Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II  (Read 205697 times)

trboturtle

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #120 on: 05 February 2017, 14:19:40 »
This is a thousand years in the future, so there's certain to be some changes in the language. I suspect that Combine Japanese is different from Terrain Japanese, given that both have had little contact with each other in those centuries, and I sure there's language drift during those times. While I doubt a Terrain Japanese speaker can't understand the Combine's Japanese, I suspect that the dialect of each speaker would be noticible to the other.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #121 on: 05 February 2017, 17:43:12 »
If language drift works for you that's cool, but doesn't work as head canon for me for two reasons.

First, there's no evidence of drift in any of the Japanese we've been shown, other than names. Katana, samurai, Ryu, wakarimashita, Hai, iie, seppuku, kussotare etc. are all completely unchanged.

Second is the treatment of the Scots brogue. Bear with me a sec. As Craig points out, the people in BTech are as remote from us as we are from Chaucer. Yet we're given clear evidence (phonetic spelling etc.) That some people continue to speak in a Scottish accent. Which would be like one of us speaking Chaucerian English.

Even the Clans, who spend hundreds of years apart from the mainstream culture, return speaking a language that has only a few minor changes. So to me it looks as though language drift isn't a thing in the universe.

Anyway I feel like this discussion is kind of derailing the point of the thread, which wasn't my intention. Maybe we can make a new thread for this topic.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #122 on: 05 February 2017, 17:47:06 »
Don't worry too much about thread drift.  My favorite thing about this thread is when there's active discussion of points in the fiction under discussion.  I'm much happier seeing a debate over the merits of story elements (including inaccurate Japanese) than just shouting my analysis into the void and moving on.
"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #123 on: 05 February 2017, 19:49:50 »
Realistically, after a thousand years, ALL of the languages in Battletech would have drifted considerably from what we know today. But if you wrote the books that way, we the reader would barely understand it.

I mean, think about speaking in 2017 english to someone in 1017. They wouldn't have a clue.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #124 on: 05 February 2017, 20:25:00 »
I think the internet and mass media along with universal education will significantly reduce language drift.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #125 on: 05 February 2017, 20:37:49 »
I think the internet and mass media along with universal education will significantly reduce language drift.

Disagree. Have you listened to teenagers speak? If anything, it will increase.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #126 on: 05 February 2017, 22:06:43 »
Slang comes and goes.  The core of the language is more consistent with less drift.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #127 on: 05 February 2017, 22:41:21 »
I think I've shot my bolt as far as the name thing goes, but I'll leave one minor point.

The House Kurita handbook says military uniforms have the name "Kurita" emblazoned on them in katakana (sadly misspelled "Kurisu" in the artwork). The only time you spell a Japanese name in katakana is when you're sounding it out phonetically for someone who can't read the characters. It's like House Steiner soldiers wearing a patch that says "Stye-nurr" or House Davion wearing "Day-vee-on" (or is it Dah-vee-on?).

Why would they do that unless *most citizens couldn't read the Chinese characters for Kurita (栗田)*.

Combine this with the random names and I think you can make a good head-canon that the Japanification of Combine society has actually been pretty superficial. People have random names, they can't read Chinese characters, uniform designers don't even know how to spell Kurita, etc.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #128 on: 07 February 2017, 16:29:21 »
Date: April 20, 3027
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: In Gray Noton's alcove in Valhalla, Justin Xiang reviews combat footage from the arenas.  Reviewing one of Noton's fights, he recognizes the Rifleman that destroyed his Valkyrie on Kittery - Noton's own "Legend-Killer."

In the limousine on the way to the arena, Xiang mentions to Noton that he watched his fights in Legend-Killer, and that he lost his arm to a Rifleman on Kittery.  Justin guesses that his opponent, Billy Wolfson, chose to fight in a Rifleman in the Cathay arena (The Jungle) in the hopes of scoring a psychological victory, but predicts that the jungle terrain will make target acquisition difficult, and warns Noton not to bet against him.

In the Liao arena, Justin powers up Yen-lo-wang, now further enhanced with titanium-sheathed blades on the fingers of the left hand, echoing the carbon fiber blades used by Tsen Shang.  The match commentators note that Wolfson has never fought in a Rifleman before, but outweighs Xiang's Centurion by ten tons.  If Xiang wins the match, the Solaris VII scoring system will qualify him for a challenge against Wolfson's mentor - Philip Capet.

As the match commences, Xiang soon finds Wolfson's position and moves to attack, but finds his massive autocannon jammed and useless.  In Tsen Shang's box, Kym Sorenson is horrified, but Noton still thinks Xiang has a chance, if he uses his brain, and places additional bets on Xiang.  Xiang retreats, covering his withdrawal into the jungle with the Centurion's rear-mounted laser.

Puzzled at the lack of pursuit, Xiang switches to infrared scanners and sees that Wolfson, unfamiliar with the Rifleman's heat curve, has overtaxed the cooling system.  Xiang turns back towards his opponent and begins to circle Wolfson, using the useless autocannon arm to shield the rest of the Centurion's body.  When Xiang comes in from behind, Wolfson repeats Noton's Kittery maneuver and flips his arms backwards.  Unlike the lighter Valkyrie, however, Yen-lo-wang's armor absorbs the damage, and Xiang is able to close on Wolfson, using his titanium claws to rip through the Rifleman's paper-thin rear armor and destroy both the engine shielding and the gyrostabilizer.  The fusion engine explosion reduces Wolfson's 'Mech to a fiery puddle.

