Remove ads

BattleTech- where to start?

Mr. Cloak

Mr. Cloak

Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
Pronouns
I
I've written a few things. Some good, some not-so-good.
But what I do know is that before I can write about a setting, I need to have a decent idea of said setting- and while I have a fascinating idea where to put a story, I don't know enough to simulate the setting correctly.
Specifically, I want to write a story in Battletech. With big stompy robots.
I know how to make the MC. I can simulate their mentality and reactions. I can see multiple ways for their powers to develop, and have already sketched out a number of potential roll paths for their abilities.
What I don't know, is the setting.
Anyone have recommendations for how to learn about Battletech on a budget of 0$ enough to write a story?

An on a seperate note- how do you create new tags? I wanted to add an "I'm not your mom" tag, and it doesn't exist yet.
 
Most importantly, welcome to BattleTech, it's a cool, rich and surprisingly nuanced fictional universe.

If you want to delve in and write about it, sarna is your friend. It's BT's officially unoffical fan wiki and good enough that even offical writers use it. It has articles on a lot of stuff, including extensive overview of the setting and its history.

Honestly, I wouldn't try to get every little detail right away. Pick a corner for your story that sounds cool to you, peruse the wiki, find some youtube videos and you should be ok. BT's setting has a lot of undescribed areas, so there's plenty of room to fill with your ideas. Don't be afraid to bend or break established canon if it makes for a better story, BT fans in general are quite forgiving when it comes to that (or, as the devs put it: If it works at your table...)

Also, don't be afraid to pop by the ofical forum and ask for advice there, people are friendly over there and willing to share their knowledge and personal interpretation of the setting freely. BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat - Index
 
Tex Talks Battletech over on youtube has some very good videos over the lore, so if you have some free time and what to learn and be entertained it's a good watch. It gets a little memey but Tex does a great job of showing the setting form a in-universe historian view
 
And theres always old hand in reading other stories set in the setting to get an idea of the general setting / most commonly used parts of cannon.
 
first by correcting the name of this thread :p

cant really add a lot to previous messages, i personally enjoyed big red 40k's vids on yt but they're very vehicle specific
i got nearly all my lore from sarna or fanfiction
 
Techmarine said:
first by correcting the name of this thread :p

cant really add a lot to previous messages, i personally enjoyed big red 40k's vids on yt but they're very vehicle specific
i got nearly all my lore from sarna or fanfiction
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Corrected!

nathnathn said:
And theres always old hand in reading other stories set in the setting to get an idea of the general setting / most commonly used parts of cannon.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Any reccomendations? I'm reading, well, a few, but I've only started with SI stories so far due to the impact that the story I am dreaming of has similar levels of ripple effects.
 
Do you already have a region, faction or era in mind for placing your story? This will make recommendations easier
 
Pirx said:
Do you already have a region, faction or era in mind for placing your story? This will make recommendations easier
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Era: pre year 3000
Region: Pirate holdings where the locals are kept at just-20th century tech levels, with pirate forces keeping air and land superiority with tanks, aero and mechs. Space is locked down by a pirate station with a handful of aero fighters. Site was part of the Starleague Crab Program (StarCorps Industries pre-collapse facility developing the King Crab, Crab, and Hermit Crab), and has battlemech salvage on the smaller continent (used as a dumping ground and storage for parts by pirates), but no remaining knowledge on how to MAKE myomers or mechs (because pirates). Moreover, if anyone figures out how to jury-rig parts together, the pirates drop a rock and aerospace fighters on it until the locals remember that 'mechs bad'.
Faction: unaligned, no Comstar HPG. It's a dark system and kept that way by pirate overlords.

I had a fever, dreamed of a sea of King Crabs, Crabs, and Hermit Crab mechs dancing to Crab Rave, and this idea popped in my thinky-meats.
 
Last edited:
Mr. Cloak said:
Corrected!



Any reccomendations? I'm reading, well, a few, but I've only started with SI stories so far due to the impact that the story I am dreaming of has similar levels of ripple effects.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Cant remember most of the names but general a title search for battletech here and spacebattles gets you some results though you might want to set a minimum word length.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com

Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA) Sci-Fi

TBD
forums.sufficientvelocity.com forums.sufficientvelocity.com
is one i could refind quickly atleast if its the one i think it is.
theres another one thats more crossover thats well written named something like iron commander where she has a noteputer "tablet laptop" with supcom/pa scanning and constructing.
 
