New and Upcoming Releases: The Ninth Circle

[Dragon Cat]

The Clans have stuck around an awful, awful long time, but I do hope one day we're back to just the five important/core factions.

I'm the complete opposite diversity is key to keeping it interesting having a lot of different people wanting different things is far more interesting than five families who want to rule it all.

You want five big factions play the Succession Wars or the Star League era but something that embraces diversity and conflict the modern storylines are far better.  At the moment a fight could literally happen anywhere in the Inner Sphere from the heart of the Federated Suns to the furthest Clan border you could fight with BattleMech, Armour or Fighter the only real thing that's missing is the big black navy ships of the Star League era though Pocket WarShip games can be fun too.

[Sartris]

the clans are settling into a place in 3150 where I had thought they should have been a century before. i think they went overboard initially with seventeen clans surviving to the invasion. it would have been better imo if a few had been rendered annihilated during klondike and 8-10 others going the way of mongoose and widowmaker by the 31st century.

[Frogfoot]

Five core/important factions? Looks to me like that'll be the Combine, the Capellans, the Wolf Empire, the Wrasslehogs and the Falcons. I'm okay with this.

[CrazyGrasshopper]

the clans are settling into a place in 3150 where I had thought they should have been a century before. i think they went overboard initially with seventeen clans surviving to the invasion. it would have been better imo if a few had been rendered annihilated during klondike and 8-10 others going the way of mongoose and widowmaker by the 31st century.

I think the canon history is fine. The reduction of the number of Clans you suggested would be a bit too large. There would not be any space left for annihilation or absorption in post-invasion era. As of the year 3150, I'd rather not see any of the remaining Clan factions dying, neither Inner Sphere ones, nor Homeworld ones (including Scorpions). Because now each of them has a lot of its own flavor.

Even with the seemingly big number of Clan factions that still exist I can't point out any of them whose mindset I could entirely accept. Though, I can say it would be the problem for almost entire BTU history.

[SCC]

At this rate, the wolves will be the only IS faction by 3150

Clan in the IS or faction in the IS, period?

[ActionButler]

The Clans have stuck around an awful, awful long time, but I do hope one day we're back to just the five important/core factions.

I don't see that happening without a reboot of some flavor.  The game can't keep adding new mechs and equipment in the name of progress but scrap all but four factions and the Ghost Bears.

An update of ISP3 (3150) would be very interesting. What happened meanwhile to the systems and space regions reported ...

I'd like to see this, too, though the rollout of Touring the Stars books have been good for my need for exploring imaginary planets. 

[Baldur Mekorig]

The Clans have stuck around an awful, awful long time, but I do hope one day we're back to just the five important/core factions.

That would be....very boring.

[Foxx Ital]

Every time you remove a faction, is like taking away a spice from my rack. Leave my paprika alone!!!

[pheonixstorm]

Well, we can always have the Sowrd and the Dragon under the rule of Victor's line. Though who knows, that may also need to include "other" possible children...

Frankly if we want more factions just take the earliest factions pre founding of the Houses from before the Age of War and set it in whatever era you prefer. That gives you dozens of factions and gives some a reason to make the clans disappear from all timelines entirely.

[Sartris]

I think the canon history is fine. The reduction of the number of Clans you suggested would be a bit too large. There would not be any space left for annihilation or absorption in post-invasion era.

exactly. the weak get eaten early and the remaining lack the ability to wipe out the others without being set upon by the others. the wars of reaving don't happen as written. maybe just the vipers get whacked. Same result, but with a culling much earlier. It would have led to this is the 90s instead of 2017:

As of the year 3150, I'd rather not see any of the remaining Clan factions dying, neither Inner Sphere ones, nor Homeworld ones (including Scorpions). Because now each of them has a lot of its own flavor.

Even with the seemingly big number of Clan factions that still exist I can't point out any of them whose mindset I could entirely accept. Though, I can say it would be the problem for almost entire BTU history.

faction bloat is faction bloat and i generally object to all of it - I was (and am) lukewarm about the NuFWL, too. the simple fact is that with limited resources, dilution leads to more generic factions. cutting down to five is a bridge too far for me, but when more choices mean the quality of all the choices suffers, I'd error on the side of fewer.

[sadlerbw]

Every time you remove a faction, is like taking away a spice from my rack. Leave my paprika alone!!!

True, but to torture your analogy, spices that sit on the shelf for too long loose their flavor! You have to at least replace them with a new jar now and again or they get stale.

All the great houses were never exactly homogeneous to start with, so while I don't know that they need to go away, maybe they need to get mixed up a bit. For instance, Andurien cozying up to the Confederation, and the Suns loosing the Draconis March to the Combine. I think those were both interesting moves, but still a little timid. Moving the Wolf EMpire to the other side of the Sphere, while contrived, was a much more bold choice and one I really like. The 'pie' of the inner sphere with the same folks fighting their same two neighbors all the time is due for a change. I mean, when was the last time the Confederation really got into a decent war with the Combine or the Lyrans? In fact, when has the confederation EVER had to fight off a clan? The superpower-of-the-month club centered on Terra is OK, but really you can't just keep doing that over and over with a new name for the faction. SOMETHING needs to happen with the map of the inner sphere so it isn't still the same pie chart it has been since the game began. The Clans did help with that, but even they really just compressed the other factions, while leaving them in generally the same place relative to each other.

