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Why do you think they consolidated all the Wolves? They realized it was dumb.
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Oct 18, 2022 01:11
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I don't expect the Falcon split to last nearly as long.
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Oct 18, 2022 01:20
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My guess on The Last Annihilation is that it's Alaric targeting House Kurita. Reasons: A) He already said he wants to show them that only the Clans get to annihilate Clans, and that he wants to avenge Clan Nova Cat (mentioned a few times in a couple novels/sourcebooks) B) House Kurita consistently f*cked with the old Star League (The Hidden Wars, stealing planets from Kerensky during his Hegemony OP), Alaric doesn't want to deal with that. C) Targeting an external enemy to unify his followers (All the IS Clans) is right outta the Great Founder's strategy textbook. D) F*ck House Kurita. They haven't had anything bad happen to them in a while, and have gotten away with a couple genocides in the last years of fiction. Probably won't be an IS Clan because the current fiction is painting all the Clans as having internal troubles as the younger warriors are 100% pro-Alaric. It could be Hell's Horses because they were set up to be antagonists to Alaric at the end of HotW, but I want House Kurita to be reduced to a rump state.
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Oct 18, 2022 01:33
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Official Draconis Suns. Because Samurai Cowboys are way more interesting than Samurai or Cowboys.
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Oct 18, 2022 07:33
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I wouldn't hate that. Yori is a cool character.
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Oct 18, 2022 07:49
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PoptartsNinja posted:Official Draconis Suns. The Feddies pretend to be knights, not cowboys. A cowboy lived in a world too technologically sophisticated to be comprehensible to your average Feddie.
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Oct 18, 2022 08:47
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As a new player, I almost immediately got a distaste for everything involving Clan Wolf and their off-shoots because the stench of "author's favourite" sits like a heavy cloud over everything I've read so far. Is that an unfair reaction? Also it seems that every other clan has at least something interesting going on, while Clan Wolf's trait is... they always win? And when they lose they lose less than the other clans?
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Oct 18, 2022 09:16
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Chainclaw posted:wtf why would anyone ever think a clan mech is better than an inner sphere mech. This is finally proof that inner sphere design is better: I didn't think there would be enough space in the cockpit for a pilot to shuffle around like that. How big is a cockpit relative to a person? Mw5 makes it look like the pilot is surrounded by their controls
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Oct 18, 2022 13:16
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ilmucche posted:I didn't think there would be enough space in the cockpit for a pilot to shuffle around like that. How big is a cockpit relative to a person? Mw5 makes it look like the pilot is surrounded by their controls The
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Oct 18, 2022 14:47
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ilmucche posted:I didn't think there would be enough space in the cockpit for a pilot to shuffle around like that. How big is a cockpit relative to a person? Mw5 makes it look like the pilot is surrounded by their controls I'm getting the mental image of mech cockpits being equivalent to modern trucks, the drivers seat is going to be roughly the same with some mild differences, but some will have a whole living space behind the drivers seat, and others will have basically nothing (Clan mechs). I think you don't see most of it in MWO because it would all be behind the mechwarrior themselves, out of view.  
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Oct 18, 2022 15:02
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PoptartsNinja posted:Official Draconis Suns. I'd take it. Yori and Julian are old friends, getting hitched means the Combine gets to pretend they never lost New Avalon while still handing it back. Give both factions a chance to stop being super-over extended. But Catalyst seems super allergic to having nobles get married and have kids in any of their recent fiction of the last 10 years, so it probably won't happen.
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Oct 18, 2022 15:27
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PoptartsNinja posted:Official Draconis Suns. A Shin Yodama/Galen Cox buddy cop movie would be fun if Michael Stackpole wasn't allowed within 1,000 miles of the script.
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Oct 18, 2022 16:12
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lilljonas posted:As a new player, I almost immediately got a distaste for everything involving Clan Wolf and their off-shoots because the stench of "author's favourite" sits like a heavy cloud over everything I've read so far. Is that an unfair reaction? This is 100% the case and it's dreadful. If anyone should be annihilated, it's the Wolves.
