokens for 'Mechs.

Or, you can go to town on the links in the OP to get all the PDFs you can handle. I'd start with the Intro rules myself though.

What happened to Eric Ou? I was looking for some old art of his and it seemed like he dropped off the face of the earth.

>>51806791
>>51806977
Turn 1: Jump into position and fire PPC
Turn 2: Walk/Run/Park and Fire PPC and LRM
Turn 3: Jump out of the line of fire and cool down.

>>51815962
I dunno about him specifically, but there's a whole slew of BT artists that dropped out of the scene after 3145 because CGL over-demanded and under-paid.

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>>51816132
>I dunno about him specifically, but there's a whole slew of BT artists that dropped out of the scene after 3145 because CGL over-demanded and under-paid.
Seriously, can CGL do ANYTHING right?!

>>51816193

They're really good at fucking up.

>>51816193
No. A fucking donation-funded 4chan project has a better track record of paying artists promptly and in full.

>>51816235
>>51816237
Why must my favorite hobby suffer under the vagary and legacy of these FOOLS?! We need a players Central Committee to pretty much go our own way with this. This is intolerable. I truly love a lot of the hard work done on this franchise, and even love the guys who show up here who are part of this business, and through that our own great guys with their contributions such as Pencil-Art Guy and Graph Paper Mecha Guy. I don't want to see this pissed down the commode like BT was the fiction incarnation of Sweden or something. Sheesh.

>>51816237
>tfw would draw robits full time but living costs are hella expensive

>>51816237
In fairness, I have no operating costs, licensing fees, production overhead, or need to turn a profit. Once people donate money it just sits in the account until it goes to pay for a piece.

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>>51816276
Let's see your work, anon! Always like to see new BT fan art.

Also, while we're talking fan art, does anyone know who did all of these?

>>51816316
If you had half a million available to be embezzled into a porch, how many art pieces could you fund?

>>51816360

None, that's good porch money.

Well, he lives here now so we call them patios or pergolas, but still.

>>51816360
Maybe four thousand?

PDF opens fine in Adobe Acrobat DC, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Haven't gone into any of my PDF editors yet.

BTW Shimmy, hit me up when you get a shot, have a question about minis for you.

>>51816410
Thanks anon.

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>>51816333
That's Thunder God Xarbala's stuff.
He also did some work in the 3145 TROs.

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>>51816333
You've most likely seen my scribbles and doodles here before.

>>51816425
Ah cool, you do great stuff.

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hey does anyone know where I can find full size pics of all the japtech art? Or at least the mechs? I've seen a few pieces posted here and there.

>>51816316
>no operating costs
Who pays for the electric fence to keep the emus away from your house? Or the giant spider traps?

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=48262.0

Just stumbled across this on the OF and I know we have a couple of /btg/ regulars who have access to 3D printers. Anyone used it?

>>51816502
Might be in the dropbox

>>51816684
>http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=48262.0

My 3D printer would go Skynet on me if I tried to print something like that.

The Brass Bull almost makes me want to be a Taurian fan again.

>>51816990
They are a fun faction if you stick to the lore and stay out of forum politics.

Is there any factions that represent the spirit of Texas, or Italians, South Koreans or Finnish people?

>>51817199
>Is there any factions that represent the spirit of Texas

Taurians. They're racist, xenophobic, utterly convinced of their own superiority in a universe where nobody really cares about them, and they explicitly have a cowboy aesthetic which is completely undeserved after this much time has passed since it was necessary.

Oh, and they get a leader who warmongers like a nut and orders an invasion (which completely fails) after receiving terrible intel. Which is a trait of some notable Texans.

>>51817199
Texas would be old school Taurians, representing fierce independence and rights.
Italians could easily be in part of the LA or FS. Probably more of the latter than the former. Depends upon what era of Italians you're thinking of.

