Lets All Play Battletech and rewrite Inner Sphere history

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Dolash: Oct 23, 2008; aNYWAY,
tHAT'S REALLY ALL THERE IS,
tO REPORT ON THE SUBJECT,
oF ME GETTING HURT,

I suppose I never actually read anything from the Jihan era, but Devlin Stone worked well in the Dark Age era as a sort of off-screen superman. I never questioned how he actually pulled together this massive Republic, it felt more like the role was bigger than the man himself. I guess watching it happen in real-time in a well-established setting would be weird, though.

Still, from what I've read so far the whole Dark Ages would be fine if it had a clearer direction. It's got a central storyline and mystery - how did all the HPGs go down? Who did it? Can the Republic be saved? - but exploration of it is painfully haphazard and slow. Some stories don't touch it at all, which is fine, but others try to cautiously prod it forward and some leap forward erratically without being in concert with anyone else. The end result is the whole "Fortress Republic" scenario feels like the second or third act of a five part play and yet it's about as far developed as the era's ever going to get.

The whole thing feels like it'd work better if there'd been one central line explorign this main mystery with a core cast of characters (or at least the same authour in control of how it was evolving) and everyone else just wrote stories that took place at the same time.

I hate to say it, but the Star Wars Prequels might have had it right by treating the main Clone Wars story as a central tentpole and letting everyone in the EU run wild with their side stories. So long as you have a good guy on your 'main' plot (Star Wars didn't) the overall story of the age will come out nice and clear.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 21:25

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# ? May 25, 2024 21:43

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Stackpole wrote a scene where Devlin Stone and Victor Davion met and conversed. And by conversed I mean "gave speeches at each other."

It was the worst dialogue I have ever read.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 22:16

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

PoptartsNinja posted:

There're also plenty of worlds in Battletech that were irradiated or poisoned by biochemical contaminants during the succession wars (Outreach) that even though they contain massive unexploited Star League facilities, nobody has the guts to try to reach them. Plus, there're enough "barren but minerally rich" planets with dome-cities to make up the rest (Morges).

Why wouldn't one of the larger powers risk checking it out even if it was just to search for a memory core?

# ? Sep 12, 2011 22:47

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

Trast posted:

Why wouldn't one of the larger powers risk checking it out even if it was just to search for a memory core?

Because it's a Capellan world (until the 4th succession war), and the Liaos don't ~~give a poo poo~~ realize they're sitting on a production facility capable of keeping them on relevent. In the canon timeline.

PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Sep 12, 2011

# ? Sep 12, 2011 22:57

Tempest_56: Mar 14, 2009

Ferrosol posted:

Someone already started one the depths of the thread I think they got as far as the clan invasion.

At a glance I actually already did one in the Trad Games thread! It's a little out of date and only covers the Invasion forwards, but...

Tempest_56 posted:

CLAN INVASION ERA (3050-3061):
Following the Clans being stopped at Tukayyid in 3052, things semi-quieted down. ComStar attempted to wrest control of the Inner Sphere via Operation Scorpion, which was put down quickly and internally. This causes a schism, with the more militant parts of ComStar breaking away to form the Word of Blake that disappears for a few years. A number of key leadership positions turn over, including Victor Steiner-Davion taking control of both of those houses, Sun-Tzu Liao taking control of the CC, and Theo Kurita takes over the DC. Mercenaries gain a lot of power as Wolf's Dragoons form a strong central merc 'union'. Also, half the Periphery powers (Taurians, Magistry) ally with the Capellans to create the Trinity Alliance.

In one of the stupidest moves ever, Victor S-D decides not to tell Thomas Marik that his son Joshua is dead and instead replaces Joshua with a double. This is discovered almost immediately, and in Operation Guerrero the FWL, CC, TC and MoC all invade FedCom. In response, the Lyrans break away under Katherine S-D and reform their own state, signing peace treaties to stop the invasion. The Davion half eventually stops the invasion, but not before losing control of the entire region around Terra, creating what will become known as the Chaos March.

Meanwhile, in Clan space, Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon pretty much destroy each other in the Refusal War. The Warden-leaning Wolves escape into IS space, becoming Clan Wolf-In-Exile. The Crusader Wolves are temporarily absorbed by the Falcons before reforming their clan again a year or so later. In the fighting, most of the major Wolf and Falcon players are killed, including both Natasha and Ulric Kerensky.

Several lesser but still important actions take place, including the Jade Falcon invasion of Coventry, the Word of Blake taking Terra away from ComStar, the Capellan invasion of St. Ives, the Falcon/Viper war and a lot of fighting in the Chaos March.