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Oct 18, 2022 17:19
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lilljonas posted:As a new player, I almost immediately got a distaste for everything involving Clan Wolf and their off-shoots because the stench of "author's favourite" sits like a heavy cloud over everything I've read so far. Is that an unfair reaction? This is a very accurate assessment and it says something that you identified it so quickly.
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Oct 18, 2022 17:59
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There was a long period where the Wolves did not really win at anything. Between the Refusal War and the Dark Ages they pretty much just sat around, and even got hit pretty hard during the Jihad. But in the long run it didn't really matter and they bounced back to Foremost Narrative Clan by the end (now). I think the FedCom, on the other hand, has paid pretty hard for its past narrative successes and is probably due for a return to fortune.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:29
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The decade after the Refusal War is about how the Wolves are now not only the best Wardens, they're also the best Crusaders, and Vlad is so super smart he never loses any territory despite recently having taken mass casualties. Victor and Phelan hand him Katherine because they are scared of him. That's just the writers reaching over and giving the Wolves a big ol handjob.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:35
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Sure, but he didn't really do anything.
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Oct 18, 2022 22:43
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The difference between always winning and never losing, never losing sometimes also means not being challenged even when they should have been.
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Oct 18, 2022 23:18
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of all the "died randomly offscreen in a jihad book" deaths vlad is one I just could not bring myself to care about.
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Oct 18, 2022 23:28
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IIRC he got headshot by a Hellstar which is sort of a fitting death. Munchkined.
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Oct 18, 2022 23:46
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Thus ended the tale of the only BattleTech character whose scrotum has been specifically mentioned.Der Waffle Mous posted:of all the "died randomly offscreen in a jihad book" deaths vlad is one I just could not bring myself to care about. Vlad's death was what we needed. The Jihad was a good opportunity to clear out a bunch of characters who had been spotlight characters in novels and had a ton of face time, but they didn't really do that. Instead they killed off the crop of characters they'd been introducing in the 3060s and left alive all of Victor's idiot friends. Also, the summary death of Diana Pryde makes Falcon Rising even more pointless than it already was. Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Oct 19, 2022 |
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Oct 19, 2022 00:10
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I can't really think of any recent curveballs the BattleTech writers have thrown at us for a while. All the obvious, telegraphed events have happened, even when telegraphed years ago; Clan Wolf became IlClan, Clan Sea Fox is becoming the new Comstar, House Steiner continues to flounder, etc., etc. That's why stuff like the Draconis Suns or "The Final Annihilation being Clan Wolf", as cool as they'd be, just don't seem to be in the cards in my mind. The writers for whatever reason are playing extremely safe with the story to the point of boredom.
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Oct 19, 2022 00:25
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Draconis Suns is still too boring. Which is why it should be the Capellan Suns.
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Oct 19, 2022 00:43
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Airspace posted:Draconis Suns is still too boring. Bring back the Principality of Rasalhague, mix them in there, so it's the CaPri Suns
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Oct 19, 2022 00:50
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Crazy Joe Wilson posted:I can't really think of any recent curveballs the BattleTech writers have thrown at us for a while. All the obvious, telegraphed events have happened, even when telegraphed years ago; Clan Wolf became IlClan, Clan Sea Fox is becoming the new Comstar, House Steiner continues to flounder, etc., etc. I think they're trying to get off the comic book-style parade of back to back massive crises where NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!! because they've realized that first and foremost this is a setting for players to tell their own stories, not for them to tell you theirs and you can maybe hang around in the background and pretend you helped. So settling into a 3SW-style situation where the different powers are more or less evenly matched and in a constant state of low-level conflict seems likely for a while.
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Oct 19, 2022 01:25
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I respect that but I also like the 30 year old ongoing space soap opera and enjoy it when more stuff happens. When it's good, at least.
