Best Era

[Gray_Noton_4lfe]

What Eras do you think did well

[17thRecon]

1st: Succession Wars: all IS, all the time.
2nd: Ilkhan: The future is bright.

[thedancingjoker]

1st Clan Invasion, this was my introduction to the setting so I will always love it and think of it as the "Default" setting.
2nd: Ilclan, I'm quite happy with the new lore in general, even if I'm sad about the dissapearance of a few of my favorite factions (Wolf-in-Exile and Comstar), but I must admit I like playing with all the shiny new toys.
3rd: Succession wars.  I know we could only select 2, but my 3rd choice would have been this, While I like clan stuff I can really appreciate the setting before the clans arrived.

[SpaceCowboy1701]

Depends on your definition of failure, really ... I think several of these were hurt by real-world circumstances (Jihad, Dark Age, Star League) ... Dark Age was successful on some levels, putting millions of plastic minis out over the span of about seven years or so and moving the Universe forward, but turned off a lot of the core players for reasons discussed on another thread. The Jihad era rolled out during the post-FASA era and was, at least from my perspective at the time, hard to follow, particularly since there were no supporting novels. Plus, we more or less already knew how it ended ... The Star League push also had the disadvantage of not having lengthy fiction support. I had played Battletech and the Mechwarrior RPG briefly in the mid-nineties, then got into the PC Mercenaries game in 2000 or so, and then the Dark Age clix game and Mechassault (my little girls LOVED that game), only to climb back into the original game with the advent of plastic minis.  I feel the "strongest" or "most successful" eras are the Succession Wars, Clan Invasion, and (late) Dark Age / ilClan at this point.

[GRUD]

I Voted before reading! 

I voted for MY Personal Favorites, though there isn't any One "Best" Era! 


I Prefer SL/Succession Wars (3025), because I started playing in '86 and started with 3025.  I HAVE come to enjoy and even LOVE some of the newer toys though.  And I could care less about what Era other people play, and I don't look down on anyone for choosing something that THEY enjoy. 

[Shin_Fenris]

Jihad/Wars of Reaving era. Everyone that thinks otherwise is objectively incorrect.

I kid. But it's still IMHO the best and only "failed" because there was already an established predetermined outcome that the writing had to build into, plus not enough fiction support & too many people didn't seem to like the sourcebook format.

Not trying to debate the pros and cons of the approach. Just looking forward to more high quality Jihad/WoR fiction to follow Herb's -fantastic- Jardine stories.

[I am Belch II]

I dont know enough about the IlClan but I want to know more.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

My favorite eras to play in are the War of 3039 and the Third Hidden War. I think both of them have a good spread of technology and a fun hook. 3039 has the prototype Star League tech where you swap out limited amounts of existing gear, and 3HW has everyone pretending to be pirates and war criming all over each other.

[Swankmotron]

I'm having so much fun in the ilClan era, and the more I dive into other eras of BattleTech, it feels very much like the best of all of them. Yes, there are some factions or units missing, but there are capable stand-ins in many ways. They might be different but they're there.

And it's just a blast to get to work in it. I've written in some other eras, but ilClan is just where I think the best storytelling is to be had.

[House Davie Merc]

Succession wars 1st with Clan Invasion second.

If war of 3039 was it's own choice or Age of War I may have to reconsider my 2nd choice.

To this day I'm of the belief that the OG Succession wars era games were for the most part
more balanced from a gaming standpoint than any of the other eras tech.
That's why I chose Succession Wars  1st.
I still wish they made more variants of existing mechs for the era mostly to fix the mechs
that were effected by early rules changes.

[Prospernia]

Whatabout the Terran-Hegemony or the first Age of War?  The foundations of the great houses were also interesting.

1st: Succession Wars: all IS, all the time.
2nd: Ilkhan: The future is bright.

I agree; it's time for the Ilkhan to meet aliens.

[ActionButler]

Clan Invasion, Succession Wars, big gap, Civil War, possibly ilClan.

[Stormy]

Pre-4th Succession War and ilClan for me. Clan Invasion is fine, but it felt like power creep at the time to my teenage self and if I’m going to play with “new” toys, I’d rather play with all of them.

