Speculation Question: (Please don't kill me for suggesting this!!)

[Cannonshop]

Speculation Question for the New Year:

"Would the Clans even have a fanbase without the Clantech advantage?"

Here's your 'what if': what if in 3049, the Clans didn't have a massive weight/damage/range advantage over the Star League's tech, what if they only managed to have SLDF tech equivalent gear when they were introduced?  would they still have the following they do today? would you still like them if they didn't have more powerful/lighter/cooler running weapons and equipment?

can you explain why?

This is kinda fishing for what societal elements of the Clans you actually like, and whether you would like those elements as much if they didn't spend the last 30-something years being massively more powerful than the Inner Sphere's tech.

Which Clans would you still love, and why?

[Crimson Dynamo]

Would you still like them if they didn't have more powerful/lighter/cooler running weapons and equipment?

can you explain why?

This is kinda fishing for what societal elements of the Clans you actually like, and whether you would like those elements as much if they didn't spend the last 30-something years being massively more powerful than the Inner Sphere's tech.

Which Clans would you still love, and why?

Easily. Because Andrew Steiner refused Nicolai Malthus' batchall. Martial cultures with things for honor have always held my attention, even at the young age the cartoon got me. That their tech base is better was not a factor. I am loving the unsubtle premise that all Clan fans are cheese and here for lighter stuff that hits harder from further, though.

I enjoy Clan society as a whole, with particular shout outs to the Smoke Jaguars, the Jade Falcons, the Star Adders, and the Blood Spirits for not being boring and being Crusader Clans that did things in fiction to read about and provide entertainment. Though, in the era of the ilClan, there really isn't a dull Clan to read about anymore, even the Bears are interesting with their recent mini-civil war.

[Red Pins]

Hmm.  Yes.  Even 'Heels' in wrestling have fans.   

[rebs]

They are the rightful heirs to the SLDF and they have returned to claim what is theirs.  And knock the heads of squabbling Successor States leaders together in the process. 

[Church14]

My interest in clans is the story and the alien cultures. The quality of clanSpec tech actually pushed me away from them for a long time. Had they come back with SLDF era tech I would’ve like them a lot more early on.


And no, people who abandoned the hegemony and the remains of the Star league to run away from their responsibilities are not the rightful heirs. The rightful heirs were ComStar, the only group that didn’t shirk from their assigned role and didn’t engage in the succession wars. Openly, anyway

[rebs]

The Clans are the heirs to the SLDF, they descend from them directly. Staying and dying would have been pointless. 

Comstar's plots, such as to murder scientists and set humanity back by accelerating the loss of vital technologies that in many cases kept former SL worlds and the people who lived there alive simply to force them into obedience, is anathema to what the Star League stood for.  For example. 

If the Clans have no business claiming the banner of the Star League, then neither does Comstar. 

[AlphaMirage]

The Star League wasn't shy about breaking stuff and killing people that were 'problematic' if necessary (Reunification War, Hegemony Wars) for "Unity". It wasn't a nice, noble organization it was a very authoritarian Empire that had good PR and kept the other nobles in line at the point of Battleship guns and the SLDF.

Otherwise it wouldn't have spawned the Clans and COMSTAR.

[rebs]

The Star League wasn't shy about breaking stuff and killing people that were 'problematic' if necessary (Reunification War, Hegemony Wars) for "Unity". It wasn't a nice, noble organization it was a very authoritarian Empire that had good PE and kept the other nobles in line at the point of Battleship guns and the SLDF.

Otherwise it wouldn't have spawned the Clans and COMSTAR.

I can agree with that to a point.  The Clans are clearly as dysfunctional a group of humans as have ever existed in RL or in fiction.  And Comstar are devious manipulators who got there's in the end.  I liked how Hanse Davion dealt with them from the beginning. 

But the Periphery States were not members or former member worlds of the Star League.  Comstar destroyed the lives of how many billions or trillions of citizens of former Star League worlds right in the IS?  One could argue the same about the SLDF departing on the Exodus with Aleksandr Kerensky.