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Oct 19, 2022 01:35
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The 3rd SW was really boring and I think it's going to end up close to a series of regional dust-ups that don't individually shake the entire seat of known human civilization, and instead collectively gradually build to something sphere-altering. Instead of the whole "literally the whole drat thing is on fire" that has characterized the better part of three decades of fiction.
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Oct 19, 2022 02:26
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Strobe I read all your ilClan variant reviews and it gave me the weirdest urge to actually play this game.
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Oct 19, 2022 02:37
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There have never been more cool fun mechs than now, it's true.
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Oct 19, 2022 03:20
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Defiance Industries posted:I think they're trying to get off the comic book-style parade of back to back massive crises where NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!! because they've realized that first and foremost this is a setting for players to tell their own stories, not for them to tell you theirs and you can maybe hang around in the background and pretend you helped. So settling into a 3SW-style situation where the different powers are more or less evenly matched and in a constant state of low-level conflict seems likely for a while. I’m still crossing my fingers the “everybody gets shattered/otherwise divided into multiple smaller factions” that I feel the last few books have been setting up, is the way they’re going. At this point if they can wreck the Dracs and/or the Fed Suns (not sure if getting bodied by Kurita has done enough damage or we need the Marches to start splitting) while weakening the Wolves enough they can’t conquer the whole IS, we can get a bunch of smaller nations squabbling for far less dramatic stakes. More importantly, that brings us back to “one lance can matter for the fate of a world” feel, which is the one thing I do kinda like from the original era. Also would de facto make the Periphery states equal enough in strength to be major political factors. Guess my one fear is if you lose too many fans tearing apart the original five factions for a bunch of new ones though, even if I think that’s a worthy sacrifice to change things.
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Oct 19, 2022 03:23
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I think it is way more likely that we eventually build back to major states but the deconstruction/balkanization is a useful way to let those major states meaningfully grow and change over relatively short periods of time while keeping them from being monolithic and giving fans different reasons to want to see their factions succeed. Being a FWL fan at the moment is wild because it's a major state that has all of the following simultaneously: Federalists People who hate that Jessica Marik wasn't Marik by blood, for some reason Regulans who are here for court ordered community service The  ClanThe  ClanModern Visigoths sacking space Rome against orders And all of them are still invested in seeing the FWL succeed and thrive in ways it hadn't managed to do in almost 30 years of fiction prior.
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Oct 19, 2022 03:34
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Icon Of Sin posted:The Inner Sphere pilots have a ragged hole carved through the upholstery of their seats, inches away from the raging furnace of their reactor. Clan mechwarriors have piss jugs which they have to carefully launch out of an open window in their canopies in such a way as to clear the opening and not dishonour their mech or clan's insignia with a shower of gnarly warrior piss. It is a skill that takes an immense amount of time and practice to truly master. Fearless fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Oct 19, 2022 |
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Oct 19, 2022 08:17
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Yeah, as a FWL fan everything is terrible and on fire, but in good and interesting ways. I couldn't be much happier unless they want to release the specs on the clantech Juliano.
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Oct 19, 2022 08:40
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Fearless posted:Inner Sphere pilots have a ragged hole carved through the upholstery of their seats, inches away from the raging furnace of their reactor. Clan mechwarriors have piss jugs which they have to carefully launch out of an open window in their canopies in such a way as to clear the opening and not dishonour their mech or clan's insignia with a shower of gnarly warrior piss. They should come up with a far more sophisticated system where if you have a missile pack your poo poo & piss is converted into a stinky projectile.