After the match, Xiang meets Noton in the dressing room, and notes that the rearward shooting tactic looks flashy, but exposes the Rifleman's weak rear armor.  Xiang asks about Kym Sorenson, but Noton says she'll catch up later, with a surprise.

At her cafe/listening post rendezvous, Sorenson reports in to the MIIO field office that she has evidence that Noton is the one who wounded Xiang, proving that he was not lying about the Kittery ambush.  She cites Noton's worries about Justin falling victim to the same arm-flipping maneuver he used on him earlier.  Her handler tells her to proceed normally, and wait for further orders, without telling Xiang.

As she leaves the cafe and retraces her route to her apartment, shadowy attackers incapacitate her and drag her into an alley.  Noton tells Xiang that the cafe is where Davion agents get their orders, according to Maskirovka station chief Tsen Shang.  Xiang demands Sorenson tell him what she was doing there.  Sorenson tries to explain, but Xiang's metal-clad slap breaks her jaw, and he angrily accuses her of having betrayed him.

One of Noton's men takes out a gun and prepares to execute Sorenson.  Xiang stops them, and instructs them to take her to the Davion embassy, with a message for Hanse Davion and Quintus Allard that he now considers himself their worst enemy.

Notes: Pretty gutsy (and/or careless) for Noton to take his championship machine on what was supposedly a deniable raid.  Especially if he has multiple Riflemen in his asset pool (as hinted in the MechWarrior Online fiction piece, "Story of the Legend-Killer").

The 3025-era Rifleman has, as we all know, many, many flaws (insane overheating, weak rear armor).  Only House Marik ever managed to make it even worse (equipping it with four one-shot AC/5s).  It's been a staple of combat in the Inner Sphere since the late Star League era.  So why would an ace MechWarrior like Wolfson be utterly unfamiliar with its performance profile?  And why would Xiang have only thought of exploiting the weak rear armor based on an anecdotal comment Dan Allard once told him about one way to beat Riflemen?

My suspicion is that the academies and other informal training options in the Inner Sphere is severely lacking in combat performance analytics (perhaps such procedures have become LosTech).  The Shrapnel story, "Painting the Town," where the Combine troopers battle mysterious pristine Marauders features one soldier who knows that pristine Marauder armor became LosTech centuries ago, but the rest were clueless.  The one know-it-all is noted as spending her free time with her head buried in technical manuals - and is an exception to the norm.  It appears that the vast majority of MechWarriors lack the intellectual curiosity to check out the specs on the kinds of equipment they might be facing, preferring to master the quirks of their centuries-old patched up war machines. 

This would strongly suggest that, despite the New Avalon Herald's enthusiastic endorsement, ComStar's Technical Readout: 3025 is not required reading for either cadets or fully fledged MechWarriors.  What's surprising, though, is that Justin falls into this category - being clueless about the Rifleman's ability to flip arms, and only knowing about its rear armor weakness anecdotally. 

This scene proves that Kym was out of the loop regarding Quintus' plan to infiltrate Justin into the Maskirovka.  He has to think fast to keep her from blowing his cover - breaking her jaw to stop her from talking.  His internal monologue, earlier, focuses on how much he loves her, yet he must have been aware that she was MIIO and that she wasn't in on his mission.  I wonder what his long-term game plan was.  Take her to Sian?  Hope she waited until he was extracted?  I wonder if the local station chief knew the plan?

Justin notes, at one point, that he's using caseless ammunition in his AC/20.  That gives him more shots per ton (a major consideration with an AC/20), but runs the risk of jamming the ammunition feed.  Clearly, the Tactical Handbook rules were based on this chapter.  On the other hand, the Tactical Handbook lists the date of introduction as 3055, so what is Yen-lo-wang doing with them in 3027?

Another interesting reveal in this scene is that Justin did not know about Noton's involvement in the Kittery raid and his maiming until now, meaning that his friendship with Noton was genuine, and not something cultivated to position himself for revenge.  (Either it was genuine, or it was cultivated to get in good with Tsen Shang.)

I had a tabletop game where we had a result similar to Justin's match.  A Wraith jumped in behind a Hitman and punched through the rear torso armor, getting a critical hit on the LRM-5 ammunition.  We thought for a bit about where the Wraith would have been when the ammo cooked off (buried elbow deep in the Hitman), and decided that the explosion would have taken the Wraith out as well.  Stackpole noted that Justin hurriedly threw Yen-lo-wang backwards to avoid that fate when the Rifleman blew.
« Last Edit: 08 February 2017, 09:51:06 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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #129 on: 07 February 2017, 18:18:05 »
Mechwarrior training is another subject where it took some time for authors to agree on how to present. Decision at Thunder Rift presents it like training for a knighthood. Young Grayson serves as an apprentice since he was yea high to a Locust. Later novels and sourcebooks made Mechwarrior training to be more like present-day army training, with classes of cadets graduating from academies.