>>51817298
>>51817304
Gotcha. I'll look into them. Now all I need is some Koreans for some hot surgery-enhanced ladies and Finnish for those kill-ten-ruskies-per-one-casualty-drunks and I got a plan.

>>51817199
Italians are Ice Hellions
Finns are pre-bear Rasalhague
South Koreans are...I think there are some in the FWL?

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New thread
>>51817354
Bein' a Blackjack, pushin' things aside, gunnin' and lookin' almost cool...

>>51817298
quality shitposting :)

>>51817199
Actual Texans are in the FWL alongside the Mexicans and Indians in the Trinity Worlds as well as a few but not all of the old Lone Star District worlds in Kurita space. Then there's good old Terra where Texas was supplying lots of local boys to the WoB since 3058.

Taurians are just cowboys, like most of the Outback next to them. Not specifically Texan.

>>51817362
Thanks! This will help with some character profiles. I got relatives that are Fins and want to know how they can Fin-harder.
>South Koreans are...I think there are some in the FWL?
Now does the FWL have any popular K-pop bands? Teasing, but thanks.
Ice Hellions are Italians? How military competent are they? Is there someplace I can look this up? (Kind of a newb here and getting friends and such into battletech.)

>>51817392
>Actual Texans are in the FWL alongside the Mexicans and Indians in the Trinity Worlds as well as a few but not all of the old Lone Star District worlds in Kurita space. Then there's good old Terra where Texas was supplying lots of local boys to the WoB since 3058.

So it's possible to maybe have long distance relatives between the FWL and the combine both be descendents of steak-land?

>>51817419
It really doesn't really matter six hundred years down the road.

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Where would Battletech be today if pic related had never happened?

Would we be swimming in boxed sets? Would there be crossover traffic from Leviathans?

>>51818259
Are you referencing Coleman's theft?

>>51818259
>Would we be swimming in boxed sets?
Neg. Ironwind Metals would be ramming the whore Colemans ass about it.

>Would there be crossover traffic from Leviathans?
Neg. 3025 autism overlords would have complained loud enough to not make it happen.

>>51818450
Yes
>>51818452
>Neg. Ironwind Metals would be ramming the whore Colemans ass about it.
Whatchu mean? Why would they be all over a writer about mini production? Why would the box set be an issue now, when it hasn't been for the last bazillion runs of boxes?

>>51818452
As if 3025 grogs play aerotech in the first place.

>>51819922

I jokingly suggested that we try a game of Battlespace to my 3025 grognard, and his response to my suggestion of what warships to bring was "I'd bring 10,000 Stukas for the same price as your McKenna and blow it out of the sky."

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>>51796485
I always wanted to read some Battletech stories or novels about exploration and adventure beyond the usual inner sphere area.

The clans are to the "north" of the IS. But what lies to the east, west and south? Now THAT could be a very interesting story. Old abandoned outposts, stranded lostech starships, entire colonies that reverted to low-tech lifestyles.

Maybe even starbases inside giant hollowed-out asteroids. Or maybe a 300 year old exploration spaceship returns from the brink of known space, emitting strange radiation and sending unintelligible and horrifying transmissions.

Massive tectonic activity on far away planets send huge signal waves through space. But those waves can't be explained by planetary tectonics alone. Something intelligent must have sent them...

Maybe some ancient ship crewed by automated artificial intelligence returns and a huge shadow war for its posession breaks out.

Maybe an exploring spaceship finds ancient structures on a remote moon, surrounded by an ancient nebula that blocks all signals from getting in or out. The structures are clearly not manmade...

Wouldn't even need to break the "no living sentient alines in battletech" taboo. Maybe have them find ancient temples and cities, full of humanoid but not human skeletons. And a single, large underground chamber on a blasted world holds an energy signature and a very large cryonic chamber...

Please discuss!

>>51821774
Might wanna post this in the new thread, m8.

Also, what you're talking about is http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Interstellar_Players_3:_Interstellar_Expeditions
One of the best BT books ever made, in my opinion.