/btg/ BattleTech General

If you people HAVE to waste thread space posting Steiner Princesses, at least post blondes that are a) attractive, b) badass, and c) could be Steiner Princesses.

>and no, she's not Wrasslehog. Ragnar's family in the books doesn't match up to traditional nordic descriptions at all, while the Steiners do

>in b4 "when will you post one that's any of those things". You aren't clever.

I think that bullpup is actually HK-33 based, look at the mag

Nice Wrasselhog. Married to Prince Ragnar?

Apparently this is the Marik princess.

Well Coventry was settled by Australians and Canadians.

What would the queen of shitposting look like?

>What would the queen of shitposting look like?

Does MadCap have a gf who isn't 2d?

If the Clans had worked together on Tukayyid would they have won?

I don't know, the quasi-Greek look makes me think Ministry of Canopus.

Pic related is what you want.

Anyway, give me aesthetic!

The FWL is more Greek than Canopus though. In either case, pic related is what I went with.

The void between Udzima and Youshu? Most of the big powers are racing for the star system dense arms of the Galaxy, so border voids are more due to lack of colony vectors, rather than no-mans-land contested zones.

Definitely wont deny my setting is BT influenced lol. Before I got into my more specific stuff, I was just headcannoning custom BT mechs.

Prostor Dominion translates to "Space Dominion", if you want on the nose :P

well, the magistracy was settled by ex-FWL folks, so....

Memes aside, why is /btg/ like Purple Bird central? I've never seen so many Marik fans in one place.

>a lack of agreeable Battletech aesthetic

Battletech has very clearly defined aesthetics for each era. What happens is people bitching about wanting to change them. Sometimes, this is a good thing, like OG Dark Age was appalling and CGL saved that from the fire. Making 3025 super high tech and sleek and slapping a 2010's aesthetic on it that will look as dated as the 80's stuff in 10 years is much more arguably not so. The people who want this generally argue for a 40K solution where you get stuck in a constant feedback loop of updating things and the eras never go anywhere.

Derp, didn't mean to link you, Shimmy.

This is interesting to consider. I don't really think so though. They were fundamentally unprepared for the kind of war that ComStar brought to their doorstep. The Com Guard didn't fight in a way that the Clans were able to adapt to. Having more of them fighting together wouldn't change that.

Also, the odds of them working together were literally negative.

It's the best GM playground for low level mercing in the old days and the DA.

Because Marik has the most interesting governing structure and internal politics. Btg cares more about stuff like that, compared to "how many gauss rifles and clan mechs do I get" of the OF.

Shame their main color choice is shit. Regulan orange scheme can't take over soon enough.

Just as Mariks are the rejects of the Inner Sphere that nobody cares about, so to are the people here the rejects of the Battletech community that nobody cares about. In both cases, the real powers that be would prefer to wipe out all the rejects permanently.

I like the current aesthetic.

>he doesn't like purple

Are the Uraeus and Kheper any good? I want to make a neo-Blakist force.

They're leagues better than the militia downgrades and the Republican junk heaps they were built to face. After the RotS retcons of stuff like the Lament...eh. Still okay.

Uraeus is dogshit.
The bombast laser is a piece of garbage and it can't even do the only thing it's any good at doing; managing heat on a TSM mech because the designers didn't even learn from the Seraph and threw a streak on there.

The Kheper is fine, if a bit thin-skinned.

Don't user. I haven't rewatched B5 in years and if I start now I won't be able to stop!

>Definitely wont deny my setting is BT influenced lol. Before I got into my more specific stuff, I was just headcannoning custom BT mechs.

Not an ounce of shame in that. Most of the best settings started as somebody else's setting that the author put different shit they liked into. Star Wars is just Dune with samurai and cowboys.

I was referring to the setting as a whole, not the mech/vehicle art. What do people dress like? What are cities like? What do regular infantry look like? The mechs all get updated but a lot of the art on this kind of stuff is way outdated. Should it stay in "I Love The 80's" mode or get updated to some aesthetic like Titanfall? How do you see the universe?

