Actually the Concordat and Alliance actually get on pretty well, the TDF underwent an overhaul and one area they were lacking was aerospace so they got some Alliance help to improve.
What is the most dangerous and most vile faction?
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Actually the Concordat and Alliance actually get on pretty well, the TDF underwent an overhaul and one area they were lacking was aerospace so they got some Alliance help to improve.
Yeah, the one thing the Outworld Militia has is incredibly good Aerospace fighters. Because the voters mistakenly think an elite Aerospace corp is cheaper than a mech force.
It's so good that even when the Snow Ravens took over, the Outworld pilots made up a big chunk of the front-line forces. And the Ravens were the clan that specialized and bred for that skill. No Eugenics necessary in Outworlds Alliance, only Freedom!
It's so good that even when the Snow Ravens took over, the Outworld pilots made up a big chunk of the front-line forces. And the Ravens were the clan that specialized and bred for that skill. No Eugenics necessary in Outworlds Alliance, only Freedom!
Normally, nobody wakes up in the morning and asks themselves "What can I do today, just to be evil?", except for Stephan Amaris. He murdered the entire ruling family of the Star League (who in turn were no saints by any standard), leading to a destructive civil war which brought about a collapse of order, followed by the Succession Wars which destroyed most of human civilization over the next 200 years. At the conclusion of the civil war, Kerensky, the Star League general leading the fight against Amaris ("the Usurper"), chose to abandon the Successor States to their petty wars and leave known space, rather than try to resurrect the SL or side with one of the Houses (which lead each of the Successor States) to replace it. His descendants and followers show up again....with some serious biological, cultural, and technological twists, a few decades after this video game takes place.
The 3025 "Classic BT" setting lies about 200 years after the fall of the Star League, when humanity has nearly nuked and invaded itself back into the stone age. Most of the remaining vestiges of advance technology are being taken and hoarded by the secretive Comstar (the interstellar "phone company" with control of the only FTL communications at the time) to allow its rebirth of civilization under its "guidance"; they've got their own secret splinter group that makes the Spanish Inquisition look friendly. Meanwhile, with limited communication and transportation between star systems, an interstellar feudal system serves to provide local defense during the weeks or months until the House armies can respond. Battlemechs are still being produced, but at not quite enough of a pace to replace losses, with many of the surviving 'Mech factories relying on steadily deteriorating equipment that cannot be repaired, so they have become increasingly rare and expensive.
The most TRUELY evil and dangerous faction will in many cases be the player's, I am willing to bet.
The 3025 "Classic BT" setting lies about 200 years after the fall of the Star League, when humanity has nearly nuked and invaded itself back into the stone age. Most of the remaining vestiges of advance technology are being taken and hoarded by the secretive Comstar (the interstellar "phone company" with control of the only FTL communications at the time) to allow its rebirth of civilization under its "guidance"; they've got their own secret splinter group that makes the Spanish Inquisition look friendly. Meanwhile, with limited communication and transportation between star systems, an interstellar feudal system serves to provide local defense during the weeks or months until the House armies can respond. Battlemechs are still being produced, but at not quite enough of a pace to replace losses, with many of the surviving 'Mech factories relying on steadily deteriorating equipment that cannot be repaired, so they have become increasingly rare and expensive.
The most TRUELY evil and dangerous faction will in many cases be the player's, I am willing to bet.
Battlemechs are useless if they can't reach the planet's surface intact. Considering that the OA's main threats are Pirates (now that the predatory Star League is gone), the aerospace fighters also wreak havoc on the invaders a second time as the survivors of the first ASF strikes escape with loot. The strategy works well enough under the circumstances. Against a determined threat intent on taking the planets, it's less effective, but most of their planets are so poor that nobody else would want them. The Star League's invasion met with mostly passive resistance and sabotage, making it too expensive to maintain the offensive versus too little to gain by continuing it against the pathetically outmatched but determined defenders.Yeah, the one thing the Outworld Militia has is incredibly good Aerospace fighters. Because the voters mistakenly think an elite Aerospace corp is cheaper than a mech force.
It's so good that even when the Snow Ravens took over, the Outworld pilots made up a big chunk of the front-line forces. And the Ravens were the clan that specialized and bred for that skill. No Eugenics necessary in Outworlds Alliance, only Freedom!
