The story so far?

[-Ice]

The rough idea I have is...
No clans, IS just fighting amongst themselves
Clans appear.  Oh noes!
Clans are halted, in-fighting resumes
Push back and attack Clan homeworlds
[big blank area]
Comstar/WoB goes berserk and kills practically everyone
Supposedly leading to MW: Dark Ages.

Please feel free to enlighten me how my rough story is wrong, but most importantly, are we still following this storyline?  Back when they announced MW:DA and then they said that the then-current timeline was going to lead up to MW:DA, I kinda lost interest and returned to the 3025-3050/3055 era.  So I guess what I want to know is: post 3060-ish time, what happened as far as going to MW:DA?  And if we're no longer going to MW:DA, where is the story going now?

[glitterboy2098]

The rough idea I have is...
No clans, IS just fighting amongst themselves
Clans appear.  Oh noes!
Clans are halted, in-fighting resumes
Push back and attack Clan homeworlds
[big blank area]
Comstar/WoB goes berserk and kills practically everyone
Supposedly leading to MW: Dark Ages.

Please feel free to enlighten me how my rough story is wrong, but most importantly, are we still following this storyline?  Back when they announced MW:DA and then they said that the then-current timeline was going to lead up to MW:DA, I kinda lost interest and returned to the 3025-3050/3055 era.  So I guess what I want to know is: post 3060-ish time, what happened as far as going to MW:DA?  And if we're no longer going to MW:DA, where is the story going now?

into that "big blank area" put:
Capellans exploit anti-clan conflict to reclaim/conquer St.Ives
Kathrine Steiner-davion manages to take over Davion side of the Fedcom via political wrangling
Steiner and Davion populations get tired of mistreatment by Kathrine Stainer-davion, civil war erupts.
Crusader clans exploit chaos in fedcom.
Combine radicals trigger war between Combine & Ghostbears.


and after the Jihad stuff put:
Inner sphere clans cut off from homeworlds by major war.
Free Worlds League collapses.
New state, Republic of the Sphere, created around terra.
IS adopts ROTS reform proposals to rebuild their economies quickly.
Infighting resumes with new players
3130 = 90%+ of HPG's cease to work. RotS begins to fray at the edges.
RotS breaks into internal warfare
Inner sphere infighting cranks up to 11
Multiple clans move and resettle violently closer to terra.

[Bosefius]

If you have any interest in the Clans pick up "Wars of Reaving". It details the homeworld Clans from 3060(ish) through 3085(ish). I can honestly say it's probably the best written book released for Battletech. I'm not being hyperbolic, it's really that good. Even the layout is excellent, telling stories through margin art. I'm rereading it for the first time and it's even better than the first time.

[jackpot4]

Within Blake's holy writings the Word of Blake was supposed to join the Star League and help bring the IS into a golden age.  When the Star League dissolved the WOB turned its massed forces on hidden worlds, forces build in the FWL, and others on the Great House homeworlds.  Tharkad was hit immediately, New Avalon, etc.  Pretty much holding a gun to everyone's head, telling them to reform the Star League.  The WOB was preparing to drive out the Clans and that is why their Shadow Divisions were such a horrendous threat.  They had been finding adrift ships, refitting old ones, and building new ones and prepared a massive force.  Some people don't think it rational that the WOB had such strength, I could definitely see a fanatical, super secret society working continuously to build up.  Anyway, the WOB was taking over and killing people all over the IS.  Then, Devlin Stone led a rebellion on Kittery that gained enough steam to get support from the Houses and finally build up a coalition to turn the tide and start driving the WOB back.

After this, Stone took the portion of space that was roughly a similar area to the Terran hegemony and created the Republic to be that beacon of hope that the IS no longer needed war as the WOB showed that even this far in the future, people could still succumb to power hunger and use all manners of evil to kill others.  He began disarming individual units, lords, and other small time forces.  The Houses gave a show of good faith in some instances and reduced some forces while mothballing others.  In the end, it wasn't going to last because "war...war never changes". (fallout)

The HPGs drop, everyone panics.  Industrialmechs start becoming front line units mounting missile launchers and autocannons.  The Republic fractures and the prefectures wind up splitting off toward their home factions.  Battlemechs are appearing more, they are brought out of storage, museum pieces are used in desperation.  Now, everywhere is in full fledged war.  The Wolves and Falcons dug deep into the Lyrans.  Dracs and caps are hitting FedSuns.  The Republic just brought down their wall and are about to surge out into the IS in an attempt to retake their lost worlds.

