Author Topic: Why are you fan of a given faction?  (Read 9131 times)

SteveRestless

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #30 on: 13 February 2019, 17:41:28 »
The Clans as a whole, and in particular Clan Wolf in all its forms.

Some, but not all reasons:

There is no Space America. The Clans are one of the most direct descendants of the Terran Hegemony. Therefore, the Clans are one of my options for "next best thing"

Feudalism does nothing to excite me.

I'm a big fan of the "numerically inferior, technologically superior" factions. This goes way beyond Battletech.

I started with Mechwarrior 2.

The clans are biologically human, they are compatible with other humans, but they have evolved an interesting culture that makes them different from the bulk of inner sphere humanity.

I like warrior cultures.

I like the particular way that the clans operate. Things that make a good soldier, but not a good warrior, tend to bore me. I enjoy being a prolific, glorious warrior, even if a soldier might be tactically superior. I like ritualized combat trials for everything, the way they completely turn intimate acts into something else, the idea that the warrrior caste is made of mass produced humans who fight so the other castes dont.

I like Omnimechs and Battle Armor.

In a game that's about war, you get more games out of a faction who is looking for reasons to fight rather than excuses for peace.


So, why Clan Wolf?

I like the Timber Wolf.

I really like the Timber Wolf.

I also like the Warwolf, Dire Wolf, Tomahawk/II and Wulfen. Even grown fond of the Gargoyle and the Linebacker.

As a younger player I was big on the Warden cause because I saw them as the good guys, and the Wolves were at one time Warden, Exiles still are. As I've aged, I've come to relate better to the Crusader position, and there are plenty of Wolf Crusaders.

I'm a sucker for canines. Wolves. Dogs. Coyotes.

Mechwarrior 2.

I have a definite tendency to root for and bond with perspective characters that are agreeable to me. The Wolves have been prominent early in the clan storyline.

I like the Wolves generally lax grasp on the lower castes.

Timber. Wolf.

The Wolves seem to be, in many ways, a very... Base Template clan. You can say the Ravens are the Aero clan, the Horses are the Armor clan. The Hellions the crazy speedster clan. The Sharks/Foxes are the merchant clan. But as two of the first we were exposed to, the Wolves and Jade Falcons seem very much as establishing the baseline for what the clans are like. and I like that. You can dabble in nearly anything.

Шонхорын хурдаар хурцлан давшъя, Чонын зоригоор асан дүрэлзэье, Тэнхээт морьдын туурайгаар нүргэе, Тамгат Чингисийн ухаанаар даръя | Let’s go faster than a falcon, Let’s burn with the wolf’s courage, Let’s roar with the hooves of strong horses, Let’s go with the wisdom of Tamgat Genghis - The Hu, Wolf Totem

Atarlost

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #31 on: 13 February 2019, 18:30:58 »
My first real introduction to Battletech was that my cousin had MW4:mercs and I was watching his house while he and his family were at a camp.  I had time to get through the campaign both routes and Katherine was asking me to engage in shadier contracts than Victor.  My first introduction to the Cappies was them attacking a peace conference.  I thought the Clan trial was silly (he had the expansions) and took Castle's word on their unprovoked invasion.  I was thus initially pro-Davion. 

Since then I have learned that Katherine was an exceptional Steiner, that Castle was understating Clan dickery, that my initial impressions of the Cappies were pretty much accurate, and that I liked the earlier setting better.  Unsurprisingly as someone originally attracted to the Sus, I don't like the Combine.  Theodore Kurita is cool, but it's always made clear he's an exception and that his uphill battle to reform the Combine into something I don't have to hate is ultimately doomed.  I can like him and his fellow reformists, but they can't fix the faction. 