The second Star League is formed in 3058, with more or less the sole purpose of beating up the Clans. They build up forces for several years before launching a blitzkrieg invasion that takes back the entire Clan Smoke Jaguar occupied zone, wipes the Jaguars out completely and counter-invades the Clan homeworlds. Successfully. In response, Clan Nova Cat defects to the Inner Sphere, abandoning the Clans entirely. The new League stages the Great Refusal and tell the Clans to go screw themselves, leaving the Eridani Light Horse as a garrison of the conquered worlds.

CIVIL WAR ERA (3062-3066):
While Victor S-D is off leading the invasion against the Clans, Katherine S-D takes control of the Davion half of FedCom by quite literally talking her sister Yvonne out of rulership. Victor comes back a year and change later, kicking off the FedCom Civil War. This bloody war occupies everybody for several years, almost completely crushing both the Davion and Lyran states. By the end, each side has lost dozens of regiments, laid waste to their economies and destroyed their own leadership. Victor S-D refuses to take leadership and becomes a monk (again). Kat is exiled and turned over to Clan Wolf. Yvonne is restored to leadership of House Davion and is basically useless; Peter takes control of House Steiner and does little better.

Side highlights of this war include the Draconis March invading the Draconis Combine without permission, Clan Ghost Bear moves into the Inner Sphere wholesale and then goes to war with both Clan Hell's Horses and the Combine, St. Ives is absorbed by the Capellans, the Jade Falcons invade the Lyrans on the principle that now's as good at time as any and get their asses kicked by Wolf-In-Exile, Clan Wolf (not in exile) invades the Falcons on the principle that the Falcons are paying attention to the Lyrans, Clan Snow Raven semi-peacefully takes over the Outworlds Alliance, Skye rebels and fails again, the Word of Blake takes over the entire Chaos March while nobody's looking and the Davions accidentally invade the Taurians. Also a huge swath of major characters and units died, including the Grey Death Legion being wiped out.

Yes, it's that much of a clusterfuck. Basically, everybody was at war with everyone else, except the FWL which mostly sat back and watched while selling a ridiculous amount of weapons to the Word of Blake. If you liked someone, they probably died in this. Or immediately afterwards in..

JIHAD ERA (3067-81):
The third Star League conference comes up to decide leadership. In the wake of the FCCW, most of the major players decide they don't need the Star League anymore and pull out. This pisses off the Word of Blake, who were scheduled to become full members and who felt it was part of a prophesy that would lead to them ruling the galaxy. In a massive hissy-fit, they declare on everybody everywhere all at once.

This is accomplished through 1) hidden weapon caches that are somewhat flimsily substantiated, 2) huge trickery, 3) hiring every mercenary ever and 4) nuclear and biological weapons being used indiscriminately.

The Jihad starts off by the entire planet of Outreach being put to the torch. Several dozen mercenary units are annihilated, and Jaime Wolf finally dies at the hands of Wayne Waco. In an ill-advised move, the enraged Wolf's Dragoons invade Terra with most of their allies. By reports, they don't make it past the orbit of Mars before being wiped out - only a single Dragoon regiment survives to flee to Clan Wolf-In-Exile. Shortly thereafter, ComStar attempts to invade Terra and is wiped out in pretty much the same way.

At the same time, similar events happen across the Inner Sphere. New Avalon and Thrakad are both nuked/orbitally bombarded, the entire HPG network shuts down, an internal conspiracy rises up inside the Combine to start a civil war, FWL leader Thomas Marik turns out to be ANOTHER double placed there by the Blakists decades before, etc etc etc.

The next decade and a half is basically complete chaos. The FWL disintegrates into individual mini-states, House Davion loses almost complete control over the outer marches, the Ghost Bears take over the rest of Rasalhauge, billions die, etc. In the end, the Blakists are defeated by a coalition force formed around a plucky but enigmatic guy nobody ever heard of before who may or may not be Space Jesus, we have to wait for the next sourcebook.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 23:38

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

Republic of the Sphere is the Word of Blake Protectorate. Just check the maps. It's all a trick :colbert:

Rhobot Mk. II posted:

So it looks like Piranha is gearing up for a real go at the sequel in the near future. Rejoice.

My laptop died entirely on Friday, I have no job, no education and bugger all prospects in this economy.

You just turned it all around. I have hope now :unsmith:

# ? Sep 13, 2011 00:54

Der Waffle Mous: Nov 27, 2009; In the grim future, there is only commerce.