I have one that I like a lot that I could share but I would would need to read the SV rules again
While it isn't nsfw the site has a lot of it sn I don't know what the rules say about that
But now I need sleep first
 
Big recommendation: 'It Was Easier on the Tabletop'. It's a Battletech SI, where a modern man is isekai'd into the setting due to a science experiment gone wrong in the NAIS (big university in capital city of one of the major players). I recommend it for two reasons.

First, it's a bit weird, but I've found that reading fanfics (especially by authors I enjoy reading in more familiar fandoms) tends to be an easy way for me to dip my toe in the water of a new fandom and see if I like it. This is especially true for self-inserts, bizarrely enough, since SIs tend to give a quick overview of the setting as the character 'comes to terms' with the new world they inhabit.

Second, and more directly useful to you, It Was Easier on the Tabletop was popular enough that it got readers unfamiliar with Battletech, who then asked for a quick overview of the Battletech setting. Cue a series of five posts on Battletech history, starting here.

Note that both the story and the overview are unapologetically anti-Draconis Combine (pro-FedSun and Lyran Commonwealth), but given that the Combine is a very thinly veiled 'Imperial Japan in space' -- complete with Rape of Nanking-scale atrocities -- I find that particular bias entirely justifiable. To the extent that I refuse to read any work that is pro-Combine, for the same reason I don't read fiction by Nazis or tankies.

Anyway, hope you find that helpful.
 
one possible sorce, mixed with sarcastic humor though and needing a tiny bit of fact checking, is the Black Pants Legion youtube channel.

Especially the lore Videos on the Great Houses and the Battle of Tukiyyad.
 
Any Fic by @drakensis here on SB or over on SB is good Civilisation.

My favourite though is "Centurion", though his newest Fic "Opalescent Reflections" which is ongoing is very good too!

A fun but more light and playful entry which plays more fast and loose in the setting is the Fic "Commander" by @Seras

As to who is best, worse or most evil or goodest.... The answer is none of the Polities really.

Nearly every State, Nation etc is full of jerks with huge deathtolls and atrocities on their resumes.

I generally favour the Periphery States but even they are not without dark stuff in their pasts.... Or future.

Really every Place has Heroes and Villains that originate or work there.

For a nice range of stuff though....

There is a an SI with a Gundam Fic over on SB set in the Draconis Combine, which leans more into stuff like the Yakuza, Bushido and Underdog themes. Cannot remember the title or Author name, but I recommend it.

There are a couple of Comstar SI Fics too, one with a Female SI and one with a Male SI. Both are very good, but sadly on hiatus/unfinished.
 
Sarna I'll /Nod.

The Fanfic I need to read.

Tex Talks Battletech I haven't found wrong on IS stuff. The Clans.... There's some intricacies to the Clans that are lost on most IS players, especially the sheer dearth of real resources that the Clans suffer from. Quality in Quantity to the extent that the Clans have it makes perfect sense.

As far as the rest, talk to people and realize, it's hard to dive right into Battletech.

Here's a few possible starting story points to pick up the narrative from:

Amaris Coup
1st Succession War
2nd Succession War
3rd Succession War
4th Succession War
*Clan Invasion - I'll * this one just in that people worked together while also not understanding the new style of fighting. There's quite a bit that goes into the Clans, and it's not quite as well hinted at as the lore and history can show.

The single biggest issue with the Clans is that it's more of a Knight-Samurai and even Caste system where the people that do the fighting are to be Noble, and yet, Crusaders most often aren't. The problem herein is that with Ferrari and other high end cars 'Mech mentality, the Clans invented OmniMech technology to address the rather nearly dearth-level of lack of resources in quality AND quantity.

The Clans have so little raw materials wise to make stuff that the reason they made such high end fighting machines is because that's the best result they could get their meager hands on while launching their planned invasion of the Inner Sphere.

The higher quality pilots on average wasn't even covered IS side due to the sheer, "We're boned," that it most likely would have caused.

Again, the only reason the Crusaders lost is because they don't value Logistics. The Wolves under Ulric did well because of this love of Logistics.

The problem for most is that the Clans as a society don't seem to understand the IS, while they have lived in a prebuilt and structured society and societal system that quite literally forces survival as the primary motivator for the Clans as a whole. If you too lived in a series of systems of planets where any major slipup can kill either you, others, or both, one is inclined to at least pay attention to what's going on around them.

The Inner Sphere has so many habitable worlds that it's no comparison.
The Clans with IS levels of Resources would have been a really serious eye opener.
 
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top