Anyway, if one is "right" (C* or Clans), then so is the other.  Or both are "wrong".  But not one over the other.

And back to the OP - the technology was fun to play with but it also causes issues with the game.  If people want to forgo it on the table, I'm fine with not using Clans.  They are just a terribly interesting fictional culture.  An example of something I hope is not in the future of humanity.

[shinr]

With 'MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat' being my first introduction to BattleTech, there was no IS tech to even compare to with until Mercenaries (and if there was, you really had to go out of your way to use them), so I was pulled in by the interestingly weird space techno-Spartan/Nomad/Cossack mix that was the Clan society.

[Church14]

The Clans are the heirs to the SLDF, they descend from them directly. Staying and dying would have been pointless. 

Look at the numbers and the staggering concentration of forces the SLDF still had. In raw numbers they still equaled any two houses. They also had better tech and more experience. Had the exodus not happened, hegemony probably survived.


I will accept arguments that ComStar shouldn’t be an heir to the Star League, but those who abandoned the Hegmony have no claim.

[Natasha Kerensky]

Here's your 'what if': what if in 3049, the Clans didn't have a massive weight/damage/range advantage over the Star League's tech, what if they only managed to have SLDF tech equivalent gear when they were introduced?  would they still have the following they do today? would you still like them if they didn't have more powerful/lighter/cooler running weapons and equipment?

can you explain why?

Sure.  Because Clan governance and society is fundamentally different, more interesting, and more believable (to the extent anything in BT is believable) than the Houses.

The Houses, IMO, are unimaginative riffs on the same unbelievable premise — that medieval societies will make a comeback in the 31st century right down to the knights and samurai.  I have no problem with the reappearance of a “modern” feudal system.  Dune did that very well, for example.  But Carolingian France and Shogunate Japan among the stars?  Please.  At least Lucas bothered to come up with a different name for his fighting monks.

The Houses are also all fundamentally autocratic, hereditary monarchies.  Some have trappings of democracy, but if they ever had them, their actual democratic organs failed long ago.  It’s hard to get excited about whether a character or unit dies fighting for the medieval French-styled monarch or the medieval Japanese-styled monarch.  Big yawn, IMO.

The introduction of the Clans fundamentally improved the stale House background that BT was built on.  Like Dune or other good sci-fi societies, the Clans were a de novo invention (of Boy F. Peterson), not just a pale copy of some medieval country.  This made the Clans both more believable and more interesting than the Houses.  They were something I had not seen before and there was a logic to why they were the way they were.

And they were democratic meritocracies.  Unlike the Houses, where most PCs and NPCs of any import were given their station and status by their daddies, you had to fight and vote your way higher within Clan society.  Yeah, there’s lots about the Clan trial system that is stupid or brutal to our 21st-century eyes, but from a story-telling perspective, a Trial of Position or a Trial of Bloodright or a Grand Melee sure as heck beats “I was a born to a minor noble and after graduating academy, I used my wealth to start a mech company.”

To be clear, I’m making no value — good or evil — judgements about the Houses versus the Clans.  Both produce wise and wily characters like Hanse and Ulric, as well as terribly careless and downright insane characters like Maximillian and Malvina.  There’s black in every major faction in this universe.

But in terms of in-character and out-of-character motivation, what’s more motivating?  Fighting for stale copies of medieval monarchies?  Or fighting for an original society with a governance model that your character  can rise within?  The latter, for me, at least.

FWIW… YMMV.

[Broken_Metal_Dreaming]

I suppose what I like about certain clans or characters within the clans, actually tends to be the ways in which the rebel against the system crazy Nicky created.

The Wolverines outright saying "this is stupid, I'm going to take my ball and go home". This has obvious appeal to me, and I am one that would like to see hints that they are still around doing something in the rimward? periphery even if exactly what never is revealed. (hate the joined comstar/became word of blake rumor, though that appears to be false based on the other rumors from that source.) Probably going to do at least a lance of these guys.