I was hoping for art but I'll just post some things and you can judge whether you think it works in Battletech or not. Just give me the traditional Veeky Forums "Yeah I like that" or "No fuck you you're an idiot for posting that."

MEESTER GARIBALDI, you know you want to marathon Babylon 5 right now! For the good of the Republic, my good friend.

Some website is streaming for free now IIRC.

What would be good "fixed" variants for both mechs?

Link?

>I was referring to the setting as a whole, not the mech/vehicle art

That does get its own changes by era too. And it varies insanely from world to world in the entire inner sphere in every era in the first place. Like 3020's had all the super angular clothing and the giant blue facial makeup.

What tends to not change are the lowest infantry gear (because it's already hundreds of years old and nobody cares) and ceremonial uniforms (because they were also standardized hundreds of years before). Capellans have dudes in crappy chinese armor that couldn't stop the most basic laser pistol but it's traditional.

For an example, look at the DEST ninjas. They go from guys in high tech pajamas to full soft armor sneak suits and way more electronic gear over the years.

Or nuerohelmets. They go from bulky giant things to light helmets and even headbands.

It's all very distinct. A lot of people just haven't bothered to look at things and see how they change.

>Does MadCap have a gf who isn't 2d?

Right, but those changes are down to artstyle evolution more than in-universe advancement, they just happen to look that way because the publications move along with the timeline.

If they were for some reason putting out art for 3025 DEST commandoes they would still be wearing sneaky light armor instead of 80's stock ninja pajamas.

So give me some knee-jerks. Does pic related put you over the cyberpunk limit for Battletech or does it fit?

>but those changes are down to artstyle evolution more than in-universe advancement

Not true. They specify how those things change and reference the changes in-universe. And continue to reference the old gear. Many mechwarriors from old families still prefer the old rugged 3020's style of nuerohelmets even into the Dark Age for example.

Main deal breaker in that is the huge holo projections. Massive holo tanks you can walk in are rare expensive military tools. Most everyone else just has little trivid holosets for entertainment.

The general feel is periphery in any era or 3020's poor as fuck near periphery areas of places like Bad News or the Outback

If one was to make anti-mech emplacements (think WW2 field gun style, possibly bunkered up), what would their stat profiles look like? LongToms pointing straight ahead with some armor points?

Right, in the same way that the 60's model ships are still a part of the Star Trek universe even though they would never be portrayed that way now. It's in-universe explanations for art advancement, not the other way around. Obviously no 3020's era product made today would be painting DEST as 80's action movie ninjas.

I can't help but notice you've glossed over all my purely subjective questions in favor of technical things. Battletech is about creative thinking in close concert with rigid technical details. Feel free to imagine a little. I'm not asking "has this been portrayed as such in a sourcebook", I'm asking "would you like it to be, or would it bother you if it was?"

I think in that image it's supposed to be some kind of security scanner. But I see your point.

There are rules for turrets, if that's what you want. There are also rules for pillboxes. No, I don't have page #s on hand, sorry.

Artillery isn't really anti-mech so to say, it's really more anti-anythingontheground. If you want specific mech killer turrets, you probably want paired Gauss Rifle turrets that have a large stock of ammo. A series of emplacements, each of which sports two Gauss Rifles and enough ammo to fire all day is a pretty serious deterrent to anyone attacking it with anything other than aircraft (and Gauss Rifles fuck up planes just fine as it happens).

Field guns have rules already. Bunkered guns are represented by buildings with weapons (Advanced Buildings in TacOps, IIRC).

its funny how out of scale that picture is, just like the rest of Battletech art

Canon T Swift is 9 feet tall..

>Jandhold user
It was cute last thread, but lose the name now. Doesn't serve a purpose anymore and makes you look like a ponce.

>Obviously no 3020's era product made today would be painting DEST as 80's action movie ninjas.

Historicals do use the old stuff though. Janos Marik still has his awesome mustache and forehead tatoo. To use your own example, even that silly show Discovery showed the Constitution class in the mirror universe as a 60's Constitution. Just because something is a design from it's time like an X wing, doesn't mean it's not core.

