3rd Succession War info?

[Mendrugo]

I get Battletech fandom has been using the Mad Max in Space as a description for awhile but as a fan of both properties, they are nothing alike and the comparison is misleading at best.

There are worlds in the setting where Mad Max-esque action is explicitly the norm.  Antallos, in particular, is Mad Max in almost pure essence.

[SteelRaven]

There are worlds in the setting where Mad Max-esque action is explicitly the norm.  Antallos, in particular, is Mad Max in almost pure essence.

Yeah and there are spots in Cyberpunk 2020-Red that's also Mad Max-ish but it's not the entire universes.

[Mendrugo]

I concur - it’s not the whole setting - though before the Helm core recovery, it was a technologically fallen, scavenger-centric setting, with many similarities to Mad Max.  Water raids, frankenmechs, pirate kings with outsize personalities, etc.

But, if you want a different vibe, there are worlds where you can accurately claim the action and culture resemble Fallout, the wild west, the Roman Empire, the Scottish highlands, the Iberian peninsula of the 1300s, Arabian Nights, Las Vegas, the Klondike, Vikings, Land of the Lost, James Bond, etc.

So if you want zone gangs rampaging around the sea of despair (a vast desert waste) in cobbled together war rigs, battling dead mercs and slaver warlords, head to Antallos.  Otherwise, you’ve got a vast choice of other settings to suit your preferences.

[Shin_Fenris]

But, if you want a different vibe, there are worlds where you can accurately claim the action and culture resemble Fallout, the wild west, the Roman Empire, the Scottish highlands, the Iberian peninsula of the 1300s, Arabian Nights, Las Vegas, the Klondike, Vikings, Land of the Lost, James Bond, etc.

Gosh, I love BattleTech.

[niall78]

In the second book of the original novels we see a multi-regimental mech force drop on Steins Folly. I think there's also mention of multiple conventional regiments supporting. The battle opens with a huge aero space engagement as the FS drop onto the planet.

This is a raid in force. It is directly said that this force isn't large enough to hold the planet.

This is deep in the so-called Mad Max era. Long before the Helm Memory Core or tech renaissance.

The ability to fight 1st and 2nd War campaigns is over in the 3rd War due to lack of resources. That doesn't equate to a Mad Max setting. Just that total war got a little less total.

The universe wide heavy Mad Max vibe was retconed within the first few products from FASA. It got pushed to the boondocks of the setting. The timelines of the 3rd War and the history we have already from this period show that Mad Max as a general setting never existed in Battletech. 

[Weirdguy]

My feeling of the Mad Max vs Professional Armies on Campaign was that true Mad Max was out in the Periphery or on some hard to get to planets. 

However, the majority of the setting was local warfare on a modest scale, and all of the war machines are an eclectic mix & match of used Mechs, tanks, aerospace fighters, and even a few home made machines

You want to see a uniform regiment of all new mechs from the factory, everyone dressed the same, and everything painted properly?   Well, only your five or six top commanders of the five succession lords can pull that off.

[Sartris]

And the dragoons

[niall78]

My feeling of the Mad Max vs Professional Armies on Campaign was that true Mad Max was out in the Periphery or on some hard to get to planets. 

However, the majority of the setting was local warfare on a modest scale, and all of the war machines are an eclectic mix & match of used Mechs, tanks, aerospace fighters, and even a few home made machines

You want to see a uniform regiment of all new mechs from the factory, everyone dressed the same, and everything painted properly?   Well, only your five or six top commanders of the five succession lords can pull that off.

I'd agree with this everyday. Even by the 2nd War this was getting to be normal. The scale and quality was dropping every year. It didn't drop to general Mad Max levels though.

Mad Max is embedded deep in the setting. It is a great place to play. It is also there in every era - not just the 3rd War. The mistake is to think it ever represents the general setting. Barring early products in the line-up before the setting was fully codified.

[niall78]

And the dragoons

In a Mad Max setting the Dragoons decide to cut though what little remains, capture Terra and declare Clan Wolf ilClan. Saves us all thirty years of real life waiting.

[Weirdguy]

And the dragoons

True, but they didn’t arrive into the Inner Sphere until 3005. 

This is what I was getting at with just how mind boggling long the 3rd Succession War is.

That means the vast majority, aka 139 years out of 159 year long war there was no such thing as the Wolf’s Dragoons.  They’re only a thing for the last 20 years of the 3rd Succession War.

When they did show up with five entire regiments of brand new mechs, including their best mech warrior with the surname of Kerensky, it really, really caused a lot of intelligence agencies to sit up and take notice. 

I think their biggest screwup were their couple of 100 ton Annihilator mechs.  Those were triple weird in an already double weird situation.  Those are not Inner Sphere mechs.

[SteelRaven]

Everyone just assumed they found a SLDF stash, ComStar used the Jolly Roger affair and the Dragoons arrival as a excuse to purge the higher ups that they blamed for the screw up which lead to hard liners taking more power.

[Prospernia]

It is my understanding that, the 3rd Succession-War was just like the 2nd and the 4th. Nothing really much happened.