Author Topic: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age  (Read 20634 times)

cavingjan

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #30 on: 13 July 2014, 09:08:03 »
And unless Stone was sleepwalking, it wasn't him.

DerangedShadow

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #31 on: 14 July 2014, 08:22:25 »
The answer to that one was in the very files from which Tucker Harwell got his ideas in the first place: Word of Blake had the "Clarion Note" protocol, which boils down to using a Super-HPG to cause the blackout. They explicitly described Clarion Note as a Weapon of Mass Destruction that must not be used except perhaps as a very last resort.

Tucker Harwell comes to believe Stone had something to do with the blackout because Stone, in a public speech, happened to quote passages the WoB files on Clarion Note verbatim. Tucker himself found them in some irradiated and damaged data sticks in the ruins of a destroyed HPG space station in orbit over Luyten 68-28.

To wit: The only evidence linking Stone to the blackout was him quoting parts of secret Clarion Note files in a public speech. By this time, Tucker Harwell had been a WoB prisoner and had been subject to torture, brain surgery, and dangerous levels of radiation. Not to mention having escaped from WoB shortly before, having witnessed the death of his evil sister, and being stranded hiding in the dead hulk of a destroyed orbital station.

Huh...guess I didn't think of it like that Frabby.  BLAST!!!  I guess I just got super giddy about the thought that the "hero" Devlin Stone was really just a villain in disguise.

And unless Stone was sleepwalking, it wasn't him.

Ya never know Cav...he could have had it executed while he was sleeping to throw off any suspicion about him.

False Son

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #32 on: 14 July 2014, 09:28:37 »
I hope it isn't cannon, because there are too many narrative holes in that story. 

Stone himself says he may have set up the plans.  But, he claims it wasn't him who put the plan into action.

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Why would Stone spend years building up the RotS just to destroy it? 

It is debateable that was the intention.  Fortress Republic was intended as a last ditch, all or nothing defense plan.  It seems to compliment the black out, but was initiated afterward.  Perhaps they were intended to be used together if the Republic was provoked.  We just don't know.  However, Stone is for the moment committed to preserving the Republic.  His Fortress Republic plan, like it or not, has mostly worked so far.  Emphasis on mostly.

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If the Blakists has the ability to knock out the HPG, why wait so long (instead of doing it during the Jihad (several times over)).

Similar, albeit less destructive tactics were used.  You may recall they did flood the HPG net with white noise.  That could have been WOB wanting to keep the infrastructure of the HPG net standing while disabling it.  Maybe the operative network wasn't in place to bring down the HPG the way it was in the black out.  It was more than a single identified method of disruption.  Some were brought down by virus, others by sabotage, others in ways not yet fully explained.

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I'm more in favour that it was Comstar, or one of the Splinter factions (like the Steel Wolves as an initiative to bring about the ilClan, or Banson's Raiders to gain power), or just a freak accident.

Comstar seems out.  Buhl's group certainly tried to get the net working again.  If it was Comstar it was a group outside of Buhl's or the mainstream Comstar corporate structure.  Neither of which has been able to restore the net despite fatal damage to their bottom line.

A Comstar subcontractor might be the culprit.  They would have contact with the HPGs while not being necessarily under the same scrutiny as Comstar.

But, there are theories all over about who it could be.  We might not ever known for sure in a stated, factual sense like we do with things like Thomas Marik being The Master.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2016, 10:12:01 by False Son »
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tbrminsanity

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #33 on: 14 July 2014, 12:54:38 »
Who has benefited from the Blackout?  Of those people, which groups' action are less reactive, and more proactive? 

False Son

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #34 on: 14 July 2014, 12:58:04 »
It is possbile the people that initiated it have yet to show themselves.  They may have been identified in one of the many theories, but haven't claimed responsibility.
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YingJanshi

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #35 on: 14 July 2014, 14:04:41 »
I wouldn't rule out Stone just yet. He does seem to have a Messiah Complex. Though...there always seems to be someone behind him....

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DerangedShadow

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #36 on: 14 July 2014, 14:21:08 »
Who has benefited from the Blackout?  Of those people, which groups' action are less reactive, and more proactive?

I think most of the Houses and Clans were "proactive" with the Blackout.

