Karagin
02/13/13 10:14 AM
72.178.85.122
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The idea that BT Universe needs a reset is a good one, but it's not the story that needed a rest, it is the mechanics of the game play aka the rules. We have been graced with core rule books that have done nothing to streamline play and given us more dice rolling and chart checking same as we had before. So the powers that be went with a universe reset.
They took the Word Of Blake, a very minor player in the vast scope of the game and turned them into the evil boogeymen of Inner Sphere. Now was this really needed? Could another group be used? They had more things they could have done with the Clans, there was House Laio and its' adventuring that could have been used to bring about this reset, or even the Marik Laio Wedding could have been the next Succession War. No they went with the idea that to make the game fun and exciting and easier it was time to get rid of things like uber-non player groups aka canon units, like the Dragoons for example. Now my question is did this really change anything to make the game easier to play? I don't think it did at all.
Did this reset bring in new players versus how many left, numbers on that will vary but I am going to guess that those who left versus those that came in are not even close. More stopped playing then have joined the ranks of the Battletech Board game.
Then came the ending of the novels as such that I or anyone else could go to Amazon or Barnes and Nobles or your local book store and buy them. Instead you have to now join a club to get the stories that are now replacing the novels. Yes they have released some e-book novels but none of these are on the scale as the original ones that gave us the look into the BT universe.
Now a lot of us have stuck through the changes and have dealt with the idea that the clicky tech version of the game is part of the canon. Many have excepted this and others are still trying to figure things out about it. We have also gotten some interesting PDF source books of late. But we have not seen any major tournament games like we did a few years ago, there seems to be a big push on the two computer based BT games, again not sure why they can't adapt the rules as written into a computer game mainly the building a mech part.
So given that things keep changing with the BT universe and what do many of you expect to see next for the storyline? And what do many of you think needs to be fixed or changed to help keep the players and fans and bring in new ones at the same time?
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Hythos
02/18/13 01:29 PM
108.195.48.139
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Once I get caught up with anything post 3060, I'll throw some ideas out there 
Because History repeats itself... there are always more Succession Wars, new Clans forging alliances, and new "Mysterious invaders" to be introduced... hehe
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Karagin
02/18/13 07:25 PM
72.178.85.122
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All three of those would have been good ideas....
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Col_Green
02/18/13 09:38 PM
99.9.128.106
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agree 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% 
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csadn
03/01/13 04:44 AM
69.30.99.182
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Well, if past performance is any indicator: CGL will collapse, and The Creators will reform under another name....
As to "fixing the universe" -- hoo boy, allow me to put on my Heathen Boots:
-- Erase all events prior to 3025. *ALL* of them. Without exception. (Yes, this will force this site to rename itself; but so what? )
-- All advanced tech becomes part of the "Star League Era". This includes rules for Nukes, cybernetics, etc. This also means: All this advanced tech has Gone Away by 3025 (more on this below). Folks who want to use it, can; but they're playing as their characters' great-great-great-[etc.]-grandparents.
-- The future (that is, from 3025 onward) is to be left to the players to develop. Want a civil war between Hanse Davion and Michael Hasek? Go ahead. Andurien carves out an empire for itself? Sure. Does advanced tech make a comeback, or does the rot continue until the largest polity left is the Outworlds Alliance? The players decide.
Gaming is a publishing industry; and right now, the Publishing Industry is trying desperately to clamp down on its control over who, and what, gets published, not realizing that thanks to desktop (and laptop) computing, e-books, Photoshop, and other myriad tech advanced, well, "the harder you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers". Gaming companies need to accept this, and act accordingly; or the players will go to places where they *aren't* being treated as "the last best hope to make a quick buck".
CF
Oregon: The "Outworlds Alliance" of the United States of America
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EdmondDantes224
12/29/13 09:33 PM
172.242.213.55
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Just wanted to note... something is wrong with this topic. The body of the page seems to be extending farther right than it should, into the gray area on the right-hand side.
Just to give you an example: You know how there's "Previous" and "Next" and other buttons above every topic? I can only see "Previous." And many, MANY words in every post get cut off.
It's not my browser.... I tried it in Chrome too and it still happens there.