[VanVelding]

I prefer the SW and Clan Invasion eras for the simplicity of the tech and the focus of the story. I like fewer techs w/the environments they create and a few spine novels with some peripheral stories exploring other aspects of the era.

The Jihad was a cool way to press a big reset button on the setting. The Republic and Star League eras were both flyover eras that are worth exploring a bit. I still don't believe a 5 five year war that was the result of the political fallout from the Clan Invasion and the prelude to The Jihad counts as an era of its own.

That said, I don't believe any era 'failed.' The ilClan is the first era to stand on its own as an era. It's the first one after the Clan Invasion to present a storyline told by Battletech on its own terms, instead of being rushed or backfilled due to external factors. I don't know if it will turn out good--I don't even know the metric for determining that--but I'm interested in seeing what's coming.

[tassa_kay]

I'm amused, yet not at all surprised, that so many answers here defaulted to "the era I personally like best" as opposed to answers to the actual question that was posed.

Obviously the Succession Wars era did the best, because not only did it put BattleTech on the map to begin with, but it remains the most popular era for people to play in to this day by a very large margin. I'd probably put the Clan Invasion as the second most successful.

I also don't think any era of BattleTech "failed" per se. Despite the ad nauseum complaints from a lot of the vets at the time it was unfolding, the Dark Age did keep BattleTech alive and afloat post-FASA, and there seems to be quite a bit of excitement and engagement in the ilClan era.

The weakest link so far seems to be the Jihad era, and that solely because of the circumstances of it being backfill and everything that entailed.

[worktroll]

How does one decide an 'actual best' except by how much one likes it?

And for me, it's 'the one I'm playing/painting right now'. Love them all.

[DevianID]

I think the Jihad is just neat.  Lots of tech, lots of fighting, lots of bad guys, and it has a distinct feel for many of the factions still.

The Clan invasion is fun, but IMHO its too big of an era to the point it loses its identity.  The early clan invasion, ending with tukayyid, is just so different from the late clan invasion with operation bulldog and such.  I would much rather the very short 'Fedcom civil war' era included operation bulldog and task force serpent as an identity... Era 'Rise and fall of the second star league.'  Like for 'clan invasion' if someone shows up with a black watch and a bunch of clan tech, pulled from their inner sphere roster, when I was expecting a clan v inner sphere invasion themed game, the clash is too much.  The early clan invasion mechs have that 'rush to patch/upgrade' unique feel that sets the early CI apart, but when taken as a whole the entire early inner sphere mechs are tossed out for the 3058+ versions with no flaws (and no era identity).  The jump from the 3049 grasshopper to the same era Penetrator in 3053 is like night and day.

Jihad however has the most interesting faction identity I think.  Ilclan is getting there, with hinterlands and such, but all the factions are in such crazy flux right now there isn't much of a unifying identity with many of the factions just due to uncertainty and rapid changes.  Like, what Jade Falcon faction is the 'Ilclan' faction with the unique flavored faction mechs?

[SCC]

I dont know enough about the IlClan but I want to know more.

CGL thinks that the Republic being conquered by the Clans signals a new Era, despite the fact that most people in-universe don't know about it and it doesn't change any ongoing conflicts.

[Col Toda]

Star League except for the Reunification war was a little flat that equates to fail for me  .

Succession Wars was more about salvaging and preservation than fighting. Save what to do with retro tech and using advanced tech as fuel cell combat vehicle engine so all units used hydrogen for fuel even if it ment smaller operational radius made sense logistically. 

 Clan ERA a time of great experimentation and refining tactical doctrine with the introduction of the Clan tech base and the Inner Sphere attempts to reverse engineer as much as possible.

The Jihaad was to put the new tactical doctrines to use and learn how to apply 99 percent of the technology.

The Republic Age has the Ghost Bear Dominion and Draconis combine war and the Republic conflicts with the Cappellen Confederation.  Which I might add wasn't even on the list .

 The Dark Age had the remaining balance 1 percent of tech introduced but implemented very badly

The Il Khan is the jockeying for the next status quo happens. 
 . The main difference is tech quality.  I needed elite techs for mix tech  during the Clan  ERA , Veteran techs during the The Republic ERA and regular techs by the Dark Age. 

