Author Topic: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)  (Read 4669 times)

Mendrugo

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Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« on: 30 March 2017, 12:53:10 »
I just finished reading through the second of Mike Stackpole's four novellas tied to the HBS BattleTech game.

As the plot advances, we get the first official mention of the Aurigan Coalition, and we have appearances of representatives from the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation. 

There was one jarring reference, however, to an infantryman having "power armor" experience.  This is par for the course in 3067...but in 3000?  The Nighthawk Power Armor (light) suit was only available to SLDF special forces during the civil war, and largely disappeared from the Inner Sphere following the Exodus.  The only known exception is the Bounty Hunter, who rocked a custom suit of Power Armor (Light) even inside his cockpit.  (Not counting the ComStar made P12 Tornado suits, which debuted in 2905).

So, 1) how does a merc in the periphery have Power Armor experience, and 2) how does Walter even know about such tech?  Are there still a few hundred Nighthawk suits floating around, creating legends wherever they go?  Have stories leaked out about mysterious raids on science labs using Tornadoes?

"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

YingJanshi

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #1 on: 30 March 2017, 14:18:26 »
Eh...maybe it's a reference to the exoskeletons from TRO: 3026 (some of those are used for certain infantry support weapons)...

...or more likely Stackpole slipped up...

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Wrangler

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #2 on: 30 March 2017, 16:03:08 »
That is true.  In the last novel of the Warrior Series, Justin Xiang Allard was practicing on Sian with Exoskeletons in military combat. Nothing like Power Armor level as we know it, just exoskeletons used in combat.
No stats have ever been given to them, but Stackpole did originate them.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
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Mendrugo

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #3 on: 30 March 2017, 16:06:13 »
As I understood it, those were the Light Exoskeletons from TRO:3026 with sensors to record hits and the ability to lock up to simulate injury.  The "Power" part, I get.  "Armor," not so much...
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #4 on: 30 March 2017, 17:42:50 »
Maybe it's a early use of exoskeletons like power armor like the Smoothdavid II Lyran developed later.  Can't you wear a infantry kit and exoskeleton?
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Nav_Alpha

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #5 on: 01 April 2017, 02:21:24 »
So... where can I get these books? I didn't pledge to the Kickstarter but would be willing to pay for new fiction


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Mendrugo

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #6 on: 01 April 2017, 07:32:50 »
https://battletech.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/75904

Pledge at the $60 level for the novella.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

abou

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #7 on: 21 April 2017, 07:17:59 »
So far I find this entry more entertaining than the last one. I feel it flows better and is more interesting, but I also find it a bit odd for the lack of actual 'mech combat. You run into this conundrum where Stackpole is writing something a bit different than he has before. I don't think he has ever written something about characters being thrust into positions that deprive them of this much power and have to find a way to get it back. But I do wonder if a book that is there to introduce people to the franchise should be so lacking of 'mech on 'mech action for so much of it.

Don't get me wrong, I have been with the franchise for... oh, geeze... 23 years now. I imagine a lot of us that funded the game have been longtime BattleTech fans. However, I also imagine that a lot of backers only know the game through the various PC games or just wanted something that looked cool. Sure, I know that BattleTech novels can do a lot of different things, which is good for the universe, but is the new guy there for a story about a communist revolution gone terribly, terribly wrong or 'mechs punching each other?

Oh, and Soapstone's character arc at the end was... that was pretty good.

Phalanx

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #8 on: 24 August 2017, 16:44:14 »
This second novella I liked more than the first. My only gripe with the novels overall has been that the story should have been ABOUT the Aurigan Coalition. Not really what prevented HBS from sharing further details without spoilers. I would have liked tie-in fiction that gave me a sense of the AC in terms of culture, politics, and their military. Again, no spoilers, just something that gives us more insight into the Campaign setting.


That being said, this novella was a good idea, but a missed opportunity to tell stories about the people and places we will be meeting in the game.

I do hope the final novella is more of a direct tie-on, otherwise it could have just added it to the Paperback version of the Kell Hounds anthology as an extra.


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Wrangler

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #9 on: 24 August 2017, 20:42:34 »
Maybe they were avoiding problems of people thinking the novels aren't canon....Aurigan Coalition isn't exactly originally part of Battletech fiction.  Unless we hear other wise, it's not can nation.  Thus the novellas would be considered non-canon, which they are at the moment due to them been funded by a non-CGL entity. 

"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Mendrugo

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Re: Apparent Catastrophe (No Spoilers)
« Reply #10 on: 24 August 2017, 20:58:46 »
Plenty of room in canon for the Aurigans.  The overview narrative in the first MechWarrior RPG says there are more than sixty bandit kingdoms in the Periphery.  Even counting the Deep Periphery states thus far fleshed out and mapped only gets us to around 40.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.