I'm not sure it would be a real popular opinion, but I would like to see some of the sub-factions that make up the great houses mixed up a bit into new alliances. For example, I'd be OK with the FedSuns getting cut off from Terra so that the Combine and Confederation can finally learn to really hate each other. I'd let the wolves swallow up the whole border between the Lyrans and the Mariks, or maybe even let Marik space stay a mashup of independent factions. Let them actually be a balkanized region with a very weak ruling family that can't actually control them. Let the Bears cut off the Falcon's corridor to Terra, putting them in contact with the Lyrans, or the other way around with the Falcons getting at the Combine. Heck, get the SeaFoxes pissed at the Confederation, and have them start chewing on the Terran corridor of the Confederation.

Ok, so that got a little out of hand, but my point is really just that I would like to see an era where I can play the FedSuns, and not have to fight Liao and Kurita...again. Too often we just end up sliding back towards the 3025 Inner Sphere pie chart. Moving the Wolves and the Ravens was good. Growing the MoC and breaking up the FWL were also very interesting for me. I'd like to see more of that. I'm sure other folks will disagree, but I personally would like to see the map keep changing. I don't necessarily want MORE factions, I just want the ones we have to change enough to keep bringing new challenges and new conflicts to the table, not the same old feuds as we have always had.

[ActionButler]

I agree with sadlerbtw that the map needs to change.  The idea that Inner Sphere borders are so concrete is really difficult to accept.  Fortunately, we've seen a lot of movement in that front lately.

I absolutely don't support the magical removal of the Clans, though.  I think there were too many of them (realistically, I don't think we needed to start out with twenty.  ESPECIALLY since mist of them died without making any significant contribution to the game or the fiction), but they have been a part of the game for much longer than they haven't been part of the game. 

Getting rid of them now would be like getting rid of all of the mechs and tech  from TRO 3055 and 3058 because there is too much stuff in the game.  Mind you, there is too much stuff in the game, but getting rid of things without any believable plot device pointlessly damages the appeal of an already niche product.  Why should the Clans be excised but House Liao stick around?  Why should the FWL continunally fall apart and get stitched back together, and be allowed to stay, when the Ghost Bear/FRR union has been genuine plot development and character building?

[CungrVanck]

The Clans have stuck around an awful, awful long time, but I do hope one day we're back to just the five important/core factions.

Gotta say I disagree with this.  I started playing BattleTech in the Clan Invasion Era and it wouldn't be the same without them.  That said, if a couple more get bumped off/absorbed I won't cry.  Fully expect the Scorpions to have been conquered by now and the Home Clans may have become something completely different by 3150.  Besides, the Inner Sphere Clans are barely Clans anymore.  The Bears, Ravens, SeaFoxes and Wolves have all become something different.

But, its not just the Clans now.  You have the Canopians, Taurians and Marian nations that have added great flavor to the universe.

The era of the five great houses and only the five great houses has passed.

Personally, I would like the great houses to go through kinda what the FWL went through...a balkanization era before coming together again.  Perhaps Steiner become a member of the FWL as they lose their capital before regaining it down the road, perhaps Kurita separates into multiple warring states, perhaps Liao line ends (temporarily) and its taken over by the Centrallas and if Davion loses New Avalon and goes a bit "dark" in response...well, that's some great potential story lines.

[Jellico]

The Clans have stuck around an awful, awful long time, but I do hope one day we're back to just the five important/core factions.

The PRC, French, USSR, UK, and USA?

Down with the Hegemony!

[Foxx Ital]

Im ok as long as theres a reason for the faction going away other than "too many factions" i loved WoR because it gave story to clans that were being destroyed. Nations come and go, thats a fact, but i would rather my bears go native and become absorbed through the generations of cultural adaptation, than your clan so you gotta go.
 So much room for good story telling that we shouldn't handicap the writers on choices and options of what yo write.
Heck one of my fav things is factiins don't really die, its almost comic book level how often dead factions remnents come back from the dead to haunt those still around. It also makes the game more fun, sure the nova cats were squished for the most part, doesn't mean i can't have fun playing as a rag tag group of survivors pulling a warriors on their way to a safety.

[sadlerbw]

Im ok as long as theres a reason for the faction going away other than "too many factions"....

I'm in about the same place. I think I've come to accept that, no matter who is in charge, the planets and general cultural regions will still be there (barring some sort of super-jihad.) I'll still have my Space Vikings, whether they wear bearskins or not. Panpour will keep pumping out Gunsmiths and Sparrowhawks...and keep getting ignored by the worlds closer to Terra. I've come to be more and more OK with the idea that I like some of the pieces that make up certain great houses and clans, and as long as those slices of space still exist and have some sort of identity, I don't think I will mind as much if they band together in different ways.