The Wolves and the Falcons were able to push to the Prefecture X borders and are looking for a way through to be the first clan to Terra.   The Bears, haven't done much it seems to warrant either.  The Raven Alliance, "Clan Spirit Cat"??, and Clan Sea Fox seem to be more reactive to what is going on in the Inner Sphere than anything else.  Clan Nova Cat...ya...

I think the only Proactive of the Houses were the Combine and the Confederation.  They seemed to have acted like a river to flow over everything in their path.   The Suns and Lyrans both wanted to be proactive, but bad "management" seems to have put them into more of a reactive state.  The League, they are so reactive at the moment that it seems to be nothing but luck that the reborn FWL hasn't imploded in on itself again.

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #37 on: 16 February 2016, 10:07:23 »
So I thought this was interesting.  In the Historical Wars of the Republic Era, it's mentioned that Stone and Lear were developing or mentioning some sort of Fortress-like plan, meant to cover the entire Republic, not just Prefecture X +20 planets, but they never had time or resources to dedicate to an entire Republic-wide Fortress.  This tidbit suggest that the Fortress must indeed be powered some sort of device, or devices that span actual space.

Also, supposedly there'll be a mini-product in the near future covering Operation Domnatio, the Field Manual-mentioned report.  And it's supposed to be where the Republic Fortress forces chase down whoever did cause the Blackout.  We may yet figure out who did it.

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Empyrus

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Re: Spoil me on the end of Dark Age
« Reply #38 on: 16 February 2016, 18:01:27 »
I thought it was pretty clear the Fortress is (was, since it is apparently down now per TRO3150?) a device or devices. Obviously some kind of hyperspace device that prevents jumps through it... at least for those who do not have means to by-pass it (meaning everyone but the Republic's forces). Speaking of by-passing it, i though it might be as simple as jumping next to the edge, moving through space by conventional propulsion, and then jumping again. Considering the edge is likely in middle of nowhere, it is unlikely anyone would realize to try this, especially since it is so unintuitive in the era of JumpShips. Not to mention the time it takes and somehow determining where the edge is without knowing the limits of the generator.

Logically, the Blackout is also caused by a similar device but tuned to the hyperspace comms rather than jumping. Though the HPG network was supposedly brought down by viruses, sabotage, and other such actions, i would assume that is merely a result of rumor and cover stories.
If any mundane thing was the cause for the Blackout, it would not have lasted so long across so wide space. The richest nations could have funded replacement stations (assuming old ones could not be fixed), in such situation the Blackout could have covered everything but, for example, the FedSuns and the Republic.

Tucker Harwell fixed one HPG, temporarily, and the fix didn't work again apparently. Indeed, his talk about hyperspace frequencies is telling, there's something wrong with "hyperspace" itself. (We must remember the BTU doesn't have "hyperspace" like Star Wars has, rather it is merely a term for mathematical hyperspace. The jump drive is effectively a teleport or a local wormhole generator, it doesn't go through another medium like Star Wars hyperdrive.)

I would assume the Fortress and the Blackout generators are based on the same tech like the jump drive and hyper-pulse generators are.
I think the Blackout device may have been an offensive device for the Republic use post-Fortress protocol, to disrupt enemy communications so that they could re-conquer lost territories or something like that. But the fate lead their use in reverse.

It is highly unlikely the Blackout and Fortress generators are simply one device each. The Republic in 3145 covers an asymmetrical area on a map. A Fortress-field generator presumably generates a bubble, as most fields (magnetic, gravitation, etc.) tend to be. Were there only one powerful device on Terra generating a bubble, it would likely* cover some areas that the Draconis Combine rules at the moment.
This would also explain why the entire Republic was not covered, the cost of such devices is likely massive.

*Remember 2D map of space is inherently inaccurate, there are stars "above" and "below" the zero point, something a 2D map cannot represent.


All in all, the Fortress and the Blackout are not so big mysteries, presumably they're merely extensions of Kearny-Fuchida theories, combined with advanced devices capable of manipulating the hyperspace beyond just moving through it. I mean, there's a lot people in BTU do not know about the hyperspace, this much is clear. The Blakists and some others have created super-jump drives, something thought impossible previously. And given the Succession Wars, the research into hyperspace was stagnated for a long time.

The far bigger mystery is who... and we have only hints and guesses about that.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2016, 18:04:51 by Empyrus »