BattleTech – Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts

Note: The title of this book is uncertain as it remains unclear whether the "BattleTech" prefix is part of the title. This article was named after the publisher's database entry. Other listings separate the prefix with a colon or dash, or omit it entirely from the title.

Battletech, Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts (German, "The world of the 31st century") is an original German softcover publication by Heyne, the publisher of the German line of BattleTech novels. It was never translated or published in another language.

Content

Written by two of the premier German BattleTech (BT) authors, the book provides an introduction to the BT universe and an overview of the franchise from a real-world perspective. Its content includes:

• A list of BT media and sources (comics, magazines and fanzines, computer and console games, gaming centers, trading cards, TV series, a few internet sites), all with brief descriptions;
• A rundown of all episodes from Battletech: The Animated Series with plot summaries
• Translation of excerpts from a longer interview with Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock III (taken at the FASA office in Chicago just before the 1988 GenCon);
• Translation of an email interview with Michael A. Stackpole from early 2002;
• A 29-page introduction to BT in-universe history up until the absorption of the St. Ives Compact back into the Capellan Confederation in 3063;
• A description of the Inner Sphere and the Successor States;
• A dictionary of BT terms complete with (sometimes page-long) articles on the subjects, covering states (complete with maps) and ComStar, military units and ranks, technologies, and other BT concepts such as the Ares Conventions or LosTech;
• A description of the Periphery with emphasis on the Outworlds Alliance, Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordat (again with maps); bandit kings are treated in one summary chapter;
• A description of the Clans, complete with a Deep Periphery map (showing the position of the Kerensky Cluster and Pentagon Worlds relative to the Inner Sphere;
• A dictionary of specific Clan terms including a detailed map of the Kerensky Cluster and the Pentagon worlds (showing the names and relative positions of the systems therein);
• A description and history of Solaris VII and the Solaris Games;
• A long and detailed Who-is-Who list of BT characters;
• A BT timeline by year, beginning with the launch of Crippen Station in 2005 and ending with the second Whitting Conference in 3061;
• Dictionaries/list chapters about
  • BT military vehicles and starships (notably, the entry for LAMs shows the picture of a Wasp LAM, the only unseen picture in the entire book;
  • technology in BT including BattleMech components and gadgets like cooling vests and neurohelmets;
  • offensive and defensive systems (weapons, defensive weapons, ammunition subtypes and armor);
• A timeline of 'Mech evolution;
• An analysis of the success of the BT franchise from a real-world point of view;
• A list of published BT novels both German and English, up to Endgame (and up to Imminent Crisis in the MechWarrior line)
• A product list for BT (from FASA, FanPro LLC and Fantasy Productions) and a list of computer games;
• A synopsis showing the original (english) name/designation and the German names of all BT vehicles and starships;
• "Könige des Schlachtfeldes" (Kings of the Battlefield): Technical Readout fluff-style descriptions of various 'Mechs (complete with picture for some, but not all) in sidebars throughout the book;
• various previously published artwork including full-color pictures from the covers of books or boxed sets. The book does not contain any original artwork.

Errors

• The book consistently claims that the Gray Death Legion discovered the Helm Memory Core in 3024 already, which is against established canon; the correct year is 3028.
• Contrary to what the book claims, the Fallout comics do not depict the 1st Somerset Strikers but another unit (called Fallout).

Canonicity

Although an official product that was made under a valid license, the book does not meet the canon criteria because it was never published in english. As a consequence, it does not contribute canon. This is especially true for

• mentioned rumours about a modified Charger (implied to be the CGR-SB Challenger) serving with the Hat-in-the-Ring company on Holt; while the Challenger as such was canonized, its background and especially the Hat-in-the-Ring Battalion were never mentioned outside BattleTechnology and therefore remain unconfirmed;
• the assertion that the Alliance BattleMech was just a hoax and that this 'Mech never existed;
• the assertion that the Mauler (more likely referring to its predecessor, the Daboku) is alledgedly based on an abortive Liao design named Linesman ("Linienrichter" in German). The Linesman was developed alongside the Cataphract after 3015 but abandoned before reaching the production stage because production costs would only permit one of the two new designs to be built. When the Liao military could not agree on which one to keep, Maximilian Liao decided in favour of the Cataphract. The Linesman design was later resurrected as the Mauler by the Draconis Combine using rediscovered technology.

External Links

• Publisher's homepage
• ISBN listing/database entry