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The Concordat seemed shockingly sensible and decent - and not just for a periphery realm - in the early sourcebooks (Periphery 3025, mostly). Yet most people think of them as "those paranoid yokels with nukes", right? Where did it all go wrong? Was it just the manic Calderons and their obsession with being invaded any given day? Did the Davion propaganda succeed in painting them as crazies? I've never followed the developments in this corner of the galaxy much but here with are with the Taurians apparently propping up our storyline enemies.
Honestly it probably has to do with the Davions becoming the designated hero faction, therefore the Taurian fear and hate for them had to be irrational...
It's so good that even when the Snow Ravens took over, the Outworld pilots made up a big chunk of the front-line forces. And the Ravens were the clan that specialized and bred for that skill. No Eugenics necessary in Outworlds Alliance, only Freedom!
Clarification: all Clans maintained a Pilot phenotype, and many deployed it extensively. The Raven's were unique in that they bred specifically for WarShip command crews and maintained the largest and most specialized Naval assets in the Clans for most of their existence (including probably the best Zero-G combat units outside the TDF's SASF).
Why waste resources when they can use existing Alliance military personnel to supplement their existing Naval superiority?
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When other clans absorbed IS powers, they put almost all the existing armed forces in a garrison/reserve role if anything.
I thought Aerospace was the Raven's specialty (maybe I'm conflating it with fleet though), but even so if we assume they kept clan-style trials of position (again afaik all the other cases did), that still means tons of Outworlds pilots won their trials. And that means that a force recruited from shepherds and dirt farmers (most of the outworlders are this) was able to hold up as equals to people specifically grown in a vat to be superior at this one thing.
Pretty much a 180 degree turn in the official storyline. The plot called for a victim, and the TC was chosen. From there, they suddenly went from fairly sensible folk with a healthy dose of distrust to paranoid idiots. I hate it when a faction is chosen as a target, and they're basically written off in a most unsatisfying manner, and don't even get to put up a good fight in the process. Worse, it's usually my faction that's chosen. I was almost relieved when "The Powers that Be" (TPTB) chose the Taurians, and not one of my own favorites for once, not that I had anything against the Taurians.
Youre not paranoid when you are actually being invaded! It's not covered in much detail (as far as I'm aware, happy to be corrected) but it seems the FedSuns were a little skirmish happy for a long while, when they weren't fighting the Caps or the Dracs or.. well, yeah they did a lot of bullying really. Crazies, depends, does having an arm of the military that's willing to launch themselves off asteroids and attach mines to enemy ships crazy? Does withstanding two, yes two, nuclear bombardments (because you didn't surrender after the first one) before handing over a planet count as crazy?
But yeah, it appears if you oppose the Davion golden boys it automatically makes you a bad guy.
Oh and the paranoid nutter was Grover Shraplen, not a Calderon.
When did the Taurians get written off? I know they had their capital obliterated in the Jihad and waged a pointless campaign against the FedSuns. But by that point my loyalties, well they hadn't shifted as such but Shraplen was a d**k and a Calderon was ruling a new realm so I moved to the Protectorate.
Just look to the name Liao.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liao_dynasty
Also interesting in its ties to Battletech faction building is how Chinese action movies depict the Liao in film, they're Warriors.
China has has a fascinating history, and its shared borders and their varying historical movement lend a certain kind of sense and believability to the cultural
demographic of the Capellan Confederation and to the linked Chinese,Mongolian,Korean, Russian influences you're noticing in some of the details.
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All of the factions have gone through good and bad periods. Even at their best, it is a feudal universe ruled by various hereditary monarchies (whether called that or functionally that as the title has stayed in the same families for centuries), so individual rights frequently pretty notional.Love all the balance and considered replies, my inner voice just kept shouting - ComStar
As an example, Katrina Steiner was generally regarded as a good ruler who was looking to bring peace to the Inner Sphere. She also had LIC brainwash orphans and turn them into suicide troops (used to sabotage Kuritan jump ships). She also married off her daughter right after she came of age to unify Steiner with Davion.
Battletech is at its best when the characters are neither fully good nor evil. That complexity makes them (and therefore the universe) much more believable.
As for the marriage of 17-year old Melissa Steiner and 40+ year old Hanse Davion, remember here we're talking about nobility, and many of the people on these forums who were here before BattleTech moved have played Crusader Kings 2 (in fact playing Crusader Kings 2 is a good way to get into the mindset of a Successor Lord, there's a non-zero chance you will do muuuuch worse than most of the Successor Lords). Marriage alliances are just sort of a thing that nobility do, regardless of age. To his credit Hanse Davion gave every effort to make it work and it grew out of a marriage of political opportunity into a marriage of genuine love.