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EdmondDantes224
12/29/13 09:35 PM
172.242.213.55
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I can't edit my previous post, so I'm just posting again:
I think it's Colonel Green's post that's the problem (sorry man).
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Karagin
12/29/13 09:37 PM
24.243.178.124
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Yeah I noticed that, seems to happen some times. Maybe Cray or Nick can figure it out.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Retry
12/29/13 10:08 PM
67.239.109.174
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Programs like Megamek which does all the dice rolling randomness stuff by itself are quite helpful. I don't think I'd have bothered with the BTech board game at all otherwise... The charts and mods and dice and advanced rules I use just seems too daunting to me for doing it by hand...
Other than streamlining gameplay for non-digital gameplay, the things that really need to be fixed are those bloody useless autocannons.
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EdmondDantes224
12/29/13 10:11 PM
172.242.213.55
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I'm pretty sure all the mods have to do is edit Col_Green's post so there aren't a ridiculous amount of zeroes and that would fix everything.
I've seen this kind of error before. What happens is the wrap can't work properly because there's an unbroken line. Least that's my theory.
Seriously, mods, try eliminating those zeroes and see if it doesn't fix it.
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Nic Jansma
02/03/14 11:39 AM
68.43.36.90
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Fixed the width issue
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EdmondDantes224
02/03/14 08:04 PM
184.20.139.220
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Thanks!
Now, can someone explain to me what the "WOB Silliness" is and why its silly? Having only just now started reading the novels, I probably won't get to that point for some time, if its even covered within the FASA/ROC run, so be as spoilery as you like.
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Karagin
02/03/14 09:17 PM
24.243.178.124
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The WoB silliness is this, the Word of Blake goes from a joke of group to Interstellar power house in a mere 21 years. Now the official line of reasoning is they have these 5 hidden worlds and Terra to draw and some how these things give them the ability to amass an army that can strike all over the Inner Sphere at will and because the House Lords are SO focused on the Clans and each other that they miss the signs or ignore them that the WoB is building up their military.
Then add in the slagging of Outreach by the WoB and it's merc lackeys, all complete with enough nukes to ruin the planet, thus ending the Wolf's Dragoons as a major player in the game universe. Then comes attacks all of the Inner Sphere, when again according to the official stance is the WoB was going to hand over this massive army of advanced tech wonder toys and super enhanced soldiers to the re-founded Star League and convince them to destroy the Clans once and for all, but instead they attack the whole Inner Sphere and the Clans that are in the Inner Sphere all because the House Lords once again agree to disagree and break up the Star League, which really wasn't much of any thing beyond an alliance of convenience to break the Clan tide, it failed the second the other Lords allowed Laio to take the St Ives Compact with SLDF troops.
Really what all of this comes down to is that they, the powers that be, wanted to rest the universe back to something more manageable and using the Word of Blake was the cheap and fast way to do so. Some say this was all planned as far back as 1995, others say it was a quick fix to bring things into alinement with the Mechwarrior Click Tech game. Lots ideas on why they did this. Not everyone supported the idea in the fan base, many fans who didn't were blasted on the boards here and else where, by folks who were work for or friends with many of the powers that be at one time or another, added into this that they stop putting novels out and then the only way to get new fiction was to join BattleCorps where we find as new sourcebooks and such come out that things have happen and since no new novels were forth coming on the mass market of book stores, it cause a lot of folks to not fully understanding things yet again.
So if you want a wacky universe where armies can springing up in a short amount time with very little really explained and when questions get asked attacks and snide remarks are the norm, then this silliness might be what you want, or you can ignore it and just enjoy the game, which is what many have done.
This my opinion of the silliness and your milage may vary on things as you find out more via the sources books or if you chose to join BattleCorps and buy the fiction on there.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
Edited by Karagin (02/03/14 09:21 PM)
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Karagin
02/03/14 09:19 PM
24.243.178.124
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The WoB silliness is this, the Word of Blake goes from a joke of group to Interstellar power house in a mere 21 years. Now the official line of reasoning is they have these 5 hidden worlds and Terra to draw and some how these things give them the ability to amass an army that can strike all over the Inner Sphere at will and because the House Lords are SO focused on the Clans and each other that they miss the signs or ignore them that the WoB is building up their military.