I didn't gloss over anything. I told you where and when that type of thing would be appropriate. You can justify all sorts of crazy stuff in battletech with the right where and when. Terra is an automated super megalopolis full of robot servants and people with five hour work weeks while the space amish are planting arcturan space corn with giant alien horses and plows beaten from the armor of destroyed pirate mechs. It's when people don't bother to do any digging to make what they specifically want fit the where and when that throw a wrench in everything. At least if they want it to fit. And if they don't care, then why on earth would they ask about if it fits in the first place? Just go do it.

>Post non-Battletech photos and art
>that capture what you feel is the "Battletech aesthetic."

This Wil Rees illustration appeared in the original Adeptus Titanicus book. It does not, I feel, mesh with how I imagine Titan (or even Knight) crews any time after the the beginning of the Dark Age of Technology...

... but it's fine for Battletech.

Kepher- Drop it's spastic-ass lasers for paired Medium X- pulse and a small X-pulse. Less heat, better synergy with the MML, and gives you anti-infantry. Going Light PPC+Capacitor instead of the lasers is also a good idea too.

Uraeus- There was an old "Mech of the Week" article that covered it on the OF. There is a ton of shit you have to do, revolving around dropping the STREAK SRM (on a melee TSM mech! Fuck!) and Bombast laser, and swapping the light gyro for a standard. The weapons are pretty much up to you, but I would shoot for the good ole' ER PPC in the turret and swapping the SRMs for it's weight in medium lasers and C3.
As for the vibroblade, I'm not sure. The Uraeus pulls a neat trick with the blade as it effectively has 3 separate physical attacks it can make- punching, basic sword at a -1, or Vibroblade for a -2 to-hit but no TSM improvement on damage. This means that if your arm's are getting critted the Uraeus has a good chance of still being able to hit with something, proving how useful some of the vibroblades can be. Still, depending on rule level replacing it for a retractable blade for its special "pilebunker" move can be worth it, but YMMV.

Don't listen to completely, just don't use the name when it's not relevant to your post.

I namefag when summoned or when it's relevant, but I also post user half the time. Pretty sure other namefags do similar.

So many namefags offer nothing of value that there's general aversion even when you do offer something. Just another AU isn't really gonna cut it.

What the fuck happened /btg/, post mechs goddammit, not bitching about people's taste or lack thereof. If you're not going to post mechs, then post Mad Max.

But user's taste is WRONG

>If you're not going to post mechs, then post Mad Max.

What *kind* of mechs, CA?

All kinds, except for ones piloted by furries. They're unacceptable by association.

What was up with the tattoo?

Post Blake mechs pls

That was the fashionable thing in the early 3000s FWL. A bunch of guys had them, including the dickbag Marik guy from Price of Glory.

...

PATRIOTISM

Well, pretty sure my posting style makes me look a little like a ponce anyhow, but I'm nothing if not a slave to public opinion.

Also I'm confused, how different is this from the stock Grim Reaper? Just dropping the LRM down to a 15 for the C3?

It was for a player bitching that the MML-7 wasn't widely available to the Blakists in 3067 (the SSW date is wrong, I'm just too lazy to change it) in pic related's case. Also, it has ES, more heat sinks, and no AMS to explode, and 2 ML in place of the shitty IS MPL.

Oh, I guess I was misremembering then, I thought the stock version looked more like that already.

In that case it's certainly an improvement. TRO:3055 era mechs tend to be some of my favorites, I wish they got more canon variants.

>All kinds, except for ones piloted by furries. They're unacceptable by association.

I've been a fan of Ben Dunn for a long time. I don't know whatever happened with Tiger-X, as I stopped reading it when he handed it off to someone else at Antarctic Press decades ago, but it inspired me to design this - one of the last few from back then which I have *not* posted in the booru.

What would be a good mech to use as a testbed for experimental weapons/equipment in the 3025 era? Something presumably with a reputation for being easy to maintain, with lots of chassis room for mounting experimental and exotic weapons.