In general I like factions that are trying to make the setting less grimdark.  The Lyrans under Katrina and Melissa.  The Suns under Hanse.  The Bulls until their leadership went Liao crazy because they were actually trying to improve themselves in a non-zero-sum way through expansion into uninhabited territory.  Honorable mention to the Mariks prior to the "Real Thomas Marik" because they weren't outstanding dicks like most of the Liaos or the entire Combine upper class, but they weren't really helping things either. 

For the earlier eras I'm anti-SL because of Cameron dickery and anti-RWR because of Amaris dickery.  The Suns get some credit for the Pitcairn Legion and I don't like misandry any more than misogyny so the Canopans get a debit in spite of being a periphery faction.  Mostly I favor the Bulls, OWA, and Rim Republican Army and of those the Bulls were the closest to having a chance. 

DOC_Agren

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #32 on: 13 February 2019, 20:57:44 »
I've been a loyal Lyran since I started.  Even if we have Social Generals, some of the best Mercs have been Lryan born and trained.  So you can play the Steiner Wall of Steel Assault Company, or Merc who use combined arms and mobility to win battles.
And many of my Merc have been aligned with Heimdall to look out for the Lyran people.

Next would be the Taurian Concordat.  I will be honest I fell in love with it early on, in part because of how many unit they and Lryans shared.  Some of those same units now TPTB have taken from them in retcon, but still I have a love for them.

I'm only now slowly growing on clan factions and then I'm torn between Goliath Scorpion and Ghost Bears/Rasalhague Dominion.
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The_Livewire

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #33 on: 13 February 2019, 21:21:34 »
Started as a Davion, and my heart still bleeds for the Federated Suns. Hanse Davion is my shepherd, I shall not want. :)

As I've gotten older, Inner Sphere wise I've grown to like the FWL just for the diversity of culture and the opportunities.

Clanwise, I loved the mystic Nova Cats. Sure in part because of a certain Bloodname…

And Empires Aflame I like the Rim Federation as the small underdogs.
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jackpot4

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #34 on: 13 February 2019, 22:33:28 »
I am both a fan of the Republic and the Fed Suns.  Packin a punch every time, even though there are some glass hammers.  I love the Templar.  Especially Julian Davion's "Arthur".  You simply cannot ignore a Republic Lament or a Fed Sun Vulpes pulling your armor apart. 

I am also a fan of the Ghost Bears.  The Kodiak  I&II, Karhu, Bruin, Arcas, Bear Cub, and Grizzly are a fantastic lineup. 

As for the factions they all play the "good guy" roles for the most part.  Julian just wants to save the FedSuns from the Dracs and Caps.  Devlin just wants everyone to stop fighting.  The Bears are a warden clan that I hope comes to save the Republic, or at least, help them evacuate. 
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Kidd

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #35 on: 14 February 2019, 05:56:22 »
Coincidentally, my Kurita forces are represented by the Amphigean LAG and Night Stalkers (I try to keep a little of everything on hand, as far as the successor states go).
But of course
Most of the time, the marginals are where the fun is at

For me it's the Ghosts - I have never been a "play by the rules" guy, so being placed outside the hierarchy where one can (must) game the system? Sounds like paradise

Not that it's not occasionally fun to samurai it up with the Sword of Light, kicking Fedrat butt and taking POWs  >:D

MoffMalthus

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #36 on: 14 February 2019, 06:49:23 »
I like Liao especially in the Sun Tzu era. There like the underdogs who finally start to turn things around. I always hated the Federated Suns but in 3145 they play much more of an underdog role which I kind of like. Also always liked Steiner and for clans I'd say Ghost Bears, rest of the clans I hate.   
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Mendrugo

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #37 on: 14 February 2019, 08:01:21 »
Not that it's not occasionally fun to samurai it up with the Sword of Light, kicking Fedrat butt and taking POWs  >:D

A Drac taking POWs?  Send in the Friendly Persuaders!  We got a Class One violation of the Dictum Honorium, which states that all enemies weak enough to contemplate surrender must be immediately executed for their cowardice. 
"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.

carlisimo

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #38 on: 14 February 2019, 13:04:28 »
When I came to the BT universe I had a very hard time getting excited about feudal houses.  I assume they become interesting as you read up on the personalities involved, which would make it pretty normal for new players to take a disproportionate interest in the Periphery. 