Things are about to get very exciting.

[Col Toda]

You are not alone . I have been a half dozen campaigns in which we go back to 3025-39 each time . Sometimes in mid campaign something like the Clan Invasion where are old unit was just too out of pace with the time line we start over making new characters and units . The Jihad story line had such a hackneyed plot device called Devlin Stone that it left a lot of people going back and starting again or more imaginatively  starting an alternate timeline in which Stone's achievements were done by a half a dozen Co-Belligerents against the Word of Blake . And going to the Dark Age then .  Many people do not mind the ultimate conditions and destination of the timeline and just splice in a more believable path in which an ERA end state was achieved so you can just pick up the Dark Age material and use most of it as is . You can keep a charismatic figurehead like Devlin Stone but make it look like he was more like De Gaul in WWII a symbol used to rally a coalition to take back territory being used by the movers and shakers a little more than he was using them and not having the movers and shakers being apparently uncharacteristically going against their long term national interests in an almost mind controlled manner in which the hardliners in their faction would use this capitulation as a motive to rebel . A couple of alternate history timelines that get the same end point and hardware may even get more sales . Multiple find the path campaign supplements might actually make campaigns more flexible and sustainable however it would be a titanic amount of work .

[Nastyogre]

If you have any interest in the Clans pick up "Wars of Reaving". It details the homeworld Clans from 3060(ish) through 3085(ish). I can honestly say it's probably the best written book released for Battletech. I'm not being hyperbolic, it's really that good. Even the layout is excellent, telling stories through margin art. I'm rereading it for the first time and it's even better than the first time.

I love the book but it stretches belief a bit for me. The Steel Vipers are a bit too all destroying. They seemed to be let to run amok a bit too long. The Vipers wiped out several clans but never seem to be weakened by the fighting. Sure they can capture lots of material but scores of warriors would be dying in such brutal conflicts and we know the clans don't recover that quickly from losses because the sibkos take time to mature. Faster than without the sibkos? of course. But not in the few years the wars of Reaving took place.

I'm not sure it's believable that the Society lost without gutting the homeworld clans considering they had the backing of so much of Clan Coyote, ostensibly the most powerful clan plus a large number of their own dark caste and homegrown warriors.

It's an interesting book. I love the art and the story is gripping. I just have a hard time not saying "Really? C'mon." There is so much fiat in that book it's really kind of painful.  Compare it to FedCom Civil War and you have dozens of units annihilated or folded into others. Planets scourged. Sure VSD gets the fiat he always gets personally. But the battles and destruction are believable. WoR, I just don't get that feeling.

I do agree that to understand the timeline, it is an absolutely necessary read.

[-Ice]

So WoB does go berserk but are stopped by an individual that leads a resistance force, carves out a bit of territory around Terra, peace ensues for a few decades?  Then things fall apart again and the galaxy is plunged into war again?

I love the reference to Fallout!

So we're still heading towards the MW:DA?  They've not changed this?

[Adrian Gideon]

No. We headed for, covered, and surpassed MWDA.

Here is the material leading to and covering the Dark Age, past even the point where WizKids left off.

[-Ice]

Ah, thanks for the link.  Can you confirm what years MW:DA was supposed to be at?

[rebs]

If you have any interest in the Clans pick up "Wars of Reaving". It details the homeworld Clans from 3060(ish) through 3085(ish). I can honestly say it's probably the best written book released for Battletech. I'm not being hyperbolic, it's really that good. Even the layout is excellent, telling stories through margin art. I'm rereading it for the first time and it's even better than the first time.

The third time through the Wars of Reaving reveals yet more.  Give it a year and pick it up again to see what I mean.

I'm ready to see a fourth time through, though I might push that to the winter just to make sure I give it a good run through again with plenty of indoor time to do it.

[roosterboy]

Ah, thanks for the link.  Can you confirm what years MW:DA was supposed to be at?

The MW:DA game ran from 3132 until circa 3137 or so. The novel line took it a bit further, to 3143.

[casperionx]

Ok I'm a bit behind the 8 ball, but has the storyline progressed since the Wars of Reaving?

[Lorcan Nagle]

Not for the Homeworld Clans, but there's been about 70 years of plot development past that point for the Inner Sphere

[casperionx]

i keep thinking the WoR was nearer the end of the AoD timeline, when in actual fact it was early AoD/End of the Jihad.