BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Player Boards => Fan Fiction => Topic started by: marauder648 on 12 July 2020, 14:47:46
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Last year I, working with friends and artists released Project Zhukov, which was an attempt to flesh out the Hell's Horses who, for many years had been called the Tank Clan, but until fairly recent TRO's had basically nothing to show for it as theirs. And you can get this here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/15eVrYnYNKYYuMNvuGnitKYaXTuVplNEq/view?usp=sharing
This helped me establish in my head an AU setting now called the 'Zhukoverse' which was coined by a friend who has helped me work on these projects. So we started talking about what to do next. We wanted to keep expanding upon Clans where we've been told they are good at X but have never or are rarely shown this. And this immediately made me think of the Snow Ravens. In their background and story, the Ravens are 'The Naval Clan' but we didn't get anything that was distinctly Clan Snow Raven in the aerospace area until the Wusun in TRO 3085. So, fitting the Raven's into the Zhukoverse was felt to make sense and to be the next step.
But what to do with them? WarShip refits? Fighters? DropShips or more? The answer to that question is 'yes'. It was then a case of fitting them into the Zhukoverse and seeing what could change without making them overpowered or having 'favored faction' status either. And, I like to think that I've succeeded in that with this Project.
I will note that this is a 'beta' as we're waiting on 4 pictures of WarShips to be done and once they're added they'll be put into the book and the link here will be updated. But with Matt Plog being a very busy man, this could still easily be a month away. This aside, it is complete.
So it gives me great pleasure to present Project NELSON for your reading pleasure and enjoyment! I'd like to thank the people that helped with this and their input and patience as well as the amazing work by the artists, proof reader and PDF folks!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KA95zGLd8-V30gcrXuBhH7eJWkZs34fo/view?usp=sharing
As always, any comments are most welcome, positive or negative, please read and enjoy!
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looking forward to reading this.
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dam fine work.
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Last year I, working with friends and artists released Project Zhukov, which was an attempt to flesh out the Hell's Horses who, for many years had been called the Tank Clan, but until fairly recent TRO's had basically nothing to show for it as theirs. And you can get this here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/15eVrYnYNKYYuMNvuGnitKYaXTuVplNEq/view?usp=sharing
This helped me establish in my head an AU setting now called the 'Zhukoverse' which was coined by a friend who has helped me work on these projects. So we started talking about what to do next. We wanted to keep expanding upon Clans where we've been told they are good at X but have never or are rarely shown this. And this immediately made me think of the Snow Ravens. In their background and story, the Ravens are 'The Naval Clan' but we didn't get anything that was distinctly Clan Snow Raven in the aerospace area until the Wusun in TRO 3085. So, fitting the Raven's into the Zhukoverse was felt to make sense and to be the next step.
But what to do with them? WarShip refits? Fighters? DropShips or more? The answer to that question is 'yes'. It was then a case of fitting them into the Zhukoverse and seeing what could change without making them overpowered or having 'favored faction' status either. And, I like to think that I've succeeded in that with this Project.
I will note that this is a 'beta' as we're waiting on 4 pictures of WarShips to be done and once they're added they'll be put into the book and the link here will be updated. But with Matt Plog being a very busy man, this could still easily be a month away. This aside, it is complete.
So it gives me great pleasure to present Project NELSON for your reading pleasure and enjoyment! I'd like to thank the people that helped with this and their input and patience as well as the amazing work by the artists, proof reader and PDF folks!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KA95zGLd8-V30gcrXuBhH7eJWkZs34fo/view?usp=sharing
As always, any comments are most welcome, positive or negative, please read and enjoy!
damn that's some nice work.
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Blimey you lot read fast! :D But please lemme know your thoughts!