I decided I liked the Taurians.  Half my family’s from Spain; the bull’s an unofficial symbol, and the Toro is a great-looking mech.  (Then I found out about eras and its limited availability...).  I like the blend of a well-organized civilization with a bit of a frontier feel, and having everything go down the tubes under a military junta sounds perfectly realistic and means it’s an interesting time to join them. 

I needed an opposing force, probably from a major power because I know it’s risky to play as a minor one (in any game universe).  FedSuns would make more sense, but I don’t see the appeal yet.  So I decided on St. Ives.  Relatively likeable, some loose parallels to real-world places I have a connection to, fought against the Taurians in the 3060s, and in other eras they’re part of a state that I want to dislike but has a nice underdog flavor. 


The relatively practical paint schemes used by the St. Ives Lancers and the later St. Ives Sentinels also appealed, a pragmatic gray/green color with simple one-color trim for each regiment (in contrast to the flamboyant scheme used by the St. Ives Janissaries little more than an explosive blip in the otherwise drab green life of the St. Ives Compact/Commonality).

As long as we have a St. Ives expert here, I gotta ask - are there any canonical mentions of the Cheveau Légers’ color scheme?  The color compendium PDF has a vibrant fanmade scheme; the newer online color compendium has a different fanmade scheme that I’m not as big a fan of.  It includes a reference to Field Manual 3145 that doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and the artist stated on DeviantArt that he made up the scheme. 

I like the 1st Lancers’ scheme too (the later one, with ivory trim), but they don’t seem to get out much.


Kidd

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #39 on: 14 February 2019, 13:06:00 »
A Drac taking POWs?  Send in the Friendly Persuaders!  We got a Class One violation of the Dictum Honorium, which states that all enemies weak enough to contemplate surrender must be immediately executed for their cowardice.
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Hayden.

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #40 on: 14 February 2019, 14:16:41 »
As long as we have a St. Ives expert here, I gotta ask - are there any canonical mentions of the Cheveau Légers’ color scheme?  The color compendium PDF has a vibrant fanmade scheme; the newer online color compendium has a different fanmade scheme that I’m not as big a fan of.  It includes a reference to Field Manual 3145 that doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and the artist stated on DeviantArt that he made up the scheme. 

I like the 1st Lancers’ scheme too (the later one, with ivory trim), but they don’t seem to get out much.
Always glad to hear from other St. Ives fans.

There isn't a canonical mention of the Cheveau Legers scheme that I've been able to find, which I've always lamented. I haven't read every book, so one of the novels might mention it (this was the case with the early Blackwind Lancers scheme).

Full disclosure: if the artist in question is cited as Vierth, those were mine. They should not be taken as anything other than pure conjecture, and the old ones are especially fallible. They were done years ago, the earlier ones before I really understood the structure and color conventions of the St. Ives Armored Cavalry. The later one is closer, but it's not canonical, and I think blue is the wrong trim color (I could do another paragraph about why).
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E. Icaza

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #41 on: 14 February 2019, 16:20:32 »
Clan simply because I love Battle Armor and they had it first.  Reading the "Jade Phoenix" trilogy cemented my love of the Clan Jade Falcon over all of the other Clans because I love the fact that they have had to work twice as hard to earn even half the respect that the Wolves get for coasting on the Kerensky Bloodname.  The Wolves break the rules and then throw out a casual "Clan of Kerensky" as the reason, while the either follow the rules or bend them until they ALMOST break and have been just as successful as the other Invading Clans that have "sold out" or gone completely insane like the Homeworld Clans (...Dark Age may be changing that). 