In terms of mustache twirling villains, Stefan Amaris (who had a rocking fu-manchu) Mad Max, and Katherine "Katrina" Steiner-Davion take the cake (and the second worst of them by far is Katherine, she literally murdered her own mother and tried to frame her brother, and tried to murder her lover). In fact the Lyrans were, through unity with the FedSuns under the FedCom and Hanse and Victor, were setting aside their military issue of social generals before Katherine undid them all because conveniently all the people who actually supported her were the cronies who had been chafing under the fact that they couldn't be social generals anymore.
Myndo Waterly, future Primus of ComStar, is up there too, as she stabbed the Inner Sphere in the back until it was obvious the Clans were coming for ComStar, too (and then tried to stab everyone in the back at once which backfires horribly and hilariously). Jerome Blake probably also qualifies, OLD lore indicated that his successor murdered him and went maniacle with the religious aspects, but NEW lore has indicated it was entirely Blake's plan and his successor was crushed but dutifuly went along with it (opening of the 2SW sourcebook for people wondering).
If you're seeking the overarching villain up until Tukayiid ComStar is it, then the Clans (more specifically the Crusaders) take over, then Katherine Steiner-Davion, then the Word of Blake (ComStar 2: Electric Boogaloo, We're Gonna Throw A Tantrum Because [ MOD Edit: Please keep in mind this forum is closer to E for everyone rather then the PG-13 of the old forum in regards to language] YOU EAT NUKES AND DIE (also the setting is getting too advanced so a bit of a reset button!)). I don't know much about the lore of the Dark Ages or beyond, too. Of the Successor States it probably goes, in ascending order of Goodness, Liao < Kurita < Davion < Steiner < Marik at the time the game kicks off, though as stated it's more the people rather than the nation themselves.
In terms of mustache twirling villains, Stefan Amaris (who had a rocking fu-manchu) Mad Max, and Katherine "Katrina" Steiner-Davion take the cake (and the second worst of them by far is Katherine, she literally murdered her own mother and tried to frame her brother, and tried to murder her lover). In fact the Lyrans were, through unity with the FedSuns under the FedCom and Hanse and Victor, were setting aside their military issue of social generals before Katherine undid them all because conveniently all the people who actually supported her were the cronies who had been chafing under the fact that they couldn't be social generals anymore.
Myndo Waterly, future Primus of ComStar, is up there too, as she stabbed the Inner Sphere in the back until it was obvious the Clans were coming for ComStar, too (and then tried to stab everyone in the back at once which backfires horribly and hilariously). Jerome Blake probably also qualifies, OLD lore indicated that his successor murdered him and went maniacle with the religious aspects, but NEW lore has indicated it was entirely Blake's plan and his successor was crushed but dutifuly went along with it (opening of the 2SW sourcebook for people wondering).
If you're seeking the overarching villain up until Tukayiid ComStar is it, then the Clans (more specifically the Crusaders) take over, then Katherine Steiner-Davion, then the Word of Blake (ComStar 2: Electric Boogaloo, We're Gonna Throw A Tantrum Because [ MOD Edit: Please keep in mind this forum is closer to E for everyone rather then the PG-13 of the old forum in regards to language] YOU EAT NUKES AND DIE (also the setting is getting too advanced so a bit of a reset button!)). I don't know much about the lore of the Dark Ages or beyond, too. Of the Successor States it probably goes, in ascending order of Goodness, Liao < Kurita < Davion < Steiner < Marik at the time the game kicks off, though as stated it's more the people rather than the nation themselves.
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Yeah longtime CK2 players like myself tend to have their moral compasses... altered.
As most of the others have already said, the Inner Sphere is certainly a game of grey. However, I would just say you can usually tell something about people by what they wear. The most elite Capellan/Liao unit is the Death Commandos and this is their insignia:
I wise man once said:
I'm just saying....
I wise man once said:
Much as I love Mitchell & Webb, I feel I should point out the 17th Lancers, later 17th/21st Lancers:
We are on the Paradox forum so I think it's my duty to throw this at the skull debate.
Well, they did screw over Comstar pretty hard with that Star League core hijinks.