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Still not a clan fan, but any excuse to see Plog's other work on display, I'll take! :thumbsup:
And thank you again Marauder, for pointing me to him. I'll have to throw some additional work his way once I've paid off the taxes (my exemptions didn't keep up with my children growing up! :-[)
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Still not a clan fan, but any excuse to see Plog's other work on display, I'll take! :thumbsup:
And thank you again Marauder, for pointing me to him. I'll have to throw some additional work his way once I've paid off the taxes (my exemptions didn't keep up with my children growing up! :-[)
Glad to be of service and I hope ya like the writing as well as the art :)
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Your writing has been quite good... it's just the subject matter I don't find interesting. And I'm one who reads The Economist for pleasure!
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Hah! Fair enough :D
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Seriously, I can't recommend The Economist highly enough. Their obituaries are the best writing in the magazine. They wrote one on Dame Vera a week ago, and it moved me to tears. And I'm not even British!
You can register for free, and get three free articles per week.
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okay i have not finished it and only skimmed it. i did notice that the space base clan does not have a BA, small craft or dropship that support the SAR mission or recovering items in space.
Also how about a small mobile ship yard?
i have an idea about aero pilots that are down checked. How about an atmosphere only fighter/ground attack.
just being a good idea fairy.
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Wow. Catalyst is looking at you sideways, man, wondering, "Who is this guy?" by now. I can't spare the time to really look at it due to a surprise bathroom reno right now, talk about incentive to get it done.
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i did notice that the space base clan does not have a BA, small craft or dropship that support the SAR mission or recovering items in space.
Also how about a small mobile ship yard?
I would guess that the Kestrel would find gainful employment in the SAR role, the Skua is space adapted so can do EVA's and is indeed designed for it. The small mobile shipyard is a good idea but I didn't think of it :D Also it might have an issue in the Clan's Trial based system. You loose than and you've just given your rival a shipyard. Probably better to keep everything centralised at Lum.
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Or simply "off the books" where your rivals never see it... ^-^
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I love it. Can't wait for the finished product. I'm in the middle of reading everything on it. So glad to see this community is going strong still. I'm going to try and pound out the next part of my Project Legion while I'm waiting for Star Citizen patch and to go back to work after my month vacation.
Keep it up brother.
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Wow. Catalyst is looking at you sideways, man, wondering, "Who is this guy?" by now. I can't spare the time to really look at it due to a surprise bathroom reno right now, talk about incentive to get it done.
If they want it i'd let them have it :D And i'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback :)
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Wow buddy, what a great job! :thumbsup:
I've only skimmed this very pretty fanbook but I love the InnerSphere names for Clan fighters, great angle. A lot of good stuff and the art is ridiculously good.
Keep up the fantastic BattleTeching!!
Can't wait to see the next Clan. >:D
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+1 more for the art! :thumbsup:
Seriously, Plog is great... more people should be commissioning him for custom work, even if it slows down how much of his stuff I can pay for... 8)
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Great to see it reach this stage. The cover is spectacular, the writing is very clean and excellent use of art. Also the naming overview is a great innovation.
The only suggestions that I can give is to use two columns for text (it is very wide right now), and to use different font between the class size and underlying classes for clarity (p27-p32).
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Great to see it reach this stage. The cover is spectacular, the writing is very clean and excellent use of art. Also the naming overview is a great innovation.
The only suggestions that I can give is to use two columns for text (it is very wide right now), and to use different font between the class size and underlying classes for clarity (p27-p32).
Really glad you like it :) And I'll see what we can do about the layout for the names :)
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Excuse me, but the Omnifighters were not supposed to have the names referring to the Asian steppe population (e.g. Mongol, Genghiz, Kyrgyz, etc.) and, the Aerospace fighters the names referring to Alexander the Great (Issus, Tyre, etc.)?
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Excuse me, but the Omnifighters were not supposed to have the names referring to the Asian steppe population (e.g. Mongol, Genghiz, Kyrgyz, etc.) and, the Aerospace fighters the names referring to Alexander the Great (Issus, Tyre, etc.)?