(Side note, but holy hell did early BTech owe a big debt to Frank Herbert's Dune: noble houses, weapons masters, a desert planet, a surprise attack aided by a traitor...)

In the mechwarrior as knight model, the scene with Wolfson works for me, because training is informal and highly personal. In the context of modern military training though, I agree it's just baffling, and would indicate a very basic level of training, with nothing on familiarizing cadets on potential opponents.

The other interesting thing to note for me here is the way the Solaris "scoring system" works. Seems much more like professional boxing than NFL, NBA, MLB, World Cup soccer or any other professional sport. The champion isn't decided by a tournament or season, but by challenging the current belt-holder. (Though I feel the flavor of the Solaris box set is quite different--maybe whoever is in charge changed the rules?) That feels about right to me, as Solaris is often presented as being pretty sleazy, and pro boxing's reputation is hardly spotless.

Makes Noton's winning streak less impressive, but maybe more believable, if all he had to do was bump off the occasional challenger.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #130 on: 08 February 2017, 07:26:59 »
Insightful review.  I forgot about the caseless ammunition.  Too bad ammunition could not have different forms of caseless (experimental) that was briefly started/stopped through the years. 

I had similar event in a demo game.  Where i was using a Deva, where i managed to jump in the back arch of another player and used retractable blade and pentrated rear side so armor of someone who had ammo there.  Didn't end well for the other guy, with only my blade broken in this attack. (first time ever using it.)
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #131 on: 08 February 2017, 16:00:55 »
Date: April 24, 3027
 
Location: Tharkad

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: Melissa Steiner, in disguise as Joana Barker, calls the Meier-Star Travel agency on a holophone to book passage to New Avalon.  The clerk quotes her a 100,000 kroner price for the direct, three-week journey.  When Melissa expresses sticker shock, given her cover identity's teacher's salary, the clerk recommends the Monopole Lines Silver Eagle, which will get her to New Avalon by summer and includes sightseeing excursions on Skye, Terra, Fomalhaut, and Mallory's World.  It departs on the 26th and costs 8,500 kroner for a private room. 

The transaction is recorded on Tharkad's central computer and transmitted to Monopole's corporate computer.  A detailed analysis of "Joana Barker" is used to help Monopole arrange the flight to meet her expressed and projected needs and wants.  The data is then sent to an LIC computer for a background check, and an Immigration computer to check her innoculation history against local diseases.  During that check, hidden malware creates a copy and secretly stores it for several hours before sending it to another computer for analysis. 

The analytical computer searches through genealogical records to verify Barker's identity, and finds red flags.  It checks other databases for matches, and finds the Sweeny Todd connection.  The data is then compiled into a report and sent through various networked machines (erasing its traces as it goes), until it reaches the desktop computer on Duke Aldo Lestrade's desk. 

Lestrade reads the report and correctly surmises that Melissa is planning to travel to the Federated Suns.  He sends orders to his nephew, Enrico Lestrade, on Solaris, to make arrangements to have Melissa kidnapped from a Federated Suns world, thereby destroying the Federated Commonwealth alliance. 

That night, Andrew Redburn and Misha Auburn enjoy a romantic, candlelit dinner in her suite.  They confess their feelings for each other, and resolve to enjoy being together while they can.

Notes: While Lestrade's successful penetration of various computer networks sets up the "princess in peril" climax of this novel, the creepier thing is the nigh-Orwellian lack of data privacy evidenced by the series of events.  A private travel agency has complete access to databases containing medical history, food purchases, meals recently eaten in restaurants, food preferences, height, weight, social status, age, known interests, club affiliations, and education.  Big Archon is Watching!  Combined with the LIC's ability to cheerfully disappear their own citizens at will (unless a Heimdall operative trips up the Loki bag team), Hanse might want to be aware that he's (literally) getting in bed with a House with some disturbing attitudes towards personal liberty. 

An intriguing reference is made to all this data being stored on "Tharkad's central computer."  It seems as though, rather than having a distributed planetary Internet, they have one massive server in Tharkad City and everyone on the planet has a terminal wired into it.  (Future of the Eighties strikes again.)  This may go a  long way towards explaining the massive loss of technology, knowledge, and records during the Succession Wars.  If most colony worlds developed along similar lines, a nuke to the capital would wipe out all the data on the planet, except for what was stored locally on removable media.

At this point, it's very unclear why Lestrade hates the Federated Commonwealth alliance.  As a leading noble in Skye, wouldn't he be in favor of having an ally to hammer/distract the Combine?  He's not even the political ruler of the Isle of Skye - that's Duchess Margaret Aten.  He wants to remove the Kell Hounds from Skye and then complains that not enough is being done to protect Skye against Combine raids.  Is he angling to become the Warlord of the Skye Military District?  Or to secede and rule an independent Federation of Skye?  His motivations seem murky at this point in the story.

