Backing completely on Patriot's Stand. Hated it. To be fair, it might be the only post-Scorpion Jar novel I actually did truly hate, but yeah. Like you said, mary-sue heroes who can do no wrong vs. mustache-twirling bad guys with no clear reason for being bad guys other than 'because that way the other guys are heroes...?'. (I almost threw the book out the window of the bus I was on when I first read the bit about the Atlas pilot with post-its all over the cockpit so he could drive it.
'M gonna make a stab at defending Patriot's Stand, FNAR :))
The novel hinted at various shady pasts for the motley crew of mercenaries: an outcast Spirit Cat, a lot of failed mercs, a Ghost Knight, and a Bannson's Raider - as a protagonist! - with equally differing motives for helping the patriots. And at the conclusion of the story the planetary "patriots" themselves end up technically being separatists against Republic rule... which I think is where the novel is positioned in the overall lineup, demonstrating the breakdown in Republic rule post-Blackout.
The bad guys are no more 1-dimensional than most bad guys in most Battletech novels. That hired mercs make up most of the troops on both sides of the conflict throws some interesting nuances on the BT merc business, and the twist is that the thoroughly-professional mercs are the bad guys (mostly) and the reject mercs are the good guys.
For all that the novel plays up the jury-rigging of the patriots' homemade army, the superiority of military equipment is constantly highlighted - in one battle it takes 10 or so AgroMech converts to bring down a single real Mech, and not before significant loss of life. In fact it is the captured Mechs that win the real victory at the end of the novel.
In a universe where Mechs have become fairly rare, how does this guy get NEAR a rare assault Mech if he needs a post-it to determine what controls do what?
That question sort of answers itself - the guy had no Mech training. And the novel specifically mentioned that he had killed the Mechwarrior after pretending to hire him... something that was suggested on this board not too long ago, I recall.
IMHO these points, amongst others, make Patriot's Stand relatively unique in the BT novel lineup. That it is seems to be so universally panned I put down frankly to writing skill...
(Side note: Ghost War had its flaws and warts, but remains to this day the only Stackpole novel I've actually liked. Not Battletech- anything by him. For whatever reason, I enjoyed that book though.)
A unique point about Ghost War: correct me if I'm wrong, but it is the only BT novel told entirely in 1st-person.
If anything it is Ghost War that has pretty 1-dimensional characters, but the story is entertaining and twisty enough that it can be forgiven. Again: writing skill...?