Arquinsiel posted:

Republic of the Sphere is the Word of Blake Protectorate. Just check the maps. It's all a trick

The Word was so full of conspiritorial factions within factions that this might actually be the case.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 01:52

MadDogMike: Apr 9, 2008; Cute but fanged

Pimpmust posted:

A bit weird to have hundreds of lush (as in: Perfectly breathable atmosphere) planets settled for hundreds of years without the population growing by more than a few hundred thousand/millions though.

Now if they were all barren rocks that takes tens of thousands of years to terraform with hard labour and there's only a handful of "like Earth" planets around... Which begs the question what could possibly motivate someone to even bother sending one of those rare jumpships + a couple of lances of super rare and expensive mechs to take a bowl of backwater sand or why anyone would have troops to defend those same places. Not every planet could be home to a HPG (and why place that on a planet anyways) or a lush deposit of unexploited unobtanium

Water was apparently a big issue on most planets as I recall; there was a long-running industry in the Star League era jumping ice supplies to various marginal worlds, and a lot of water purification plants required for others (the failure of both said industries in the Succession Wars left most of said planets screwed of course). Dunno how realistic a lack of water would be (depends on how much comet activity is standard in the universe I'd think), but there are canonically at least some frequent habitability issues with planets in the Battletech universe.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 02:58

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

During the age of colonization, people pretty much settled anywhere they could no matter how marginal; because it let them claim the planet as 'theirs,' because any resources that were easily exploitable would be theirs to exploit and any subsequent immigrants would wind up a peasant class. The Star League was perfectly ok with this.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 03:05

Tempest_56: Mar 14, 2009

PoptartsNinja posted:

During the age of colonization, people pretty much settled anywhere they could no matter how marginal; because it let them claim the planet as 'theirs,' because any resources that were easily exploitable would be theirs to exploit and any subsequent immigrants would wind up a peasant class. The Star League was perfectly ok with this.

And that's half the reason the IS still uses a feudal system today.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 03:08

Carbolic: Apr 19, 2007; This song is about how America chews the working man up and spits him in the dirt to die

PoptartsNinja posted:

During the age of colonization, people pretty much settled anywhere they could no matter how marginal; because it let them claim the planet as 'theirs,' because any resources that were easily exploitable would be theirs to exploit and any subsequent immigrants would wind up a peasant class. The Star League was perfectly ok with this.

I get this, to a point, but it's hard for a few thousand people to control an entire planet. If I want to land on the other side of your dustball, tens of thousands of miles away, and set up a settlement, is your hardscrabble mining town going to be able to do anything about it? Even on more fertile/inhabitable worlds, people are going to want to expand to cover the planet they're on before they fly off into the dangers of space. Evil Space Corporation may claim the entire planet but it's hard to control the frontier.

Also, because it's been bugging me: "Manei Domini" is not Latin. The writers have never been great with foreign languages, but you'd think they'd try to get it right for their badass super cyber-warriors.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 03:42

AJ_Impy: Jun 17, 2007; SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?; Yam Slacker

Carbolic posted:

Also, because it's been bugging me: "Manei Domini" is not Latin. The writers have never been great with foreign languages, but you'd think they'd try to get it right for their badass super cyber-warriors.

Given one and a half millenia between even mediaeval latin and the word of blake, perhaps not surprising.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 03:46

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Carbolic posted:

Also because it's been bugging me: "Manei Domini" is not Latin. The writers have never been great with foreign languages, but you'd think they'd try to get it right for their badass super cyber-warriors.

Some of the JHS books point this out actually

# ? Sep 13, 2011 04:22

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Carbolic posted:

I get this, to a point, but it's hard for a few thousand people to control an entire planet. If I want to land on the other side of your dustball, tens of thousands of miles away, and set up a settlement, is your hardscrabble mining town going to be able to do anything about it? Even on more fertile/inhabitable worlds, people are going to want to expand to cover the planet they're on before they fly off into the dangers of space. Evil Space Corporation may claim the entire planet but it's hard to control the frontier.

Also, because it's been bugging me: "Manei Domini" is not Latin. The writers have never been great with foreign languages, but you'd think they'd try to get it right for their badass super cyber-warriors.

Peasants decide to leave your Corp-Colony for a better life free of oppression? Send in your hired mercs or just drop rocks on them from orbit.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 05:42

MJ12: Apr 8, 2009

Carbolic posted:

Also, because it's been bugging me: "Manei Domini" is not Latin. The writers have never been great with foreign languages, but you'd think they'd try to get it right for their badass super cyber-warriors.