From the travel agent's description, the itinerary involves the Monarch-class Silver Eagle being delivered via command circuit for a good portion of its journey, then pausing for lengthy tourist excursions on four worlds.  It sounds like they plan to spend at least ten weeks in in-system transit, counting the week getting out to the Tharkad jump point and the week getting in from the New Avalon jump point.  If they spend a week touring the highlights of each world, then that's another month, putting Melissa's arrival in mid-August, which fits her July-August target arrival date. 
"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #132 on: 08 February 2017, 18:38:33 »
The way the computer system was described, it certainly sounds like a Main Frame sort of computer system.  I thought when they were describing the health of the passenger, it was submitted for sake of space travel since that usually closely monitored.  Weeks out of no where, your going want have enough medical supplies handle any particular medical needs.

Lestrade was known as very computer savy, rare skill from what my impression of the early novels.  Thus why his son's later actions of out doing him computer wise seem to be sign of equal intelligence.

I totally agree, it didn't make any sense why Lestrade was stripping his defenses in Skye.  He's almost as bad a Archon Alessandro Steiner whom came before Melissa. Taking page from Operation: Concentrated Weakness.  He hates the Combine for his maiming, i don't get it either why he was leaving his nation open to attack to lure the Combine in to undermind FedCom Treaty.  He lose alot more he would gain I'd suspect.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #133 on: 09 February 2017, 10:30:09 »
The way the computer system was described, it certainly sounds like a Main Frame sort of computer system.  I thought when they were describing the health of the passenger, it was submitted for sake of space travel since that usually closely monitored.  Weeks out of no where, your going want have enough medical supplies handle any particular medical needs.

I can appreciate the need for the data to make the passengers' cruise more comfortable and tailored to their needs.  But I don't think "Joana Barker" entered all that data on the terminal when buying her tickets - Monopole got it from what are apparently public databases with unbelievably detailed information profiles. 

On the one hand, this level of access to personal information seems somewhat Orwellian - the LIC watching everyone all the time.  Thinking it over, however, it's more likely the result of the aggressive capitalism in Lyran space.  All data has economic value, and the Lyrans pride themselves on maximizing the use of anything with economic value.  The database management firm probably pays the restaurants, stores, banks, hospitals, etc. to register all transactions and services, and then charges companies like Monople that want to use that data to microtarget customer needs.  Customers probably get a percentage point or two shaved off their bill in exchange for giving up privacy rights regarding the transaction, and we've never met a Lyran who could pass up a discount.   

Such a system would actually reward conspicuous consumption, since it would have a signaling effect and affect the algorithms the database uses to calculate your social status, granting you access into venues where social climbers could make contacts and peddle influence. 
"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #134 on: 09 February 2017, 10:33:42 »
It doesn't even have to be a discount for the consumer. I'd probably be down with that if every box of candy I got didn't have any of those ones I don't like, every hotel room had the right water pressure in the shower and type of mattress and every time I went to the store I could just look through the sizes that fit me.
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Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #135 on: 09 February 2017, 11:46:11 »
Date: April 26, 3027
 
Location: Tharkad

Title: Warrior: En Garde
 
Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: Andrew Redburn says his farewells to Ardan Sortek, Misha Auburn, and "Melissa Steiner" in the starport's VIP lounge.  Redburn promises to return and Auburn promises to wait for him, then he boards the Silver Eagle.   

Aboard the ship in his VIP suite, Andrew marvels at the palatial furnishings, noting the safety features included to accommodate zero-g conditions.  He notes that the room is equipped with a holoviewer and discs of magazines he once mentioned he liked to LIC Chancellor Simon Johnson.  He expects to enjoy the trip.

Melissa Steiner, traveling incognito as Joana Barker, is less pleased with her steerage accommodations, and actually bursts into tears over having to travel in a "rathole" with a small holovid viewer and a fold-out couch/bed, feeling she deserves better.  Fighting back the tears, she checks her privilege and recognizes the arrogance in the sentiment.  She resolves to see how her people live and endure what they do.

Up on the bridge, Captain Stefan von Breunig concludes his tour of the ship for Andrew Redburn.  He notes that the ship carries 350 passengers, more than standard - at the cost of cargo capacity.  Redburn notes that the dining area is common for all passengers, and Von Breunig responds that the seating is egalitarian, so the commoners can catch a glimpse of celebrities like Redburn.  He ofers Redburn private dining accommodations reserved for VIPs, if he so desires, but Redburn says he wouldn't want to eat with people who'd ordinarily have nothing to do with him.

Notes: So...infantry training for Melissa, huh?  I'm guessing that the Archon-Designate didn't exactly go through basic training with the other LCAF draftees, given her horrified reaction to the room's plastic paneling and shared bathroom, and her mention of it being like those "barracks she's heard about."

The emotion probably has more to do with the idea of heading off into the unknown to meet her arranged marriage partner who's twice her age, and who she met once when she was twelve.  And doing all this without the support staff she's been accustomed to (guards, retainers, servants) all her life.  Since she's only 17, she probably gets a pass...though it is a small sign of where Katherine Steiner-Davion got her entitled attitude. 

Seeing how her people live could do wonders for Melissa's outlook, which has been colored by her massively sheltered existence to date.  Imagine if she visited Pencader (as seen in "Straw Man") and saw Lyran citizens straggling through the meteor-bombed war-torn ruins of their cities, relying on bioluminescent light sources because the power grid is gone, and preyed upon by roving bandits, Marik Liberation Units, and rival noble warlords.  It would sure put her run-in with her room's "plastic with pseudocellulose veneer" paneling in perspective.