I have a question regarding clan military structure: when someone is promoted to Star Captain/Colonel do they still act as Star Commander for their Star or is someone else promoted to that rank? And if someone else is promoted to that rank is the previous commander no longer a part of the Star?

Archer, definitely.

Marauder if you want something that specifically isn't an Archer.

Depends on what kind of weapons and equipment. You wouldn't throw scout gear on an Orion or a Thud but those two are premier kill stuff mod bases. Archer is good for commonality, but not quite as rugged. Middle ground trooper is Shad/Griffin territory. Scout/Light is bugs erryday.

Marauders are rare bro.

>What would be a good mech to use as a testbed for experimental weapons/equipment in the 3025 era? Something presumably with a reputation for being easy to maintain, with lots of chassis room for mounting experimental and exotic weapons.
Archers - common, customized to Hell and gone, already used as testbeds.
Hunchback - big feeds, good balance, reliable and tough
Thunderbolt - huge torso, lots of mounts, cheaply available all over the Sphere.

I was thinking of the MAD-4X. Just in terms of it being iconic, plus able to mount just about anything and it make sense.

Oh wow, thanks for the great response. I also have a followup question. How many testbed mechs might a premier research facility for a house or large (very large) corporation be fielding? I thought maybe 4-8? With presumably the facility being very well guarded on a strongly garrisoned world.

>How many testbed mechs might a premier research facility for a house or large (very large) corporation be fielding?
Depends on who it is? Check out the XTRO books, though, as well as the missions.
The NAIS had at least 4 experimental designs on-site when the Widows jumped them, and we know examples of the Caesar, Cataphract, and Raven at least wound up there as well during testing. I wouldn't be surprised if Hesperus didn't have at least a company of 'Mechs in various stages of development, and during the Jihad they had something like 5 different designs of prototypes and weapons testbeds kicking around, with multiples of at least some of them.

Mech manufacturers usually use their own chassis for experimentation. Like even if they're testing HVAC 10's and all they build is Cicadas, then Cicadas is what they'll mount them on for testing, even if they're going to design a whole new heavy chassis to actually manufacture to carry the weapons later.

Pure weapon manufacturers usually ship stuff out to Solaris, let the stables mount them on their custom rides and then see how they perform in the arenas.

Mech garages and university/academy cadres mount stuff on whatever they have laying around. They'll be the ones with the more typical common and rugged chassis as their testbeds.

How many any of those guys are fielding depends on the category and the size. Mech manufacturers usually use prototype groupes of 2-5 for specific projects but they might have several projects running at once. These prototypes are usually shipped off to line units or decommissioned after testing. Solaris stables are all sorts of custom, sometimes up to 100% and they constantly keep the same chassis in service until destroyed. Academies usually have pet projects that are one offs but grab a new mech for each one like people would do with custom car builds.

I largely ignored this series when I was younger, but because of you gents I managed to secure the series. Except for one bad line, it's okay. I'm about halfway through season 5 right now.

Also Liao has worst color.

>TRO:3055 era mechs tend to be some of my favorites
Same, the 3055 mechs just don't gel with optimization in most respects. But they can do weird stuff better.

I have no idea who that is. As a point of reference, this Marauder piece from the old thread is just over a week younger than me. I only feel crotchety because only the grog remains.

I think it can vary from Clan to Clan, but from what I've seen from various sources, if Star Commander Jeb wins promotion to Star Captain, he still commands a Star within the formation. Now once I seem to recall seeing a subordinate Star Commander referenced as being the Star's second, but don't take my faulty memory as canon.
At higher levels, it seems split on whether or not a commander's Star exists outside the normal chain of command, or functions like a command lance would in the IS. Star Colonels and above also seem to rely on their aides and coregns to act as seconds within the command unit, freeing them up for strategic stuff as needed.

>I have no idea who that is.

Ben Dunn is best known for founding Antarctic Press and creating Ninja High School, which he drew for many years but also handed over to other artists later on down the line.

>As a point of reference, this Marauder piece from the old thread is just over a week younger than me. I only feel crotchety because only the grog remains.