[ActionButler]

Lots of tech

I generally prefer the idea of playing in whatever the latest era is, but if it is an issue of "best", the tech bloat of the more recent eras is why I opted for the Invasion and the Succession Wars as my picks. I get that a huge chunk of our happy family loves having new toys to play with, but I continue to believe that there is an advantage in limiting the tech base to something more restrictive than "all of the things ever made by anyone anywhere at any time".

Of course, since I'm mainly an Alpha Strike player, a lot of that tech bloat is a non-issue (another win for FasterTech, IMO), but there's still the metric ton of available mechs and variants to sift through.

[VanVelding]

Like for 'clan invasion' if someone shows up with a black watch and a bunch of clan tech, pulled from their inner sphere roster, when I was expecting a clan v inner sphere invasion themed game, the clash is too much.  The early clan invasion mechs have that 'rush to patch/upgrade' unique feel that sets the early CI apart, but when taken as a whole the entire early inner sphere mechs are tossed out for the 3058+ versions with no flaws (and no era identity).

As someone who likes The Clan Invasion era, you are very correct.

My (unreliable) perception of it is that the story was best told at a certain pace, but tech and new 'mechs needed to sell at a slightly faster pace. So we got an accordion compression of techs and units before the era's story could be told. The Jihad is much better at that because the story of the era and the techs and units in it were all told in retrospect. And the same applies to The Dark Age, to some extent.

I do wonder if there's a better way to match up the speeds at which tech/machines come out and the rate at which story comes out. I'm very interested in how the ilClan era plays out.

[SteelRaven]

I played every era but SL. Every era is good with the right scenarios, I honestly hated SW for a short time because some lazy scenarios reprints that replaced, at the time, unseen mechs with mechs of same weight class but lesser performance making those games a slog. It's all about finding what's fun and I think that can get lost in the army building.

[Starfury]

Jihad and ilClan, then Dark Age.
I played through the Succession Wars and Clan Invasion era from 1988 to 2001, and that was enough.  I see no need to constantly fight the same 5 wars year in and year out due to nostalgia. 
The Jihad is chaotic, vital and finally leads to a destructive crescendo with one of the worst villains to appear in BT canon.  The Dark Age and ilClan era introduce actual defensive technologies, mixed technology units, true combined arms and the Periphery gains a ton of upgrades.

The Fedcom Civil War is, IMO, the worst part of Battletech. Marik gets left on life support, Kurita gets to fight the Ghost Bears and renegade Davion, and Liao reunites itself with it's other half and then takes an extended 4 year nap.  In the meantime we get a bunch of novels about how this Steiner gets beaten by this Davion commander with the power of friendship. Pass.

[17thRecon]

1st: Succession Wars: all IS, all the time.
2nd: Ilkhan: The future is bright.

I’ll clarify (and pretend my original answer was made after fully reading the original post and answering the question as asked 😜). I’d say the SW was most successful because that was the original game and what created the long-standing fan base that continues to love the game. In the late 80s, early 90s, Battletech had this special niche between typical fantasy rpgs and war games and the 40K stuff on the other end of the spectrum. Now, personal preference aside, the Clan Invasion and aftermath was probably “more successful” and a lot of things kicked into high gear during this time, such as the sourcebooks and fiction, but I still think a lot of the groundwork for that success was paved by the original SW era game, sourcebooks and fiction.

With that said, I have to say IlClan has been the most successful of all. I’ve never seen Battletech as mainstream as having designated end caps at Barnes & Nobles. Three super successful Kickstarters, and some of the most impressive products I’ve ever seen Battletech rolling out. The plastic mechs and vehicles just blow me away in the quality and price point, and the company itself seems to be thriving. I was just a hanger on during the Civil War, thought Battletech was dead until the Click-Tech/Dark Age stuff, which I didn’t think was horrible, just not Battletech as I knew it, and then it started to push forward again and I was keeping an eye, just for nostalgia’s sake, until a year or two ago, I’m in Barnes & Noble and see this box of plastic Mechs that said Wolf’s Dragoons Force Pack, that had an Annihilator in it (a personal favorite), and I start checking back in on Battletech and my mind was blown (this was basically right after the Clan Invassion Kickstarter). Now I’ve caught back up with most of the fiction and have about two regiments, a Comstar level III, and a small Clan Touman of plastic Mechs awaiting paint (soon, someday soon, I swear) and about the same amount currently on a boat heading my way by Juneish, the last I heard.