Stackpole heavily milks the "common man" approach to build Redburn into a sympathetic character - painting a picture of Davion egalitarianism as a counterpoint to Lyran social stratification.

One thing that bugged me about the description of the accommodations was that, despite the evidence of zero-g precautions, there was no reflection of the fact that "down" would shift radically during the trip.  For the Monarch, an aerodyne vessel, "down" is going to be towards the engines for most of the trip, when it is conducting in-system transits.  However, when it enters planetary gravity, down will shift towards the ship's belly.  So now, while parked on Tharkad, how are Melissa, Andrew, and the crew and passengers settling into their quarters when all the furnishings should be oriented towards the wall at this point?  Are the quarters mounted on huge floating gimbals that reorient as gravity shifts?  I would think they'd have acceleration couches for passengers to strap into during takeoff and landing, only inhabiting their quarters during transit (and brief periods of zero-g while docking with JumpShips for interstellar transit).
« Last Edit: 09 February 2017, 11:47:42 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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #136 on: 09 February 2017, 18:28:25 »
Good point about DropShip design. The BTech universe has never been entirely comfortable with space travel I think. With aerodyne DropShips, I think we're all so used to space opera conventions in Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, Firefly or whatever that it's easier for the writers just to follow those conventions rather than confuse readers with the science of how space travel would actually work.

Recharge and in-system travel times are two more aspects I think the writers never really liked. Recharge because it slows down the plot, so they have Pony Express command circuits everywhere. In-system travel because it eliminates the chance for surprise attacks, so militaries all move by pirate point, it seems.

Pity, because I think the neo-feudal concept of BTech only works if the central government has limited ability to project its power, forcing it to deputize local magnates and give them fancy titles. So slower space travel is one of the keys to the fluff of the setting. I'd give Stackpole credit here, but I know he's only doing it to set up the Styx scene later.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #137 on: 10 February 2017, 07:09:37 »
Aerodynes maintain a second drive along the bottom of the hull so that reorientation is not needed for most aerodyne dropships. I got that from Page 175 of Tech Manual.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #138 on: 10 February 2017, 08:51:36 »
Aerodynes maintain a second drive along the bottom of the hull so that reorientation is not needed for most aerodyne dropships. I got that from Page 175 of Tech Manual.

I understand that the secondary drive permits vertical take offs, so the aerodyne doesn't have to take off like the space shuttle, but there would be reorientation of "down" once the main drive kicked in, unless the aerodyne planned to travel to the jump point and back using only the secondary drive.
"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #139 on: 10 February 2017, 11:03:21 »
That is exactly what TM states. Aerodyne dropships generally use the secondary drive at 1G unless more extensive maneuvering is required. Something that is a rarity for Monarchs, aye?

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #140 on: 10 February 2017, 11:08:53 »
That is exactly what TM states. Aerodyne dropships generally use the secondary drive at 1G unless more extensive maneuvering is required. Something that is a rarity for Monarchs, aye?

Got to hand it to the authors of TM, then.  That is an elegant solution to the issue.  Most artwork shows aerodynes using the primary drive exclusively, though that could generally be ascribed to combat maneuvers.
"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #141 on: 10 February 2017, 11:56:12 »
A Monarch was used in MWDA Fortress of Lies novel.  The ship was on it's way to land on the main planet, however it was diverted to planet's airless, low gravity moon.  The ship dropped off the passengers on the moon, it used its maneuvering thrusters thrust it's nose nudge vertical and it fired it engine to take off.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #142 on: 10 February 2017, 13:52:48 »
Date: April 30, 3027
 
Location: Galatea

Title: SNES MechWarrior - Rejecting Meece's Dirty Work

Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter

Synopsis:  Herras Ragen returns from his last mission to congratulations from Larman Sholest, who tells him that Meece Yerta intercepted a holovid with some vital information.  Ragen asks Meece for the data, but refuses to pay him for it.  Angrily, Meece tells Ragen he'll be stuck on Zhada without that information.

Notes:  Given the structure of the game, it's clear that the author was at least trying to shake up the mission trigger dialogue from time to time, giving the player the option of paying Meece or not.  But the outcome seems to be the same no matter what, so the decision path is fairly inconsequential.  As long as you keep accomplishing missions, I don't think it's possible not to eventually track down all the Dark Wing members.

The high level of message intercepts severely calls into question ComStar's operational security on Galatea, assuming that my (mostly tongue in cheek) guess that ComStar is manipulating the data flow to Ragen for its own arcane purposes isn't correct.

Since Ragen seems to spend all his time in the bar, I'm starting to see the between mission interludes like episodes of Cheers.

"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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #143 on: 10 February 2017, 16:00:55 »
Date: May 1, 3027 [See Notes]
 
Location: Mesa 7

Title: Skirmish on Mesa 7

Author: Patrick Larkin
 
Type: Scenario (BattleDroids)

Synopsis: Davion scouts surveying the abandoned world of Mesa 7 discover a Wolf's Dragoon base there.  The AFFS attempts to eliminate the Dragoon garrison and claim the world for House Davion, while the Dragoons try to eliminate the scouting party and keep the base secret.

