Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II  (Read 205669 times)

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #60 on: 18 January 2017, 15:57:24 »
Date: January 10, 3027

Location: New Avalon
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: Dr. Thompson checks in with Justin Allard as he performs tai chi chuan for physical therapy to adjust to his prosthetic.  He hates the arm, because the limited control he has over it means he will never be able to pilot a BattleMech again.  Dr. Thompson warns that the nerve damage his arm suffered limits his ability to manipulate the wrist and hand.

As Justin despairs that he's a useless cripple, Dr. Thompson suggests he become a "lab rat" for the latest prototype from the Biomechanicals division. He inserts a control chip into a hatch in Justin's hand and connects a jack into a test rod.  He tells Justin to think about opening the artificial hand, and after a few tries, he succeeds.

Dr. Thompson has coded the chip to simulate a Warhammer control joystick, and he walks Justin through a simulated firing sequence.  Justin is elated that he has the potential to someday pilot a 'Mech again.

His elation is short lived, as Count Vitios and a contingent of CID guards in riot gear burst into the physical therapy room and arrest Justin on charges of treason.

Notes:  In a vacuum, this scene works fine (regarding the prosthesis).  There's even some explanatory text for why Justin can't get full functionality from the Type IV arm.  The question arises, taking "Wolves on the Border" and "TRO: 3026" into account, why they didn't use a myomer arm with a steel bone at the core instead of a prototype Type IV?  Both Duke Aaron Sandoval and Colonel Kelly Yukinov got full leg Type V replacements, and Yukinov was back on duty less than a month later with no more than a slight limp.

So, it appears that the chip can interpret certain signals from Justin's brain as commands for specific finger movements that can be customized for whatever ride he's running.  By contrast, it appears standard Type IV prosthetics attempt to mimic the missing organic nerve pathways to let the natural commands execute in the metal armatures. 

Interestingly, in the decades since this scene was written, they've done some very interesting experiments with mental control of prosthetics.  In one case, monkeys were restrained in a chair and implanted with sensors that could sense electrical impulses in their brains and feed signals to a robot arm.  With practice, the monkey was able to train its brain to control the arm with sufficient dexterity to pick up a marshmallow and put it in its mouth.  (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/science/29brain.html)  Rather than trying to hardwire the hand to respond to certain signals coming through the upper arm, the NAIS should have put sensors in Justin's brain and let it learn how to send the necessary signals to the hand to get a full range of motion.  (If only marshmallows weren't LosTech :( )

This scene also serves to introduce Justin's passion for tai chi chuan (which translates literally to "Supreme Ultimate Boxing").  A 2011 study found a link between tai chi and improved balance, so it makes sense that Justin would make it part of his routine.

Notably, when Vitios comes to arrest Justin, he's accompanied by a squad of CID troopers.  CID (I believe) stands for the MIIO's Counter Intelligence Division (rather than DMI's Counter Insurgency Division).  Since this is step one in Hanse's plan to screw with Michael and Maximillian, it makes sense to have CID do the arrest - not only to make it look like Hanse and Quintus are taking Michael's charges seriously, for the optics, but also to make sure Justin is safe during the process.  If Vitios had taken a squad of Michael's bully-boys to arrest Justin, odds are that he'd be "shot while resisting arrest." 

One question this raises is whether the arm was already equipped with the laser at this point.  There seem to have been a lot of special features already incorporated into it without Justin's knowledge.  One would think that a holdout laser would have to be engineered into the design from the beginning, rather than being an after-market upgrade.
« Last Edit: 19 January 2017, 09:14:22 by Mendrugo »
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #61 on: 18 January 2017, 17:53:43 »
Date: January 11, 3027

Location: Tharkad
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: LCAF Sergeant Jeana Clay (kidnapped by Loki agents in October 3026) wakes up in a brightly lit cell with no sense of time having passed since her abduction.  A door opens in the wall, and she exits to find Katrina Steiner waiting in the antechamber.  Katrina apologizes for the melodramatic means of Jeana's "recruitment" and offers her condolences for the death of her mother.  She asks Jeana to undertake a dangerous mission that will require her to give up all aspects of her current life.   

Jeana pledges herself to the mission, stating that everything she has comes from House Steiner.  She confides in the Archon that she'd met her before, on Poulsbo, when Jeana was a young child and Katrina was fleeing Alessandro's assassins.  Katrina recalls the events on Poulsbo, when she, Morgan Kell, and Arthur Luvon narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by then-Achon Alessandro Steiner with help from Heimdall.  Jeana's father, codenamed "Grison" saved Katrina and died in a raid on the spaceport intended to get her off Poulsbo.

Katrina offers to withdraw the assignment, out of respect for her father's sacrifice, but Jeana demands to take the mission, citing her obligation to Arthur Luvon (Katrina's deceased husband) for having taken care of the Heimdall cell's families.

Convinced of Jeana's loyalty, Katrina reveals that the mission is to be a body double for Archon Designate Melissa Steiner, to have reconstructive surgery, and spend six months learning how to act exactly like Melissa.

An unspecified amount of time later, Jeana's neighbor lays a white rose on Jeana's gravestone, after the conclusion of the 24th Lyran Guards' burial ceremony.  He whispers that she made all of Heimdall proud.

Notes: The scene between Simon Johnson and Katrina Steiner regarding the body double program was dated October 10, 3026, and Simon said they could grab a candidate "today."  Yet Jeana seems to be just coming out of a drugged haze (still "feeling muzzy from whatever they hit me with") on January 11, 3027.  Was there a typo in the date of the abduction, or did Loki keep Jeana drugged for three months?   I can't imagine she's been awake all this time, since being held incommunicado in a Loki interrogation cell all that time might have led to a slightly less fawning meeting with the Archon.

As Roosterboy pointed out in the review for "Vanish," there are some discrepancies between Katrina's account of what happened on Poulsbo, and the narrative of what actually took place.  Her claim to have been "just friends" with Arthur and meeting him by chance on Poulsbo is contradicted by "Vanish," which explicitly says the meeting was arranged to let the young lovers get together.

Katrina's account suggests that she, Morgan, and Arthur were on the run for days before stumbling on Grison's Heimdall cell.  "Vanish" contends that Morgan made contact before the assassination attempt, and that they went straight to Grison's rendezvous point at the Pine Lodge, rather than meeting him in a dark bar "one evening."  "Vanish" ends at that point, before baby Jeana would have entered the picture.  I wonder if any of the promised Stackpole Kell Hound short stories will pick up where "Vanish" left off?

The two accounts are contradictory at several points.  I would guess, however, that Katrina is not trying to lie to Jeana, but is telling the story how she remembers it.  Studies have shown that memories are highly malleable, especially over time.

The scene begs the question - what would have happened to Jeana if she said no?  Firing squad?  Reassignment as inventory officer at Dogg Station (population: 1)?  Another bump on the noggin and returned home as if nothing had happened? 
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #62 on: 19 January 2017, 07:15:07 »
I personally desired since first reading Stackpole's story of describing the Red Corsair stuff that Stackpole himself would fully flesh this hint of a adventure that we've never read.  Alot of the stories elements seeded the Warrior series had always had strong potential in my mind of great full on Battletech stories waiting to happen.  I was disappointed in Vanished story.  I guess few people can visit a element in our storied game bring it to life way the original author did in the day.   Like like Pulp Science Fiction, its just not as published like that anymore. :/

Thank you for the wonder review, Mendrugo!
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Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #63 on: 19 January 2017, 10:16:27 »
Date: January 15, 3027

Location: Chara III (Pacifica)
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: Captain Daniel Allard (Valkyrie) leads his lance on patrol as a major storm approaches.  With the weather worsening, Dan and his lancemates (Eddie Baker - Jenner, Lt. Austin Brand - Commando, and Sgt. Margaret "Meg" Lang - Wasp) return to the Kell Hound base outside Starpad, where the Hounds' DropShips (the Leopard-class Manannan MacLir and the Overlord-class Lugh) are parked on the makeshift landing platform.

Back at the base, Dan finds himself having to counsel Meg over how to proceed with her blooming romance with Austin Brand, given her promise to her mother and grandmother not to get involved with a MechWarrior.  Dan wonders how he became the unit grandfather at age 28, then runs to reach the staff meeting.

In Lt. Colonel Patrick Kell's office, Dan is greeted by Major Salome Ward, Lt. Mike Fitzhugh, Lt. Austin Brand, Lt. Anne Finn, Sgt. Clarence "Cat" Wilson, and Patrick, who have already started a poker game.  As the game progresses, they discuss business - a desire for a better duty station, Meg Lang's progress in adapting to the change from a Locust to a Wasp, and the logistics of mustering out Master Sergeant Nicholas Jones on schedule (to qualify for his bonus pay) without stranding him on Pacifica for six months until the next JumpShip arrives (the previous one departs one day before his mustering out).

Before that can be resolved, a messenger enters and delivers a message to Patrick, who passes it to Dan with his condolences.  The note informs Dan that his step-brother Justin has been severely injured.  The other officers commiserate over the news.  Dan laments that Justin will never be able to pilot a 'Mech again.  Patrick offers to send Dan to New Avalon on Kell Hound business, but Dan demures, noting that the message took more than a month to reach Pacifica even on the ComStar "A" circuit.  The command staff offers support, noting that Dan was there for them during the Defection, when Morgan left for a monastery on Zaniah III and dismissed two thirds of the Kell Hound regiment. 

Dan reminisces about Justin's fighting spirit and his philosophy that everyone is equal in a 'Mech cockpit.  Patrick promises that Justin has a spot in the Kell Hounds, if he wants it.  Dan hopes that Justin will bounce back from this, but personally resolves to find and kill whoever caused Justin's injury.

Notes: The Nuada Argetlan (the former DCS Fukushu, stolen on Murchison) is not present at Starpad.  I wonder if it left during the breakup of the Hounds Morgan engineered.  I also wonder if the Lugh or the Manannan MacLir started out as the DCS Bright Blossom, which was also stolen by the Kell Hounds during a raid on Murchison.  Scratch a Kell Hound paint job, and you'll probably find a bullet-scarred Dragon emblem underneath. 

The craft are both painted red and black, the Kell Hound colors.  I can't help but imagine the Manannan MacLir bearing the A-Team van paint job. 



There are a lot of surprising details in this chapter, given what we now know about ComStar.  For message to go from New Avalon to Tharkad on the "A" circuit takes about three weeks, according to the ComStar courier in "The Sword and the Dagger," due to "the immutable laws of hyperspace physics."  The formulas given in the RPG material indicate that it should actually only take a week at most, and when enough money was thrown at the problem, live two way communication was possible during Katherine's reign.  Pacifica certainly seems like one heck of a backwater world, with only one JumpShip arriving every six months, and with A-circuit messages taking a month to go from New Avalon to Pacifica (which is about half the distance from New Avalon to Tharkad...so much for the immutable laws of hyperspace physics).  The JumpShip captain getting a contract to carry bulk messages for ComStar is also mystifying.  Since when is ComStar in the business of subcontracting services to carry physical media?  I know they have a courier service for worlds not on the HPG network, but that's mostly out in the Periphery, not in a Federation of Skye world just a few jumps from Terra.

I wonder if Infocom chose Pacifica for their Crescent Hawk's Inception game because it was featured in Warrior: En Garde, or if Stackpole used Starpad and Pacifica in the book because they were in the game.  Both were released in mid-1988.

The tone of the reactions to battlefield injuries strongly suggests that there was no coordination between Stackpole and Charrette on the issue, since the Dragoon reaction to similar injuries is "They'll be good as new in no time.  Colonel Wolf will spring for the good stuff," as opposed to "their career/life is over."
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #64 on: 19 January 2017, 15:59:53 »
Date: January 15, 3027

Location: Solaris VII
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis:  A red and black car drives through seedy, burned-out neighborhoods between Solaris City's Cathay and Silesia neighborhoods, and is given safe passage and fearful respect by the gangs who control that turf.  When the car arrives at its destination, Gray Noton emerges and enters Thor's Shieldhall.  The doorman lets him know that Mr. Shang is waiting in Midgard to meet him.

Noton disparages Midgard, the domain of the masses who tolerate tacky ambiance and overpriced drinks in the hopes of spotting a MechWarrior or noble on their way to Valhalla.  Pushing through the crowd, he finds Tsen Shang in the holotheater, where a Valkyrie's battle against a Wasp is being projected.