Unfortunately, I strongly dislike the way the Jade Falcons have gone in Dark Age, tossing out honor and integrity (well...most of the time) for sheer brutality, but I'm apparently in the minority.


Then the ****** Clans came.  Everything "cool" about the Clans is by right of primacy a Kurita theme.  Every Clan fan out there should have been a Dracophile, and what's REALLY aggravating is when they don't even know it.

What if we know it and just don't care? 

Truthfully, the Draconis Combine is my favorite IS power for many of the same reasons that I love the Clans. 
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Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #42 on: 14 February 2019, 18:28:03 »
What if we know it and just don't care? 

So long as you know, it's not aggravating at all no matter what you choose to do :D


Pat Payne

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #43 on: 14 February 2019, 18:46:04 »
I started out as a fan of the Lyrans, mostly because I came into Battletech through the Crescent Hawk games, where the Elsies were the default protagonist faction, given that the entirety of Inception took place on Pacifica and Revenge followed mercenary companies who were longtime Elsie contracts. I later gravitated to the FedSuns because of them being the "heroes" of the Succession Wars setting. But lately, I've taken a big shine to House Marik.

The reasons are easy. I love the roleplaying possibilities of the FWL -- this one big unhappy family of squabbling microstates all allegedly under the leadership of the Captain-General, all with their own schemes and plans more or less out in the open (I'm looking at you, Dame Catherine Humphries!), and with enough societal freedom for shenanigans to happen without StateSec killing you quite dead thirty seconds after you start raising a ruckus -- unless it's a sufficiently big ruckus (looking at you, Duke Anton...)....

The authoritarian DC and totalitarian CC are just too stifling, and lately the "Knights of the Round Table IN SPACE" Davions and "Hanseatic League IN SPACE" Lyrans just look too bland in comparison, even with the Haseks and Lestrades making their own power plays. And I never did get the hang of the Clan Invasion and beyond.

Not to mention, the purple, red and blue of the Marik Militia is a striking scheme.

rebs

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #44 on: 14 February 2019, 18:53:34 »
So long as you know, it's not aggravating at all no matter what you choose to do :D

I acknowledge and accept it as well. 

There was a good reason the writers matched up the DC with the Jags.  Give the Dracs a taste of their own tea. 
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SteveRestless

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #45 on: 14 February 2019, 19:21:20 »
Every Clan fan out there should have been a Dracophile

Frack that.

I acknowledge the similarities, and even in character, those similarities are ascribed as coming to the clans by way of combine cultural contribution. the ilkasur shogunate is the means by which much of those similarities were transmitted.

But the Combine does nothing to sate my appetite for the things that make the clans desirable to me.

There's a lot of (to my western mindset) awkward mincing rules of society and etiquette that don't match up at all.

In the Combine, an unworthy master is still a master to be served. I don't get to issue refusal to his orders and challenge him for his rank. The clans, that's a possibility.

The Combine, culturally, has strong notions of what constitutes purity and morality that is at odds with the clans turning coupling into a recreational bonding exercise.

The Combine does not mass produce warriors, it just treats the ones it has cheaply.

In my opinion, there is as much to set them apart, as they have in common.  I have less than zero interest in having a combine player character in most eras of the story.
Шонхорын хурдаар хурцлан давшъя, Чонын зоригоор асан дүрэлзэье, Тэнхээт морьдын туурайгаар нүргэе, Тамгат Чингисийн ухаанаар даръя | Let’s go faster than a falcon, Let’s burn with the wolf’s courage, Let’s roar with the hooves of strong horses, Let’s go with the wisdom of Tamgat Genghis - The Hu, Wolf Totem

Mecha-Anchovy

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #46 on: 14 February 2019, 19:56:51 »
Then the ****** Clans came.  Everything "cool" about the Clans is by right of primacy a Kurita theme.  Every Clan fan out there should have been a Dracophile, and what's REALLY aggravating is when they don't even know it.