So, long story short, IlClan era has made it possible for me to get back into Battletech and enjoy any of those above eras to the fullest, and I think that would apply to pulling in new players as well. The game seems so much more accessible right now than it ever has, which I think is a great thing.

[Weirdo]

For me, definitely the Jihad and Dark Age eras. Both had a major emphasis on combined-arms play, as well as an extremely wide spread of featured technology ranging from primitive and industrial mechs all the way up to units fielding tech that would boggle the minds of even the Invading Clans of 3050. It's no wonder the main TROs is that era are among absolute best books of their kind ever produced in all of Battletech.

On the lore front, the Jihad gave us some of the best villains in the timeline in the form of the Word of Blake, while the Dark Age gave us ISP3, and within the absolute pinnacle of Goliath Scription development.

[Colonial13]

I'm legit surprised by how many votes the ilClan era has.

[butchbird]

Battletech is in upswing, lots of new players and the current era is ilclan. I'd bet in a lot of cases, the favorite era is the one you were introduced to.

Succession wars for me, bar none (voted too fast, not realizing you could pick two options, says it all). The heat scale, the characters, the setting the system and core concepts were intended  for, and a fair chunk of my childhood "imaginary world".
Dont know what I would've picked as second choice between clan invasion, FCCW and the jihad...lore wise, I personnaly don't really diferrenciate, most of the cast is the same, there wasn't the same clear "passing of the torch" as between SW and CI...game wise, the older stuff is still revelant in Jihad era...but then I've never played table top beyond the 3067 toys.

Something I'd be interested in as far as era's are concerned is more "Age of War" (the gritty, no holds bared, part as far as table top is concerned). Perhaps the day TPTB revisits capital ship combat and planetary bombardments? Can't really imagine a greater delving into the AoW whitout table top big ship space combat making a push. Perhaps something manageable for Inner Sphere In Flames at the same time? Lord knows I've wasted time looking at the force tables in the old brush wars sourcebook and looking at the rules, but I can't imagine anything less then a group of dedicated BT addicts playing that. A box set to enable your planetary annihlation fantasys perhaps, so as to facilitate the process? Now I'm dreaming in color.

[SteelRaven]

Battletech is in upswing, lots of new players and the current era is ilclan. I'd bet in a lot of cases, the favorite era is the one you were introduced to.

How much love I have for the Invasion era, true enough. I never want to be stuck in era through, may have played more SW era games at this point and really looking forward to introducing some of my friends to the post FedCom Civil War stuff (they only followed the lore via the PC games at this point)

[Church14]

Most successful / best is a weird metric. Too vague.

If we’re talking narrative quality and the ability to grab you, then I’d put Clan Invasion in first and ilClan in second. I do so with the caveat that ilClan is hampered by it being so new. We haven’t seen enough of the plot yet, but the bulk of the groundwork laid is excellent.

In terms of IRL financial success or product quality while that era is the main era, then hands down the ilClan era is absolutely dominant. 

[Cannonshop]

"Best", "Failure", "Worst".

These are subjective descriptors and even with the power of Bandwagon^tm, they're STILL subjective.

Clan invasion era had novels that were on the NYT bestseller list, and some of those were even good.

Dark Age and FCCW basically rolled out at about the same time, and ran simultaneously for several years. 

Jihad? Not much novel ink because of IP issues, but pretty good source books and kept catalyst alive.

Battletech has outlived two IP holders, including the company that debuted it.

Do I agree with all the editorial decisions? no.

but over-all, they've been right and I've been wrong, when it comes to doing what is needed to keep the property afloat and going.

There is no 'Best', except to you-that is, there is no 'best' except the feeling of each fan.  it's like asking which Star Trek show is 'Best'.

You're going to get a lot of answers, and some of them will be repeating each other to feel included, or to feel 'unique'.

but the fact is, it's all subjective.  They all have things going for them.  Which things? what things? depends entirely on who is answering the question, because it's THEIR opinion.