Shang signifies his culture and wealth by growing his fingernails long on the last three fingers and decorating them with gem chips and gold leaf.  Noton is aware that Tsen Shang serves the Maskirovka, operating a ring of spies on the Game World.  Shang orders more plum wine, and a PPC for Noton.  Noton refuses, preferring Timbiqui Dark.

Shang congratulates Noton on his victory on Kittery, noting that Justin Allard (who defeated Capellan forces on Spica) has been removed from the AFFS.  He pays Noton with a bet on a match between Philip Capet and the Teng brothers (Fuh and Sze - both Maskirovka agents), which has been fixed so Sze will die.

During the conversation, Shang blissfully devours a bowl of kincha fruit.  Noton notes this, and concludes that Shang's addiction to kincha marks him as one of Liao's "Lost Legion" that lost Shuen Wan (where kincha is grown) to House Marik.

Shang asks Noton to keep an eye out for information about Andrew Redburn, and Noton departs, leaving Shang to his kincha, and goes up the ramp to Valhalla, where a guard uses an identiscanner to verify his identity before allowing him access.  Inside, long wooden tables flank a holographic bonfire in the center of the room, while curtains close off private alcoves along the sides. 

Noton proceeds to his own alcove, marked by his sigil - a cartoon ghost centered in crosshairs, appropriate for his moniker of "Legend Killer."  Inside, he finds Baron Enrico Lestrade of Summer and Contessa Kym Sorenson of the Federated Suns.  Sorenson quickly excuses herself to allow Noton and Lestrade to discuss business.  Once she departs, Noton castigates Lestrade for bringing a woman to a private meeting, and speculates that his uncle, Aldo Lestrade, keeps Enrico on Solaris to avoid causing trouble on Summer.  He assures Noton that Sorenson is harmless.

Noton pulls up the Capet/Teng fight, and is pleased to see it has resulted in Sze Teng's death, but left Fuh alive to fight again (ensuring a large payoff for Noton).

Lestrade explains the rationale for the meeting, suggesting that a certain JumpShip might be profitably diverted off course.  Noton suspects Dukes Frederick Steiner and Aldo Lestrade are behind the request.  He says stealing a military JumpShip is impossible, but Lestrade clarifies that they want just some passengers from a civilian ship, to be identified with a two-to-three month lead time.  Noton negotiates an advance of 135,000 C-Bills up front and a final payment of 300,000 C-Bills upon completion. 

Noton suspects the target to be a courier from the Archon to Hanse Davion, to delay the FedCom alliance.  He escorts Lestrade out, and is hailed by Philip Capet, who wants praise for his victory over the Teng brothers.  Aware that the match was fixed, Noton insults him.  Capet accuses Noton of cowardice and challenges him to fight, but Noton refuses him, warning that he'll die if he ever has to face Legend-killer.

Notes: This chapter was the BattleTech audience's first look at Solaris VII, and Mike Stackpole did not disappoint.  So much is crammed in here to set the scene.  Burnt-out neighborhoods run by warring gangs, spymasters rigging death matches, MechWarriors as media stars with groupies, Timbiqui Dark beer, PPCs (the drink), interstellar intrigue being plotted in smoky alcoves.

The HBS BattleTech game plans to implement Thor's Shieldhall and Valhalla in some form as an adjunct to their Solaris duel mode.  High tier Kickstarter backers will get in automatically, and top ranked players can also ascend.  I hope the atmosphere portrayed in this chapter is faithfully recreated, rather than it just being an exclusive chat forum.

With no children of his own, Aldo Lestrade probably relies on his nephew Enrico as his putative heir (though at the moment, he appears to be just the 'heir-rand' boy  ^-^ .)  This continues the Stackpole trope of the bad guys being either bumbling fools (Enrico) or hardened warriors with a distinct sense of honor (Yorinaga and Noton).  Enrico (we later discover) has brought an undercover MIIO agent (Sorenson) he met last night at a party into the conspiracy meeting with Noton.  He didn't even want her to leave.  I'm not sure why Stackpole wanted our first glimpse of the Lestrade consipracy to be via his idiot nephew, except perhaps to convey the flavor of general incompetence associated with Lyrans who get jobs based purely on blood ties and social connections.

The bit about Tsen Shang being addicted to kincha fruit and having been a member of Liao's "Lost Legion" always intrigued me.  The chronology of Shang being part of the unit that lost the world to the FWL puts the conquest within the 2990 - 3020 period.  No brigade on the CCAF TO&E uses "legion" as a moniker except for the Shin Legions, which were first profiled in Field Manual: Draconis Combine. 

Now, it seems apparent that the intent was for them to have been cobbled together from units shattered in the Fourth Succession War, which then fled Romano's regime for the Combine.  However, other authors already accounted for all surviving units from the Fourth War.  The surviving Tikonov Reserves and Chesterton Reserves became the Republican Guards under Ridzik's short-lived Tikonov Free Republic, and then became FedCom regiments.  The St. Ives Armored Cavalry became the St. Ives Compact's armed forces.  The Sarn Reserves were wiped out in place with no survivors because their transports had been stripped away for various operations, and there was never a prisoner exchange agreement.  The Sian Reserves were never engaged.   

That has led to my speculation that the Shin Legions were not post-war creations, but were poorly regarded garrison formations that had been around for a while, but didn't rate a listing on the TO&E of the CCAF - only being regarded as frontline forces because of the scarcity of military assets post 3030.  In that scenario, there would have been at least four regiments of the Shin Legions, and one screwed up badly on Shuen Wan and lost the world in an embarrassing manner, leading to its derogatory nickname as the "Lost Legion."

Granted, the more likely scenario is that the Shin Legions were activated with 'Mechs scrounged from militias, black markets, and boneyards, plus a few production runs from the Confederation's remaining factories, but it seems puzzling why Romano would have approved arming a formation that publicly questioned her rule and was rated Questionable.  It seems more likely that the desperate CCAF upjumped an unreliable garrison force with a checkered past in hopes of surviving long enough to rebuild a core cadre of fanatically loyal troops.     
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #65 on: 19 January 2017, 18:16:43 »
This book had so much stuff in it, so much detail adding to the richness of the Battletech universe.  It really was one the great novels of the franchise.  I wish many of the touch points, details that Stackpole had snuck in there could be explored by him or other authors with same style that was presented in the book.  It's what essentially got me into Battletech fiction. 

The Legion reference I hope will be shown.  The Legion was from the Capellans side of the Inner Sphere, but it ran off after the Fourth Succession War, so there hope perhaps the original from the book can be relinked with Shuen Wan.   

In the Dark Age, the planet was reconquerored by the Confederation, thou i forget where it's ever mentioned in fiction. The world was independent world after the League was broke up, but by the 3130 it was in the clutches of the Confederation again.
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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #66 on: 26 January 2017, 11:38:56 »
Date: January 20, 3027

Location: New Avalon
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: Count Anton Vitios leads the prosecution at Justin Allard's military tribunal.  He calls Justin's XO, Andrew Redburn, as a witness, and uses the questioning to insinuate that a divide had opened between Justin and the cadets of the Kittery Training Battalion over Justin's dismissal of Philip Capet, prompting Justin to collaborate with Capellan agents to ambush and kill the cadets.  Vitios notes that Justin regularly met with Shang Dao, the leader of the pro-Capellan Yizhi tong in the city of Shaoshan, and points out that contact with Capellan organizations is expressly forbidden by the CID.

He characterizes as suspicious Justin's decision to leave Andrew and the cadets behind in the valley to check out some readings over the ridge, and implies he was trying to get the cadets killed when he warned them not to try to escape over the ridge. 

Before Justin's lawyer can cross-examine Redburn, Major General Sheridan Courtney calls for a recess, so that Redburn can attend an award ceremony that evening. 

Notes: References are made to Major General Courtney having suffered embarrassment during the Spica campaign when his strategy failed and Justin's forces had to rescue him from the Capellans.  I can't recall whether it's stated later in the book or not, but it seems 50/50 whether Courtney is either in on the MIIO scheme to use Justin as bait for the Maskirovka, or whether the MIIO selected him to be the presiding official at the military tribunal because of his personal bad blood with Justin.

There are nice continuity nods to the recently published House Davion sourcebook, with Andrew Redburn being sworn in using the Unfinished Book.  This book greatly benefits from the massive amount of universe-building FASA did between 1986 and 1988, whereas all Ardath Mayhar had to go on was a slender folder of background material for "The Sword and the Dagger."

The Zhanzheng de guang wasn't formed until after the Fourth Succession War, but I wonder to what extent the various tong organizations on former Capellan worlds served more or less the same purpose throughout the Second and Third Succession Wars.  It seems to be an untapped resource circa 3027, as it's later revealed that Justin was in contact with the Yizhi tong as part of his efforts to improve relations with the native population, and the tong reciprocates by warning the garrison about a Maskirovka hit squad. 

I'm surprised, though, that Justin wouldn't have cleared his outreach efforts with his superiors or through the office of the Military Governor, if such contacts are expressly forbidden.  I wonder to what extent the situation on Kittery is representative of the conditions on other Capellan worlds annexed by the Federated Suns or the Free Worlds League during the Succession Wars.  Are the ex-Capellans keeping dao & triangle banners rolled up under their beds awaiting liberation, or do they go about their daily lives under the new regime without looking backwards?

Kittery appears to be a stand-in for Vietnam in the Warrior trilogy - with jungles, ethnic Asian insurgents, and young foreign troops getting addicted to heroin obtained through local crime cartels.  It's not quite so blatant as "Ideal War," though, which gives a direct shout out to the Vietnam-era practice of measuring success through haphazard body counts.
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #67 on: 27 January 2017, 15:55:08 »
Date: January 22, 3027

Location:  New Avalon
 
Title:  Warrior: En Garde
 
Author:  Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type:  Novel
 
Synopsis: Justin Allard’s defense counsel, Lt. David Lofton, refuses Justin’s request to testify at the military tribunal, fearing that Count Anton Vitios would misrepresent everything he says, and that the presiding officer, Major General Courtney, would believe it due to his grudge against Justin over having himself and his command saved by Justin’s flanking action on Spica against the Blackwind Lancers.

When the tribunal resumes, Courtney grants Vitios permission (over Lofton’s objections) to present the expert testimony of Michael Hasek-Davion’s investigators on Kittery via holotape.  Their testimony asserts that forensic examination of the ambush site indicates the ‘Mech that destroyed Justin’s Valkyrie was not a Rifleman, but an UrbanMech, based on laser damage to Justin’s armor and spent projectiles from an autocannon.

Next to take the stand is Justin’s father, and head of MIIO, Quintus Allard.  Under oath, he testifies that he interrogated a captured CCAF MechWarrior named Lo Ching-wei, who claimed to be a member of the Yizhi tong of Shaoshan.  Quintus admits that Lo Ching-wei told interrogators that an UrbanMech led the ambush, and that Justin Allard was a Capellan agent in the AFFS Shaoshan garrison, code-named “Ivory” (‘Xiangya,’ in Capellan).  Quintus further confesses that an MIIO investigation found that Justin’s security code phrase for his ‘Mech was the Capellan phrase “Zhe jian fang tai xiao,” which translates as “The room is too small,” and is tong code for “someone is listening.”

When Lofton asks Quintus, in cross-examination, whether he thinks Justin is a traitor, Quintus responds that he doesn’t know.

Notes: It looks bad for Justin…unless you know that this is all play acting on Quintus’ part to make Justin attractive bait for the Maskirovka.  I wonder if MIIO faked just the transcript from the interrogation of Lo Ching-wei, or faked the man’s entire existence to troll Vitios with the “incriminating evidence.” 

Throughout the Warrior Trilogy, whenever a reference is made to Chinese being spoken, the characters refer to it as ‘Capellan.’  Later sourcebooks clarified that Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the Confederation, though Russian, Cantonese, English, and Hindi are all widespread enough to be classified as “dominant.”  I noticed the contrast, because Vitios asks Quintus to translate the “Capellan” phrase into English, rather than into “Davion”.  Likewise, when the Lyrans speak German or Italian, they call it German or Italian, not “Lyran.”