Then add in the slagging of Outreach by the WoB and it's merc lackeys, all complete with enough nukes to ruin the planet, thus ending the Wolf's Dragoons as a major player in the game universe. Then comes attacks all of the Inner Sphere, when again according to the official stance is the WoB was going to hand over this massive army of advanced tech wonder toys and super enhanced soldiers to the re-founded Star League and convince them to destroy the Clans once and for all, but instead they attack the whole Inner Sphere and the Clans that are in the Inner Sphere all because the House Lords once again agree to disagree and break up the Star League, which really wasn't much of any thing beyond an alliance of convenience to break the Clan tide, it failed the second the other Lords allowed Laio to take the St Ives Compact with SLDF troops.
Really what all of this comes down to is that they, the powers that be, wanted to rest the universe back to something more manageable and using the Word of Blake was the cheap and fast way to do so. Some say this was all planned as far back
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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ghostrider
02/03/14 10:16 PM
66.27.181.51
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If I remember, wob took terra during the clan invasion while the majority of the com guards were fighting on tukkyid (sp?) If I recall comstar built their army from stockpiles of mech they had kept secret. This is one way they could have built up quickly.
Now comes the stupid part.
Wob was given refuge in the free worlds league, and started building there. House Marik should have known, but guessing they were thinking wob would help them attain the star league mantle with some sort of permanence.
The use of nuke should have had even Marik declare them outlaws and hunted them down before much of the spread happened. You can say since wob did have partial control of the hpg network, they could have shut down things they didn't want known.
I am leaning towards agreeing with Karagin that this was a way to try and counter the fact the story line was screwed up.
They wanted to sell a new line and come up with a new boogie man.
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Rotwang
02/10/14 11:38 AM
94.227.126.162
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It would make more sense if this was Comstar's plan all along ...
Blake knew the Inner Sphere was on a path to war, so his plan is create a giant front that will do everything the Inner Sphere intelligence will expect it to do, while it secretly hatches a more sinister plan. He has knowledge of a special network of uninhabited planets and outposts secretly built by the Star League as a jump off point for an assault that would take care of the Inner Sphere powers once and for all. It's so secret not even Kerensky knew about it or was fed false intel about it.
The cover is to make Comstar a neutral, but distrusted player. They ultimately reveal that they did indeed have a whole army of SLDF mechs and tech and are manipulating certain events, even leaking it on purpose to the Inner Sphere so that they believe they have Comstar figured out, but the WOB is completely blindsiding the Inner Sphere. Comstar is like the Manchurian Candidate, an unknowing agent of destruction.
Meanwhile the real conspiracy is that the inner circle, the WOB continues to expand the plan, building up resources, new tech and mechs, they would have the same industrial base as the Clans did to start with and might have built their own new advanced weapons.
In this scenario even the recovery of the Helm core is part of the plot. The new tech would invariably spark another major war. But unexpectedly the Clans return, the WOB inner circle decide to use Comstar to stop and weaken the Clans and drag them into the deadly politics of the Inner Sphere. They stop the Clans at Tukayid thanks to their patsies Focht (he's unaware of the true powers behind Comstar, but as long as it helps keeping up the fake front, he is given free rein) and Waterly (her operation scorpion is doomed from the start because it would interfere with the actual great plan). They then set up the right conditions for an all out war except that it doesn't quite work out the way they planned it, or if you subscribe to the Devlin Stone WOB agent theory it works as planned.
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Karagin
02/10/14 07:45 PM
70.118.139.48
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According to TPTB it was ComStars plan all along...
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Rotwang
02/11/14 10:23 AM
94.227.126.162
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Quote:
According to TPTB it was ComStars plan all along...
Comstar's actual plan was to seize control of communications and then engineer wars so that the Inner Sphere would fall under their control. But then the Clans threw a spanner in the works, Waterly's plan was foiled by Focht and the WOB fanatics broke off.
Of course this means that a tiny breakaway faction does all that incredible damage, by pulling huge financial and military resources out of its **** to knock down the whole Inner Sphere in less than a quarter century.
If you retcon it to being a plan by the Hegemony to put the Inner Sphere under their control that was hijacked by the true power behind Comstar working for centuries on the plan it becomes a bit more credible ...
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