I have to admit this is the case. The Clans are just House Kurita turned up to eleven, and consequently left House Kurita without a real place in the setting. They just spun their wheels for a long time, unable to find what to do now that the Clans had usurped their role.

There's a reason why I always want stories where the Kuritas go and defeat the Clans. House Kurita are the most consistently skilled anti-Clan house forces in the Inner Sphere. They killed the Smoke Jaguars and they killed the Nova Cats. They've even gotten to stalemate or only-slightly-lose to the Ghost Bears, which considering the Bears' infuriating invincibility, I still have to rate as pretty good.

The samurai of House Kurita are the most skilled individual MechWarriors in all of human space - and I cheer every time we go and remind the Clans of that fact.

That said, I personally go for the FedSuns. When I first encountered BattleTech my instincts were actually the Lyrans, but the thing about that was, not only did the Lyrans constantly lose, the Lyrans didn't even seem to want to win that much. The history of the Lyran Commonwealth is a long, slow process of trading away worlds for time, just letting the borders be eaten away as long as the Protectorate of Donegal is prosperous. It wasn't just that the Lyrans couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. It was that the Lyrans didn't even try.

Sod that. So instead I found what I wanted in the Federated Suns. Say what you will about the Suns, but they try. Their heart is in it. House Davion is always in it to win it, and even when they lose, as they more-or-less have been consistently since 3028 (a few Jihad bright spots aside), they always make a decent accounting of themselves. The Suns don't want to lose. More than that, they're not ashamed of winning either. I always instinctively root for the underdog (it's an Australian thing), but there is something valuable for me in the reminder: it's okay to win. Victory is not something to be ashamed of. The Federated Suns remind me of that.

But it's not just their fighting spirit, nor even the fact that their national mythology is one I really like (I'm pretty into medieval literature, yay Arthuriana!). It's also their creativity. The FedSuns are dynamic. They come up with new ideas and execute them. I suppose I could have been a Capellan fan, but even leaving aside that firstly I don't like playing villains and secondly, despite what Capellan fans have told me, I find them just another predictable tinpot dictatorship, the unfortunate fact is that Capellan stories are often very predictable. Who are they fighting this week - oh, the Davions again. Or maybe the Republic. I want a bit more creativity and diversity in my story options than yet again the Glorious Patriotic War of Reclamation. Okay, I get it, reclaim our 'ancestral worlds' from other people - what else you got? It can seem like the answer is 'not much'. But House Davion can do a lot of different things.

So far in the game's run, the Federated Suns has gone to war with pretty much everyone imaginable, including themselves, multiple times. Further, inside the Suns, you don't find a single culture. You find a wide range of diversity: unlike the Japanese Kuritas, German Lyrans, or Chinese Capellans, there isn't a single state culture overlaid on everyone. The Suns and the League have this internal diversity, but where for the Free Worlds League that internal diversity is crippling to the extent that the League barely even gets to do anything outside its own borders, for the FedSuns you can emphasise it or de-emphasise it as much as you like. Plus I suppose I like space feudalism more than I do parliament shouting at each other. If I want the latter, I can just turn on the television.  ;)

Basically, the Suns give me everything I want. Neo-feudalism and march politics, internal diversity without ruining its capability for offensive action, a wide variety of potential foes and potential allies, involvement in lots of interesting different types of story, real fighting spirit and a determination to always do their best, and a lot of mythological/historical allusions that I'm personally really into.

carlisimo

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #47 on: 14 February 2019, 20:18:00 »
Full disclosure: if the artist in question is cited as Vierth, those were mine. They should not be taken as anything other than pure conjecture, and the old ones are especially fallible. They were done years ago, the earlier ones before I really understood the structure and color conventions of the St. Ives Armored Cavalry. The later one is closer, but it's not canonical, and I think blue is the wrong trim color (I could do another paragraph about why).

Hey, that makes you THE expert.  This is great! 

I’d love that paragraph about their trim color before I make something up.  I’d keep the gray-green base, but might use larger blocks of a secondary color than the 1st and 2nd Lancers
use.


Mendrugo

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #48 on: 14 February 2019, 20:20:28 »
Quote
wide range of diversity: unlike the Japanese Kuritas, German Lyrans, or Chinese Capellans, there isn't a single state culture overlaid on everyone.

None of the Successor States are culturally monolithic, though the Combine comes the closest (since the cultural reforms of Urizen II).  The Lyran Commonwealth has worlds that are culturally Brazilian, Japanese, Scottish, South African, Indian, Pakistani, etc.  The Capellans likewise have Russians, Poles, Taiwanese, North Americans, Portuguese, Malaysians, and so on. 

Yes, House Liao is descended from Asian roots, but those roots are Nepalese, rather than Han Chinese.  The Liao who seceded from the Terran Alliance was named Victor and wielded a katana while wearing a kilt.  In the Xin Sheng period, Kuan Yin Allard-Liao notes that cosmetic surgery to add epicanthal folds was wildly popular - not because of the State imposing a monoculture on the Capellan people, but because of hero worship of Sun-Tzu Liao. 
"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.

Mecha-Anchovy

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #49 on: 14 February 2019, 20:25:23 »
None of the Successor States are culturally monolithic, though the Combine comes the closest (since the cultural reforms of Urizen II).  The Lyran Commonwealth has worlds that are culturally Brazilian, Japanese, Scottish, South African, Indian, Pakistani, etc.  The Capellans likewise have Russians, Poles, Taiwanese, North Americans, Portuguese, Malaysians, and so on. 

Yes, but the Lyrans, Capellans, and Kuritas all have a semi-official 'state culture' or 'aristocratic culture' that's overlaid on the nation as a whole. That's what I was getting at.

Quote
Yes, House Liao is descended from Asian roots, but those roots are Nepalese, rather than Han Chinese.

Elias Liao was, I believe, half-Nepalese and half-English. It is rather amusing that the Liao family is not traditionally Han at all. But of course, the way the aristocratic culture in the three states mentioned works is not by descent or genetics, but rather behaviourally. The point is acting Han, or Japanese, or German; at the very least speaking the language, and typically a bit more than that.

(I do grant, for what it's worth, that the Lyrans are the least serious about this, and the Kuritas are the most extreme. If you're a Lyran noble, you speak German, and you're familiar with the German-inspired political institutions, but there probably isn't much more you have to do. It's relatively close to the Suns, really, where you probably speak English and are probably conversant with all those English baronial titles. But if you're Draconis, not only do you speak Japanese and understand Japanese-inspired institutions, you act Japanese on a day-to-day basis or you are ostracised.)

JPArbiter

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #50 on: 14 February 2019, 21:11:15 »
For the inner sphere, my love of House Steiner, and a serious like of House Davion came from the cartoon being my entrypoint. 25 years ago these powers were not seperate. I leaned Steiner for no other reason then Blue is my favorite color.

For the Clans i chose the Nova Cats because they were not part of the initial four invaders. Finding out the clan as a whole is experts in hot drops and they value energy weapon marksmanship solidified it. Thier aboriginal/amerindian spirituality was icing on the cake

In the big fat other, i fell in love with the Manei Domini for what I call the Broly excuse. You know what I mean “OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO COOL”
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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #51 on: 14 February 2019, 21:30:30 »
The first play by post game I played here (well, on an earlier incarnation), we were mercs supporting the Lothian League in 3025.  I've liked them ever since, and was bummed to see they were conquered by the Marians.