Most sources suggest that the Confederation didn’t passionately embrace Chinese cultural elements until the reign of Sun Tzu (when you get the Xin Sheng movement, along with Chinese language ranks, ‘Mech names, and cosmetic surgery to add epicanthic folds).  Yet the interchangeable association of “Capellan” with “Chinese” suggests that there was an equivalent of Urizen II Kurita in the Confederation, who introduced and popularized Chinese language and culture into the otherwise ethnically diverse Capellan zone.  One also wonders exactly when House Liao embraced its heritage.  Romano, Maximillian, Victor, Elias, etc. aren’t the most traditional of Mandarin names.  The founder, Elias, had parents from the UK (probably of Chinese origin), and his wife was Nepalese.  Victor, first ruler of the Duchy of Liao, bore a katana and wore a kilt.

It’s unclear why Hasek-Davion’s “experts” are trying to claim the ‘Mech that killed Justin’s Valkyrie  was an UrbanMech instead of a Rifleman.  At the very least, they seek to discredit Justin’s testimony (though what he’d have to gain from lying about it is unclear), discredit his combat abilities (a Valkyrie should have made short work of an Urbie – outmaneuvering it and hitting it from beyond its effective range with missile barrages).  One purpose could be to add credibility to the testimony of Lo Ching-wei, though that suggests that Hasek-Davion had access to the interrogation files in time to influence the outcome of the investigation.  The results are fairly farcical, once you consider that they had shell casings that could have been analyzed to determine their caliber.  Since a Rifleman packs AC/5s and UrbanMechs either pack an AC/10 or an AC/20, it should have been easy to rule out an UrbanMech. 

The mis-identification recalls the story in Total Warfare (“Back End of Nowhere” by David McCulloch) where clueless Periphery villagers mistake an UrbanMech for an Imp, but decide to attack anyways with weaponized AgroMechs, and get slaughtered for their trouble.  If Justin had launched his Valkyrie over the ridge to find an AC/20 packing UrbanMech, he could have been legitimately taken down in one shot if he landed within range, especially given the modification that Justin later makes to Yen Lo Wang on Solaris VII.

There’s an amusing “future of the eighties” moment in the courtroom, when Lofton gets so angry he contemplates throwing a stack of legal disks.  Since most popular home computers in 1987 (when En Garde was written) lacked integral hard drives, removable media was the order of the day.  It appears to have become LosTech by 3027, or Lofton would be packing a noteputer with all his legal files stored internally.  (“Oh, yeah, hard drives…  They had those in the Star League, but you can’t get ‘em today.  Maybe I could bash one together for you, but it’d weigh three tons and fill half your ‘Mech’s right torso.  Plus, we’d need to raid Atreus for the parts.”)
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #68 on: 27 January 2017, 17:01:58 »
Date: January 30, 3027

Location: New Avalon
 
Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: After another week of damning testimony, Justin demands that Lofton put him on the stand, so he can point out how the trial has been a travesty.  Following Quintus’ statements, Justin tells Lofton he believes he made a mistake leaving his mother’s people to live with his father.

Count Vitios baits Justin with a racial slur (calling him “yellow”).  Justin responds by framing Vitios’ hatred of Capellans in the light of his family having died during a Liao raid on his homeworld of Verlo.   Vitios responds with a spittle-emitting rant about how sure he is that Justin is a traitor.

The rant is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Prince Hanse Davion, along with Ardan Sortek, Quintus Allard, and a cadre of CID guards.  Hanse calls out Vitios as a bigot, and banishes him from New Avalon.  Addressing the Tribunal participants and the spectators, he declares the trial to be a mockery of justice, and all the incriminating evidence purely circumstantial.  Hanse suggests that Justin’s poor judgement in leaving his cadets should only result in him being stripped of command.

Justin protests, and begins a diatribe against the anti-Capellan prejudice inherent in the people of the Federated Suns, despite his loyalty and service.  He colorfully describes the nobles of New Avalon as “ungrateful slugs” and Ardan Sortek as a “captive MechWarrior.”  Hanse tells Major General Courtney he will override any sentence handed down, instead stripping him of his rank and exiling him from the Federated Suns for life. 

Later that day, Andrew Redburn and Ardan Sortek watch Justin (now going by Justin Xiang) depart aboard the Sigmund Rosenblum.  Sortek tells Redburn that Justin has a lot of pain to deal with, but will be with his own kind on Solaris VII.  Sortek also informs Redburn that the two of them will be traveling together on an inspection tour to the Lyran Commonwealth before Redburn returns to take command of the Kittery Training Battalion.

Notes: Stackpole’s choice of the DropShip name is intentionally significant, since Sigmund Rosenblum is a pseudonym for Sidney Reilly, a British secret agent that was used as the inspiration for James Bond.  He was described as the first 20th Century “super-spy.”  Naming ships carrying spies after famous spies is something of a tradition in the BattleTech universe.  One of the most famous Bug Eye spy ships was named the SLS Mata Hari.

The exchange between Hanse and Justin was, of course, carefully scripted.  Impressive, since Hanse and Quintus only came up with the plan on January 8th, and Justin was “arrested” on January 10th, giving Justin just one day to commit to his part in the proceedings. 

You can see that the anti-Asian racism and prejudice that resulted from massive territorial losses and a very real existential threat in the First Succession War, which peaked during those dark days and resulted in lynchings, pogroms, and attacks on all things perceived as Asian (including noodles) hasn’t quite worked itself out of the Federated Suns’ system, despite a two century track record of constant territorial advances against the Capellans.  Being an occupying power, subject to regular insurgent attacks backed by intermittent raids from the Confederation, seems to have made the Feddies paranoid and intolerant, based on Vitios’ example.  My guess is, based on how Justin was treated by Vitios and by members of his own training battalion, there was a certain core of true feeling that Justin was expressing in his outrage, and it wasn’t all just posturing for Vitios’ benefit.

The fact that there were observers in the Tribunal was somewhat surprising.  I know they wanted the trial to be publicized so the Capellans would try to recruit Justin, but they were discussing results of interrogations – stuff that should be classified.  I’m surprised that such information was disclosed in open court.  Perhaps all the observers had high level clearances.
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #69 on: 28 January 2017, 06:50:17 »
Date: February 20, 3027
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: Justin Xiang surprises Fuh Teng as he and his technician, Tung Yuan, work on their Vindicator’s PPC assembly, and says he wants to fight for Teng.  Teng rejects him, explaining that he has no money to hire pilots, having spent all his resources to repair the Vindicator after the death of his brother.  When Yuan speaks in Capellan, Justin responds by taking an R-4721 PPC Inhibitor and handing it to Yuan, as requested.  He notes that the device will cripple the PPC, and concludes that Teng has been ordered to lose the fight.  Teng confirms that the local tongs have made this request to protect their profits, and expresses hope that he will be allowed a chance to win when it suits the purposes of those running the Game World.

Justin thanks him for his time, then knocks him out with a blow from his prosthetic fist.  Justin then tells Yuan to remove the inhibitor and prep the Vindicator for a new pilot, and to find a bookie to take a long odds bet for the upcoming fight at Steiner Stadium.

That evening, Enrico Lestrade and Gray Noton sit together in a private box at Steiner Stadium, where the fight between Fuh Teng and Billy Wolfson is on the ticket.  Both Noton and Lestrade are aware that the fight has been fixed to give Wolfson – one of Philip Capet’s “Capellan Mafia” stable (officially the stable of Lord Brighton) – an easy victory, and to give Noton a massive payout through gambling winnings.  Lestrade tells Noton he’ll be able to meet Wolfson later, as he’s invited the match’s winner to join them afterwards.  He also notes that Contessa Kym Sorenson is with them in the box as well.

Pleased with the arrangements, Noton orders a Steiner PPC at the bar (four shots of grain alcohol, cut with two shots of peppermint schnapps).  Sorenson joins him at the bar and orders a PPC as well.  Gray explains that there are variations aligned with each House.  While Steiner is with schnapps, Liao uses plum wine, Kurita – sake, Davion – bourbon or tequila, and Marik – ouzo.  Sorenson has hers Marik style.

They turn their attention to the match in the arena, which resembles an ancient Roman coliseum, where three Medium ‘Mechs battle six Light ‘Mechs.  Noton explains how the arena works – pointing out the detonator grid (a fine wire mesh) that prevents missiles from hitting the stands and siphons off PPC energy, and the windows made of high-impact plastic – the same used in ‘Mech canopies, which stops shells and reflects lasers. 

The warm-up act finishes, and everyone prepares to watch the main event – Billy Wolfson in a Hermes II against Fuh Teng in a Vindicator.  Wolfson enters to great applause, clearly the crowd favorite.  Xiang, in the Vindicator, ignores the cheering and verifies that his prosthetic hand has successfully been wired into the control panel, having learned to pilot a Vindicator in simulator runs at the Sakhara academy.  He notes the Hermes II’s autocannon, recalling the efficacy of the Rifleman’s on Kittery, and also its liquid-fueled flamethrower. 

The match commences, and Xiang and Wolfson maneuver and hammer at each other.  Xiang concentrates on Wolfson’s flamer, breaching the fuel tank.  He opens a channel and warns the Davion warrior to surrender, but Wolfson refuses, citing his 100,000 credit bond against surrender.  When Wolfson charges, Xiang dodges and tears its autocannon ammunition feed out with the Vindicator’s left hand, with the accompanying gyro damage sending the Hermes II flopping to the ground.  Xiang ignites the leaking flamer fuel with his Small Laser, forcing Wolfson to eject. 

In Lestrade’s box, Noton is horrified, having lost his entire payment from the Kittery job betting on the supposedly fixed match.  He further expects to have to spend 15,000 credits to have Teng killed and to arrange a cover-up.  Some of the nobles in the box, who also lost, complain that they were cheated once it becomes clear that Fuh Teng is not in the Vindicator, but Noton angrily corrects them, noting that the betting slips only name the ‘Mechs involved. 

When Justin arrives in Lestrade’s box, many of the nobles angrily demand he leave, but Lestrade plays the role of the gracious host.  Doris MacDougal of Firgrove accuses Xiang of cheating, noting his earlier treason against the Federated Suns.  Sorenson comes to Xiang’s defense, and Lestrade invites any nobles who remain disgruntled to leave.

Xiang angrily tells Sorenson he doesn’t need her protection, and she counters that she was just using him to needle the other nobles, whom she regards as boors.  She tells him she has been exiled by her noble father because she has made no secret of feeling that the Capellan Marchers are parasites on the Federated Suns.  They become friends (and perhaps more) on that basis. 

Sorenson introduces Xiang to Gray Noton, who congratulates Xiang on his win and comments that his unorthodox tactics should take Solaris VII by surprise. 

That night, after the reception, Sorenson enters her Hurricane aircar, and uses the car phone to call into a computer server and deliver a message, “Contact.”  After she hangs up, the door opens and Xiang joins her in the car – leaving his room at the Morpheus Hotel to join Sorenson at her apartment.

Notes: Justin must have caught a command circuit to get from New Avalon to Solaris VII in only 20 days, since the in-system travel alone would have taken two weeks.  I suppose Hanse could have justified it by saying he wanted Justin out of his realm as quickly as possible. 

The liquid-fueled Flamer on the Hermes II is (like the Firestarter’s), clearly intended by the artist to work as a Vehicular Flamer – running off a limited supply of ammunition, rather than what became the standard BattleMech Flamer, which has unlimited shots by channeling heat from the fusion engine. 

The naming of the two MechWarriors as being from Teng Stables and Brighton Stables confirms that there are far more stables active on Solaris VII than the major and minor ones named in the sourcebooks.  Even a group with only one ‘Mech can describe itself as a stable.

Justin notes that Vindicators once turned House Davion back on Tikonov, so it is fitting that he use one to embarrass the Federated Suns on Solaris VII.  This is a nice shout-out to the TRO:3025 entry for the Vindicator.  In my BattleCorps scenario “Conquer the Kremlin!,” I wanted to equip the Capellan forces with Vindicators, but had to scrap that because there have never been official record sheets (a scenario requirement) for the original configuration, which was all that was available during the AFFS’ siege of the High Kremlin.

There’s another hilarious (in hindsight) “future of the eighties” moment, when Sorenson hears the dial-up modem screech as she calls in to her MIIO contact from the car phone.  Heck…car phones. 