In several of the Jihad books they note that "Manei Domini" is actually a term from "High Dominus", which is a really butchered form of Latin with some random other loanwords thrown in. I don't know if it was actually rear end-covering or done on purpose to poke fun at fanatical enhanced supersoldiers OF THE ~~EMPEROR~~ BLESSED WORD OF BLAKE or what, but it isn't Latin in universe either.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 05:50

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

Are there any examples in Battletech (or in military scifi in general) that have the far more likely/realistic setup of multiple political entities per planet? Duke of This One Planet is a bad title. It has enormous responsibilities and resources attached, which makes it dangerous for both the liege lord and the aristocrat attached to the title. Duke of This Particular Place on This One Planet would be safer for the central government and easier for the aristocracy.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 07:29

Cosmitz: Sep 2, 2011

Keep in mind, aside from capital worlds, most planets had exactly one settlement/city with one starport and that was it. So naturally the leader of that settlement ended up being the leader of the planet.

If you want an example, in Starpilots of Adumar, a Star Wars book, it treated that exact subject. Adumar was going to get added to the Republic in order to get access to minerals that would have helped build torpedoes and the diplomacy corp that was sent had contact with the supposed 'leader' of the planet. After understanding the culture and the political system, they found out that actually the 'leader of the planet' was just the leader of the largest continent that aggressively took over a good chunk of the neighbors. In case the Republic took them in, they were going to literally wage a war of conquest on the other countries in order to actually make a 'planetary goverment'.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 09:39

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

That's kinda the opposite of what I'm talking about. It sounds like that one Star Trek TNG episode where Picard et. al. were horrified to discover a world they liked was not politically unified. Of course the various nations were in the throes of a horrible war. The Star Wars example sounds similar. In both cases the political disunity of a planet is seen as an unwelcome surprise. A planet-spanning war is either ongoing or inevitable.

I think with a developed world you would be unlikely to see political unity, especially in the context of Battletech. Star Wars gets a pass because it's completely mindless and Star Trek has never been shy about advocating a glorious new world order under the benevolent guidance of democratic socialism. But Battletech operates under feudal power structures! A Prince or Archon or what have you wouldn't want to give a developed planet to a single person. They just rebel so drat often. I'm not saying Battletech is particularly guilty of this, it's just particularly easy to see why it's a bad idea in their context. I still don't know if there are actual examples of high lords splitting up a single planet between multiple vassals.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 13:23

Cthulhu Dreams: Dec 11, 2010; If I pretend to be Cthulhu no one will know I'm a baseball robot.

It's the in universe counterpoint the clans, who routinely split up planets between multiple clans?

# ? Sep 13, 2011 13:35

Alchenar: Apr 9, 2008

Arglebargle III posted:

That's kinda the opposite of what I'm talking about. It sounds like that one Star Trek TNG episode where Picard et. al. were horrified to discover a world they liked was not politically unified. Of course the various nations were in the throes of a horrible war. The Star Wars example sounds similar. In both cases the political disunity of a planet is seen as an unwelcome surprise. A planet-spanning war is either ongoing or inevitable.

This is what we see in reality though.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 14:23

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

Hm.

I should probably stop waiting for orders from the Jenner, since his orders would be, at best, "lie there and try to wake up."

# ? Sep 13, 2011 15:12

elitebuster: Dec 26, 2010; I know its super dooper kooper
cool like up the bitches snitches

PoptartsNinja posted:

Hm.

I should probably stop waiting for orders from the Jenner, since his orders would be, at best, "lie there and try to wake up."

Looks like someone might be able to take a lesson from the Jenner, and go take a nap.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 15:26

Khisanth Magus: Mar 31, 2011; Vae Victus

Just started reading this thread, and like every other LP it has made me play certain games...although in this case games I already owned, so at least it didn't cost me money. Since I started reading the thread I've installed MW4:Mercs and Mech Commander 2.

I've never actually played Battletech though, although it looks pretty awesome.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 15:57

DatonKallandor: Aug 21, 2009; "I can no longer sit back and allow nationalist shitposting, nationalist indoctrination, nationalist subversion, and the German nationalist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious game balance."

Arglebargle III posted:

Star Wars gets a pass because it's completely mindless and Star Trek has never been shy about advocating a glorious new world order under the benevolent guidance of democratic socialism.