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #52 on: 14 February 2019, 22:15:45 »
I have always played heroic characters in every video game I have ever played. In D&D the least heroic character I ever played was a Lawful Neutral character who quickly became a hero out of necessity. And I am more than willing to acknowledge that my definitions of good and evil are biased towards a Western viewpoint. So the collectivist ethos that the Liaos and the Kuritas push for strikes me as wrong, especially with the whole extremely powerful secret police and naming your elite unit the Death Commandoes thing. The Steiners also have the issues with Loki being extremely overly-powerful, and I don't care for a state that has been taken over by its industrial masters. While the Federated Suns are by no means the perfect heroes, and even the straightforwardly heroic Victor Steiner-Davion took problematic actions, they do at least try to value their people over the state and their industrial allies. They value leadership and strategic thought, not loyalty to the state or wealth, and they actually use combined arms tactics to the point of developing Omnivehicles before Omnimechs. But more than that, they actually value science. The NAIS was developed to bring back lost technology and make the Federated Suns a better place than it was before, and as the son of a scientist seeing even a fictional leader who values science as much as Hanse Davion is a refreshing break from the real world. The Federated Suns are no where near my ideal government, but they are closer than anyone else in the setting, so I will support them until the authors kill them off and beyond.
...Is this just fantasy?
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Deadborder

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #53 on: 15 February 2019, 02:28:51 »
Originally I was a fan of the Free Worlds League. I can't even begin to remember why. Then it changed to the Draconis Combine and, eventually, back to the Free Worlds League.

I like the NFWL for a number of reasons. It takes the League's multiculturalism and turns it up to eleven. It is definitely the underdog, having come from a position of weakness and then having to rebuild from shattered remnants. It's got some really interesting 'Mechs in its inventory, ones that might be more flavoursome than good, but that's how I prefer it. And finally, it's got some really flashy paint schemes.

Interestingly enough, I've been of late becoming fond of the Federated Suns. Maybe it's because they are also in an underdog-esque situation.

As another note, there's a faction I actually used to like, but was turned off by it's fans.
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Matti

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #54 on: 15 February 2019, 10:37:30 »
When I first encountered BattleTech my instincts were actually the Lyrans, but the thing about that was, not only did the Lyrans constantly lose, the Lyrans didn't even seem to want to win that much. The history of the Lyran Commonwealth is a long, slow process of trading away worlds for time, just letting the borders be eaten away as long as the Protectorate of Donegal is prosperous. It wasn't just that the Lyrans couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. It was that the Lyrans didn't even try.
Ever heard about Operation Götterdämmerung? Also when we are attacked, we put up Hell of a fight every time. Just take a look at the battles of Skye and Hesperus II: even Wolf's Dragoons didn't break us.
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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #55 on: 15 February 2019, 10:53:22 »
Nova Cats reason novel Path of Glory really sold me on Clan society and the Nova Cats though I liked a Character who didn't like where his people were going which when added to my own creative desire led to my AU
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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #56 on: 15 February 2019, 11:33:54 »
My first regular opponent was heavily into Davion designs (several of the -D variants were rather "munchy"), so choosing a faction that was extremely "Not Davion" was a driving factor.  The Oberon Confederation seemed like the ideal situation to me: a former outright bandit kingdom working toward respectability.  There's something amusing about an underdog that's managed to build up a long list of enemies and war crimes in the past, but is now TRYING to behave.  You get to unleash an occasional bit of pirate brutality and atrocity in individual combat actions, and then have the central authority try to excuse the excesses of the formerly pirate troops and low-level commanders.  Sadly, they vanished mysteriously only a few months later when some invaders called "the Clans" showed up.

After that, I briefly took an interest in the FWL in online play (Genie network, pre-internet), before settling on the Outworlds Alliance as my new favorite.  How can you not be amused by "Space Amish" with Battlemechs?  At least it was several more years before they were absorbed into the Raven Alliance.