The AFFS scouts have a Wasp, three Stingers, a Phoenix Hawk, a Griffin, a Crusader, and a Warhammer.  The Dragoons have a Wasp, a Shadow Hawk, a Griffin, and a Marauder, backed by three Vedettes, two Hunters, two Scorpions, and four jeeps armed with machine guns.

Notes: Appearing in the BattleDroids rulebook, this is the earliest scenario written for the game.  Coming at least a decade before the first attempt at force balancing mechanics, it amazingly comes in fairly even, with just a 300 BV differential between the two sides. 

Date-wise, this probably could have taken place any time between six months after the start of the Dragoons' contract with the Combine and 3027.  I put it here because the overall circumstances seem similar to the BattleTech scenario "The Battle For Udibi" in the "Fox's Teeth" scenario pack, which is most probably dated to May 1, 3027. (The scenario pack dates it to 3029, but that seems to be a typo, since the raid is a tie-in to Wolves on the Border in the spring 3027 timeframe.)  Both scenarios revolve around a secret Dragoon base in the Federated Suns being discovered by Davion forces, and I agree with Frabby that the Udibi scenario may have been inspired by the BattleDroids one.

For calculating the force strengths, I used the TRO:3026-versions of the vehicles, rather than the BattleDroids stats.  I can't comment on how this would have played out using the BattleDroids rules, so I'll look at it as a BattleTech scenario. No skill ratings are provided, so I assume gunnery 4 for all pilots.

Both sides are highly mobile, with all but three of the 'Mechs having jump jets.  The Davion forces have the edge here, and should use their mobility to dodge Dragoon fire and get in among the Dragoon ranks for maximum damage.  The light 'Mechs would be ideal for overrunning the Dragoon vehicles and getting in the same hex, at which point the vehicles would be unable to fire on the 'Mech straddling them (the Hunters' LRMs would also be neutered by this tactic).  Have your units jump to maximize enemy to-hit modifiers, and wipe out the vehicle platoon first.  That will leave you with a slightly damaged 'Mech group that both outguns and can outmaneuver the Dragoon 'Mechs.

For the Dragoons, I'd recommend moving to seize the best cover available (heavy woods, if you can find it) and focus on whatever AFFS forces you can hit - letting the trees give you the same advantage the Davion 'Mechs are getting from jump-jetting around.  If the Warhammer exposes itself, concentrate your fire and bring it down - it's the biggest threat on the board.  Keep the tanks together.  If an AFFS jumper tries to overrun the Hunters, the other tanks can bring their autocannons and machine guns to bear on the interloper.

It would be entirely consistent with the Dragoon mission protocol to find and reactivate old SLDF outposts in uninhabited systems and use them as staging bases for strikes against their enemies.  This may explain how the Black Widows and other Dragoon elements were able to raid so deep and so long into the Draconis March - they had skeleton crews garrisoning staging bases (reactivated SLDF facilities) on worlds identified in Clan archives.  Notably, Cranston Snord's original mandate was to scout out and assess these sites to see which were still viable, and communicate that to the Dragoons.  Mesa 7 was probably on his itinerary. 

No system named "Mesa" ever appears on any starmap (not counting "Mesa Verde" or "Mesartim" - the two closest hits), so it was probably just a SLDF staging base or fallback position.  Given its location (presumably in the Draconis March), it may last have seen action during Operation SMOTHER before being stripped and abandoned during Operation EXODUS.  Another possibility is that Mesa 7 was an Amaris fallback position (like the one seen in "Last Stop" and inferred to have been built throughout the Terran Hegemony and Rim Worlds Republic).  The Exodus Fleet captured a full list of those locations in "Last Stop," so they could have been on Snord's checklist as well.  (If the Dragoons had been there for "some time," they may even have set it up during their initial Davion contract, leaving Snord to pave the way only on the Marik/Steiner border region.

One wonders how many stars are listed as "uninhabited" on the charts within the territory claimed by the Great Houses, just waiting for LosTech prospectors to come seeking just such SLDF/RWR bases?   
« Last Edit: 10 February 2017, 16:04:00 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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #144 on: 10 February 2017, 23:05:20 »
Sorry to drone on about this kind question.
Is BattleDrone scenario considered to be a canon even or its has too many issues to qualify as canon recognized event?
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #145 on: 10 February 2017, 23:09:53 »
Sorry to drone on about this kind question.
Is BattleDrone scenario considered to be a canon even or its has too many issues to qualify as canon recognized event?

I generally take any published item from the line to be canon unless it conflicts directly with other, better established, canon events.  The scenarios from the Northwind Highlanders scenario pack are generally the worst offenders in terms of canon conflict - primarily due to using anachronistic equipment in historical scenarios.  If you assume that Mesa 7 was an outpost world in an uninhabited system, there's nothing in the writeup that feels out of place in the established timeline.