Everyone on Solaris is playing a role.  Kym Sorenson is a MIIO agent assigned to infiltrate Lestrade’s inner circle and, now, assigned to keep tabs on Justin.  It’s possible that her mission was to monitor Justin in the first place, but since she first made contact with Lestrade on January 14, and Hanse and Quintus only started formulating the plan on January 8, she would have had to already be in place on Solaris VII.

Chandra Ling’s Maskirovka seems to have developed a habit of severely undervaluing its agents and assets.  The Mask cell on Solaris VII is headed by a disgraced exile who spends his days drowning his sorrows in kincha and hiring mercenaries for ineffective pinprick strikes against the Capellan March, and who is more than happy to sacrifice the lives of loyal Maskirovka MechWarriors to cut costs on his operating budget.  This may be a reflection of Ling’s leadership, since she’s involved in the 3026 plot to kill Tormana Liao and replace him with a surgical double.  This is in keeping with the philosophy of willing sacrifice for the Capellan state, but in the 3050s, Sun Tzu accurately points out that terminating Maskirovka operatives to punish them for failure doesn’t motivate the rest – it just deprives the state of its already limited assets. 

The existence of such a device as the R-4721 PPC Inhibitor is interesting.  The only legitimate use of such a unit would be for live fire training exercises – the PPC equivalent of putting paintballs in the autocannons and dialing the laser power down. 

Speaking of PPCs, this scene introduces the House variants on PPCs.  Noton has to explain them to Sorenson.  Of course, the real purpose is to convey worldbuilding info to the reader, but it seems like Sorenson is effectively milking her cover identity as a clueless young noble to get Noton and others to explain everything to her, hoping they’ll let slip some actionable intelligence.  (Not a bad bet, where Enrico Lestrade is concerned.)

Interestingly, the Capellan March seems to be far more culturally differentiated from the rest of the Federated Suns than any other region.  Not only do they use tequila as their PPC mixer, but there seems to be a prevalent attitude in the Crucis March and the Draconis March that the citizens of the Capellan March are a drain on the resources of the nation.  I suppose the Crucis March has remained fairly static for the duration of the Succession Wars, and the Draconis March has lost ground, but rallied back to a point close to its original borders, but the Capellan March has, through martial success, added more than a hundred worlds over the centuries, seized at gunpoint from the Capellan Confederation.  There must be substantial suspicion harbored about the loyalty of these “liberated” citizens.  Given the existential threat posed by the Draconis Combine (demonstrated with terrifying effect in the First Succession War), it may also be felt that resources used beating on the hapless/toothless Capellans would be better directed towards ending the ever-present threat posed by House Kurita.   

Oddly, many of the characters on Solaris refer to “credits,” rather than S-Bills, C-Bills, or other currency.  I suppose, since the C-Bill originated as the “ComStar Letter of Credit,” it may have become commonplace to call the C-Bill a “credit” as well.

The use of the term “aircar” for Sorenson’s Hurricane implies its ability to fly.  An aircar was parked on the roof of the Davion summer palace in “The Sword and the Dagger,” and one is seen flying over what is presumably Hilton Head in “The Spider and the Wolf.”  Though a standard sci-fi trope, flying cars never seemed to fit the technologically degraded Successor States, and they were quietly forgotten after the first generation of sourcebooks and novels.  Despite the visuals from “The Spider and the Wolf” and the odd parking spot in “The Sword and the Dagger,” we can probably assume the Hurricane to be a luxury civilian hovercraft. 

Noton’s description of the windows of the spectator box as using the same “high impact plastic” used in ‘Mech canopies suggests that there was no common reference for early authors.  While Stackpole put forth the idea that the viewports are bulletproof plastic, William Keith describes them as purely cosmetic, with pilots relying on 360 degree viewscreens in the cockpit.  These days, the most common description of the viewports is “ferroglass”.  It’s entirely possible that all three versions are used on different ‘Mech models, given the proliferation of technologies and the spit’n’baling wire nature of field repairs as technology failed. 

As described, the detonator grid seems fairly low-tech and vulnerable to catastrophic failure, since different sections protect against only certain types of damage.  Sure, the fine wire mesh stops missiles and PPC strikes, but what happens when a laser cuts through it first, then lets a flight of LRMs hit the stands?  I recall that one of the Easter eggs in the Crescent Hawk’s Inception game was the ability to target an “Enemy Spectator” in the stands during an arena match at Starpad, blowing a hole in the perimeter and allowing Jason to flee with a stolen Locust.
« Last Edit: 28 January 2017, 09:16:41 by Mendrugo »
"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.

Frabby

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #70 on: 28 January 2017, 07:15:36 »
Solaris VII is not a Lyran world, but an independent world under Lyran protection. It's also a cultural melting pot microcosmos. So it's conceivable that there would be an autonomous local currency, "credits", in addition to C, D, K, L, M and S bills.

In The Crescent Hawks' Inception you could steal any one borrowed 'Mech in this way, not only Locusts, and it was probably the only way to get an UrbanMech in the game if you happened to be assigned one (it happened extremely rarely, but I got one and stole it during my PC playthrough when writing the Sarna article).
« Last Edit: 28 January 2017, 07:18:08 by Frabby »
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Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #71 on: 28 January 2017, 07:26:23 »
Solaris VII is not a Lyran world, but an independent world under Lyran protection. It's also a cultural melting pot microcosmos. So it's conceivable that there would be an autonomous local currency, "credits", in addition to C, D, K, L, M and S bills.

The Solaris VII Player's Book (p. 19) confirms your speculation about there being a local currency, "Solaris scrip," but it "is considered virtually worthless, accepted only by the homeless and working poor."  It is theoretically based on the C-Bill, but its value fluctuates wildly as criminal syndicates and wealthy Solarans manipulate the value to make profits, causing the exchange rate to shift from 1 scrip = 1 C-Bill to 1 scrip = 0.01 C-Bill from week to week.  Seems like a dicey currency to use to pay your henchmen.

Good show on grabbing an UrbanMech at the arena.  I was never so lucky during my playthroughs on the Amiga version.
« Last Edit: 28 January 2017, 09:19:20 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #72 on: 29 January 2017, 08:41:00 »
Date: March 1, 3027
 
Location: Pacifica (Chara III)

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis:  Lt. Colonel Patrick Kell and members of the Kell Hound staff greet dignitaries arriving at the Starpad DropPort, including Haputmann-General Sarah Joss, Colonel Ardan Sortek, and Lt. Andrew Redburn.  Patrick cheerfully informs the visitors that they are bait for Kuritan insurgents and elements of the 2nd Sword of Light, which have been orbiting Chara IV for the past two weeks, and are expected to land on Chara III in three hours.  He notes that the Kell Hounds have suborned half the Kurita spies on Pacifica, and they know full details (strength, ETA, landing site) for two of the three incoming DropShips, and have prepared appropriate welcoming parties.  He invites the visitors to mount their 'Mechs and join the fun.

That night, the Overlord-class DCS Kiken lands in the midst of an electrical storm and disgorges its 'Mechs, including a company of Panthers, 2K Shadow Hawk models and one of the new Grand Dragons.  The light 'Mechs fan out to secure a perimeter, under constant observation from concealed Kell Hounds.  Patrick orders his troops to attack, and they quickly disable the Kuritan Panthers near their sector of the perimeter, then move in against the Kuritan mediums.  With six DCMS 'Mechs down, Patrick expects them to withdraw, but is surprised and horrified when a Sword of Light Awesome descends from the DropShip ramp. 

The Awesome pilot opens a channel and recites a list of his battles and victories, challenging the Kell Hounds to fight him.  Ardan Sortek, in his Victor, responds.  The remaining Sword of Light 'Mechs and the Kell Hounds stop fighting, becoming spectators to the clash of the Assault 'Mechs, knowing that the battle would make history, and cherishing their ability to be present at a clash destined to make the pilots into legends. 

The two 'Mechs exchange four volleys of fire, culminating in Sortek's point blank shot from his AC/20, which tears apart the Awesome's engine shielding, sending a geyser of silver-gold fire ripping up through the cockpit and sending a roiling cloud of golden super-heated plasma exploding free of the Awesome's shell, sending its limbs and armor shards flying with sufficient force to topple smaller 'Mechs and rip the leg off a Shadow Hawk 2K.  Their morale shattered along with their champion, the Sworders retreat within the protective umbrella of the DropShip's guns and withdraw offworld.

Later that night, the Kell Hound command staff (Patrick Kell, Dan Allard, Salome Ward, Cat Wilson, Seamus Fitzpatrick, Richard O'Cieran) and their visitors (Redburn, Sortek, and Joss) discuss the results of the ambushes.  Seamus Fitzpatrick reports that Kell Aerospace fighters, disguised as Combine ships, took a company of Panthers by surprise and wiped them out.  Kell notes that the third DropShip, a Union, landed in Branson's Swamp, a swamp 100 km north of Starpad, where it was stuck for two hours, but eventually took off again.  O'Cieran notes that his scouts found no indication that any troops offloaded, and estimated that the ship had the same mass leaving as when it arrived.  Redburn suggests that the Combine ship may have offloaded its 'Mechs using jump jets to avoid leaving tracks, and pumped water from the swamp aboard to conceal its mass differential.  Kell agrees, and orders his officers to proceed on the assumption that at least a company of Panthers operational on Pacifica.

Following the debrief, Sortek, Redburn and Allard meet in the 'Mech bay, where techs are repairing the damage to the Victor, using salvage from the Awesome to rebuild the gyro housing.  Redburn and Allard console each other over the outcome of Justin's trial, and agree that neither believes he is a traitor.

Notes:  What a difference ten tons makes.  The early stages of the battle feature a 70-ton Warhammer and a 75-ton Marauder on the Kell Hound side, and nobody says boo.  But when the 80-ton Victor and Awesome go at it, everyone freaks out.  It seems like Stackpole was trying to create a mystique around the "Assault" category, based on their rarity and high mass, giving the implication that Assault 'Mechs are so rare that it's supremely noteworthy when two face off.  One wonders if such legends are dominated by groups like Zeta Battalion, Cochraine's Goliaths, and other all-assault formations.  This may just reflect the deeply ingrained Lyran obsession with size, but that wouldn't account for why the supposedly super-elite Sword of Light troops backed off and stopped fighting.  (That can probably be attributed to the Combine's dueling culture, which dates back to the First Hidden War of the Star League era.)  For the level of shock and awe expressed, though, I'd have expected the two champions to be at the helm of Rattler mobile weapons platforms, or at least Colossal-class superheavy tripods.

The Combine certainly demonstrated a surplus of PPCs in this strikeforce - Panthers out the wazoo, an Awesome, PPC-equipped 2K Shadow Hawks, Griffins, and the PPC-equipped Grand Dragon.  It's a good weapon for a raiding force - hard hitting and not ammo-reliant.  It seems the Hounds' primary advantage was that they used their ambush to get within the minimum range and hammer away with heavy autocannons (the ambushers included a Hunchback along with the Victor), taking advantage of the night penalties and minumum-range penalties to minimize their casualties.

I can buy Combine DropShips being able to hide in orbit around the next planet over, but I'm very surprised that the garrison on Pacifica failed to note the arrival signature of the Combine JumpShip.  There's also an odd sidebar in which Patrick Kell says Janos Vandermeer spotted the Combine ships in orbit around Chara IV because he'd brought his JumpShip in closer into the system, "like they used to in the Star League era," to cut down on in-system transit time, despite the zenith and nadir jump points being "the most efficient places to recharge the K-F drive."  From this, we can assume that Vandermeer used a pirate point close to the orbit of Chara IV (because jumping in at the standard point and burning in-system with the weak transit drive wouldn't have sped things up at all).  Presumably, so did the Combine JumpShip that dropped off the strikeforce. 

I still don't get the idea that being at the zenith or nadir points is the "most efficient" place to recharge the drives, since being in closer would deliver more solar radiation for the sail to collect.  The reason ships don't go in closer (without a pirate point) is that the gravitational effects increase the risk of a catastrophic misjump.