More generally I can identify with traumatized children being bullied into a state of rage and violence (sibkos), and dealing with the long term ramifications of this (big fan of the Aiden Pryde novels but not the falcons as a whole because I can identify with his story of trying to find himself, and the conflicts between the way he was raised/abused and having to learn to deal with the technician class and other freebirths, and then finding a way to fit them and his new ideas in with the reality of the clans.) For clarity I was beaten up daily from 2nd to 4th grade in elementary school and the school did little to nothing about it or worse, punished me for being shoved and punched, eventually I started punching back and have to deal with a lot of leftover rage and trauma. Again a Lance at most With Pryde and Horse Probably.

Clan Ghost Bear's small rebellion in treating the lower castes better and having family units, and having a few deep dark secrets to keep makes me smile, though I don't have any plans for a larger force, especially after the recent sourcebooks had them doing a purge or something? I've not read the sourcebook myself. Gotta do something with those Kodiaks?


Now the factions I am planning a larger force for, or do have partially built:

Snow Raven has this family thing going on, though more bloodname ties- and it focuses on teamwork and cooperation more than is typical for the clans, they even have a more defined chain of command and requirements that must be met before one can challenge for promotion. It seems like they at least have some understanding that experience and age can have some benefit despite slowing reflexes etc. Also the separate naval bloodnames and focus on airpower and Battle armor combined arms units. They've also got this underdog feel where they are always having to be a bit Machiavellian just to survive, and have been lucky to survive more than once, having to play factions off against each other most recently the fedsuns and DC.

Sea fox for being the opportunistic little hustlers that they are...you want to create a society of duelling warrior knights? sure we can sell you stuff for that. Oh your Mercenary Review Board is broken? Well we have Sea Fox Mercenary Review Board right now for only 100 C-bills more per month. And we'll even actually enforce penalties for conflict violations and stuff.

Clan Protectorate: Mystics semi integrating into the Inner sphere and working with the sea foxes to make it happen. Lots of story here, especially with the politics of the Free Worlds league being what it is, and the infighting that is constant there. conflicts between clan culture and established inner sphere culture are sure to change them greatly and I'm excited to see where it goes, especially as they are FWL vassals while still tentatively supporting Clan Howls at the Moon.

[idea weenie]

A similar question might be, what would the Clans do if they ran into someone that out-teched the Clans like the Clans out-teched the Inner Sphere?  Would they accept that the opponents were better warriors, or would they complain that it was the superior machine that gave the victory?

[Fire Scorpion IIC]

Speculation Question for the New Year:

"Would the Clans even have a fanbase without the Clantech advantage?"....

Better question is would Battletech even have a fanbase at all without Clans?

The answer is straight up Nope! Whole thing would have fizzled out before turn of the century

Clans are super interesting factions with endless potential and have carried this franchise throughout majority of it's existence

Removing the tech advantage would turn them into full on underdogs thus making them even more awesome

And their status as heirs to the Star League is massive bonus, Star League is always amazing

Plus unlike Successor States they are original creations and not just inserts for real life countries (in SPACE!!!)

[JAMES_PRYDE]

I was born into Jade Falcon, the Refusal War (aka Mechwarrior 2 was my first game, and entry into Battletech) at sibko age of around 11 (and there was too much reading in the archives lol), when Mechcommander came round I was so confused, as it was an Inner Sphere based game, and I kept thinking, where are all the proper mechs lol ? It was then I learnt about the IS, then I learned about the IS, the bare basics

But I have always liked the Clans for the society fiction (alien culture RP, while still being a player in this day and age). And now fast forward, Clan-Sphere integration and "non-traditional/evolved Clan society)" Clans, again, for something new (not just copy and paste nations of now into space)

Was never really about the tech. Mechwarrior 2 and then mostly Clan (and how they developed/survived) held my interest in the Battletech universe to current. But consequently having better (and cooler looking) stuff did not hurt.

