Which Were The First Battlemechs? Battlemech Evolution Chart/Poster

[Dayton3]

I've been wanting to do or see done a "Battlemech Evolution Chart" that shows the first generation of battlemechs and how mechs from successive generations "evolved" from them.

We might've talked about this before but I was gone for about half a year with a major computer problem and a local flood (during a hurricane in th late fall) that caused huge amounts of damage to me.

I know the 100 ton Mackie was the truly "first" battlemech.

And the 80 ton Stryker was called the "first" assault mech.

But which mechs evolved from  which?    What was the first heavy mech?   medium mech?  light mech?   

Did any of these mech designs end up "dying off" without having new designs come from it?

[Jellico]

Not that simple. Assault, heavy, medium, and light 'Mechs are examples of covergent evolution, coming from whatever their parent factions first stole from the Hegemony.

[Dayton3]

Not that simple. Assault, heavy, medium, and light 'Mechs are examples of covergent evolution, coming from whatever their parent factions first stole from the Hegemony.

Would all "upper end assault mechs" (90 tons and above) be considered evolutionary descendents othe Mackie?

would all "lower end assault mechs" 80-90 tons) be considered evolutionary descendents of the Stryker?

Which were the first heavy, medium and light mechs?

Some of the TRO 3025 stuff on the Griffin suggests it was one of the earliest mech designs given that the 55 ton mech was once considerd a "heavy" mech IIRC but then later became an "upper medium".

In the light weight classification, the Wasp, Stinger, and another one that I can't quite name all look like "brother mechs" with a common ancestor,

[Neufeld]

This is a study that I have wanted to do myself also, and have slightly started on.
A problem is that I am still waiting for record sheets of several crucial early mechs, most notably the Orion, the Archer and the Griffin, which are among the ten first mech designs that we know of.

- There is no way the Striker would be the first assault mech.

- Bellerophon was the first heavy mech, but it was a failed design. So, it is probably that the Orion is the first heavy mech that saw general deployment.

- Kyudo is the first medium.

- Commando is probably the first light mech.

As for dying off, I can not really come up with any old design that has not in some way influenced newer ones. Still, there are very influential designs, and those that has made very little impact (like Helepolis and Eisenfaust).

EDIT:

Would all "upper end assault mechs" (90 tons and above) be considered evolutionary descendents othe Mackie?

would all "lower end assault mechs" 80-90 tons) be considered evolutionary descendents of the Stryker?

A) The Banshee has also heavily influenced the upper end assault mech.

B) While 80-85 tonners were uncommon during the Age of War, both the Longbow and Victor are older.

[Jellico]

Would all "upper end assault mechs" (90 tons and above) be considered evolutionary descendents othe Mackie?

Yes. All 'Mechs are descendents of the Mackie.

would all "lower end assault mechs" 80-90 tons) be considered evolutionary descendents of the Stryker?

No. If only because the Stryker is a Hegemony 'Mech. For example a Federated Suns low end assault 'Mech can only decend from a Federated Suns 'Mech. After all the Federated Suns don't know all the tricks and institutional knowledge involved to build a Stryker. In fact the forefather of a lower end Federated Suns assault 'Mech may well be a light 'Mech.

Consider the American muscle car. A Charger didn't evolve from a Mustang. Rather an ecological niche opened up for big engined coups and the various auto companies evolved vehicals to fill the niche from their existing stock.

Alternatively consider the early American attempts to make small cars. These evolved from big petrol guzzlers and retained a number of features that caused them to perform poorly in the ecological niche compared to the Japanese competition that had followed a different evolutionary path.

[FedComGirl]

What was the first Mech? The one introduced in 2300 that all mechs are descended from?

[ItsTehPope]

What was the first Mech? The one introduced in 2300 that all mechs are descended from?

Yes. All 'Mechs are descendents of the Mackie.

[VhenRa]

And you completely miss the point. FedComGirl is talking about the first MECH, Not BattleMech. What would have been an IndustrialMech, first thing to use Myomer, probably an ICE Engine, Neuralhelmet Interface, ect ect. IndustrialMechs predate BattleMechs by a century remember.

[Frabby]

The BattleCorps story Break-Away (Proliferation Cycle part 1) strongly implies that neurohelmet technology was developed alongside BattleMech technology, and may have been a key component in making 'Mechs combat units.

[Dayton3]

The BattleCorps story Break-Away (Proliferation Cycle part 1) strongly implies that neurohelmet technology was developed alongside BattleMech technology, and may have been a key component in making 'Mechs combat units.

I agree.   I thought that "neurohelmets" were a vital component to a battlemech actually being a fighting machine because it allows the mechwarriors own bodily sense of balance and movement (along with the mechs gyros) to enable the mech to move in a manner that makes combat by a walking tank effective.

[Dayton3]

I agree.   I thought that "neurohelmets" were a vital component to a battlemech actually being a fighting machine because it allows the mechwarriors own bodily sense of balance and movement (along with the mechs gyros) to enable the mech to move in a manner that makes combat by a walking tank effective.

I looked this up for a project that I mentioned. 

I'm having several fits and starts and some of it is going to have to be pure invention on my part but if I can get it typed out I'll post it here if anyone is interested.

[glitterboy2098]

one thing ot keep in ind is that in the early days, the terms used to describe weight classes now seem to have different meanings.
i mean, heck, the griffon was originally classified as an Assault mech, and this despite the fact it was half the mass of the Mackie.
odds are that early on mechs were not classified by weight but by role.. when the practice of classifying by weight started up and most mechs got reclassified into light/medium/heavy categories, the 80-100 ton range wound up with sharing a term with an older role based classification.

[YingJanshi]

How do the XTRO Primitives fit into this now?

[deathfrombeyond]

A related question: which ProtoMech was the first one to be developed?

[Demos]

Harpy.

[Kitsune413]

Era Report Age of War has a timeline that lists when mechs hit the battlefield.