This battle also gives us the catastrophic explosion of the Awesome, which would become the genesis for the "Stackpole Rule" (codified in the Tactical Handbook).  Modern rulesets have explicitly noted that the real-world physics of a fusion engine would preclude such an explosion - noting that the "fireball" is only the brief ignition that takes place when the superheated plasma hits the outside atmosphere ("like a ton of wet sand dumped on a blowtorch").  However, the writers (while acknowledging that fusion explosions are non-scientific) retained the "Stackpole Rule" because of the immensely satisfying nature of a giant kaboom.  Certainly the "release of hot gases" described in the modern rulebook wouldn't send a limb pinwheeling away with sufficient force to rip the leg off a medium 'Mech.  (Notably, the wording in the Tactical Handbook says that 'Mechs are powered by "heavily shielded nuclear reactors," implying that the author may have thought the technology was fission, rather than fusion.)  For an even more extreme example, you can look at the opening scene in "The Spider and the Wolf," where a Griffin's engine goes critical and explodes with such force that it creates a mushroom cloud, and its lancemates have to seek shelter in nearby bunkers.  The Tactical Handbook rules effectively turned Light 'Mechs into bombs with legs, since there was a roughly 50/50 chance of explosion whenever a center torso went from undamaged to destroyed in one round.

Ardan Sortek does a lot better this time out.  The last time he was shown at the helm of his Victor, he started by doing a faceplant into a bog, and then getting it shot out from under him by a Capellan MechWarrior who was decidedly un-fazed by facing an Assault 'Mech.  I was half wondering if Ardan would go pale at the mention of Branson's Swamp, given what happened the last time he was in a swamp on Stein's Folly.

Aside from the company of Panthers up to no good in the swamp, the Combine forces again play the standard role of Kell Hound foes - to trip over their own feet and go down like ninepins in the face of the two-fisted square-jawed heroes of the Hounds.  It would have been nice to have had some more background on how exactly the Hounds had found and compromised the ISF agents on Pacifica.  Did they have help from the LIC, or did they take care of it all in-house?  To my knowledge, the Hounds lacked integral intel assets (other than O'Cieran's infantry scouts) like the Dragoons' WolfNet.  Or were the Kells leveraging local Heimdall assets as a de-facto intel corps?

There doesn't seem to be much of a reason for the raid.  Was a reinforced battalion of the Sword of Light hanging around in the Chara system for weeks just to intercept General Joss and the Davion VIPs?  The plot of the Crescent Hawk's Inception game suggests that this probe may have been the first Combine effort to find and secure the hidden Star League cache on Pacifica, and their spies (those that hadn't turned) may have been spending their time trying to track it down.

Stackpole clearly worked hard to incorporate elements from the newly published House sourcebooks and TRO:3025 - noting the Combine-specific Grand Dragon and Shadow Hawk 2K variants.  He also drew on the House Steiner sourcebook for Hauptmann-General Sarah Joss, who is listed in "House Steiner - The Lyran Commonwealth" as the Aide to the CO of Wyatt Theater, General Victor Joss.  Nepotism much, Lyrans?  This isn't Joss' only appearance - the 20 Year Update and Objective Raids list her as the Commander of Wyatt Theater with the rank of Field Marshal.  She's mentioned in a newsclip in "Measure of a Hero," in 3063, identified as Commander of Freedom Theater, with the rank of Kommandant-General.  By Field Manual: Updates, she's the Margrave of Freedom Theater, with the rank of General.
« Last Edit: 29 January 2017, 13:14:47 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #73 on: 29 January 2017, 13:05:49 »
Date: March 1, 3027

Location: Chara III (Pacifica)

Title: Special Party

Authors:  Jim Brunk, Dale L. Kemper & Michael Lee

Type: Scenario (The Kell Hounds)

Synopsis: An interview by Thelos Auburn with Kell Hound warrior Michael Fitzhugh provides in-universe context, citing the Combine's hatred of the Kell Hounds (dating from the Battle of Mallory's World) as the reason for the 2nd Sword of Light incursion, and clarifies that Patrick leaked to identified Kurita informants that Hauptmann-General Joss and Ardan Sortek were expected to arrive on Pacifica for an inspection in a week.  The informers got the SoL commander's plans two days later, and the turned ones passed it to the Hounds.

The setup section indicates that the 2nd Sword of Light was present as part of Coordinator Takashi Kurita's plan to get vengeance on the Kell Hounds and redeem Yorinaga Kurita's honor, noting that the Combine DropShips assumed station in orbit around Chara IV in late February 3027.  The assault was delayed when the SoL commander received the leaked intel on the VIPs arrival.

The scenario focuses on the battle described in Warrior: En Garde, and pits the Kell Hounds' hidden BattleMech company (Thunderbolt, Orion, Marauder, Crusader, Wolverine, Catapult, Trebuchet, Rifleman, Valkyrie, Commando, Wasp and Jenner) plus their VIPs (Joss in a Warhammer, Sortek in a Victor, and Redburn in a Hunchback) against the Sword of Light (1st Battalion) elements in the DCS Kiken:  12 Panthers, 2 Griffins, 2 Shadow Hawk 2Ks, 1 Grand Dragon, and 1 Awesome.  The Kiken lies off the map to the north, and the Combine 'Mechs approach from that edge. 

The Combine player gets points for destroying Hound 'Mechs, and bonus points for destroying the 'Mechs of Redburn, Joss, and Sortek.  The Defenders get points for each destroyed Kurita 'Mech, and reduced points for each 'Mech that withdraws. 

Notes:  This scenario is notable for introducing Hidden Unit rules (which had not yet been codified).  The prototype version of the rules does not allow the "Point Blank Shots from Hidden Units" that makes ambushes so effective under the modern ruleset.  Also, despite the scenario canonically taking place at night, there are no night combat modifiers applied in the scenario "Special Rules" section. 

Play of this scenario is problematic if you're doing it with minis and maps, rather than MegaMek, since few players' collections are going to have twelve Panthers (if my collection is any guide, even super-collectors tend more toward "one of each" than large groupings of the same unit.)  Even with my collection, I'd have to proxy 1/3 of the Panthers (after using up my metal, plastic, PlasTech, and cardboard fold-up Panthers).

The names given to the Combine troopers suggest that there's a strong bias towards promoting soldiers of ethnic Japanese descent into command positions.  The three lance commanders are Ikia Torinaga, Noshia Toshiba, and Katuzi Noritoga.  All their underlings have non-Japanese names.  All of the Medium, Heavy, and Assault pilots are also of Japanese origin, based on their names.  (Granted, Minobu Tetsuhara is decidedly not of Japanese ancestry, but his life story seems to be an outlier.)

This scenario pack predated the publication of official record sheets, so instructions are given on how to adjust the Shadow Hawk and Dragon designs to be the 2K and Grand variants, respectively.  I recall the days of photocopying the blank record sheets and filling them all out by hand before a battle.  Ah, the Sharpie fumes from filling in the armor bubbles...  You kids and yer Solaris Skunkwerks and Heavy Metal Pro are so spoiled... :)

Strategically, the Combine would be well advised to keep their entire force in a tight group, and send out a sacrificial Panther to probe the enemy positions.  When a Hound unit takes the bait, the Combine force should advance in lockstep and rain down PPC hell on it.  The nice thing about them all having PPCs is that a closely grouped cluster can all hit the same target.  Then, the other Hounds will either be forced to sit and wait for their exposed buddy to die while they wait to spring their own ambushes, or will have to break cover and ride the lightning as they advance towards the Combine force concentration.  While sending lots of Panthers out in all directions would uncover the Hound ambush faster, there's no time limit built into the scenario, so a cautious advance putting only one Panther at risk is optimal. 

Once the enemy is uncovered, concentrate your fire on one unit at a time - ensuring that you get a kill, rather than just sanding off armor.  Prioritize the VIPs, but go for the easy shots whenever possible, and recall that Light 'Mechs give the same points as Heavies or Assaults.  The winner is the one with the most points (without the usual margins of victory scale), so keep an eye on the math, and feel free to break off and retreat as soon as you're ahead on points.

For that reason, I would also recommend that the Hounds and their VIP allies should cluster the ambush force on the southern slope of hill (northern bank of the river) on the southern of the two maps.  Staging the ambush on the southern map increases the odds that the Combine forces will have advanced too far to easily retreat back to the cover of the Kiken (a Japanese word which roughly translates as "dangerous" in English).  You don't want to be all the way on the south side of the river, though.  If the Combine is cautious, then your forces would dry gulch a lone Panther on the southern plain, while the bulk would be positioned on the top of the hill (with plenty of woods and ridges for cover) and able to sweep your position with accurate PPC fire.  Your counter-charge would then be hampered by the river - a problem given how many AC/20s your side has.  Placing your forces on the southern slope of the hill permits you to move north and take control of the cover, and thence pour down fire on the Combine forces.  Put your long-range units in the south-slope ambush force (Marauder, Crusader, Catapult, Trebuchet, Rifleman, Warhammer, Valkyrie, Orion), and then put the close-range units (Hunchback, Victor, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, Commando, Wasp, Jenner) in a cluster together on the far left or far right of the map, where you can reveal yourselves once the Combine force engages the long-range units on the hilltop, getting in on their flank with AC/20s.  The Commando, Wasp, and Jenner can harry wounded units that try to retreat.  You only get points for totally destroyed units, and for retreating units that have lost at least 25 percent of their armor and taken five points of internal structure damage, so concentrate on one or two units each round, because overkill is the best kind of kill, and certainly better than just sanding off armor without scoring the points. 

Try not to expose the VIPs to significant enemy firepower, since they'll be prime targets and can cost you points if they go down.  If they get banged up, pull them back.  You can even withdraw off any mapside except the north, without any point penalty. 

Ardan Sortek is shown to be an excellent MechWarrior, with Gunner 1 and Piloting 2.  Redburn is a bit more wet behind the ears, with Gunnery 3 and Piloting 4. 

The Combine side comes in at 18 'Mechs, 780 tons, 60.65 million C-Bills of equipment, and a BV (adjusted for skills) of 16,521.
The Hounds come in at 15 'Mechs, 820 tons, 70.69 million C-Bills of equipment, and a BV (adjusted for skills) of 16,649. 

The Hound command staff are super-ace pilots with gunnery skills of 0 and 1 at this point, which goes a long way to make up for their smaller numbers.  They should take advantage of this by moving as much as possible every round and taking shots at long ranges - they can hit effectively, while their foes cannot respond.  If you choose to apply modern rules to this scenario, I'd recommend "Night" and "Point Blank Attacks by Hidden Units."  The night modifiers, in particular, would make the Hounds even more deadly, due to the relative skill disparity vis a vis the Combine cannon fodder (the 18 have only three pilots with a Gunnery of 2  Most in this "Elite" formation have Gunnery skills of 4). 
« Last Edit: 29 January 2017, 13:09:13 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #74 on: 29 January 2017, 18:32:14 »
Ikia Torinaga, Noshia Toshiba, and Katuzi Noritoga.  All their underlings have non-Japanese names.  All of the Medium, Heavy, and Assault pilots are also of Japanese origin, based on their names.  (Granted, Minobu Tetsuhara is decidedly not of Japanese ancestry, but his life story seems to be an outlier.)

One of the things that continues to bug me especially about the older publications is the cheerful ignorance of the Japanese language and muddled Orientalism. (The Japanese Combine's academies have Chinese names, while Chinese-culture Warrior House soldiers are described as carrying Japanese katanas).

The Sword of Light names are Japanese-sounding, but definitely not Japanese. The only one that's recognizable as a name is Toshiba, the rest are meaningless collections of syllables.

In reality, this is likely due either to lack of research on the writers' part, or desire to avoid real-life names (though they have no problem using real English names).

In universe, this suggests to me Tetsuhara was not an outlier, and in fact many people adopted Japanese names as a way of social advancement. If the Japanification of society happened spontaneously without central direction then maybe you'd see families hurriedly adopting Japanese sounding names without worrying too much about authenticity. At least, that's how I rationalize it.

BTW only just got caught up with this thread. Thanks very much for the trip down memory lane! I'm afraid that now you're into Stackpole most of my reactions will be variations on the theme of "argh" but deep down, I'm enjoying this. Really.

Author, "Inverted" (Shrapnel #4), "Undefeated" (#10), "Reversal of Fortunes" (#13) and "The Alexandria Job" (#15)

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #75 on: 29 January 2017, 22:12:04 »
Date: March, 3027 [See Notes]

Location: Kirchbach
 
Title: MechWarrior - Matabushi Ambush
 
Author: Peter Fokos
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Data on the disk seized from the Matabushi cache, outlining Operation INROAD, has specific information about the location of the Dark Wing's base - Kirchbach.  Gideon Vandenburg uses the money obtained from Tasha to assemble a formidable 'Mech lance and leads them on a strike against the Dark Wing base.  Annihilating their 'Mechs and scattering the infantry garrison, Gideon breaches their bunker and burns open the compound's high security vault, revealing the sacred Chalice of Herne.