[Alan Grant]

I was always more intrigued by Clan society than its technology. How it's different at every level from Spheroids and real life.

I've also always found the Bloodname Houses interesting, and the idea that a Clan warrior had to earn a Bloodname. I've also found the role of the Bloodname House leaders truly fascinating (to me, one of the most interesting "jobs" in all of Battletech), Coming up with DNA pairings for the next generation. Mentoring the next generation. Leading the Bloodname House, even members of it from different Clans. Navigating politics. To me Bloodname House leaders are incredibly fascinating, and their role is remarkable and unique in Battletech in many ways.

The idea that a Bloodname House can represent an extended family and/or political circle is also very intriguing.

Off and on over the decades, I've gotten weirdly invested in the various Bloodname Houses. I've enjoyed taking some of the more obscure ones and fleshing them out in a non-canon fashion. I've also enjoyed researching and piecing together what we do know about specific Houses.

Now we have lists the 800ish original Bloodname Houses. But for a very long time we didn't have that. When I look at my Battletech notes and files I see a document I made years ago fleshing out the Noruff Bloodname House (including colors, crest, some traditions and famous members of past generations), I also fleshed out the original Clan warrior who is the originator of that name (gave that person a bio). This and other related projects were things I've frequently sunk my teeth into over the years.

There were other challenges as well. I started my own research lists of Bloodnames. I was trying to solve riddles like what certain Bloodname Houses were probably known for (common characteristics/attributes of its members, which phenotypes it seems to focus on). As well as riddles like which of the Mongoose Bloodnames survived and were still active.

This kind of research is a lot easier now. We have more data, more books. A lot of this stuff has been plugged into Sarna, including a sub-site for every single Bloodname House. You can do a search on sarna for Nagasawa (Bloodname) and see every named member of it. Back in the day I'd pick a Bloodname like Hakimi and spend countless hours trying to find every named Hakimi in existence, pull all that data in together to complete a picture of the Bloodname House. I'd get obsessed with a specific Bloodname and start digging through every book by hand trying to find any information on a canon Bloodname House or its members. Along with that, trying to identify any meaningful traits.

So for me the Clans intersected with a lot of personal interest areas.
-An interest in researching history
-An interest in DNA/genetics
-An interest in studying different cultures
-An interest in warrior cultures (real or fictional)
-An interest in space navy stuff (for a very long time the Clans had the best fleshed out navies via Field Manuals Crusader Clan and Warden Clan, and even if naval combat was rare, the Clan Homeworlds were the best place to have naval warfare be even remotely commonplace. With every active warship named and identified and broken up into the various Clan fleets. I studied those warship fleets a LOT. It was quite possible to put on your Star Commodore or Star Admiral hat and evaluate the Clan fleets in a strategic and tactical fashion. That was a fun naval sandbox for warship fans.)

All that being said, I've absolutely met Clan fans who are in it for the tech advantages. Where "Can I be a Clanner?" is little more than a power play to exploit certain advantages, like their technology. People who are in it because of a slew of favorite Clan 'mechs. That's definitely a thing, those people do exist, I've met them. But that's ok. Any fandom has its scale of different fans who are in it for different reasons.

[JAMES_PRYDE]

Well done Alan, I second your post

You always have a great way of explaining these type of things

[Alan Grant]

Well done Alan, I second your post

You always have a great way of explaining these type of things

Thank you!

[CJC070]

Clans are super interesting factions with endless potential and have carried this franchise throughout majority of it's existence

In the beginning that was not always true there were some veteran players especially in the beginning who liked to play Clan vs beginning and intermediate players who played IS who were then trounced because the Clans had every advantage.  It also didn’t help that some of those players were toxic.    I have even met some of these players who played on the IS side and some of them were very “once burned, twice shy” people.  I will admit the Clans kept things going but they should not get sole credit for keeping Battletech alive.  Remember you have to take the good with the bad or you may destroy the things you love the most.