That said, I won't feel slighted or sad if all the clans disappear and we go back to the five great houses and nothing else...as long as it still produces a fun game and good stories. I'd put up with killing off all of my favorite factions if it was fun and made for some great story telling. I'm willing to take whatever direction things go, as long as it ends up being fun and interesting.

[Vition2]

I would love to see the HPG network staying down, forcing central governments into smaller roles and needing to rely more heavily on the more feudal-like constructs exemplified in the earlier renditions of BattleTech.  The lack of central oversight could see a significant rise in smaller level and/or even intra-national conflicts - similar to what we see with areas of the FWL.

As far as the clans go, I'll be completely honest in saying without them, I wouldn't have gotten interested battletech.  So, imo, they very much need to stay.  With the above idea their small forces could more reasonably be considered threatening to nearby noble holdings - I do prescribe to the notion that the clans are generally more powerful than they really should be.

[klarg1]

The era of the five great houses and only the five great houses has passed.

Personally, I would like the great houses to go through kinda what the FWL went through...a balkanization era before coming together again.  Perhaps Steiner become a member of the FWL as they lose their capital before regaining it down the road, perhaps Kurita separates into multiple warring states, perhaps Liao line ends (temporarily) and its taken over by the Centrallas and if Davion loses New Avalon and goes a bit "dark" in response...well, that's some great potential story lines.

I'd go with some of that. Changing the surname of the ruling family of one of the big successor states might provide a path to mixing things up in interesting ways. The big 5 dynasties have been surprisingly stable for a long time, with only house Marik really getting shaken up in the past couple of in-Universe centuries.

[Sartris]

more Second Succession War art.



http://catalystgamelabs.tumblr.com/post/160805211021/second-succession-war-art

"Bomb Sleds always have the right-of-way" -Comstar Universal Driver's Training Manual

[Gaiiten]

All dead. Gone. Ripped from space.

Nothing to see there, anymore.

So finally the rumored giant space hamsters are approaching.

[Pat Payne]

So, we'll finally get to see just how a WarShip would fare against Woolly Rupert?

[sadlerbw]

Something looks a bit funny with the Victor, like its torso slipped and fell off the front of it's hips. No big deal though. It looks like it is about to get a serious structural rearrangement in a couple seconds anyway!

[Fletch]

What they HAVEN'T told you is that they've actually COMBINED ilClan and 2nd Succession War.  See, the Adder Collective was going to invade the Inner Sphere, but a Jumpship accident occurs, and then branching timelines, and thus we see-

*JKLantern gets thrown out of the thread.*

*logs in after 9 months* - I approve this message!

[Weirdo]

The Sword. The Dragon. The Fist. The Eagle. The Other Sword.

Hoocha hoocha hoocha!

Lobster. 8)

[ActionButler]

Something looks a bit funny with the Victor, like its torso slipped and fell off the front of it's hips. No big deal though. It looks like it is about to get a serious structural rearrangement in a couple seconds anyway!

The Victor has been one of my favorite mechs since forever, but there has always been something kind of funky about the design.  I think its the shoulders.  I never quite understood how they were supposed to work with the two tiers of angled armor.

That one definitely looks a bit off, though.  Not as off as it is about to look in the next few seconds, of course...

[SteelRaven]

The center torso is stick out so you can't see the slant of the right torso from that angle, only the right shoulder.

Looks like it shares the same angles as the original art.

edit: the upper torso on Loose's art is flat plate while the Victor in the art upper right and left torso slants.


 

[Legatus]

IIRC the Deep Periphery sections of ISP3 are regarded as being more reliable than the other books' "canon rumour" status.

After all of that nonsense with the Jihad books, I have taken everything published in that format with a few pounds of salt.  Not trying to be contrary, just definitely not my cup of tea.

[Legatus]

I'd go with some of that. Changing the surname of the ruling family of one of the big successor states might provide a path to mixing things up in interesting ways. The big 5 dynasties have been surprisingly stable for a long time, with only house Marik really getting shaken up in the past couple of in-Universe centuries.

I thought they had a great chance to do something like this after the 4th Succession War with the fall of House Liao and its replacement by a combination of Andurien, Camopus, and the Capellan remnants.  I would have found that much more interesting than a retread House Liao like we got.

[pheonixstorm]

Now that is an idea. From 3050 to 3150 the periphery states have been building up their armies and are now making claims to the old SL throne. This would be the 5th SW where the MPS actually take large swaths of territory away from the main houses. This in itself would give us at least 2 new major factions and would give the periphery states their day in the spotlight for a change ;)

[SteelRaven]

 ??? Have you been reading Star Lord again, Pheonix?

I would like to see more action from the Periphery myself, the MC has been major allies for the Cap Con for awhile now, the Raven Alliance is a military power and the Marian Hegemony has always been interesting (a easy villain the very least thanks to human trafficking)   

At the very least, they now have the resources to expand outward like before the first Reunification War.