I know we all have little things we'd like to change about the setting, factors that we might introduce in our own personal campaigns to add some spice to the stew as they say. This is place to share ideas and discuss what you change and more importantly why. What do you think it adds. To make people not look like lunatics each reflection can be given a rank recognizing how far you think its from canon and thus how much it changes things.
Here's my list... most affect the succession wars due to that being a favorite time period.
More simple weapons (Minor). I think thinks like 'Mech Mortars, MRMs, Rocket Launchers, H/LMGs, Rifles and other simply low tech weapons should be available during the Succession Wars. They add more options and fit the whole "make due with what you've got" scavanger-tech vibe.
More internal division! (Minor): the Successor States don't have enough chaos to be honest. They're massive conglomerations of conquered territory in many areas yet it seems that Free Skye and Rasalhague (and I'll admit pretty the whole of FWL internal politics) are the only real local resistance movements! This makes no sense? Where are the Taurian resistance forces? The Rim World's Restorationist? The Free Hemogony rebels? The Capallan Insurrectionists? The list can go on and on... make terrorism and rebel activity the constant, non-stop pain in the rear that it should be.
Retrotech (Minor/Moderate): I think that primitive tech should be extremely common in the succession wars! It both allows you to take into account the large militaries of the Successor States, the idea of the mech-owning knighlty class described in the 1st edition materials, but also the mystique of the individual mechwarrior as a god of battle and the idea most good mechs are OLD! Sure, you can get a new build Battlemech on the open market easy, but it will be early age of war quality, while your families 400 year old Warhammer on the other hand can out everything more common build Assault Mechs. It's rare and expensive to get a new build high quality mech. Also gives you a ready supply of mooks to slaughter in your campaigns without turning your mercenary Mechwarriors into statistical gods.
Limited Lostech (moderate): I think EXTREMELY limited production (I mean had built) or salvage of Lostech also makes sense. It allows for the highest ranking members of society/lucky SOBs to have 'mechs far in excess of their peers. It allows for the old idea that the high nobility are gods of battle to make sense on the Battlefield! Yes, Hanse Davion is a good mechwarrior but give his Battlemaster Freezers and an ERPPC (at a cost of only 20 times the listed value!) and he suddenly becomes a one man avatar of war in the eyes of the bottom ranking Mechwarriors in their mass produced Retrotech schlock. After all, the PCs aren't the only people who will ever find Lostech... Also makes Wolf's Dragoons that much more intimidating if you think about it...
Succession War era Power Armor (moderate): While I can see the Clans mastering it and bringing it into a whole new class of durability and agility with their Elementals I simply can't see the idea of armored exoskeletons being glazed over. Sure the armor would weigh a ton and the weapons would be limited, but succession war PA/L could be cool and make some sense.
(Moderate) Power Armor Equipped Space "Marines". This expands on Succession Wars Power Armor. Have the "Marines" of the setting be an elite force that like 'mechs are organized to allow a maximum level of force in as light a package as possible. High level of training levels, decent firepower, high mobility, and heavy armor allows a small squad to match and exceed the ability of a standard platoon. They're used in invasions to back up the 'Mechs and help root out the swarms of crap milita infantry that you can find almost anywhere by the crapload. Also plays into the whole "We can do anything you can do better" theme of the Clans. Sure it takes away some of the OMG! factor of seeing a Toad for the first time, but elementals still represent a major paradigm shift as they're simply bigger, stronger, better armed and more mobile than anything they'd previously conceived of... not to mention that unlike Marines they can literally rip apart a 'mech with their bare "hands"
Modified Clan Origins (moderate): The idea of the whole clan population being a billion, descended from the SLDF, yet able to take on the whole of the Successor States is insane. I think making them about the size of a major periphery state would make more sense and it would be easy to pull off. Just have it so the Kerensky Cluster was occupied when Nick Kerensky found it. Maybe a pacifistic culture, hidden behind the veil of the protector that never really had to face an external military threat and was quickly ground under foot and used as the foundation for the lower castes of the Clans. Allows for a larger society that actually would have the manpower to fight the successor states without it making no sense and would add a precedent for their behavior during the occupation.
Succession War Era "Warships" (Moderate/Major): This feeds into the whole Retrotech factor. What if they retained the ability to build PRIMITIVE Jumpships like the Aqualla? Arm them with light (and sub-capitol?) navel weapons and fighter bays and you have a slow, vulnerable, but semi-effective naval ships that can be used for blockade and bombardment. They'd be limited in their utility and their speed and costs would make them of limited utility to an offensive, but they'd add an interesting new aspect of play while not being an overpowering presence. Plus if you limit their use due to tradition due to their cost they'd make good status symbols and the like... Allows for some elements of Space Opera play without out shining the giant stompy robots on the ground.
A bit more Cyberpunk (major): While I like the ideas of the scavanger future I'd like to have a more interesting contrast between the more populace core worlds and the fringe worlds. One way to play this up even more would be even have there be some worlds in the terran region that like Terra managed to retain independence as corporate run planets paying bribes to maintain their independence and supplying priceless bits of lostech to the successor lords for a mint and a half.