Keep in mind the Star Wars example is actually a pretty good one. The surprise wasn't "oh how quaint they don't have a unified government" it was "what the gently caress New Republic CIA, why didn't you tell us, your chosen diplomats, that the planet has multiple governments".

Star Wars also has a lot of planets that are fractured in terms of government. Tatooine is ruled by a host of crime families that can barely agree on anything past "we like slavery". Also contains examples of one-man rule, which only works because that one man is financially and militarily supported by the Republic even though his own population wants to kill him.

Puppet governments propped up by a corrupt empire against the wishes of the indigenous population sounds realistic to me.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 18:20

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

elitebuster posted:

Looks like someone might be able to take a lesson from the Jenner, and go take a nap.

That would probably be a good idea, since it turns out I'm actually waiting for the Jackrabbit (you're not unconscious. You just fell over).

# ? Sep 13, 2011 19:20

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Alchenar posted:

This is what we see in reality though.

To be fair to Star Trek, most of the Federation races whose backstories have been revealed are known to have united after devastating global conflicts - the Eugenics War and WW3 for the humans, the wars that lead to the Vulcan/Romulan split for the Vulcans, the Cardassian Occupation for the Bajorans (and if you've watched DS9, you know that while the Bajorans are united on paper, the reality is a tad bit more complex), etc.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 20:06

Der Waffle Mous: Nov 27, 2009; In the grim future, there is only commerce.

Arglebargle III posted:

Are there any examples in Battletech (or in military scifi in general) that have the far more likely/realistic setup of multiple political entities per planet? Duke of This One Planet is a bad title. It has enormous responsibilities and resources attached, which makes it dangerous for both the liege lord and the aristocrat attached to the title. Duke of This Particular Place on This One Planet would be safer for the central government and easier for the aristocracy.

It's already been said that most of these planets are backwaters with maybe one major settlement of note.

For the highly developed ones, I seem to remember seeing a huge chart of different minor noble titles and I would assume those are for a planetary ruler's subordinates.

Not to mention worlds important enough tend to have battlemech regiments sitting on them just in case.

That said the whole system is pretty much a homage to Dune, so making sense isn't necessarily one of the goals in mind.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 22:03

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

The depth of government does really depend on the development of the planet. A garden world like Furillo, for example? Has two continents, both heavily populated, as well as a major factory for Defiance.

The planet is ruled by Grand Duchess Claudia Steiner. The Defiance facility's director is a VP in the company but he's also Duke of the region where the plant is. Most planets he'd actually be MORE important because he controls the factory, but Claudia is a Steiner. Then the smaller continent is ruled by a Count who is subordinate to Claudia (but not necessarily the DefHes guy). Then there's also the elected representative to the Lyran legislature, who is not supposed to be beholden to any of them theoretically, but that's just an LC/FWL thing.

Conversely an important world can also be essentially one-noble, but that's when it's a world that is owned more or less by one company, like Hesperus II is.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 02:11

Der Waffle Mous: Nov 27, 2009; In the grim future, there is only commerce.

Speaking of Furillo.

We need some young Thomas Hogarth antics in this thing.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 02:46

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

I can't imagine the damage he'll do to the LCAF without Caesar around to try and stop him.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 02:55

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

Defiance Industries posted:

Conversely an important world can also be essentially one-noble, but that's when it's a world that is owned more or less by one company, like Hesperus II is.

And then you have Hachiman, in the Draconis Combine. Three (massive) competative companies (one of which is basically untouchable because it's run by a Kurita) PLUS an Earl (who's in the pockets of Tanadi Corporation (NOT the Kuritas)), a dozens of minor nobles and Samurai (every Kuritan mechwarrior is a noble), and on top of that you add in the Yakuza-gumi which, while they do have a single Planetary Oyabun, are even more fractuous than the rest of the planet.

It's no wonder Hachiman's two favorite passtimes are massive "all-work-stops-because-entire-cities-are-having-a" street parties, and riots.

The only way you can tell the difference? During the riots, you can hear the Draconis Combine security forces firing riot shotguns at the crowds.

Some populations react differently to pressure. Why make war when you can party?

# ? Sep 14, 2011 03:00

Octatonic: Sep 7, 2010

PoptartsNinja posted:

That would probably be a good idea, since it turns out I'm actually waiting for the Jackrabbit (you're not unconscious. You just fell over).

Okay, I'm done holding up the game.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 03:02

Der Waffle Mous: Nov 27, 2009; In the grim future, there is only commerce.