Since then, I've gravitated back mostly to the FWL again (which then promptly broke up, but has more recently reformed), primarily because they had some excellent maneuver elements that I enjoyed running....the excessive use of LGRs...not so much.  Unfortunately, they always seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of the fiction and universe plotlines, when they get mentioned at all, despite supposedly being some kind of industrial powerhouse that produces equipment to spare for other Houses.  While the Lyrans get a disproportionate share of Assault 'Mechs, the FWL gives up that amount, so the challenge is to do more with less high-end units.

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #57 on: 15 February 2019, 13:31:23 »
Frack that.

I've decided that I can't decide if your use of the word "frack" is intentionally or unintentionally ironic.  If it was intentional, salut!  If it was unintentional... then "yeah that's my point".

ActionButler

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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #58 on: 15 February 2019, 17:38:34 »
The NAIS was developed to bring back lost technology and make the Federated Suns a better place than it was before, and as the son of a scientist seeing even a fictional leader who values science as much as Hanse Davion is a refreshing break from the real world.

And, continuing from my earlier, faction-within-a-faction Explorer Corp answer, the NAIS Cadet Cadres are my go-to Fed Suns unit because (in theory) they represent an idea small and specific enough to be relatively incorruptible by the shenanigans of a larger, interstellar government.
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Re: Why are you fan of a given faction?
« Reply #59 on: 15 February 2019, 20:11:17 »
Ever heard about Operation Götterdämmerung? Also when we are attacked, we put up Hell of a fight every time. Just take a look at the battles of Skye and Hesperus II: even Wolf's Dragoons didn't break us.

I admit the moments I most like the Lyrans are when their backs are to the wall, they face true national crisis, and they rally together and bring a combination of grit and brute force to bear.

My favourite historical example would be the 2853 Battle of Hesperus: the Force of Last Resort and the last flight of the LCS Invincible. As for modern examples, I actually like pieces of the Dark Age so far. I liked the portrayal of the Lyrans in The Anvil, where they managed to be genuinely professional and determined in the face of a superior foe, and were rewarded with a well-deserved victory. Similarly, some of the desperate Lyran attempts to stop the Wolf and Falcon tide in the Dark Age are compelling: as depressing as the current timeline is for the Lyrans, the battles of both Tharkad and Hesperus were nice, with the Lyrans taking the two strongest Clans in the Inner Sphere (save the Bears, but I'll save my grudge against the Bears for another time) on the chin and managing to hold out.

It's more that I wish they always had that grit. It's hard to get behind the faction when half the time they feel like bumbling fools who only barely manage to stumble into victory by way of superior technology and numbers.

Gotterdammerung itself doesn't really do it for me: yes, the Lyrans won, but it was the Fourth Succession War. Plus I suppose it doesn't feel as real to me, since I first came across BattleTech much later, and I know they would almost immediately abandon those worlds to make the Rasalhague Republic, and then that whole area of space and more would be lost to the Clans. So it doesn't feel as impressive to me? Anyone could have won in the Fourth Succession War - if it takes that many dominos lining up to get the Lyrans to stage a successful offensive to reclaim lost worlds, what does that say about them? I guess in the game's history the Lyrans can seem a bit passive? Compare: the Draconis Combine has made multiple attempts to try to tame the Bears and take back Rasalhague. Sure, they've mostly failed (grumble grumble), but they've made some pretty credible efforts. I get the sense it's something they want to do. Whereas I think, from memory, every single Lyran-Falcon war was started by the Falcons. The Lyran Commonwealth doesn't feel like it cares very much about liberating the Tamar Pact. Not the way the Combine seems to care about getting Rasalhague back.

Sorry, rambling now. It's sort of... I like a lot of the Lyran culture, I like their mechs and technology, I like that they seem to genuinely want peace a lot of the time, and so on. But the Lyran incompetence meme is far too deeply ingrained for my liking, and I feel like they are far, far too inconsistent when it comes to their fighting spirit.

Don't get me wrong, I want to like the Lyrans, and sometimes I do quite a lot. They're easy to empathise with. They just don't consistently show the sort of spirit, the pluck that I want to see in my faction.