Notes: This is the final battle in the storyline campaign, though the open-ended nature of MechWarrior 1 allows Gideon to get sidetracked into various randomly generated missions for all five Houses as he tries to assemble and maintain a 'Mech lance of high quality than the old Jenner he started with.  The version I've attempted to integrate into my master chronology assumes Gideon remained tightly focused on running down the clues to the Dark Wing, and didn't go on side missions as a mercenary until he had solid intel on the Dark Wing, and then used the five million C-Bills as seed money to build his final lance to go after the Dark Wing base (on Kirchbach in the playthrough I referenced in a YouTube "Let's Play" video, but randomly generated in each game). 

I have dated this to March 3027, suggesting that recruitment and travel would take about three months, though the date could be pushed back until August 3028, realistically.  The five year time limit doesn't expire until 3029, but I would imagine getting a commercial JumpShip to cross any borders once the Fourth Succession War kicks off in September 3028 would be an impossibility - with House Davion and House Steiner having impressed their entire merchant marine for the war, and the Capellans having their JumpShip assets misdirected by Ridzik, Max, Romano, Candace, and Xiang.  Putting it in March allows Gideon to avoid the heightened scrutiny that would be directed at the borders during Operation GALAHAD '27.

The Dark Wing is an interesting unit.  While other corporations have 'Mech-equipped security forces (Amphigean Agricultural - Amphigean Light Assault Groups; Defiance Industries - Defiance Self Protection Force), the first is hired out as mercenaries for their host House and other corporations, and the DSPF exclusively protects the Hesperus II factory complex in the Myoo Mountains.  By contrast, the Dark Wing carries out covert operations against states hostile to the host House, but apparently not in coordination with the ISF or the DCMS. 

If we choose to regard MechWarrior 1 and the SNES MechWarrior storylines to exist in the same timeline, the Dark Wing has a much longer history than just Operation INROAD.  An earlier incarnation assassinated a high-ranking Davion officer in the 3017, then went underground to avoid retaliation, resurfacing in 3027 (after the destruction of Matabushi's new Dark Wing) in an attempt to create a renegade mercenary alliance (sort of a bandit version of the Allied Mercenary Command).  One wonders what Matabushi's involvement with the other Dark Wing is - bankrolling the process of "getting the band back together," running the 3017 assassination and financing the identity protection of the first squad, etc.? 

It's entirely possible that the Dark Wing destroyed at the Chalice bunker and the 3017 assassin lance aren't the entirety of the Dark Wing, which could actually be a much larger corporate security formation serving Matabushi across its many branches.  It would be fun to see Clan Invasion-era engagements where Dark Wing detachments are mobilized to protect Matabushi branches from Clan forces.

One also wonders exactly why Matabushi was holding onto the Chalice of Herne.  Gideon's rival would become the new Duke only if Gideon failed to return with the doohickey in time.  The rival family doesn't need the chalice to assume permanent power.  So why not just melt it down for tie clips?  The name of the chalice is a bit of an in-joke, likely named for Herne the Hunter of Celtic lore, since Gideon spends the whole game hunting for the thing. 

Gideon's name is probably also significant, since the Biblical Gideon is known for the military success of a small elite force against overwhelming numerical odds - much like Gideon Vandenburg leading a single lance against all odds to defeat the Dark Wing.  Vandenburg translates from the Dutch as someone who lives near a fortress or castle.  In this story, Gideon Vandenburg, then, is the leader of a small elite fighting force who has been exiled from his stronghold on Ander's Moon.
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #76 on: 30 January 2017, 08:00:00 »
Date: March 7, 3027

Location: Baxter IV
 
Title: Salvage on Baxter IV
 
Author: Lee B. Barton
 
Type: Scenario (BattleTechnology #0201)
 
Synopsis: The 4th Proserpina Hussars assaulted Baxter IV in early March, expecting a quick victory despite the hostile climate, but stalemated against the 10th Skye Rangers.  Supplies ran low for both sides, and scavenging was the order of the day. 

A week into the fighting, a Skye Ranger lance under Lt. Erwin Zak fights a desperate holding action in the Groder Dune Sea region to keep Combine forces from claiming two downed Kurita 'Mechs - a Stalker and a Marauder that had fallen off a ridge (possibly lost during a dust storm or toppled by an earthquake), killing the pilots.  Lt. Zak estimates that the parts salvaged from the 'Mechs could put a company of disabled Ranger 'Mechs back in the field.

On two basic BattleTech maps, this scenario pits elements of the 10th Skye Rangers against elements of the 4th Proserpina Hussars.  Zak's lance begins next to the downed 'Mechs with a Shadow Hawk, Phoenix Hawk, and Spider.  They receive reinforcements from Lt. Genghis Robb's Scout Lance - a Griffin, Phoenix Hawk, and Stinger, but the reinforcements do not arrive until somewhere between turn 10 and turn 15 (9 + 1D6).  The Proserpina Hussars bring a Fire Lance to the party - Crusader, Wolverine, Panther, and Javelin.

The two forces have the option of trying to drag off the downed 'Mechs, or destroy them.  The winner is the side that drags off more, either by getting both, or getting one and destroying the other.  One each, or none each, is a draw.  Salvage nets with tow cables have already been attached to the Marauder and Stalker.  It costs 2MP to grab a tow cable, and 'Mechs can drag their prize only one hex per turn, through clear terrain.  Shooting at the downed 'Mechs gets the -4 immobile target bonus, and 100 points of damage renders it unsalvageable. 

Zak's Lance has 130 tons and 3,069 BV.  Robb's Lance has 120 tons and 3,159 BV.  The Hussars have 185 tons with 3,306 BV (the Rangers have excellent gunnery skills, 2 across the board).

Notes: One of the great things about BattleTechnology, especially the early issues, is that it proved a format where writers could push the boundaries of the format and try new things.  I have to give Lee Barton credit for coming up with an unusual set of victory conditions and mechanisms.  Despite credits for creativity, I don't think it's a complete success, however.

Trying to haul off a 'Mech is an exercise in futility.  It puts one of your guys out of the fight (1/3 to 1/4 of your starting force, depending on your side), and prevents them from using their mobility.  Since all the units are fairly mobile, their armor usually isn't maximized, and the dragger will quickly become a casualty of the enemy taking easy shots.  If, somehow, a 'Mech gets close to the edge, it'll draw fire from all over the field to destroy it (getting the -4 to-hit bonus). 

Despite the narrative that Zak's Lance is outgunned, the BV estimate (courtesy of Heavy Metal Pro) shows that the superior gunnery and mobility almost entirely makes up for the deficit in numbers and weight.  Zak's forces should move to their full extent, making themselves as unhittable as possible while scoring hits on the Hussars with their superior gunnery.  If any 'Mech tries to drag one of the wrecks away,  burn them down, since they won't get any defensive movement modifiers.  If any dragged 'Mech gets too close to the edge, take it out.  Don't bother trying to haul off the booty with Zak and company.  Just keep the Hussars busy until Robb arrives.  Once that happens, you'll have a 2-to-1 advantage in BV, and should be able to sweep the enemy from the field.  As Robb's forces get closer, however, the Proserpina player, unless they're somehow ahead on points, will be strongly incentivized to destroy both 'Mechs.  To prevent that, charge the enemy and engage them at close quarters.  Hopefully, the damage you've inflicted to this point has been lopsided, and you can break them with this attack, or at least distract them enough so they don't shoot the 'Mechs.  Be willing to sacrifice your 'Mechs, since victory conditions are based on the salvage, not kills.

For the Hussars, this is a tough scenario.  While the designer intended them to be demonstrably superior, force balancing in the early days was more art than science, and the BV calculations suggest that the Kuritans are facing a nearly even fight at the start, and then a hopeless one once the reinforcements arrive.  If they get really lucky and are able to land crippling blows on the Skye Rangers in early exchanges, they might be able to start dragging the booty away, with two hauling and two providing cover fire.  If the Rangers make full use of their mobility and better gunnery, it's unlikely that enough shots will land to put any out of the action, or decrease the enemy threat enough to make hauling the salvage away even close to safe.

It would have made a better scenario if the Rangers had been weaker, or if the Combine forces were equipped with heavier, better armored gear, so that they could wade through the Ranger fire, seize the salvage, and then have an interesting calculation about how to get back off their side of the map while denying the Rangers good shots at the mechanical carcasses.  As it stands, though, my recommendation is just to concentrate your fire on the two wrecks until they become useless slag, then withdraw for a draw before Robb and company arrive, confident that you have, at least, kept a full company of Rangers from returning to the battlefield. 

This scenario could be substantially modified and jazzed up using the modern ruleset.  Dust storms and earthquakes are mentioned in the Baxter IV description.  Why not have some of those take place during the battle (a dust storm, in particular, could make hauling salvage more of a viable prospect, because it severely restricts ranged attacks). 
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #77 on: 31 January 2017, 11:18:06 »
Date: January 4, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Welcome to Club Zero-Zero
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis:  In 3017, AFFS Colonel Joseph T. Ragen was working to infiltrate and destroy the renegade mercenary cartel known as the Dark Wing.  The mercenaries located his home and, on January 12, 3017, assassinated Colonel Ragen and most of his family, orphaning his 12-year old son, Herras.  The strike team members covered their tracks by agreeing to disband the Dark Wing for ten years, at which time they would resume normal operations.

Ten years later, Herras Ragen has become a freelance mercenary, selling his services in pursuit of information about the identities and location of the Dark Wing Lance that killed his family.  At the start of 3027, he arrives on Galatea (the Mercenary's Star) and goes to Club Zero-Zero in search of new leads.

Club Zero-Zero is so named because it is located on Galatea's equator at 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude.  Visiting mercenaries can view holovid messages, check the NewsNet, secure contracts, and listen to the club's constantly chattering maitre'd, Cearle Jamist.   

Herras enters Club Zero-Zero and tells the proprietor he has been working for ten years to refine his skills to be able to face the Dark Wing Lance, which destroyed his family.  The bartender introduces himself as Cearle, and offers a lead for a job on Galeton.  He also recommends that Herras upgrade his 'Mech with homing missiles.

Notes:  My goal for this thread is to summarize all the storylines that have been created for the BattleTech universe, and to see how they best fit into the overall whole, coming up with increasingly creative handwaving and logical leaps when different sources contradict each other.

While the original MechWarrior game from Activision did a very good job of fitting both the tone and the timeline of the BattleTech universe, the SNES remake has a number of serious issues in terms of continuity. 

The game begins on January 4, 3027, and then advances the timeline three days every time Herras takes a mission.  The creators must have presumed that Herras had access to a ship able to instantaneously transit the stars to reach the target zone for the mission, do the mission in about a day, and return in time to get a new mission. 

Not only is this entirely incompatible with the 3027-era scarcity of JumpShips, but also lacks the necessary time for in-system transit and for jump-drive recharging.  It isn't even internally consistent.  NewsNet articles included in the game often directly reference touchpoint events from the novel Warrior: En Garde, and the 3 days/mission chronology results in some of these headlines being published before the events in question have even taken place. 

This isn't the first time a BattleTech product's internal timeline needs to be ignored to make the storyline fit - the graphic novel "The Spider and the Wolf" had some serious issues on that score as well.  So, I've re-flowed the chronology based on the Warrior: En Garde events referenced in the NewsNet stories.  I have read that there are 50 storyline missions and multiple paths through the game, but my entries in this thread are based on the ones shown in the "Let's Play" video on YouTube.

Based on the amount of time between the NewsNet headlines, it appears that Herras has the ability to get off Galatea, reach a target world, do the mission, and return in about 8-12 days, on average.  This still wreaks havoc with standard jump times, but is far more within the realm of possibility if you assume that Herras Ragen is quite wealthy and has invested a vast amount of resources to set up a commercial command circuit from Galatea to worlds within a few jumps, and is paying extra for captains able to make pirate point calculations.  Once the timeline gets past Warrior: En Garde, there are no more NewsNet touchpoints, but keeping roughly the same spacing between missions allows the storyline to wrap up by the end of 3027 - making a nice one-year package.  (It seems almost like the designers wanted the storyline to start and finish entirely during the events of Warrior: En Garde, which concludes in June 3027, and implemented the 3 days/mission mechanism so all the storyline missions could fit into less than six months, but that effort actually causes the game's NewsNet to get out of synch with the book it references.  This would explain the lack of references to events in Warrior: Riposte.)