Various other sources name Federated Suns worlds that don't appear on any map - Ral, Hamlin, Dragon's Field, New Cleveland, New Boston, Newbraska, etc., so I've got no problem with adding Mesa 7 to the list.
« Last Edit: 10 February 2017, 23:11:26 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: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #146 on: 11 February 2017, 01:44:11 »
That, and the HBS game giving us the whole Aurigan Reach periphery area that somehow remained below the radar; the newly published Stackpole novel Heir Apparent is set on Maledive(s) and portrays it as a more or less pleasant garden world with some 300 million inhabitants and (semi-)regular off-worlds travel including hired mercenaries. Granted, the world's ongoing gradual decline is repeatedly mentioned, but that only means it was an even better place before, right up there with average inner sphere worlds and way surpassing the Davion outback worlds, for example.

It remains to be seen if the whole setup is declared fully canonical in the end as was intended, according to Randall; but at the very least it's official and thus at least apocryphal.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #147 on: 13 February 2017, 00:54:57 »
It's odd, though, that membership in a star-spanning political entity is defined primarily by race. <snip> Capellan worlds are just a ethnically diverse as those of other states, with Poles, Spaniards, Malaysians, Russians, and Scots mixed in with Han Chinese and a pile of other ethnic groups.
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.”
<snip>
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.
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.

If "Capellan" is a dialect of Chinese (presumably centered on Capella or Liao), does that imply there's a "New Cantonese" dialect centered on New Canton? If the "Capellan" language were impressed on the whole Confederation from the top down, rather than growing organically from the bottom up, I imagine it would've been implemented by the Sundermann Liaos along with other compulsory elements of Confederation life. The centralized government and thorough indoctrination probably accounts for some of the Confederation's seeming homogeny.

The Capellan zone is ethnically diverse, and the carpetbagging Capellan Marchers are also ethnically diverse, but the fact that they're both diverse doesn't mean that any given ethnicity would be equally common in both places.

To be fair, I don't think Stackpole does much with the ethnic diversity of any of the Successor States.

Being as unfamiliar with Japanese as I am, I would've assumed "Torinaga" was meant to be Toranaga. Are the other names - Ikia, Noshia, Katuzi Noritoga, Shotugama or Utsonomiya - also plausible as mispellings? I'd generally prefer to read translation errors as a mistake by the author rather than something that's present in-universe, but the notion that Lord Kurita's subjects are really bad at Japanese is a funny and fitting one.

(I would've thought "House Chris" would be an injoke... maybe some anime character? Or C.R. Green, who contributed to the House Marik, Liao and Davion books, and was an editorial assistant on those and DS&JS and the The Galtor Campaign?)

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.
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.
And my head a'splode.  Simon Johnson's top secret briefing, in which he mentions that only a handful of people know about the secret marriage clause, and charges Andrew Redburn with delivering Melissa to New Avalon under conditions of utmost secrecy...has just been broadcast in the open on NewsNet.

I expect Galatea would be a traffic hub for that region of space. If Club Zero Zero were at one of Galatea's jump points (I realize that's unlikely), and if Herras owned a high-G shuttle just big enough to carry his 'Mech (which would explain why he doesn't travel with any other MechWarriors), then he might be able to do missions within two jumps just by hitching along with normal traffic. Alternatively, we could take the rapid turnaround as an abstraction of having multiple missions on the same world, in the same star system, or strung out along an out-and-back jump route.

The Dark Wing members seem to be operating on or about Galatea, and presumably have been for the last decade. Perhaps that makes it less surprising that one or more of Herras' Galatean acquaintances (whether paid or unpaid) would know of them.

Connecting the mercenary uprisings with Matabushi's Operation INROAD is neat, and suggests the other mercenary events are associated too- the cache of stolen goods could be one of Matabushi's vaults or something the Dark Wing hid when they went to ground, and the "mercenary infighting" could be part of the falling out between members of Dark Wing or maybe between the old Dark Wing and Matabushi.

In light of the mission to make contact with and assist MIIO's Solaris VII branch, I like your earlier suggestion that Cearle is Herras' MIIO handler. I doubt ComStar is involved; they shouldn't know any more about Simon Johnson's secret briefing than anyone else does. That news item could just as well have been fabricated as a ploy by SAFE, perhaps in response to discovering a tap on their Galatean agent's communications.

You're probably right about Yerg Gantor using Roden to aim Herras at the other members of Dark Wing. (How's this for a lark: Agent Lana Mann and Tasha are the same person, originally employed by Yerg Gantor to sabotage agent Kearny's operation against Matabushi, and now using Herras to tie up loose ends.)

Got to hand it to the authors of TM, then.  That is an elegant solution to the issue. Most artwork shows aerodynes using the primary drive exclusively, though that could generally be ascribed to combat maneuvers.
Circa 3025, the Free Worlds League has 12 Aerospace Fleets consisting of 3-6 JumpShips and 10-15 DropShips each, with integral aerospace fighter complements.  I would presume the Lyrans, being more powerful, would have more - perhaps 15-20 fleets of comparable size. 

The Monarch entry in DS&JS talks about the belly drive too, but it doesn't call the transit drives "secondary" and the atmospheric manuevering drive "primary. ;)

Staying with DS&JS a moment, you mentioned a while ago that DS&JS and the SLSB give different dates for the Mammoth and Behemoth; the easy solution is that Krester's yards aren't known to have survived the war with Amaris. The Behemoth's 2782 date associates it with the SLDF Exodus, so Kerensky may have shared the design with House shipyards. My theory for the Mammoth is that Ceres Metals resurrected it in Capellan space, and then lost a couple shipyards to Davion and Marik encroachment.