Instead of Tyra Miraborg crashing into a warship, in this universe the invasion gets halted because Hogarth tripped his Atlas and fell on the clan ilKhan.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 03:02

Taerkar: Dec 7, 2002; kind of into it, really

Der Waffle Mous posted:

It's already been said that most of these planets are backwaters with maybe one major settlement of note.

For the highly developed ones, I seem to remember seeing a huge chart of different minor noble titles and I would assume those are for a planetary ruler's subordinates.

Not to mention worlds important enough tend to have battlemech regiments sitting on them just in case.

That said the whole system is pretty much a homage to Dune, so making sense isn't necessarily one of the goals in mind.

To add to this, most of the units on a planet are not from that planet, save for certain 'trusted' units.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 04:52

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

Taerkar posted:

To add to this, most of the units on a planet are not from that planet, save for certain 'trusted' units.

Most planets are also lucky to have a company of 'Mechs defending them. Most make due with a couple of PDF tanks and some infantry depending on population. Every world's defended, though, since deep raids happen all the time.

Worlds with valuable businesses or production tend to be heavily defended. Worlds that are self-sufficient breadbaskets that produce nothing? Well, they're prime targets for space pirates.

Space piracy, incidentally, isn't really that big a problem. They can't abscond with much, but they can murder a bunch of people while doing it.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 04:55

elitebuster: Dec 26, 2010; I know its super dooper kooper
cool like up the bitches snitches

PoptartsNinja posted:

Most planets are also lucky to have a company of 'Mechs defending them. Most make due with a couple of PDF tanks and some infantry depending on population. Every world's defended, though, since deep raids happen all the time.

Worlds with valuable businesses or production tend to be heavily defended. Worlds that are self-sufficient breadbaskets that produce nothing? Well, they're prime targets for space pirates.

Space piracy, incidentally, isn't really that big a problem. They can't abscond with much, but they can murder a bunch of people while doing it.

So it's less piracy and more drive-bys on a massive scale? Cool.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 05:14

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

elitebuster posted:

So it's less piracy and more drive-bys on a massive scale? Cool.

Well, following the typical 'everyone in Battletech is a collossal imbicile' line of thinking, Pirates pretty much can't do anything without murdering dozens of people. Unless they're Katrina Steiner.

VVV Both.

PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Sep 14, 2011

# ? Sep 14, 2011 05:25

Soylent Pudding: Jun 22, 2007; We've got people!

PoptartsNinja posted:

Pirates pretty much can't do anything without murdering dozens of people.

Can't, or won't?

# ? Sep 14, 2011 05:44

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

Defiance Industries posted:

The depth of government does really depend on the development of the planet. A garden world like Furillo, for example? Has two continents, both heavily populated, as well as a major factory for Defiance.

The planet is ruled by Grand Duchess Claudia Steiner. The Defiance facility's director is a VP in the company but he's also Duke of the region where the plant is. Most planets he'd actually be MORE important because he controls the factory, but Claudia is a Steiner. Then the smaller continent is ruled by a Count who is subordinate to Claudia (but not necessarily the DefHes guy). Then there's also the elected representative to the Lyran legislature, who is not supposed to be beholden to any of them theoretically, but that's just an LC/FWL thing.

Conversely an important world can also be essentially one-noble, but that's when it's a world that is owned more or less by one company, like Hesperus II is.

See this is interesting! Does Claudia Steiner have her own demesne and forces on the planet, or is it all through her vassals?

# ? Sep 14, 2011 06:02

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# ? May 25, 2024 21:43

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

In the LC, all citizens have been required to perform one tour (four years) of military service since the Succession Wars broke out. 99% of them will just serve in some fashion with their local militia, which isn't part of the LCAF but rather answers to their local government (Claudia, in this case). Most planets just have infantry and some tanks, but Furillo is prosperous enough to likely have more, probably even some new hardware built on-planet. Likewise, Defiance's director has the private security force of Defiance Furillo, a mixed force of tanks and battle armor with some mechs, at his disposal separate from the Home Guard.

Additionally, many nobles have small mercenary forces under retainer, but sometimes they push that. When Claudia's grandfather (Caesar, natch) was Grand Duke of Furillo, he actually had a full mech regiment under retainer at the end of the FedCom Civil War.

Additionally, the LCAF-affiliated Province Militia units tend to form close ties with the rulers of planets they are on, and will often intervene on their behalf despite not really being supposed to. Furillo is one such world with a Provincial Militia unit.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 06:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Lets All Play Battletech and rewrite Inner Sphere history

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