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Oct 19, 2022 11:03
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Defiance Industries posted:I think they're trying to get off the comic book-style parade of back to back massive crises where NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!! because they've realized that first and foremost this is a setting for players to tell their own stories, not for them to tell you theirs and you can maybe hang around in the background and pretend you helped. So settling into a 3SW-style situation where the different powers are more or less evenly matched and in a constant state of low-level conflict seems likely for a while. I think you can easily do both, so long as you space out the major shake-ups, say every five years something big happens to change the balance of power. I have no problem with low-level conflict stakes though. MadDogMike posted:I’m still crossing my fingers the “everybody gets shattered/otherwise divided into multiple smaller factions” that I feel the last few books have been setting up, is the way they’re going. At this point if they can wreck the Dracs and/or the Fed Suns (not sure if getting bodied by Kurita has done enough damage or we need the Marches to start splitting) while weakening the Wolves enough they can’t conquer the whole IS, we can get a bunch of smaller nations squabbling for far less dramatic stakes. More importantly, that brings us back to “one lance can matter for the fate of a world” feel, which is the one thing I do kinda like from the original era. Also would de facto make the Periphery states equal enough in strength to be major political factors. Guess my one fear is if you lose too many fans tearing apart the original five factions for a bunch of new ones though, even if I think that’s a worthy sacrifice to change things. I don't see Feddies or Dracs falling apart ala Marik or Steiner for two reasons. One, they've got external enemies gunning for them, and two, their greatest strength is currently coming from their central governments, not their regional governments. Both the Draconis and Capellan Marches lost their heads recently and are basically on life-support from the Crucis March. Dracs aren't in as bad shape, but Yorinaga has proven to be a very strong Coordinator that already put down one rebellion. Steiner is falling apart because Trillian and before her Melissa were weak rulers who couldn't exert their authority. Similarly, the FWL has proven it can exert and push around individual member states, so you don't see secession being serious topics there either. I'm really hoping Rikkard Nova Cat managed to keep the Spirit Cats as part of the FWL, rather than turning on them and helping the Wolves conquer/war with them. Sadly it seems the fiction is pushing the Clan Protectorate away from the FWL.
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Oct 19, 2022 16:18
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raverrn posted:Yeah, as a FWL fan everything is terrible and on fire, but in good and interesting ways. I couldn't be much happier unless they want to release the specs on the clantech Juliano. Hasn't the FWL always been terrible and on fire? I mean, they're not always good guys and that thinly veiled Viet Nam war book was definitely not a good look but having a faction that's always terrible and on fire is fun. Anything could happen! Maybe they unite and start a war of conquest? Maybe they devolve into another civil war? Maybe they all get high and just chill for a while? Who knows, they sure as hell don't and that's what makes them fun for me.
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Oct 19, 2022 17:17
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For most of the setting they were terrible and on fire well off-screen. The FWL got face time in the FASA days when: The Dragoons were there in 3015 Operation Guerrero happened, all six paragraphs of it Some FWL regiments participated in operation Bulldog/Serpent Exporting bad upgrade kits in the 50s. Then the FWL got face time under Catalyst when: The Jihad happened and it was a Marik at the bottom of it, then the whole place tore itself apart. The FWL being taken seriously as a faction is a new development.
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Oct 19, 2022 17:27
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It wouldn’t hurt for the setting to have an equivalent of Armageddon in 40k- basically a planet where over a certain span of time you’ll see practically every faction putting their troops on the field at least once. The obvious choice is Terra, but if they don’t want to go that route it could be one of the adjacent systems.
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Oct 19, 2022 18:02
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GD_American posted:It wouldn’t hurt for the setting to have an equivalent of Armageddon in 40k- basically a planet where over a certain span of time you’ll see practically every faction putting their troops on the field at least once. I think it's a problem solved by the rules and the lore being parallel tracks. If you just wanna have two dudes fight you don't need an excuse. The game isn't going to ask you where they're from.
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Oct 19, 2022 18:36
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Strobe posted:For most of the setting they were terrible and on fire well off-screen. The FWL got face time in the FASA days when: The Jihad coming out of the FWL was one of my favorite developments in the fiction, and I wish external circumstances had allowed it to benefit from the full novels and computer games treatment, the way the Refusal War, Bulldog, and the FCCW did. Ten years of keeping the FWL on the backburner and then all the dominos fall over/get nerve gassed/nuke each other. Delightful.
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Oct 19, 2022 19:25
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