Yes and no with regards to the names. For example the Bashkir are Russians that originated in Iran, the Turk = the Turkish :) The Vandals were Germanic and so on. So the name whilst it seems to be Mongol themed with Jengiz, Sabutai etc, its not solidly set in stone because a lot of the others are indo-european/early European or Middle Eastern. So the naming convention, at least to my mind is more akin to 'tribal people' and with all the obvious ones taken from the Mongolians and Eurasians without having HUGE names, I cast the net wider and went for African, and American peoples to give them some representation, and there's a selection of very good names that would appeal to the Clanners.
And if someone brought it up in a Khan council you could use the admittedly loose naming designation to rules lawyer your way around it :D Also you can easily head canon it that the Snow Ravens perform rituals that would not look too out of place in Native American Tribes, considering that many of them and many other Tribal peoples venerated the Raven as a divine animal, the Snow Raven's might have something similar, and this could then be used to explain the Native American names that cropped up in this setting. That and I just wanted some more inclusion and African and Native American Tribal names felt like a good way of doing it :)
You're 100% correct about 2nd line fighters, they're named after stuff/battles/generals related to Alexander the darn handsome and its why I used those names for the 2 Hells Horses stuff, the Grannicus is named after a battle for example :)
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Fantastic work marauder, just like Project Zhukov in quality. However, I have a small bit of errata: In the entry for the Saga, the location of the SRMs and ER Mediums are flipped, so the missiles are in the arms, and lasers in the torso.
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I'm really enjoying this document.
One quick question don't battle armor bays take 2 tons per trooper?
Because your tanks are calculating it at 1 ton per trooper.
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I'm really enjoying this document.
One quick question don't battle armor bays take 2 tons per trooper?
Because your tanks are calculating it at 1 ton per trooper.
Depends on the BA :) A Standard Elemental is a 1 ton unit and takes up 1 ton, anything above 1 ton costs 2. Also did you see the Snow Raven document? Thats really what this is about :D
And that raises another question, would ya'll like to know more about this AU and soforth? We've got ideas and as you can see in the NELSON book we hint at them and indeed, straight out say stuff about what else happens elsewhere. So. Would you like to know more?
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Yes, More Please!
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I would definitely like to know more.
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Hang on....
Would you like to know more? Starship Troopers!
Think like a pirate? Down Periscope!
Are you placing movie qoute throughout all of your work? ;D
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Hang on....
Would you like to know more? Starship Troopers!
Think like a pirate? Down Periscope!
Are you placing movie qoute throughout all of your work? ;D
I've smattered the odd reference there, you get a cookie if you spot the naming convention for the Sivalinn class Cruiser :D
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Interesting document Marauder I'll have to have a second look but looks like a fantastic start, thank you
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Interesting document Marauder I'll have to have a second look but looks like a fantastic start, thank you
Thank you Dragon Cat :) Hope you enjoy and any feedback is most welcome!
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So I was looking at your Delanes clan stuff and your project Zukov. one word that you need to look at compared to project Nelson... Horus
Also military and Naval naming conventions your Lola III's are Block III Lola ships not Lola III Block I's. The Lola III upgrades would be Lola IIIA's or B's if there are no major hull changes. Example the difference between the Arleigh Burke Destroyers Block I and II is aircraft facilities and length of hull. difference between Block IIs and IIIs again length of hull and aircraft facilities along with weapons capabilities and such. there are also small upgrades added during the build cycles that modified some parts of the Block I and II's those would be IA or IIA or IIB upgrades depending upon how much change there was or if there was a major break in production then they would be a new block series if they were fired up again.
Love your work brother. I'm gearinf back up with Legion. Been writing last night and will have another chapter out today at least.