Joseph T. Ragen was, purportedly, the best MechWarrior in the best unit in the AFFS, and there was "outrage and shock in every home in the Federated Suns" when he was assassinated.  One might presume that, in the neo-feudal setting of 3017, House Ragen had at least a knight's estate, household staff, and substantial incomes.  Hanse would have, at the very least, seen that the sole heir to his best MechWarrior was financially taken care of.  So in addition to whatever assets House Ragen has, Herras probably also has a substantial line of credit from the AFFS and/or the MIIO (especially given the apparent strong interest of the MIIO in the Dark Wing's activities over in the Activision game storyline).

Club Zero-Zero is described as a haven for mercenary MechWarriors and the dregs of the Inner Sphere.  The location is a bit strange, given what has subsequently been written about Galatea.  The star is super-hot, meaning the equator is scorched and lifeless, and most settlements on the world are on the shores of the landlocked seas and the attached rivers in the cooler (though still hot) polar regions.  One the one hand, Cearle's air conditioning bill must be immense - the Club is likely a climate controlled dome.  It seems a bit out of the way, given the various attractions and mercenary services available up in Galatean City and Galaport.  On the other hand, perhaps the clientele of Club Zero-Zero likes the isolation, so they can carry out covert meetings and set up contracts away from prying eyes. 

The contract signing is described as entirely automated - mercs pick contracts on the computer screen using the Club Zero-Zero facilities.  I wonder if this is done through the auspices of the ComStar Mercenary Review Board, or if this is a surviving outpost of the struggling Mercenaries' Guild.  Or perhaps Cearle is an independent operator, handling assignations of dicey contracts to bottom-feeding mercs.

Most of the worlds offered as mission locations (with the exception of Solaris) are non-canon - appearing on no maps.  One possible explanation is that they're outpost worlds - like New Cleveland, Newbraska, Dragon's Field, etc.  Alternatively, they could be inhabited moons in systems where the name is derived from better known colonies in the same system.  "Galeton" is just one letter off from "Galedon," but the distance from Galatea to Galedon would preclude even a command circuit run out that direction and back.

Cearle's recommendation of "homing missiles" in 3027 is an artifact of the game mechanics (we'll not even go into how this game features the Raijin, Nexus, and Grand Crusader decades before their in-universe introduction).  A convenient explanation is that Cearle is opining on the superiority of LRMs and SRMs with built-in guidance packages over, say, dead-fired unguided rocket volleys.  It wouldn't make sense for Cearle to be selling LosTech Artemis IV systems in the Mech-it-lube attached to the Club Zero-Zero.
« Last Edit: 31 January 2017, 12:06:21 by Mendrugo »
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #78 on: 31 January 2017, 11:52:45 »
Date: January 21, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Meet Larman Sholest
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis:  After returning from his mission on Galeton, Herras Ragen checks the NewsNet and sees that the Dark Wing Lance members have been declared outlaws.  The other headline is that Lt. Andrew Redburn received the Silver Sunburst from Hanse Davion for heroism on Kittery.

When he enters Club Zero-Zero, veteran mercenary Larman Sholest introduces himself and gives Herras an envelope filled with money, saying it is from a good friend of Herras'.  Cearle welcomes Herras back, and gives him a tip on a contract to the world of Zacapa. 

Notes: While the in-game date for this event is January 7, Warrior: En Garde places the award ceremony on January 20.  It's not clear how quickly news like this could/should disseminate through the NewsNet.  Presumably the NewsNet is a service that draws its information from a variety of sources, all of which would be distributed via HPG.  With Class-A stations broadcasting every six hours, and reaching up to 50 light years away, it's conceivable that news from New Avalon could reach destinations up to 200 light years away within 24 hours (further if the six-hour intervals aren't synchronized from world to world, meaning that a newly received message may not need to wait another six hours before being retransmitted, if the receiving world was already four hours into its six-hour cycle).

It's never explained why Larman Sholest hands Harras a bag of money "from a friend."  Sholest's dialogue suggests he knows Harras and all about his quest, but the money seems to be a random element, because his next dialogue is an introduction to Harras that indicates he's hearing about him for the first time.  One possible interpretation is that Larman may have been a friend of Joseph T. Ragen, or possibly that he's serving as a conduit from Hanse Davion or the MIIO to bankroll Harras' investigation.
« Last Edit: 31 January 2017, 12:03:28 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #79 on: 31 January 2017, 12:45:35 »
Date: January 22, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Lana Mann Reporting In
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Harras Ragen remains at the Club Zero-Zero, seeking leads on the Dark Wing.  Cearle, the maitre'd, pulls out a holovid a mercenary accidentally left behind and shows it to Harras.  In the holovid, MIIO agent Lana Mann reports that she's received and decoded her latest assignment, to bring the Dark Wing to justice.  She informs her superiors she will report in from the planet Kagran.

Notes:  The purpose of these clues is to trigger missions in the contract screen.  Kudos to the writers for trying to create story-based leads, rather than just having lists of missions.  On the other hand, the amount of actionable information that quite literally falls into Herras' lap pushes the boundaries of credibility.  Having a mercenary leave a stolen holovid in the club's lost'n'found, and having Cearle just happen to show it to Herras while the information is still fresh enough to be actionable just grates me the wrong way. 

Overall, I'd have liked it if Herras was able to take more actions of his own in the investigative side of the game.  Perhaps a hacking mini-game to tap into the ComStar message database, or an out-of-'Mech arcade bit fighting your way into a gang's lair to retrieve data.  I know the hardware and software capabilities were pretty limited back in 1993, but having Herras just sit at the bar slamming down lugen coladas (a Galatean specialty) until someone hands him his next clue makes it seem like the main character lacks agency.

Lana Mann is described in the "cast of characters" section as "The lovely spy from House Davion.  Nobody can resist her charms."  She seems cut from the same cloth as Tasha, from the 1989 Activision MechWarrior game.
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #80 on: 31 January 2017, 13:51:26 »
Date: January 23, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Team Up With Meece Yerta
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Meese Yerta introduces himself to Herras Ragen in the Club Zero-Zero lounge, and offers to let Herras join him on his next mission, promising a big bonus.  Herras also receives a report from his paid informant, Roden Wull, who says the Dark Wing is staging a recon raid.

Notes: The "cast of characters" section identifies Meece Yerta as a sleazy merc who gets others to do the tough jobs for him, while Roden Wull is a professional informant, trading secrets for C-Bills.  I can totally get behind Roden and his role in the game.  For my money, there should have been an interface screen where players could recruit informants and direct their movements around to different worlds.  That would make sense and be consistent with the universe (we've already seen that mercs like the Bounty Hunter maintain just such networks of informants on worlds across the Inner Sphere).

Meece, on the other hand, doesn't fit the narrative at all.  Herras is supposedly taking only contracts that will lead him to information about the Dark Wing.  Yet Meece doesn't promise any information - just a bonus payment.  This is a common problem for sandbox games, but MechWarrior (SNES) is a fairly linear progression, with your choice of mission affecting the arcade elements, but not the overall progression towards the denouement of the plot.  It brings to mind the Fallout games, where the player has an urgent task, but can take time out to retrieve MacGuffins, get jobs, build settlements, get cosmetic surgery, etc.

At this point, the player has mission options on Zacapa, Kagran, Rostov, and Zhada.  The "Let's Play" video I watched had the player doing the Zacapa, Kagran, and Rostov missions, but there are only ten days between the two NewsNet touchpoint articles (Silver Sunburst on the 20th, Redburn Inspection Tour on the 30th) - definitely not enough time to squeeze in more than one mission.
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #81 on: 31 January 2017, 15:08:06 »
Date: January 31, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Meece is a No Show
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Herras traveled to Rostov, expecting to fight alongside Meece Yerta, but found himself alone against the enemy forces there.  Returning to Galatea, he finds Meece in the Club Zero-Zero lounge.  Meece apologizes for not meeting Herras on Rostov, explaining "something came up."  He pays Herras the bonus, and says this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Notes: Unlike the Activision game, the SNES version didn't allow for lancemates, so every mission is a solo run.  Thus, there was never any potential for Meece to join Herras on the mission.  Still, Meece is playing a dangerous game tricking rookie mercenaries into subcontracting on his missions - collecting a fee with no danger while the dupe completes the mission alone.  Given what we've seen of Galatea thus far, Meece runs a substantial risk of getting shot in the face if one of his "partners" survives to return, and decides that "satisfaction" outweighs "payday."  (Especially if Meece has the cash on him, in which case "satisfaction+payday" > "future paydays."

The fact that Herras went so far as to drop onto the target before discovering that he was alone without his lancemate calls into question Herras' planning abilities.  Was he not suspicious when Meece didn't join him on the outbound DropShip?  Were they just supposed to "meet up" planetside, having booked separate passage?  No staging?  Sure, it may be asking a lot of an SNES game, but many elements in this scenario just fail basic logic tests.
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #82 on: 31 January 2017, 15:34:24 »
Date: February 1, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Mercenary Uprisings
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis:  While hanging out and drinking at the Club Zero-Zero bar, Herras Ragen scours the NewsNet, which includes a press release about the departure of Andrew Redburn, Hero of Kittery, from New Avalon on a tour of the Lyran Commonwealth.  The NewsNet also features an article about mercenary guerrilla uprisings on Puxi and Quilon, with a note that House Davion has ordered the offending mercenary units banished from their space, and is offering contracts to units willing to put the uprisings down.  Herras takes the contract to suppress the revolt on Puxi.

Notes: The fact that the unrest is described as "mercenary uprisings," suggests that Quilon and Puxi might be outpost worlds used by Davion merc units for R&R, not unlike the world of Rahway II, featured in "Life in the Big City" from the CityTech rulebook. 

If this Dark Wing is associated with the Matabushi covert ops division from the Activision MechWarrior game, then these uprisings may be associated with Operation INROAD.  I can see the appeal for the Combine - having false flagged mercenaries under secret contract to the Combine through Matabushi take contracts for the Federated Suns and, once deployed to the AFFS staging outposts, run rampant and wreck up the place, would be an effective means of both damaging the AFFS' staging and R&R infrastructure, and have the chance to take out loyal AFFS mercenaries, as well as weakening the level of trust between the AFFS and the mercenary community.

The Word of Blake used exactly this ploy when it struck at Wolf's Dragoons on Outreach - infiltrating its mercenaries onworld (both as turncoat members of the Allied Mercenary Command and as TempTowners ostensibly looking for contracts), and then having them attack - throwing the Dragoons into chaos, weakening mutual trust among the AMC members and the mercenary community, and goading the Dragoons into their ill-fated revenge attack on Mars, which weakened the Dragoons enough to pave the way for the Blakist assault on Outreach itself.
« Last Edit: 31 January 2017, 19:28:33 by Mendrugo »
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #83 on: 31 January 2017, 15:57:21 »
Date: February 9, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Whack-a-Merc
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Herras Ragen returns from suppressing the mercenary guerrillas on Puxi, and is congratulated on his performance by Cearle.  Veteran merc Larman Sholest overhears, and comments that the real action is on Quilion, but forgives Herras for making a rookie mistake.

Notes: It's interesting that House Davion would declare guerrilla actions illegal.  Guerrilla warfare is explicitly an accepted mission type in the Mercenary's Handbook, and (according to "The Galtor Campaign") House Davion used "Johnny Team" units to support Galtorian insurgents during the initial liberation of Galtor III.  Generally, though, House Davion doesn't have to resort to guerrilla warfare because it has the resources and strength to drop an RCT on its target, rather than muck around with asymmetric warfare.
"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.

Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #84 on: 31 January 2017, 16:23:35 »
Date: February 18, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Just Another Merc
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Herras returns to Galatea after taking part in putting down the mercenary insurgency on Quilon.  Cearle congratulates him on a good job, and gives him a soda on the house.  He mentions that he heard some other mercenaries say that Wolf Glupper is working for House Marik on Dalview.  Coincidentally, Herras also receives a message from his informant, Roden Wull, who tells him there seems to be some connection between Wolf Glupper and the Dark Wing Lance.

Notes: After the recent comments upthread about made-up last names, I thought I'd look up "Glupper," and was surprised to see it is a legitimate last name (albeit a rare one).  The game intro gives him the evocative character thumbnail of "yet another merc."  (More of a hangnail than a thumbnail, at that point.)

Cearle runs a real tough establishment for the scum of the Inner Sphere, givin' out complimentary soda pop.  This is probably an artifact of regulations restricting depictions of drug and alcohol use in games marketed to certain age groups.

The only real point of interest in all this is that we now have rumors of a link between House Marik and the Dark Wing.  This raises the possibility that the Dark Wing (which seems to be primarily raiding targets in the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth) is serving the interests of the greater Kapteyn Accord, rather than just Kurita through Matabushi.  If SAFE is aware of House Davion's sponsorship of insurgent groups in the FWL in the 3020s, I'm sure they'd sign on to Operation INROAD with the hopes of getting some untraceable payback against the Federated Commonwealth allies via the Dark Wing.
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #85 on: 31 January 2017, 16:47:33 »
Date: February 28, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Emergency on Solaris
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Herras Ragen returns from Dalview to find a mercenary named Yerg Gantor raging in the Club Zero-Zero lounge, ranting about how Wolf Glupper betrayed him, and swearing revenge, if it's the last thing he does.

Herras also...somehow...views a holovid from MIIO agent Lana Mann, informing her superior that an enemy spy has wired one of the MIIO's intelligence installations on Solaris VII with explosives that could go off if it's not disarmed immediately.

Notes:  Yerg Gantor is described as a veteran mercenary, a "real tough cookie."  Though his use of the phrase "betrayed me again" implies that he's not quite the "cross me and die" type he attempts to portray himself as, since apparently Wolf has betrayed him at least once before.

This is why the mechanism for incorporating Lana Mann's reports just...doesn't...work.  Maybe I could buy Herras getting handed one holovid left behind in a bar after being stolen by a mercenary.  But two?  Three?  How clumsy is this holovid intercepting merc?

The only possible explanation I can think of is that either the MIIO is feeding these messages to Herras via Cearle intentionally to get him to do missions for them, or that the Dark Wing is intercepting these messages and feeding them to Herras to keep him busy with wild goose chases that fail to advance his search for the Dark Wing.  (Since the Dark Wing boss, Yerg Gantor, is sitting right there in the bar, my guess is that he's the "unnamed merc" who "left the disk behind" at the Zero-Zero Club.)

The message itself also makes no sense.  If a building is about to explode, do you take the time to go down to the ComStar station and record a holovid message to your superior?  Or do you take local initiative and oversee the bomb squad's operations yourself.  Worse, the message triggers a contract to go to Solaris and fight enemy 'Mechs so that you can disarm the detonator and save the MIIO listening post.  How in the name of Kerensky is Herras Ragen supposed to see this message of unknown age, hop on a DropShip/JumpShip command circuit to Solaris VII, land, find the MIIO building, and disarm the detonator if it could go off if not disarmed "immediately."  If you're reading "immediately" on a holovid pulled out of the lost'n'found, it's too late for you to do anything.

This is where the Activision MechWarrior game had a decided narrative advantage - it actually sends Gideon Vandenburg all over the map of the Inner Sphere, meeting people in person and physically being present when events happen.  Herras, by contrast, primarily is seen lurking in the Zero-Zero Club lounge waiting for data to roll in, and then he launches.  This creates a severe temporal disconnect from the action.  I could buy Gideon hearing from a local contact that their building - the one over there - is about to explode, and trying to do something about it.  Herras, not so much.

Hmmm.  I wonder if the post wired with explosives is the same control center to which agent Kym Sorenson reported "Contact" after hooking up with Justin Xiang?
« Last Edit: 31 January 2017, 21:44:28 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #86 on: 31 January 2017, 17:11:29 »
Hanse Davion has actively sponsored guerilla uprisings in the FWL, and in the Loyal Son series on BattleCorps the Word of Blake protagonist Raul Tinker executed captured Davion agents specifically to stop them from keeping their guerilla operations going and kill yet more people in the process. In the latter case the insurrections were bloody enough for Tinker to rationalize his war crime as the smaller evil. So yeah, House Davion has a history with guerillas.

As for a Marik connection... SAFE is so famously clueless and inept that I would suppose they got framed.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #87 on: 01 February 2017, 10:50:28 »
Date: March 8, 3027

Location: Galatea
 
Title: SNES MechWarrior - Mercenary Uprisings
 
Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter
 
Synopsis: Herras Ragen returns from having (somehow) saved the day on Solaris VII, and finds a mis-addressed holovid in his inbox - a report from Agent Vermin Minter, who reports (to an unknown addressee) that SAFE intel connects Wolf Glupper with the guerrilla attacks on Zhada and Galeton.  She notes that her team is working to identify his current location.

Herras scans the NewsNet and sees that militants on Galeton have launched an uprising believed to be connected to a rumored cache of stolen property on the world.  House Davion has warned the mercenaries involved to stand down.

The NewsNet also reports that  Ardan Sortek and Andrew Redburn were attacked by three DropShips of Kurita forces after arriving at Chara III (Pacifica).

Notes:  The game intro says that Minter has "a compromised comm link with House Marik; her holovids keep winding up in your hands."  While I can see a radio transmitter broadcasting on the wrong frequencies, this is a holovid presumably sent via ComStar.  Having information relevant to his search just fall into his inbox shatters all suspension of disbelief.  Seriously, my leading theory at this point is that ComStar ROM is involved and is either using selectively leaked messages to direct Ragen's activities, or are using Ragen as a training ground for ROM cadets - a field demonstration in the power of properly applied message leaks.  Somebody's pulling Ragen's strings.

The writers over and over again miss the low hanging fruit when it comes to building on the BattleTech theme and mythos.  Mercs fighting over stolen property?  What are they, street gangs trying to move a few stray pallets of germanium that fell off the back of a DropShip?  Why not say they're fighting over rumors of a hidden Star League cache?  Mercs, bandits, House Regulars, and LosTech prospectors do that all the time.
« Last Edit: 01 February 2017, 11:19:31 by Mendrugo »
"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.

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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #88 on: 01 February 2017, 12:18:14 »
Still sounds interesting, despite it flaws.  Another tidbit of info that could be used for an adventure.  Not canon-able source. : :-\
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Re: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #89 on: 01 February 2017, 13:06:14 »
Date: March 20, 3027
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel
 
Synopsis: Justin Xiang, Fuh Teng, and Tung Yuan are working on upgrades to a newly purchased Centurion when Contessa Kym Sorenson, now dating Xiang, drops by for a visit, accompanied by Gray Noton.  Xiang thanks Sorenson for the loan he used to buy the Centurion and pay for the refit.  Noton comments on the armor redistribution from the left arm to the right, and warns that the LRM rack will not be useful in the Factory arena, and warns that the fight has been fixed to ensure he loses when he faces Peter Armstrong, one of Philip Capet’s “Capellan Mafia.”  Xiang says he’s heard that, too, but will never accept any inducement to throw a fight.  Noton promises to induct Xiang into Valhalla if he wins.

That night, in Montenegro’s “Factory” arena, Xiang takes the field in his modified Centurion, named Yen-lo-wang, after the Chinese King of the Nine Hells, against Peter Armstrong in his Griffin, the Ares.  Xiang moves carefully through the debris-strewn ruin in search of Griffin, and settles into a nook to ambush his foe.  He is prepared when the Griffin inches into sight, and, rather than launching a surprise attack, announces his presence over his loudspeaker and moves to engage with his autocannon.  Armstrong invites Xiang to take his best shot, anticipating that his armor will easily shrug off the Centurion’s AC/10.

Unbeknownst to Armstrong, though, Yen-lo-wang’s autocannon has been upgraded to an AC/20 (at the expense of his LRMs – though the ports were retained for cosmetic appearances).  The cloud of projectiles tears through the Griffin’s chest armor and damages both the engine shielding and the gyro.  Armstrong’s return fire proves ineffective, and Xiang’s second volley destroys the Griffin’s PPC and destroys the engine shielding.  Xiang wills Armstrong to punch out of the crippled ‘Mech, but Armstrong dies in his cockpit as reactor plasma from the breached fusion engine vents through it.

After the match, Noton congratulates him on the victory, but warns that customizing Yen-lo-wang as an infighter only worked because of the element of surprise, and that future foes will use long range attacks against him.

Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of an angry bookie and two goons, who have come to take vengeance on Xiang for not throwing the fight.  Xiang quickly incapacitates both goons, and tells the bookie he will ruin him financially and kill him by degrees if he ever tries to fix another of his fights.  Noton chuckles, as Justin explains the beating will make the Federats angrier and drive up the value of the purses for his matches.  He frames his liaison with Kym Sorenson as achieving the same goal, but acknowledges that he has come to love her.

Together, along with Sorenson, they take Noton’s luxury car to Valhalla, which is decorated in mourning colors to commemorate Armstrong’s death.  Armstrong’s chair is shrouded in black satin.  Philip Capet (once a sergeant under Xiang in the Kittery Training Battalion, now Champion of Solaris VII), calls Xiang a coward and challenges his presence.  Justin challenges Capet, and Billy Wolfson accepts on Capet’s behalf.

Xiang, Noton, and Sorenson sit at Noton’s private alcove.  A waiter brings a bottle of fine Palos wine – reputedly the best in the Successor States - with a gift card identifying the sender as Tsen Shang, in Capellan.  Noton promises to introduce Xiang to him, and notes that Shang owns two Heavy ‘Mechs, but lacks pilots. 

Late that night, Sorenson slips out of bed and kisses Xiang (who she earlier drugged) before departing the apartment.  She drives her Hurricane aircar to an apartment tower on Bunyan Road and goes through to shake any tails, emerging from the rear and proceeding through alleys to a restaurant on Twain Street.  A speaker hidden in the cushions of her booth asks her to report, and she reports that Xiang has made contact with Tsen Shang, and that Xiang has proven susceptible to her drug – Nasodithol.  Her MIIO handler orders her to encourage Xiang’s entry into Noton’s service, and to be aware of Fuh Teng, who is a known Maskirovka agent.

Despite Sorenson’s precautions, Gray Noton successfully followed her to the rendezvous (with the help of his network of agents).  He muses that she is definitely more than a bored rich girl, and swears that her failure to fool him will cost her.

Notes:  It’s significant that, prior to writing for FASA’s BattleTech game, Michael Stackpole designed and wrote the “Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes” RPG for Flying Buffalo.  The work he did on that project is evident in his BattleTech work – which was the first to really get into storylines pitting intelligence agencies against each other.  There aren’t any private eyes in Warrior: En Garde, but there are mercenaries and spies aplenty.  At its heart, there are really two primary tales being told in the Warrior Trilogy – the rebirth of the Kell Hounds and the final resolution of the nigh-mystical conflict between Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita; and the operation by the MIIO to insert Justin into the Maskirovka and cripple the Capellan Confederation before and during the Fourth Succession War.  There are other minor plotlines, but those are the main two, and the Justin Xiang storyline is definitely a spy tale.

As usual for the style of the story, most of Justin’s opponents exist only to demonstrate how awesome the protagonist is – taking down the Griffin in a couple of volleys (honestly, who brings a long-range jumping sniper into a close-quarters arena expecting anything but disaster?) and disabling the bookie’s thugs singlehandedly without breaking a sweat.  Stackpole only allows the “level boss” to serve as any credible threat – and while Yorinaga Kurita serves that function for the Kell Hound side of the story, Gray Noton fills the role for Justin, at least in En Garde. 

This chapter features the birth of the famous Yen-lo-wang, albeit not quite as formidably as it would become in the hands of Kai Allard Liao.  Despite his expertise, it’s interesting that Noton sees the heavier autocannon, and just thinks the increased bulk means more armor plating, rather than a weapon system change.  If he has a network of agents watching Kym and other things of interest in Solaris City, why weren’t they keeping an eye on Teng Stables to see what parts they were bringing in?

Palos’ fine wines were revisited in Jihad Conspiracies, attributing them to Joyous Springs Wines, a firm that eventually became part of Chandresekhar Kurita’s vast and eclectic corporate empire. 
"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.