[rebs]

All that being said, I've absolutely met Clan fans who are in it for the tech advantages. Where "Can I be a Clanner?" is little more than a power play to exploit certain advantages, like their technology. People who are in it because of a slew of favorite Clan 'mechs. That's definitely a thing, those people do exist, I've met them. But that's ok. Any fandom has its scale of different fans who are in it for different reasons.

In the beginning that was not always true there were some veteran players especially in the beginning who liked to play Clan vs beginning and intermediate players who played IS who were then trounced because the Clans had every advantage.  It also didn’t help that some of those players were toxic.    I have even met some of these players who played on the IS side and some of them were very “once burned, twice shy” people.  I will admit the Clans kept things going but they should not get sole credit for keeping Battletech alive.  Remember you have to take the good with the bad or you may destroy the things you love the most.

If anyone wants to throw down on the table, I'm open to either No Clan Tech, or Both Sides Clan Tech.  Or hashing out a good ratio, whether we use BV or determine it in other ways.

I was recently telling some people about an old game back in the early 90's.  We all recognized the Clan advantage early on in our group.  So four of us met up.  It was pre-BV.  We had a rough tonnage ratio for Clan vs IS, and further, we gave numerical advantage to the IS. 

It was this -

Me and one friend ran the Clans, we each commanded a Star of Mechs worth about 350 tons each.  Some heavy stuff.

Our opponents ran a full IS Company of about 850 or 900 tons plus 6 custom designed tanks that weighed 80 tons each IIRC.  Tanks were all the same loadout. 

We thought this was fair, and some even thought the IS had the advantage because of Helm Memory Core upgraded equipment.

Then we played it out and the IS never had a chance.  Clan forces took a few loses, but it really was kind of over before it began.

So I get it and Clan tech is entirely optional.  I don't want to play a turkey shoot, but I also wouldn't want to be the turkey.

[Fire Scorpion IIC]

In the beginning that was not always true there were some veteran players especially in the beginning who liked to play Clan vs beginning and intermediate players who played IS who were then trounced because the Clans had every advantage.  It also didn’t help that some of those players were toxic.    I have even met some of these players who played on the IS side and some of them were very “once burned, twice shy” people.  I will admit the Clans kept things going but they should not get sole credit for keeping Battletech alive.  Remember you have to take the good with the bad or you may destroy the things you love the most.

No arguments here

However we should also keep in mind that a lot of this stuff was taking place decades ago in the previous century

At some point you just need to draw the line under everything and focus on today and what's ahead



Another EXTREMELY SUBJECTIVE thing that I noticed is that Clan fans today have better sense of humor

When we get rolling with jokes we really roll

But like I said, it's just what I noticed

[Red Pins]

Hmm. Well, I've always ascribed to the idea if you're fighting a fair fight you're doing it wrong, so most of my early Clan games were serious losses.  I eventually gave up, but it helped me develop a larger toolbox of strategies and tactics that helped even the odds.

For example, I fought an AS game recently where i lured my opponent to place an Annihilator on the board as his second mech.  I always put down my fastest, most maneuverable units first, and I forced him to cover a mapsheet and a half in that Annihilator before firing his first shot (that missed).  By that point I was was already retreating from the board, and it looks like I need some new tricks since AS doesn't play like the real game - maneuver and terrain is less of an asset.

[Cannonshop]

still reading.  I'm holding back on jumping in to reply to anyone specifically, as so many of these responses are good.  (you know who you are.)

[Middcore]

There would still be people attracted to, for lack of a better term, the whole more escapist Klingon-esque vibe. All the grrrr grrrr honor angry face glorious battle grrr grrr stuff.

[Alan Grant]

You do have a valid point Middcore.

I'm going to throw something into the mix. This may feel weird and it's oddly personal.

I've always been into military stuff and military sci fi settings. Since I was a kid.

For a very long time I could watch a bloody war movie. No big deal. I was enthralled by the action, the tactics and technologies involved. I don't think I romanticized the deaths. I felt something like impact but not sadness. I'm not sure I was a very empathetic young man. Like that part of my brain hadn't developed yet.

As I've gotten older, I find death hits me differently. It probably doesn't help that I've been to a lot more funerals now. I find the realities of military operations and military life a lot more... upsetting?

Today if I read a book about warfare, or watch a war movie or documentary (something more nuanced and realistic, not the absurd action flicks), and I'm watching people die, to varying degrees depending on the movie. I'm hit by that loss. I empathize with the spouse and family who lost a loved one.

They make me sad. For the next hour, maybe the rest of the day, I feel sad. The world feels like a grayer, less colorful, less happy place.

At first I was into The Walking Dead. But the repeated "you love character X? Oh here they died.." ripped me to shreds emotionally and I had to stop watching it.

Yes Battletech is fiction. In general it doesn't hit me the same way some portrayal of a real life war does or would. But there can still be some tough moments here and there. A particularly brutal moment stops me in my tracks. And I can't get into the pure mercenary thing at all. If I'm going to portray mercenaries in fan fiction for example, there has to be another motivation at play. Like some of those pseudo-mercenary units that actually, technically, do have an allegiance to somebody and some other reason for existance. The Canopian Highlanders, the Kell Hounds etc.

The Clans...they hit different on an emotional level. Clan Warriors don't have families. Fighting, proving yourself in battle and death in battle is ultimately the point. Yes, their loss may be felt by trothkin and sibmates and the like. But the outcome, a death in battle, is all but predetermined. It's just a question of how and when. It's an entirely different mentality and culture. It's like being an Olympics athlete, merged with being a Viking or Klingon.

I can think about this kind of warfare and not get as stuck on the emotional baggage as I do with some other stuff sometimes. Even Combine Samurai can make me feel this way, I mean they tend to have spouses and kids. Minobu Tetsuhara's seppuku scene was particularly sad. Only the Capellan Warrior Houses come close to replicating this in a non-Clan format within this universe.

I'm not sure if escapism is the right word. I almost think "avoidance" as in avoidance of heart break. The Klingon comparison is valid too. That's actually my Star Trek equivalent to this concept.

Maybe this is purely a "me" thing. But I thought I'd throw it out there in case anybody else finds this useful or finds it is relevant to them as well.

[Angrii]

I absolutely resonate with that perspective, Alan. I'm a bit of a bleeding heart myself and I gravitate towards noble ideologies like those of the Marik Protectors and the resurrected Killer Bees and their Falcon Lancer brethren.

The clans are complicating in that way and I feel torn between the notion of limiting warfare and wastefulness while paradoxically worshipping it as a near artform and the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong.

[AlphaMirage]

Yeah I think like mentioned above the Clans have a lot of emotional appeal, even if their tech is the same as the IS. They have featured in some of the best fiction in the setting and the MechWarrior video games brought many players to the franchise while featuring them heavily.

You can feel proud of Aidyn Pryde for achieving his bloodname and dying to defend the Falcons on Tukayyid at his height

Chastise Marthe for her betrayal of him during their ToP but find her interactions with her 'niece' Diana almost heartwarming even if its very Machiavellian.

The struggles of Joanna and the other older Warriors are very humanizing for the Touman in general.

Ulrich's attempts to temper the Clans and humiliate Leo Showers during his invasion are very dramatic.

The Society seems like a completely obvious extension of their twisted philosophy and it should have been featured in more stories because evil scientists fighting honorable warriors with cyborgs and biological weapons is a great conflict.

You can also feel sympathy for the sibkin that are put through hellish training with no intention of surviving the next battle if that is what it takes.
Or their civilians which live under this Orwellian nightmare state led by dysfunctional child soldiers.

[rebs]

Today if I read a book about warfare, or watch a war movie or documentary (something more nuanced and realistic, not the absurd action flicks), and I'm watching people die, to varying degrees depending on the movie. I'm hit by that loss. I empathize with the spouse and family who lost a loved one.