Genetic Modification (major): It's said that the Star League had advanced GE tech but the only place we really see it applied are the Clan Trueborns. I'm reaching back at Battlerun here but I just think it would be fun to use the Orc/Dwarf/Elf genotypes in it as some kind of genetically modified servant races created by the RWR during the Star League as a consumer product. Someone would use that tech after all, and they strike me as the kind of people who'd come up with an excuse to sell slaves...
(Moderate) Shrinking Clan populations. This feeds in with the idea that they conquered a periphery state. Due to the warrior caste's gross mismanagement and piss poor allocation of resources the civilian classes have been steadily shrinking since the formation of the clans. The simple fact is that, with a few exceptions (Diamond Sharks I'm looking at you), the Warrior Caste doesn't know how to run an proper economy or a functional bureaucracy and frankly most of them couldn't be bothered to learn. I'd have the Crusader clans for the most part be the worst of this lot. The simply fact is that at their current rate the clan way of life is simply not sustainable. They have two options. They can moderate themselves and try trim the fat and learn the art of statesmanship rather than acting like a rampaging barbarian hoard, or they can find a nice juicy new conquest to give them the treasure and manpower to continue their gross military indulgence.
This makes the Invasion of the Inner Sphere an issue of cultural survival to the Clans, especially the crusaders who tend to be the most wantonly extravagant of the bunch.
Minor/Moderate/Major?) Cull the populations. The number of people in the IS breaks the rest of the setting. Make it so worlds are fast less populated. With the exception of major worlds like regional and district capitols, populations should be reasonably small. As a rule of thumb I'd say Tech-A being a 1-2 billion, Tech B being around 500 million to a billion. Tech C would be about 100 to 500 million. Tech D would be about 50-100 million. Tech F would be 50 million on a REALLY good day. There will be exceptions. Some primitive worlds might have populations that breed like bunnies, while some advanced worlds might have a high level of tech but be hostile to human life. Then you'd have Terra which I think should have by IS standards a obscene population. I think it would be better if Comstar kept up the Terraforming on Venus and Mars (or it was established enough not to punk out the moment they turned their backs) giving the Sol system a population more in line with that of some regional districts... making it a VERY intimidating target on a REALLY GOOD day.
(Moderate) Many more clan second line troops. Add additional levels to the trial of position. Make is to the person proctoring the test has the right to put students who failed but he believes still have potential retest for a place in a Solahma unit. Use the Hells Horses way of selecting into secondary services the standard with drop outs and free births in even the most ideologically strict of clans being given the chance to become standard infantry, starship crew, and vehicle drivers. Make use of a significantly large paramilitary police that is well trained in suppressing civilian revolts but according to the rules of Zel are technically psudo-warriors at best and cannot be committed to a battle between warriors. One of those convenient little rules to find ways to sidestep at convenience when facing the Zergling rushes of milita infantry that can be found in the Inner Sphere...
(Moderate) Warrior Nobility: I mentioned it above and now I'll go into detail. I think that the majority of a successor states' military should be tied up in the lower nobility. Mechwarriors, Aerospace Jocks, even skilled marines and owners of high tech vehicles should all be lower level nobility with a small landhold dedicated to giving them the resources to keep their weapons functioning, their skills sharp, and the ability to raise men at arms (militia) to help defend the realm. The standing military should consist of Knights fulfilling their feudal obligations, students of the elite academies paying off their training with a term of service, sons and daughters of the nobility looking to ply their trade and maybe earn a landhold of thier own, Mercenaries, and the Successor Lord's own men at arms who are looking to protect their homeland or advance in the world.
This allows massive forces in wars while in (relative) peace the forces are much reduced because the knights are at home tending to their obligations. Also makes Mercs far more useful. Feudal obligations are complicated and slow to deal with and while it allows them to raise a ton of men when need be, it also is extremely slow, especially if the lower level nobles don't want to go as they can lawyer you to death dragging out the process even more. Mercs are simple. Give them money, point them at target, and they break things. They EXPENSIVE and contracts are a pest, but compared to the various obligations among the feudal warrior class its down right simple. Along those lines I'd also raise the income of your average mercenary unit about ten times to come in line with the level of wealth and station found among the corresponding members of the feudal warrior class.
You can have cheap fast and effective. You want cheap and effective, wait for the Mechwarrior-Knights to move their butts. You want cheap and fast, you call of levy of the milita off some worlds and hope you have enough meat to jam the other guys grinder. You want fast and good, you open up your check book, swallow your pride, and pay someone to do it.
(Moderate) Privateers. State Sponsored pirates. How would that work you ask? Simple. X unit has a service contract from Y Successor State that gives them leave to commit to "objective raids" against their enemies. Payment is completely in salvage rights with minimal support offered. In other words, a fancy way to describing your standard 17th century Letter of Marque and Reprisal.
(Moderate) I liked the mention of someone else of adding more subdivision to the Federated Suns for flavor.
(Major) MONKEYS! Everything is better with monkeys.
Everything. ;D
Minor: For the love of god, do not use the support Vehicle rules to build primitive combat vehicles and Conventional Fighters! Make dedicated rules like you did for ASFs and MEchs! Here's my example:
http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,5415.0.html
