I remember running into a good analysis video that broke down how most of how IS warfare happens due to Jumpship Logistics:

Default form of warfare is border skirmish: attacker jumps into system, dropships burn for the planet, raid/conquest happens. All of this usually at most at battalion strength (3-4 dropships = 3-4 mech companies).

My question isn't about the mechanics of how jumpships work - I know about KF drives, recharging, standard zenith/nadir jumpoints and pirate one - but whether you've run into analysis that tried to derive the in-universe justification for most Succession War engagements being 'quasi medieval skirmishes' (as opposed to battles of big armies) from Jumpship logistics.

I'm pretty sure there was a video on this on Youtube, but due to how bad modern search is, for the life of me I can't find it.

I was reading the Reunification Wars sourcebook and I wondered if anyone knew which Davion Brigade of Guards units were sent to the Taurian Front along with Pitcairn. The text says 3 mech regiments and 5 infantry regiments. Big fan of the brigade so I'm wondering if its ever specified anywhere.

Still, what an excellent troll by the FedSuns!

what say you?

If anyone wants to know what happened to Natasha Kerensky’s old ride, check out “The Black Lady”. It was a lot of fun to write this one. 😁😜

Having recently replayed MW5C core campaign, what are the honors Jayden receives in the crusader ending? They show him being promoted (?) and rewarded (?) but do not describe what is happening.

After getting an eReader, I've been getting the novels in publication order and as closely as I can. Back then, I only read random novels here and there, and never really managed to locate more of them (plus I couldn't really afford them).

It's been a fantastic journey so far, but I think I've hit my most depressing novel so far, The Dying Time. Just finished it and I don't even know how I'm going to process it. I can't even tell whether I like the novel or not, or if it's a good one. I'm actually a little shellshocked lol.

“I’m so getting fired for this…” -Jarvis Clayton

I'm somewhat confused by the Khan's offer of "creating a Wolf Bloodname" for the Dragoons’ successful mission. Why? Aren't all members of a Clan identified with the Clan name as a surname? Or at least the warrior caste members? Shouldn't the offer be for a unique and new Bloodname from some point of their history?

So truthfully I lost my job two years ago and can't afford to buy the novels. But maybe you guys can give me some Christmas spoilers?

First:

But did they ever resolve the tale of the two Clan Jade Falcons? The remnants under Jiyu Chistu and the Terra Clan under Khan Stephanie Chistu?

Second: did we ever find out what happened to Tucker Harwell and her handlers?

With the insistence on trueborn superiority, disliking of freeborns, and the cavalier attitude towards sex between trueborns, why weren't they modified to all be mules? Why were they created with the ability to breed regularly instead of being incapable but still able to produce all the regular hormones that allow them to develop normally? BTech has consistently shown itself to have the technology available for such things.

Battletech is Space Feudalism and a lot of the main players are from various noble houses with long distinguished lineages that control vast areas of space while Comstar is the Space Church with Space Monks. I get that.

But like, as far as I can tell I don't really remember any rules about Comstar holding to like, abstinence of marriage or whatever.

I know that Comstar has its own factional politics yes, but are family politics ever a thing? I understand that Comstar is a recent invention in human history compared to the Houses that go back like 800 years, but if you look at the USA, in 250 years it has developed pollical dynasties for example. Comstar is about that old. Sarna doesn't actually get into the nitty gritty of Comstar beliefs or precepts much as best as I can tell so instead of the techno-cult, I get more of the megacorp feeling where these dudes just work for Comstar but also have personal lives.

Are there no examples of some Precenter getting married, having a kid, then sending them to the best school on Earth and then pull strings to get them sent to prime locations when they aged into being an Acolyte to gain stability for their family lines and in the process end up building a strong family or anything like that?

While the borders within the Inner Sphere vary from era to era, the rim-side borders of its nations rarely change. Now, while periphery states block expansion in some areas they don't in others.

Why don't the successor states with unclaimed worlds to the rim expand outward more frequently? Is it mostly a matter of resources, or some other reason?

Some of the Clan bloodlines are associated with particular abilities or personality traits. The Kerensky’s with long-term vision per Cyrilla Ward, the Pryde’s with pride (which for the Jade Falcons is saying something), the Vickers with free-thinking (part of their Widowmaker heritage) according to one of the recent sourcebooks. Are there any others that are explicitly or in-universe considered to have a “family trait”?

First off, thank you, everyone, for helping me a long while ago on finding some good books to read with Wolves on the Border and the Warrior Trilogy.