They make me sad. For the next hour, maybe the rest of the day, I feel sad. The world feels like a grayer, less colorful, less happy place.

At first I was into The Walking Dead. But the repeated "you love character X? Oh here they died.." ripped me to shreds emotionally and I had to stop watching it.

Yes Battletech is fiction. In general it doesn't hit me the same way some portrayal of a real life war does or would. But there can still be some tough moments here and there. A particularly brutal moment stops me in my tracks. And I can't get into the pure mercenary thing at all. If I'm going to portray mercenaries in fan fiction for example, there has to be another motivation at play. Like some of those pseudo-mercenary units that actually, technically, do have an allegiance to somebody and some other reason for existance. The Canopian Highlanders, the Kell Hounds etc.

The Clans...they hit different on an emotional level. Clan Warriors don't have families. Fighting, proving yourself in battle and death in battle is ultimately the point. Yes, their loss may be felt by trothkin and sibmates and the like. But the outcome, a death in battle, is all but predetermined. It's just a question of how and when. It's an entirely different mentality and culture. It's like being an Olympics athlete, merged with being a Viking or Klingon.

I can think about this kind of warfare and not get as stuck on the emotional baggage as I do with some other stuff sometimes. Even Combine Samurai can make me feel this way, I mean they tend to have spouses and kids. Minobu Tetsuhara's seppuku scene was particularly sad. Only the Capellan Warrior Houses come close to replicating this in a non-Clan format within this universe.

I'm not sure if escapism is the right word. I almost think "avoidance" as in avoidance of heart break. The Klingon comparison is valid too. That's actually my Star Trek equivalent to this concept.

Maybe this is purely a "me" thing. But I thought I'd throw it out there in case anybody else finds this useful or finds it is relevant to them as well.

The moment Aidan found out Diana was his daughter, and he decided without question to stand and defend while she was extracted from her downed 'mech and taken aboard the dropship, that moment especially got me.  That one can constrict my throat easily.  Smoke in eyes, no?

Or when Fadre Singh boasted of betraying the Dragoon's "precious bolt hole" as he called it.  And Natasha Kerensky walked up and ended him right there, saying "Those who break with the Unity will go down into darkness".  At the time, it just seemed like a dramatic thing to say, we didn't yet know as readers that she was quoting her ancestor.  That was a moment that still gives me chills.

Or yes, when Minobu Tetsuhara takes his life.  And again when Jamie Wolf brings Minobu's swords to Hanse's wedding and throws them down at Takashi's feet, and chastises him about how empty his honor really is. 

There are some great moments in BT.  And In my writing, I do everything I can to capture that emotion. 

There are a lot of other stories.  Some good, some great, and some that are just standard fare.  But not many have the emotional connection.  I strive to bring that emotional connection to my work.

It's not unusual that the Clans can also have that strong connection.  Example in RL: good agents often have very little true family or very few true friends.  Not having emotional bonds can be an asset.  But in literature it can also be the perfect opportunity to make the rare bond that happens have the deepest of meanings because it's like a flower blooming on a cactus in the desert after a rain.  True to life diamonds in the rough.  The Clans are fertile ground for this. 

[Maingunnery]

Speculation Question for the New Year:

"Would the Clans even have a fanbase without the Clantech advantage?"

I would say yes.
I am assuming here that they do have things such as an IS ERML.

I got into Battletech because of the cartoon and the MW2 PC games, with these the stats are secondary, the primary draw here are the visuals (and story) and the Clan Omnis have great esthetics (the story already expanded upon by other here). Also with near equal tech it would mean that there would be far less frustration between IS and Clan players, so BT would likely have been in a better place.

What would need to change to the canon story? I think the Clans invading with more Galaxies, along with slower/reduced tech proliferation on the IS side.

[rebs]

It was just silly to insinuate that "munchkin allure" is why the Clans have fans.