I was looking for a really awful Rifleman I drew that was even older than that Marauder, but I think I packed it away in shame. It was *really* awful. Here - have a classic Warhammer from 1987 instead!

Think of it this way: Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Sofia Vergara, and every member of Bowling For Soup are all around the right age to remember Battletech when it first came out. Maybe that's perspective, or maybe that twists everything sideways into something we don't want to think about.

There are only a handful of times I can recall someone high-ranking having a lower-ranked officer in their unit, and it's always either a Keshik where they're an aide or an ad-hoc formation.

Otherwise, a Khan, Galaxy Commander, Star Colonel, or Star Captain just takes the command slot in their Star and any other Stars in their personal Binary or Trinary are headed by a Star Commander as usual.

East German Army helmets for one. The super aerodynamic sport helmets for biking and ski jumping are another. I don’t know enough about ANH to know how those ship’s troops got their fancy (& useless) headwear but they inspired a lot of people.

Honestly even if the Clans wipe Andurien to the last man, I don't see them as having the resources left after Andurien to pose an existential threat to the NRWR or anyone else; they have no supply chain, and every 'Mech exploded by a Good Doggie is a 'Mech the Clans aren't going to get back.

Also, if memory serves the agreement the Clans worked out with the FWL gave them the right to pass through FWL territory unscathed on their way to the NRWR... not the way back.

(maybe it's House Marik who had the real plan all along! )

>I don’t know enough about ANH to know how those ship’s troops got their fancy (& useless) headwear but they inspired a lot of people.

What if they come in a different door?

That's me and it was so yesterday.

I stepped back and took a moment and realized that yes, most of Veeky Forums is jaded dicks. I guess my problem was there was no meat to his assertions. Unlike the others. The others had constructive feedback. The one dude was just seemingly being negative with no substance or basis.

Essentially I was wanting "If you are going to put a hole there, give me substance to launch off of as to why it is a hole, so that it can be an actual weakness/drawback other than simply 'no'"

But i realized i was also being an ass. And sort of a tiny bit defensive based upon that.

Go90 stream has all of B5.

Came up with a mech design based on a tow-mech and a trailer-mech. The tow would be a 50 ton mech trailing a quad 100 tonner, or a 100 ton tow with 100 ton trailer.

I toyed with the idea of a 5-piece mech of about 500 tons, but figured it was too much.

The Macarron's Armored Cavalry scenario book had some anti-mech fortifications listed. Try on the download page.

JHS: Terra has modular Castle Brian hexes and IIRC TacOps (maybe IntOps?) has rules for fortress building too.

>Queen of shitposting
>Not Taylor Swift

It's like you manage to totally ignore them or something.

Teach me.

Start drinking bourbon and stop drinking fuck replenishment fluid

Shimmy, what's your idea for the setting, only for your art or you want to make it a RPG? The one than is grabing my atention is the Antares free zone, the rest of the factions remind me to many mil-sci conglomerates from average qualitymil-sci fi (like Crimson Empire, than has the Not-Mena+africa, Not-China, Not-Russia-Hindu) than have earth nations for flavour, but without expanding on it (like Mena+ Africa there are so many people than hate each other, you need some strong first nation and the subyugated ones wanting to improve themselves in the gov, think Dracs and the Hogs/Azami). The Urvani seems interesting too, if you go space steppe nomads like Homeworld.

That's a TAMARIND commoner KIDNAPPED be the marians.Get my fap fic right user.

It's the variety of Girls, you can get Andurien girls, Tamaring-Abbey or Regulans cuties, like pic related, in the same faction.
Jokes aside, it's than they have stronk internal flavour, you could base a game in the FWL alone, even with the little flavour they get in oficial books compared to the other big five, and get a very exotic, along as relatable, campaign.

This

/btg/ isn't /s/, please reduce numbers of pictures of women unrelated to battletech to something like 1 per person per thread maximum

this goes for the tswift poster too, I don't care if you're a nazi, just post nazi mechs instead please

What about unoficial ones?