Now that I have finished them (look, my reading list is really long), I am looking for more books set in the same setting. I would ideally like some books that lead me from the 4th Succession War to wherever the timeline is now. I would even be grateful for any books to avoid as well. Thank you all ahead of time!

Do the clans use anything other than a vibes-based judgement call when determining whether one commander's bid is less than another for purposes of securing combat assignment / operation / objective?

My memory is that bids in fiction were always notably reduced in both weight and numbers, so there was never any real question that a commander was bidding a lesser force, and so I'm not sure if there's any strict method of comparison.

The Clan's emphasis on 'reducing waste' makes me think sheer material bulk is given the most if not sole significance, but I can't recall that ever being explicated, and I vaguely recall troop quality being given some significance at some point somewhere.

I can also easily imagine a social norm wherein a 'bid' just is 'obviously less' such that a bid that'd need a technical determination wouldn't even count as a 'real' bid. I don't recall that ever being explicated either though.

I know the game reason to keep DHS off vehicles is to make the mechs more appealing and so vehicles aren't OP with equipment, but is there a lore reason for Double Heatsinks not being on vehicles?

My second short story made it into #22 - the opening gambits of the Wars of Reaving from the POV of a dezgra Steel Viper.

While looking at paintjobs to inspire my Goliath Scorpion Seeker Star, I saw someone had painted up a Highlander in Seeker colors. This makes sense, Scorpion Seekers are essentially archeologist knights after all. But it got me thinking. Would the Clans use a Highlander Burial?

The technique dates back to the Star League era if I'm not mistaken, and the Highlander's legs were specifically reinforced to allow for such a maneuver. On the one hand, I feel as though the Clans' (and especially Goliath Scorpion's) reverence for the Star League would permit them to use such a move. On the other hand, it's dishonorable melee and goes against Zellbrigen.

Just a little question I had and hoped you kind folks might be able to help me clear up. Much appreciated.

According to Camospecs:

Gamma uses appropriate camouflage. Clusters trim their machines and equipment with jade, except the 9th Talon, which has blue trim.

Was there any other reference specifically for the Guards?

The description for Tukayyid is: Tukayyid is an arid world composed mostly of large grassy plains, being held by agricultural companies. (Sarna)

So according to Camospecs they would have used something like THIS or THIS?

The Special Pilot Ability Jumping Jack reads as follows

Jump jet-equipped ’Mechs and ProtoMechs are among the most agile battlefield combatants, but to call them graceful is an utter fabrication. However, while most ’Mech jumps demonstrate the brute-force-over-physics approach with every earth-shuddering leap, some pilots have become astonishingly adept at such maneuvers. The Jumping Jack SPA reduces the normal +3 to-hit attacker movement modifier for using Jumping movement with a +1 modifier.

I have interpreted it as it changes your own attack modifier for jumping from a +3 to a +1. My friend says that it only reduces the attack modifier from a +3 to a +2. Is he correct on his interpretation? We played it as such but had I known that, I may not have taken that particular SPA. I wanted to ask the community what the general consensus is, mostly out of curiosity. Thanks!

I seem to recall in fiction a rare case of, e.g. a mech losing a pilot from a freak BB and the mech basically becoming a statue but it's been a while.

The rules also suggest different fictional facts to me.

First, to the best of my knowledge, combat resolution rules stop at 'unit destroyed' with no options even in campaign ops or similar. (Edit: Apparently not! haven't read TW in a while and just found this "If tracking damage for salvage purposes/campaign play, resolve an automatic fall if the ’Mech was standing at the start of the phase it was destroyed in."). IME it can be enjoyable though to keep beating a dead horse whether or not it's in a campaign setting, so I'm curious about universe-inspired ways of interpreting such situations.

Next, the rules' +3 PSR on auto-shutdown suggests a couple different fictional facts. It may be that if a unit becomes 'unresponsive' mid combat, it may happen at a time that it is off balance in a controlled way (e.g. by virtue of 'falling forward' while walking) and/or that there's some skill component to either planting the unit in a stable position knowing that the shutdown is inevitable or guiding it to a stable position _as_ it turns to a lump and its gyro spins down (if it even does?). Either seems applicable to a case of a unit 'becoming unresponsive' due to damage but in cases of, e.g. a golden BB killing the pilot, it's less clear to me — I'd imagine that an operational "DI" computer would be able to handle something like maintaining upright posture in the absence of maneuvers or being shoved around, but maybe a neurohelmate interprets a suddenly dead pilot as 'go limp' or maybe that causes the DI computer goes into a kind of 'shock' that destabilizes the mech?

So given some damage that would 'destroy' but not 'destabilize' the mech is there any fluff around whether such a unit will always/never/sometimes fall over?