MechWarrior 5 announced with trailer

[patience]

Ive never read any Battletech based fiction. Any recommendations on whats worth reading, I dont care in the least bit if its complete pulp.

Stackpole's stuff, imo, was the best of the bunch. The Blood of Kerensky trilogy is probably what I'd recommend for starters. It covers the initial clan invasion, gives brief overviews of the different houses and is, in general, a decent starting point.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Kerensky-Vol-Heritage-Battletech/dp/1555600913


From there, if you like what you read, you can dip back into the succession wars etc. The clan invasion is probably the biggest event in BT lore so it's why I'd say start here and then work your way back.

Stackpole's wasn't the best but you can't go wrong with looking at him for btech material since was in charge of the larger framework of the universe FASA was pushing.

Ask anyone their favorite book and most likely you'll be pointed at "Wolves on the Border." THere's another book that comes highly recommended but I can't remember what it was.

In fact I'm inclined to suggest you read this fanfic which really blows away the majority of btech fiction. Suomi Warders pre 3057 was an epic storyline.

[Hoax]

Ive never read any Battletech based fiction. Any recommendations on whats worth reading, I dont care in the least bit if its complete pulp.

The Grey Death Legion stuff is ok, basically because they are 'mercs you get to hear about all the houses over the course of their stories. They get some pretty dumb hero perks later on though but that is what I remember starting with when I was a youngster.

They would be:
Decision at Thunder Rift
Mercenary's Star
The Price of Glory

You would want to read the Warrior trilogy by Stackpole if you could find it (online pdf might be only option) since it covers the era around this game in overview fashion.  Stackpole is ok, sort of the baseline BT writer, he represents the average talent level overall.

From there its pretty much all beer and pretzle scifi, depends on what you can find.  The storyarcs are something like:
-Wolf versus Falcon refusal war
-Fedcom civilwar drama
-Latest Kurita assassination plot
-GDL merc action

There are also two other merc companies that get some books according to wiki but I don't remember those very well.  I think the Black Thorn stuff might have good action.  Maybe.

Personally the only thing I think I remember well enough to recommend a specific book..

Impetus of War was good, also it was the lead in to the Twilight of the Clans series, which I really enjoyed.  It has some Davion superhero antics but overall it was quite fun.

The St Ives books were good, stories about Liao are always pretty damn interesting, esp when they involve the warrior houses.

[gryeyes]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. It appears I am familiar with some of the authors from Shadowrun stuff.

[Falwell]

Man all this BT talk brings back the memories. Any old 3056 or 3028 MUSE vets hang around here?

[Jain Zar]

No, but I played quite a bit of Megamek, in spite of it being slow and the server I played on made things annoying as any good mech you had was doomed to die and you got stuck with piles of Urbanmechs and Dervishes..

[MechCorps]

http://www.mechcorps.com/html/index.php (houston area - these guys actually LARP it out sometimes)

They must have bought the pods.  D&B's recently got rid of theirs, so I thought things in Houston had shut down.  Good to know.

We ARE still around!  :)

and we are based on the west side of Houston usually with 12 pods available for your metal mayhem madness.

I say "usually" because every now and then we take the BattleTech Cockpit Simulator Pods to conventions in the US.

So, look for us at gaming, sci-fi, anime and comic conventions!

Our next Convention will be MechaCon in Lafayette, Louisiana.  http://www.MechaCon.com



So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask and hope to see you at our headquarters or at a convention.

[Tale]

Hope this doesn't happen in the furries thread.

[Trippy]

Don't worry, we'll nuke it from orbit if it does.

[Lantyssa]

It must be my new avatar.  It gave me a percent chance to gate in others of my kind.  I must figure out how to use this power for good !

[rk47]

Hope this doesn't happen in the furries thread.

[Sleep]

After reading an interview from ign with the developers I was like *meh*.

I want a sandbox styled mech sim with the custimisation options of armored core 4 answer, but with better gameplay and missions that dont suck balls. MW5 looks like it will be too focused in my opinion, with the emphasis on set peices and linear progression, less customization, but nothing is certain yet so I'll wait and see.

[Velorath]

Huh? When did the Inner Sphere or the Clans invent time travel?

In any case Smith & Tinker is currently working on a game called Nanovor, an online CCG, so if they are working on MW5 as well it's going to be a while before its released.

Gamasutra just put up a fairly decent sized article on Nanovor for those interested.

[gryeyes]

Not for me, I will rationalize my purchase as an investment into a forthcoming Shadowrun game. Or better yet a SR MMO, I cant think of a franchise more ripe for MMOinization.

[schild]

Or better yet a SR MMO, I cant think of a franchise more ripe for MMOinization.

That's because you don't think that often.

[gryeyes]

snore

[Kageru]

Nice trailer. Shame mech-warrior was so intrinsically stupid. Huge, slow moving, weapon platforms like those depicted would be such a liability.

The anime mecha in Robotech / Macross (where some of the early designs were stolen from) were light and agile vehicles by comparison so could reasonably hope to dodge or outrun opponents and use cover. I'd prefer that sort of gameplay too. While the GW Titan version neatly explained it by way of shields that required a titan to mount but made it immune to small arms fire so you actually needed to lug around ridiculously oversized weaponry.

[Trippy]

The mechs in MW2 were incredibly agile, as long as you installed jump jets, which all the good players in MP did. With JJs installed you could move sideways fast enough to dodge incoming missiles.

[WindupAtheist]

Nice trailer. Shame mech-warrior was so intrinsically stupid. Huge, slow moving, weapon platforms like those depicted would be such a liability.

The anime mecha in Robotech / Macross (where some of the early designs were stolen from) were light and agile vehicles by comparison so could reasonably hope to dodge or outrun opponents and use cover.

I'd rather just pilot something that isn't a forty foot tall "bad guys shoot here" signpost with a prominently exposed cabin-- er-- head in the first place.

 

Yes I went there. Shut up you guys.

[Surlyboi]

It must be my new avatar.  It gave me a percent chance to gate in others of my kind.  I must figure out how to use this power for good !

That's not furry.

Know your limits.

[Azazel]

come to think of it, your avatar looks dangerously furry...

[Trippy]

And it's "backwards" as the "real" WWF put the smackdown on the now WWE by forcing them to change.

[Lantyssa]

I meant the MechCorp guy, not furries.  Yeesh.

Also given my usual avatar... that's pretty damning.

[Surlyboi]

Context. The followup from your line about your avatar with RK47s shotgun loading furry post.

Something in my head just clicked.

[Simond]

Nice trailer. Shame mech-warrior was so intrinsically stupid. Huge, slow moving, weapon platforms like those depicted would be such a liability.

The anime mecha in Robotech / Macross (where some of the early designs were stolen from) were light and agile vehicles by comparison so could reasonably hope to dodge or outrun opponents and use cover.

I'd rather just pilot something that isn't a forty foot tall "bad guys shoot here" signpost with a prominently exposed cabin-- er-- head in the first place.

 

Yes I went there. Shut up you guys.

Forty foot tall? You're not thinking big enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDprm2a706s 

[Surlyboi]

ROW ROW, FIGHT THE POWA!