Per the '87 House book, the FWL retains a reputation as the Inner Sphere's "gateway to the stars," so I'd expect the Lyrans to have less naval power than the FWL. I like your idea that the Combine would have 25 fleets - I would guess 2-4 JumpShips each.

Quote
"after all, there was no current state of war between Luthien and Tharkad."  So, did Takashi acknowledge Katrina Steiner as First Lord when nobody was looking?  Or has the Third Succession War been officially declared "done" by Autumn 3026, placing this local conflict firmly in the mayfly-duration interbellum period between the Third and Fourth Succession Wars?

Technically, I don't think the "Third" Succession War lasts to 3025; I think the original idea was that it ended long ago, and the people of the Inner Sphere simply stopped bothering to number the conflicts which followed. The latest interbellum (referring to major pushes, not regimental cattle raiding) would have have started with the signing of the FedCom Accords and the Kapteyn Accords in 3020-3022.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #148 on: 13 February 2017, 01:52:53 »
The official stance is that the 3rd Succession War "ended" in 3025, but TPTB could never point to any particular event to link this to.
It's often said it had petered out; but a number of high-profile battles took place at the very end still: The Galtor campaign, Ricol's expansion into the Commonwealth, or whenever Marik decided to begin that mercenary war against Liao that saw the GDL conquer Sirius in early 3028.

If pressed for an explanation, I'd think that the polarization of the Houses into the FedCom and the Kapteyn powers must have been declared the end of the 3rd by historians. It is the only event (for lack of a better word) that really changed the status quo. But it's still hard to link that to the specific year 3025. Perhaps it was the year people realized that something had really changed.

Edit: M'okay, thought about this some more.
It could be argued that 2025 was the year that all official attemps among the Houses at conquest finally ended (namely, Ricol had been stymied by on Trellwan and Davion retook Redfield and Stein's Folly from Liao), thereby it could be said there was no Succession War going on anymore: After 3025 up until the wedding, I'm not aware of any battles that sought to expand territory or take territory away from another faction. Instead, the other notable military actions in that timeframe were raids, and didn't aim for conquest. (McCarron's Long March and the actions along the Kurita/Davion border) The only possible exception here would be Marik's mercenary war against Liao, but this was a clandestine war with deniable asset between two officially allied powers so it can be glossed over I guess.
Also, the Operation Galahad exercises in 3026 and 3027 could be used to argue that while raids and wargames were going on, the actual war had grown cold.

The only ongoing offensive that probably aimed to take worlds was the 5th Sword of Light's attacks on Davion border worlds such as Ozawa in 3026. Will have to re-check the Sorenson's Sabres sourcebook on that. But if it can somehow be construed that they didn't conquer territory then my point stands.

Edit 2: Reading up on the timeline in the Sorenson's Sabres scenario book (p. 13), the 5th Sword of Light launched attacks against Ozawa, Quinn, Towne, Glenmora, Quentin, Udibi, and Errai between August 3025 and October 3026 because of "increased pressure" from the Federated Suns and additional forces along the border suggesting a possible full-scale offensive. In reality, that would probably be the Galahad '26 maneuvers. It was neither Davion continuing the 3rd Succession War, nor was there a coordinated Kurita counter-offensive. It was merely the 5th Sword of Light tasked with raids to keep Davion off-balance. For a genuine offensive, Kurita would have mobilized more than just one regiment, and it's also noted how the 5th got more empty promises than actual supplies for the mission.

So the year 3025 does indeed mark the end of the 3rd Succession War in the sense of a war of conquest.
The last offensives have played out and all sides are now merely raiding across their borders, but have given up on pursuing the 3rd Succession War. (Because Davion and Steiner have a new idea and are preparing for the 4th, of course. But still, there's an actual discernible interbellum period between 3026 and mid-3028 where the largest actions are border raids and the Galahad maneuvers.)
« Last Edit: 13 February 2017, 06:46:42 by Frabby »
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #149 on: 13 February 2017, 04:07:12 »
Being as unfamiliar with Japanese as I am, I would've assumed "Torinaga" was meant to be Toranaga. Are the other names - Ikia, Noshia, Katuzi Noritoga, Shotugama or Utsonomiya - also plausible as mispellings? I'd generally prefer to read translation errors as a mistake by the author rather than something that's present in-universe.

Utsonomiya isn't bad (Utsunomiya) but the others are pretty far off.

I think I mentioned near the start of the conversation that the real reason is likely ignorance and/or error. The challenge was to come up with a way of plausibly explaining it in-universe.

On Frabby's point, I thought the Long March was 3022-23 or so? I like his point about giving up on trying to capture territory. Wouldn't that make the Galtor campaign the final act of the Third War or have I got my dates wrong again?
Author, "Inverted" (Shrapnel #4), "Undefeated" (#10), "Reversal of Fortunes" (#13) and "The Alexandria Job" (#15)

 

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