[EDIT] Just want to say no criticism here just trying to be helpful. [/EDIT]
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So I was looking at your Delanes clan stuff and your project Zukov. one word that you need to look at compared to project Nelson... Horus
Also military and Naval naming conventions your Lola III's are Block III Lola ships not Lola III Block I's. The Lola III upgrades would be Lola IIIA's or B's if there are no major hull changes. Example the difference between the Arleigh Burke Destroyers Block I and II is aircraft facilities and length of hull. difference between Block IIs and IIIs again length of hull and aircraft facilities along with weapons capabilities and such. there are also small upgrades added during the build cycles that modified some parts of the Block I and II's those would be IA or IIA or IIB upgrades depending upon how much change there was or if there was a major break in production then they would be a new block series if they were fired up again.
Love your work brother. I'm gearinf back up with Legion. Been writing last night and will have another chapter out today at least.
[EDIT] Just want to say no criticism here just trying to be helpful. [/EDIT]
Thats not correct. The Lola III is completely new ship, and not just a upgraded Lola I or II. Just like the Essex II and Black Lion II which aren't just upgrades of the original Essex or Black Lion designed in the 24th Century. They actually started from a clean slate with the same tonnage and speed profile because the Lola II had been an utter failure, and it was cheaper to design a new ship with the same parameters instead of upgrading a ship design that was nearly 300 years old by that point.
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No I agree but it will start sounding confusing if people start calling things Lola III Block IA or Lola III Block II. I think it would be easier to state them like Lola IIIA, Lola IIIB or Lola Block IIIA something like that. Look at the differences between the Davion I and II they are extreme yet same hull form. You could argue the same was done for the Lola and Essex series. Although it was a cannon way of explaining the extreme differences between the 2750 warships and the 3057 ones. Look at the Robinson I and II and the New Syrtis I and II or the League I and II or that Combine Destroyer. Major changes were weapons loadouts and docking collars between most of them.
Again no criticism. Just trying to keep the story confusion down to a minimum. Hell I'm still trying to RETCON ships in my AU in order to rotate them out for the ones Marauder said I could use a long time ago.
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This is so cool, man! keep it up! You have used your quarantine down-time marvelously!
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You mention an 'in flight refueling probe' on the Massai, but offer no actual refueling dropship or smallcraft? I also wonder at the use of 'diving' speed, when pitch might be more indicative of exo-atmospheric maneuverability.
Oh, and there's a technical term for 'change in acceleration', which is Jerk. The Arunta has more 'Jerk' than the Massai, I take it?
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That's awesome you further expanded. I've added the update link to the Battletech Fan Wiki.
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You mention an 'in flight refueling probe' on the Massai, but offer no actual refueling dropship or smallcraft?
There is actually one. The Moa that is in the extended version of the Project Zhukov TRO. Thats a multi-purpose small craft that also has a tanker configuration
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And she's gonna have her fluff re-worked to make her compliant :) The extra units at the back of Zhukov don't actually fit the setting but were added and have a place there none the less, and could be made to work with their fluff being re-worked (mainly the Raven stuff)
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And she's gonna have her fluff re-worked to make her compliant :) The extra units at the back of Zhukov don't actually fit the setting but were added and have a place there none the less, and could be made to work with their fluff being re-worked (mainly the Raven stuff)
Horus vs. Maasai?
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Horus vs. Maasai?
No need to use the Horus, the Maasai's the same thing basically :) just had plog plate over her missile tubes :) BUT. There's nothing wrong with adding the Horus and Cimmerian in a future product.....
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You know, I REALLY don't like the whole "clan" thing, but even *I* am intrigued by that remark... 8)
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No need to use the Horus, the Maasai's the same thing basically :) just had plog plate over her missile tubes :) BUT. There's nothing wrong with adding the Horus and Cimmerian in a future product.....
So they are two different fighters? I really need to read the fluff on that fighter now lol sorry.
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So they are two different fighters? I really need to read the fluff on that fighter now lol sorry.
Using a slight change on the art but yes, different fighters :)
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Ok word I was so confused lol. Loving it brother keep it up. FYI big battle's in Legion Universe coming soonTM
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Nice work- thanks for sharing!! :thumbsup: