As the author of the ComStar Sourcebook and the person that started this controversy - I endorse this wonderful video. It amazes me that after all of these years/decades, it still stirs up conspiracy theories.
I just got back my interest in Mechwarrior about a year and a half ago, and when I develop an interest in something, I research. Needless to say not only does Tex provide a wealth of information on the series, he does it in a interesting way, from the visuals to his awesome voice, it keeps you rapt.
And the Taurian Concordat probably still blamed House Davion. Taurian Concordat: "You cost us a Star League era warship, oppressing us as usual!!" House Davion: "Sorry but who are you again?" (Taurian Concordat causes international diplomatic incident flipping a table)
@@Logan912 I mean, they did invade the Taurians quite a few times. And the Cappellan Confederation was founded basically solely to stop Davion's Rimward conquests, beat Davion in that war, and have been satisfied with that single major victory (Unless you count swatting down a couple of Canopis invasions) until the goddamn Dark Age rolls around. And well, Adam turned down Liao's (all be it really shitty) offer of piece eariler in the First Succession War to basically just grind away what was left of his fleets that Kurita didn't butcher John and Joseph with, Hanse did start the 4th Succession War and the War of 3031, Caleb was a dipshit who almost destroyed the FedSuns if it wasn't for Julian, and lead to the fall of New Avalon, the Katrina Steiner/The Bitch one herself is also a Davion and IlKlan Aldric is... also half Davion.
@@michelveilleux2075 Davions: "As in ORIGINAL Italian, from TERRA! Do you have any idea how expensive that is to import all the way out here?!" Taurians: "FUCK YOUR TERRAN SHIT!!" (Flips table again)
Speaking of Clans, the only ones with a legitimate claim to the Hegemony Director-Generalship (apart from that last-remaining Cameron that may or may not exist) would be Clan Snow Raven (look at the general bloodnames to see why).
This is why I love Battletech. Not only does the writing cause in-universe controversy, but real community controversy. Sparks actual and intellectual discussions.
And the continuing adventures of Friedrich Three having to constantly fumigate his cockpit. Bees are done. Next up: wasps, fire ants, giant Japanese hornets, one cricket and once Cicada that can't be found *but keep making NOISES* . . .
I thought the same thing. If this was a cartoon series I'd watch the shit out of it. Almost all entertainment these days is a fucking write off. Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly executed wokeness propaganda. I, like most non-communists, haven't seen entertainment that didn't make me puke in my mouth for idek how long now.
And now I suddenly want a Cameron to still be out there, show up one day to clam Terra just turn everything on its head again. Maybe with the "Minnesota Tribe" at their back just to piss off the clans too.
There are Camerons out there. They just don't have enough of a claim to the throne of the Star League or the backing to enforce a claim. There is a novel about the last Amaris. Guy was a direct descendant of Stephan Amaris and had the paperwork to prove it.
@@Abb0able Well, the guy did find a secret account that Stephan set up. After 300 years of interest on what was probably a good whack of cred to start with it is no great feat that he was able to hire enough mercenaries to make up his own mech regiment. Proper planning he could take a world, use its resources to take another next thing you know he has a small bandit kingdom. Then he gets noticed. Shortly after, squished.
This video is a great example of how 'subtle' and actually subtle comstar can be. Oh how i dearly wish that the Battletech universe had actually thrown off the shackle that is Comstar at the Jihad. Imna now divert into a Battletech campaign that happened. It was not run by me, but i was a player. We were a Mercenary Company, Grim Dawn was the name. We played characters who started out at 3040 and fought all the way into the FedCom Civil War. This was a campaign that had some great moments.Our GM played the clanners amazingly, we got by the skin of our teeth and even ended up battling it out at Luthien. Were not part of the Battle of Tukkayid though, though that was an idea tossed around for various reasons it didn't end up happening. What did end up happening was that, during the war, we got buddy buddy with some Marik guys and ended up with a landhold. We expanded it after the Clan Invasion was thoroughly done with, put up some mech repair facilities, made what started out as an abandoned military outpost into a Mercenary Headquarters. Not much to say about it besides it was very well defended, tactically placed and had a good view of a lake. And that we really, really liked practicing precision fire with artillery, using radio's and grid-coordinates. This only seems like a small, odd cliff foot note now. Fast Forward to the time where the moment in time we all know is coming, is coming. The part where we put down the campaign as the setting goes to a crap shoot and everything gets retarded. Our Game Master, had other ideas. The Game Session started out with someone asking, what are we going to do after this? A question usually only asked by any of us in the second to last, or last game session before finishing up the campaign, taking a month or two long break and coming back up. The GM simply said 'it is not quite time for that yet.' Me and the other three guys had raised eyebrows but shrugged and continued on. Enter the Jihad, but with a few slight changes. They did not manage to destroy as much industry as they wanted and the white out... Did not fully go according to plan. See, what we did not know is the GM had been dropping hints about some of the houses taking a more interested role in things in a low key way. They couldn't pin anything on ComStar, but they could feel that it was nice and shady. But what really did it for several groups was Comstar and them getting the HPG rights from the Clans. So they drafted plans, carrying them in secret and doing it the old, slow, pony express style way. This culminated in a single, final mission for our Mercenary Company. The pay was good, the job looked simple and we didn't in character know nothing about no Jihad, what even is a Jihad, some kinda hood? Be here, at Solaris VII. Guard this Person for Three Months while investigations are held. This Mission did not come from the Review board, but from someone the company had worked with several times, one of those 'pony express' boys who we had worked with several times. Grim Dawn, at that time, was almost big enough to be called a Battalion. We had the artillery for it and even had four AeroSpace fighters we could potentially call in. Started out nice and normal. It was Solaris so we were in the flashy stuff, showing off our Companie's goodies. I proudly was in a Fafnir, because Fafnir that's why. We had a guy in Warhammer that he loved. We had a guy in a Phoenix Hawk running every kind of electronics, short of c3 that existed if i recall correctly. Last but not least, an Atlas. Because no Merc Company can call itself complete without one. But would this be enough against the 25th Division of Word of Blake that was about to smash into Solaris VII like the Kool-Aid man through a wall? Yes and no, is the short answer. The long answer is, we alone were not enough. It started out with them coming in and using all the confusion, as they did and wrecking havoc. But we were not supposed to be there. And in canon, the Solaris Home Defense League, a collection of rag tag gurellia fighting Solaris fighters, managed to force them off. But this time they had the spine and backing of a hardened Mercenary Company. We survived long enough to get a grasp on what they were doing and make them slow down their take over of Solaris City, holding them back from the Stables. Many rolls were made to make it happen, but the Company over a wide area began doing a generally retreating motion. But while we were retreating, the Solaris Stable Warriors were getting ready. And they made their displeasure at their games being interrupted, very, very clear. To clarify a question, how we did large scale engagements like this is by having the rest of the battle occur while we are doing this and effect it in one way or another. Example, if our side had started winning, we would occasionally get some weapon systems fired from the edge of the map at the enemy side. PPC shot from a Vindicator who happened to have a moment to spare, LRM20 barrage, things like that. It was generally assumed that the rest of either sides lines, as far as how many mechs were alive and how damaged they were, could be considered about the same as the actual battle we were playing. The battle ended up turning into a sort of, elastic defense in depth as we retreated and used quick light mechs from both our Merc Group and the Solaris stables to cover for the big lumbering heavies and assaults to fall back, relocate, regroup and get into the fight. In the end, my character Kale Dresari died in his Fafnir. He was facing down a Daishi and a Uziel that i can't remember the name of. My armor on my left torso got opened up but i refused to turn my H-gauss off and fired both of those bad boys. The Uziel ate it right in the already damaged CT and watched as his mech fell over, while the Daishi ate all 25 points of damage right into his right torso, which he then lost. But he wasn't dead yet. The next salvo had my Left Torso's name on it and if you know how many slots Heavy Gauss takes up you already know what happened next. After the ejection i had four pilot hits out of five for my character and i was, a tad worried. Landing in a battlezone while being mostly dead and a pistol is not exactly idea, especially when there is enemy infantry.But while sure i had torn off the Daishi's right torso, he was still very, very much alive. And in position to flank people. So, i tagged him and radio'd on up. "Requesting immediate fire Support on Lased target, target is Assault Mech Daishi." Followed by a string of Grid-Coordinates. Remember when i said we like to practice with artillery? Word of Blake found out the hard way. The direct, painful way. But there is one thing that has to be said about long toms. They dont like you or anything in your general direction. That included Kale Dresari. His body was later found, somehow intact but riddled with shrapnel. Still holding that military map. For reference, by this point the area was as clear as it was going to get of Civillians. Battle had been going on for around an hour at this point. In the end, it was a bloody battle where the Grim Dawn went from being nearly a full Six Lances with Three Long Tom artillery Pieces, Two Lances of Tanks and all that Aerospace... To two lances of Mechs, three Tanks and three Aerospace fighters remaining. While i was the only player casualty, everyone else either ended up loosing their favorite mech completely, or having to scrap it from damage. RIP the Marauder 2 that got shot up so much the only thing that remained was a cockpit. But we won. We were bloody. We were barely alive. But we were also not alone. I believe you have the general idea of what happened from now on down so i will summarize the rest. After this almost pyrric victory, we gathered willing Solaris fighters and began operations in the area. The Jihad still had a nasty effect to be sure, but unlike the first time, it did not set back technology as much as it did, nor did it utterly white out the communication grids across the entire Innersphere. But what it did do was leave a long lasting impression on everyone involved. By the end of the campaign, none of us had our original characters and the Innersphere looked much, much different.
You forgot mobility. ComStar: Interstellar Banking, Interstellar Travel, Interstellar Communication Tech companies such as Google, Facebook are trying to become ComStar and they are fighting with states trying to play them against each other just like the houses, having become law circumventing powers. online payments, Autonomous Cars, Internet Infrastructure
Everyone tends to pray to their machines. Whether it's running down a list of directions to turn something on/off/maintain it, or pleading with something to work, we all pray. LoL. It's just a matter of how dramatic you make it. And how much gobbledygook language you mix into it to confuse the common people. XD
@@HermeticJazz "Oh blessed HPG Manifold Array. Please, send the data-compressed information packets winging through the void, to your brethren, so they might Deliver the News, as was dictated by the Holiest of Holys, Jerome Blake..." *reaches out and taps the red button that originally said 'Send' but has been retouched by monks for the last 200 years into something from the local dialect meaning the exact same thing.* Boop.
I'd love to hear you tell the story of how ComStar drags the Clans into the Inner Sphere someday, if only for the part where Tyra Miraborg kills the ilKhan so hard that the Clans give her a round of applause and write her into their scriptures. I know everybody else loves Natasha Kerensky, but how many ilKhans has she killed? Zero, that's how many. She even got taken out by a Star Colonel, the same rank Nicolai Malthus had.
@@VhenRaTheRaptor Y'See that's because the lady taught'm respect. Fun fact. Blood of Kerensky trilogy were my first ever chapter books. I started reading them (yes because of the cover with Big Stompy Robots) in second grade when I still didn't know what the fuck a chapter even was. I can't pretend to be super deep in battletech lore growing up. But some of it still formed a keystone of my childhood even if I mostly followed it through the novels and computer games.
Neg, Star Commander Joanna of Clan Jade Falcon's reconstituted Falcon Guards Cluster, was the MechWarrior that defeated Khan Kerensky on Twycross in the Great Gash. The same place the original Falcon Guards lost to Kai Allard Liao's Ambush.
Well, if your going to be the saviors of the Inner Sphere you need problems to save the Inner Sphere from. Also, you need any and all rivals to be... incapacitated... in every way possible.
I'm so glad to hear Freidrich 3 finally got those bees out of the cockpit, Was worried the constant screaming would have jeopardized the scouting mission!
I was just about to mention that ComStar had more than a bit of a hand in sending humanity back to the stoneage... when you went ahead and did it for me.
i know what He meant and what the saying means. however, the word "bother" Is a negative Expression in any u can use it, why would that be used for something good Like being aroused? so i guess either the saying was Just blabber, and became a saying without having any real Initial meaning, or ppl Just understood It wrong somewhen, and passed it on in the wrong composition from there on. either way, in terms linguistic logic and how picturesc expressions are used to hint at things without directly having to say it, but still Close enough to be translateable, its making alot more sense to say "hot and buttered". in several ways even If u think about it: "hot and buttered" like a Toast ready for breakfast, without the need to wait or prepare it, or "hot and buttered" as in aroused and moist/lubbed, ready for action without the need of more preperations.
@@Hylebos75 probably when it was named the original name had been corrupted probably just due to some typo in a file. It was so long ago that nobody noticed the change in the name. So they just slapped on what the computer told them. Giving all the history that was lost due to the succession Wars it's not surprising that a couple of minor names in the old history books of pre ftl Earth would probably get a little glitchy.
Sci-fi/space fantasy warships are always underrated. Any setting which doesn't answer the question of "what happens when an enemy fleet cuts your planet off" is half-baked.
WHOOOO! It's Friday and Tex kicks off my three day weekend with a new Battletech video! HELL YEAH! EDIT: To whoever is reading this. If you also have the weekend off and Tex has kicked it off on a kick ass note....GIVE ME A BIG HELL YEAH!!!!!
This video's what I need to explain how the battletech universe can be both futuristic golden age and feudal dirt-farming poverty at the same time. Also tangent all you want, seriously.
@@grimgrahamch.4157 it kind of is. technology being the same, I think the people in battletech are actually far more cold and cruel, because they don't even have religion or chaos as an excuse to glass and ruin so many planets.
@@grimgrahamch.4157 tbf that's a pretty decent take. In both universes life is the cheapest commodity and lost technology is precious beyond measure. Similar but different approaches to make a setting that supports endless messy war for your gaming and tons of room in the fluff for customization.
@@kasperv967 Battle tech is 40k, but you can't blame all the grim darkness on aliens and chaos. It's all caused by flawed humans. To me that makes it far more grimdark.
Tex, I have no idea how much research went into this. But thank you. Space navy combat is definitely one of the less explored areas of BattleTech. Happy 4th and thanks again!
@@theblackpantslegionTruly. I know I read something, maybe 2 things, on the Tripitz in the old days when FASA was still a thing but I do not ever remember reading the bit about the Cameron heir.
@@KenS1267 The bit about a possible Cameron heir (actually the diary mentions "twins") was written in the source book "interstellar Players". The diary was part of the group "6th of June", a fanatical Blakist faction. Another part about the Tripitz was in the source book "Blakist files" a Jihad era source book where it was briefly mentioned that the Taurians never discovered why Comstar actually destroyed the Tripitz. But it never went into detail why. A theory within the lore came that some Cameron blood survived within the Great Houses.
Comstar was an absolute master of manipulating the various factions in the Inner Sphere... until they tried their masterstroke, when they tried to cut off the HPG networks and demanded the leaders of the Houses bend the knee. Comstar did this at the same time as the fight at Tukayyid, when their military assets were tied up elsewhere, so they had no means of defending their HPG network. Hilariously, the houses just marched in and took over the HPG facilities. Edit: Yes, I know that there was more to it, including some members of Comstar refusing to go along, and high ranking members of Comstar sabotaging it by warning the Houses ahead of time, but seriously, there was no way the plan would work, and all the warnings really did was cause the houses to be able to take over the HPG facilities even faster than they would have normally.
@@theblackpantslegion sorry for replying on someone else's thread but you know, no tags anymore. Hey Tex, let's talk whiskey. I identify with the Bourbon and Battlemechs flashpoint more than I probably should haha.
Denying great ships and technology is actually pretty smart on Com Stars part. What better way to make sure Billions of people do not disappear in an afternoon again then to deny huge leaps in tech.
Their intentions weren't altruistic. They were biding their time until the great houses had imploded and then intended to destroy them as the great saviors (and rulers) of humanity.
“Come now children, gather around. Tonight I am going to read you a story. A story about the dangers of strangers, about what happens when you allow a creep in a fursuit with a magic box into your home while your parents have run off because you’d been acting like a little s*it and they just needed some time away from it all. Oh yes children, tonight we will be reading, cat in the f*cking hat.”
Just found this channel and love it. Great lore lessons! And Steiner Assault Squad rocks! "I just scouted an Elemental. It has ceased transmitting." Cracked me up.
"I wanna do my best to not just read verbatim from a WIKI." So you're not saying it outright, but I'm gonna call out GrimDark Narrator for doing just that with his Battletech stuff. Over and over again.
I'm not calling anyone out, but I see it as a trend online to copy paste from a wiki into a text to speech. I think battletech has been shit on enough and doesn't need that.
This video was excellent. But it raised more questions than answers. Why was the Tripitz abandoned? What happened to its alleged cargo? Why did it take so long to discover it? Was there anything on board that ComStar was especially afraid of? Why white and not black or gray? How did ComStar jump in so close? And was there any really great whiskey on board when it blew? (By the way, Tex does seem to read all of the comments, and often does respond to them. A recent response has earned my subscription. Tex, you're a good egg... or a responsible egg... or at least an interesting egg...)
Hands down the best Mech Warrior Lore content on TH-cam. Thank you for all the hard work these videos require. Truly amazing and I'm looking forward to more, again thank you all...
Thanks for this Battletech lore treat. Listening to Tex takes me back to being 14 again, sitting at lunch with my few nerdy friends and discussing the bits of lore and trying to fit the pieces into the whole tapestry of the history of the Inner-Sphere. You do a great job in setting the atmosphere and drawing us in. I look forward to your next projects. Also, swear a lot more - you're crossing that line from Cool Substitute History teacher to "Just-Married-and-with-a-kid-underway-must-get-tenure" history teacher to students that still remember your drunken rage days.
Oh my god.... That was .... I got chills down my spine during that. I mean I knew It was a dark grim time then but I literally Saw with my eyes (figuratively) ...( I don't even know what I just said ) but your tone was as dark as Night and the Grim And Evil smell of Comstar lurked around every Corner of this horrible Miserable time. Battletech is Alot darker and has a more terrifying history than I originally had thought. Great work on this though. Really had me in there like I was seeing it. Not many ppl can do that. Actually idk anyone who has. Wow Oh and I was sitting in the pitch black dark watching this. Helps get the mood set early
Dude, I want to thank you guys for this. I Have been a ignorant Mechwarrior for most of my life and now I feel like you are putting all of its history into a Great Courses media for us. Thank you.
As always, f'n amazing!!! BT remains one of my top universes and you do it the justice it deserves... Thanks to you, good sir, and to all that make this happen!
Sourcebooks, not tech manuals. You want bits of lore on particular weapon systems? Read a tech readout. Want to know the history of the various national powers? Read a sourcebook.
My father introduced me to a lot of military stuff, then introduced me to battletech, robotech and hte gundam franchise and my love for tanks with legs and energy based weapons are still solid to this day
Tex! Great Episode! Love the Steiner Scout Lance! Guess Discount Dan didn't pay for his adds this episode? ;p Hope the "Minnesota Tribe" episode is coming soon, one of my favorite legends from Battletech.
One day it'd be great to have a video on the founding of Comstar, the capture of Terra during Silver Sheild and its transition from a corporate entity into the secretive holy order it became. Comstar is probably one of the most interesting factions in all of Battletech; the nuclear brotherhood and shadowy puppet-master behind so many events.
Still simply amazing and even after this the 5th play through I can say I will be back again... (I make these comments for two reasons. One is to say thank you for all the effort and hard word that went into this production. The other is to hopefully boost the algorithm and awareness of this awesome channel and hopefully help you attain a few more CBills to produce more)...
Loved this to bits! The Steiner was hillarious. And most importantly, I'm glad that you are really constructing a narrative and fleshing out the stories.
Battletech is the kind of thing I've always been tangentially aware of, but never really got into. With Star Wars' current state, I am all for learning about the history of the big stompy robot setting.
This one is always happy to see a new Battletech Lore video from Tex. You have made my Saturday better day that it would otherwise have been, sir. Thank you.
I've just recently started watching and your videos are amazing. I love the writing and care you put into each of these videos. The editing is amazing as well. These videos have been a huge boon for my mental health as strange as that sounds and I really enjoy watching one or two after work to wind down. Really really really great work!
Man, from a random TH-cam suggestion this has been nothing but gold. Serious help in getting through quarantine. I'd love to hear your take on more mechs, especially the Marauder. Never played tabletop, but always had an affection for the universe and that mech in particular.
When writing history, these kinds of tangents are entirely appropriate and even helpful-this is why academic history documents are written and cited with footnotes.
ComStar strikes me as taking on a very God Emperor of Dune role in the Battletech universe; 'the rest of you fucked up so now I'm in charge and we're doing it my way for the next millenia or so.' But they don't have the precog (as far as we know) and so they have to make do with ninja-fleets and massive stockpiles of SL-era mechs.
Another great lore video, much thanks to Tex and everyone involved. Glad to see some light shined on comstar being the dirtiest evil megacorp in sci fi.
Minnesota tribe you mean clan wolverine, or the serviors of the not named clan, which was in the periphery the whole time doing merc work . I was a fasa rep back in the day tex keep it up you do a great job and thank you for all you do
I’m so glad I found a recommendation for your Battletech vids in a random comment section. These bring back so much nostalgia and joy. And also convinced the youthful Clanner in me that the Inner Sphere rules.
I like you content. I like that you put a spin on everything, as apposed to many that just read off a wiki. Was delighted to see this video in mt "recommended list"
Watch this and the Battle of Tukkiad three times over the weekend. After finding your videos I decided to look through all of the stuff my parents had any attic from when I was a kid. Boom found all of my BattleTech stuff Tech readouts, record sheets, Miniatures, Maps, ect. I started reading through the compendium Master rules Etc. And started hosting games at the local vape shop as well as playing with my brother. Then downloaded some books on Kindle thanks for bringing me back to the world of BattleTech TEX!!!!
Never was interested in Battletech, this was the first "lore" I heard and DAMN! sounds pretty interesting. Great stuff, looking forward for more. You're doing a great job. Keep it up. Subbed in 10 seconds :) Have a great day Mr. Pants
Before I get to my question I do want to say to Tex and crew: thank you very much for these videos. At some point I do hope to become a Patron of yours, but at the moment I'm working pretty hard on a fan-based BattleTech project that's.... Well, let's just say it's quite heavily involved. Around about 100 pieces of art by Matt Plog alone, along with brilliant art by others like Alan Blackwell and Matt Maeda, several dozen TRO articles, a handful of short stories and a large overall narrative that involves three independent units and the Word of Blake... And actually a relatively large number of custom miniatures for various designs in the project... Anyway, getting back to the question I mentioned: I am very much curious, would you like to possibly have a character or two in the project? And if so inclined, I wouldn't mind getting your feedback on parts of the project as well, though that being said I'm sure you have your hands full so I'll understand if you decline that part of it.
hit me up at theblackpantslegion@gmail.com I'd be glad to see what you have. I had thought I'd answered this before but youtube ate it. My humbles apologies!
@@theblackpantslegion - No apologies necessary, my good sir! I just sent you a reply. Here's hoping that the sheer length of the bloody thing doesn't bore you to tears. -_-; I did include some links to shiny pictures and a couple of turntables of the custom miniatures to try to spice it up a bit. :P Also included some of the lore. Always looking for pointers and suggestions. :) Thank you so very much for your time!
Hey, what are your thoughts on the "Mechwarrior: Dark Age" era of the setting? I really haven't heard many people talk much about it and when I joined the Battletech Fandom, "Dark Age" was the most recent thing to have come out.
Pretty much everyone hates it. It was a hamfisted attempt to restore the status quo and recapture the charm of pre-Helm cache Battletech, in a time where everyone who played the game was looking forward to seeing where the setting would go and to what great heights it would reach after the new influx of technology the clans brought into the innersphere.
The worst part though is the current ERA that Catalyst games has put out. The ilkhan era were essentially the Clans are now again trying to do the exact same thing that they did before, only this time Comstar having put all its cards on the table is just outright bristling with every single thing that they could possibly have holding around Terra just waiting for the chance to smack some more trash born. Which doesn't make sense to me because you'd figure the Clans would have learned beforehand that trying to make a Mad Dash right for the center of the inner sphere never works it's never worked in the last three times that they tried to do it why the hell did they think it would work on the 4th. What's more so Comstar doesn't need to hide anymore about its power so it's just sitting there flexing going " yeah f around and find out gamer" also it's been suspected that the Dark Age was caused by the Jihad. A single last ditch effort by remnants of the word of Blake to fully succeed in their original plan of blocking out the entirety of the hpg grid. The main source of evidence for this is because Terra itself went down, only for a short while but long enough to raise suspicions about how comstar could let something like that happen as the last time that that happened it was done directly by them or rather their word of Blake Splinter Group. So everything since the end of the Jihad has been a mess, there's been very little that's actually been done about devlin Stones time and the founding of the Republic of the inner sphere itself as the Dark Ages gameplay done by The Wiz Kids HeroClix Mech Warrior tabletop war game takes place long after Devlin Stone vanished after founding the Republic.
Holy fuck, that was fascinating! I try and vote in as many polls as I can. This is currently my favorite TH-cam channel and I check back regularly for more content in case YT is hiding it. I tell anyone who likes Battletech and also will listen to go watch you. Your videos provide a great source of an important battlefield advantage: knowledge. Knowing history is almost as important as knowing one's enemy. And you present it in such an enthralling, eloquent manner. Thank you.
Imagine if the Taurians actually got it without interference from Comstar. Pretty much going from the "Unofficial Sixth" of the powers of the Inner Sphere (sure, it's Periphery, but strong enough to kinda matter) to the single strongest. Heck, even if they simply reched it and booted it up before Comstar blew it, it would have blown the lid of he idea that there are no surviving warships, as Comstar would basically have to unleash their fleet to stop the Taurians.
@@rylian21 Well, I'd personally guess it's pretty hard to hijack a fully operational Warship held by a respectable military power when they'd already be expecting to get it hijacked from them - and that part would be even more of a given if said scenario includes the initial ComStar force getting there too late. Not saying they can't do it - it would just be a lot more likely for the Warship to either get overwhelmed by a pissed off Comstar or just killed by lack of communications by them. Anyways, both of these would inherently be suspicious, I guess, although like with all things ComStar, censorship is inevitable.
Just stumbled accross your channel via this video via (shockingly) the youtube recommendation algorithm. I have been a huge battletech fan since MW2 and your stuff is absolutely fantastic. Keep up the great work!
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
As the author of the ComStar Sourcebook and the person that started this controversy - I endorse this wonderful video. It amazes me that after all of these years/decades, it still stirs up conspiracy theories.
Thanks Blaine. Hit me up on email sometime, I'd love to chat.
Did you have a hand in another controversy? The Word of Blake Jyhad?
Wait, legit?
You sir. Are a legend. I salute you.
Except Davion who has the black box fax machines and Kurita who has a spy in Comstar...
ComStar: if you don't like the problems we cause, just wait til you see our solutions.
ComStar; because we're not happy, until you're not happy.
That makes ComStar sound like Eldar.
@@The_Crimson_Fucker I mean.... Not no.
COMSTAR: FUCK YOU
@@jonskowitz So Google? But with more balls and less soy?
And the Gray Death completely screwed Comstar over by duplicating that Star Core!
All hail the Gray Death!
Yeah! Fuck you Comstar! 🖕🤬🖕
The grey death did one of the few genuinely nice things I’ve seen in battle tech
Gray Death Legion best legion!!!
You know, story time with Tex is kinda addicting. It also revived a fascination for Battletech that was lost in youth due to lack of information.
Thanks bud, I appreciate it. Write me some space mariachi music.
I just got back my interest in Mechwarrior about a year and a half ago, and when I develop an interest in something, I research. Needless to say not only does Tex provide a wealth of information on the series, he does it in a interesting way, from the visuals to his awesome voice, it keeps you rapt.
Thanks to comstar we know nothing
@@robertagren9360 Either that or you had Sergeant Schulz keeping the records.
Information is ammunition... I learned that from the animated series
And the Taurian Concordat probably still blamed House Davion.
Taurian Concordat: "You cost us a Star League era warship, oppressing us as usual!!"
House Davion: "Sorry but who are you again?"
(Taurian Concordat causes international diplomatic incident flipping a table)
Davion: Okay now we're going to kick your ass AND make you pay for that table.
I like to believe Davion still did a lot of those things. They can’t *always* be the good guys.
@@Logan912 I mean, they did invade the Taurians quite a few times.
And the Cappellan Confederation was founded basically solely to stop Davion's Rimward conquests, beat Davion in that war, and have been satisfied with that single major victory (Unless you count swatting down a couple of Canopis invasions) until the goddamn Dark Age rolls around.
And well, Adam turned down Liao's (all be it really shitty) offer of piece eariler in the First Succession War to basically just grind away what was left of his fleets that Kurita didn't butcher John and Joseph with, Hanse did start the 4th Succession War and the War of 3031, Caleb was a dipshit who almost destroyed the FedSuns if it wasn't for Julian, and lead to the fall of New Avalon, the Katrina Steiner/The Bitch one herself is also a Davion and IlKlan Aldric is... also half Davion.
Davion: Oi! You can't do that! Do you know what this is?! This table is imported Italian maple!
@@michelveilleux2075
Davions: "As in ORIGINAL Italian, from TERRA! Do you have any idea how expensive that is to import all the way out here?!"
Taurians: "FUCK YOUR TERRAN SHIT!!" (Flips table again)
This is why we can't have nice things, thanks Space AT&T!
Your complaint has been noted, logged, and filed. Thank you for choosing Comstar.
@You'rearidiculous Lunatic Can we not throw around genuine antisemitism casually, please?
i kinda wish the clans would have won, that may be the only way to get rid of comstar
Speaking of Clans, the only ones with a legitimate claim to the Hegemony Director-Generalship (apart from that last-remaining Cameron that may or may not exist) would be Clan Snow Raven (look at the general bloodnames to see why).
@@jonathanchadwell6263 do you expect any logic in fantasy-honor land?
This is why I love Battletech. Not only does the writing cause in-universe controversy, but real community controversy. Sparks actual and intellectual discussions.
I would totally watch the adventures of the Steiner Scout Squad
I'd totally love to make it a full animated series. Topps would Cease and Desist me in 12 seconds.
@@theblackpantslegion So, 11 seconds of fun sounds about average.
@@SnarkyPosters A bit long for most people on the internet....
And the continuing adventures of Friedrich Three having to constantly fumigate his cockpit. Bees are done. Next up: wasps, fire ants, giant Japanese hornets, one cricket and once Cicada that can't be found *but keep making NOISES* . . .
I thought the same thing. If this was a cartoon series I'd watch the shit out of it. Almost all entertainment these days is a fucking write off. Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly executed wokeness propaganda. I, like most non-communists, haven't seen entertainment that didn't make me puke in my mouth for idek how long now.
Steiner Assault(Scout!) squad is just really funny every time. Keep it up tex and the BPL.
I still watch that shit and get a laugh from it. I still think they should do a FedCom lance with Team America playing in the back ground ;)
its a Classic BT meme by now, and it aged realy Well too XD
I was hoping that the bees would take over.:(
The main video is great Yes as always, but nothing brings a smile to my face like the exploits of Steiner Scout Lance :).
@@tssteelx maybe the bees DID take over and they are controlling the piolet.
I honestly love this series. A humorous take on lore rather than just a dry reading of TRO and other sources. Thanks for making my day, guys.
Most welcome, sir
And now I suddenly want a Cameron to still be out there, show up one day to clam Terra just turn everything on its head again. Maybe with the "Minnesota Tribe" at their back just to piss off the clans too.
There are Camerons out there. They just don't have enough of a claim to the throne of the Star League or the backing to enforce a claim. There is a novel about the last Amaris. Guy was a direct descendant of Stephan Amaris and had the paperwork to prove it.
Nobody would believe them if they showed up. They'd just say star league is dead.
@@theblackpantslegion Just that. Without some serious backing there is no Star League.
@@robertdubois3448 Yeah i remember reading that one, i always found it a very far fetched idea that the I.S. would unite under the Amaris banner.
@@Abb0able Well, the guy did find a secret account that Stephan set up. After 300 years of interest on what was probably a good whack of cred to start with it is no great feat that he was able to hire enough mercenaries to make up his own mech regiment. Proper planning he could take a world, use its resources to take another next thing you know he has a small bandit kingdom. Then he gets noticed. Shortly after, squished.
This video is a great example of how 'subtle' and actually subtle comstar can be. Oh how i dearly wish that the Battletech universe had actually thrown off the shackle that is Comstar at the Jihad.
Imna now divert into a Battletech campaign that happened. It was not run by me, but i was a player. We were a Mercenary Company, Grim Dawn was the name. We played characters who started out at 3040 and fought all the way into the FedCom Civil War. This was a campaign that had some great moments.Our GM played the clanners amazingly, we got by the skin of our teeth and even ended up battling it out at Luthien. Were not part of the Battle of Tukkayid though, though that was an idea tossed around for various reasons it didn't end up happening. What did end up happening was that, during the war, we got buddy buddy with some Marik guys and ended up with a landhold. We expanded it after the Clan Invasion was thoroughly done with, put up some mech repair facilities, made what started out as an abandoned military outpost into a Mercenary Headquarters. Not much to say about it besides it was very well defended, tactically placed and had a good view of a lake. And that we really, really liked practicing precision fire with artillery, using radio's and grid-coordinates. This only seems like a small, odd cliff foot note now.
Fast Forward to the time where the moment in time we all know is coming, is coming. The part where we put down the campaign as the setting goes to a crap shoot and everything gets retarded. Our Game Master, had other ideas. The Game Session started out with someone asking, what are we going to do after this? A question usually only asked by any of us in the second to last, or last game session before finishing up the campaign, taking a month or two long break and coming back up. The GM simply said 'it is not quite time for that yet.' Me and the other three guys had raised eyebrows but shrugged and continued on. Enter the Jihad, but with a few slight changes. They did not manage to destroy as much industry as they wanted and the white out... Did not fully go according to plan.
See, what we did not know is the GM had been dropping hints about some of the houses taking a more interested role in things in a low key way. They couldn't pin anything on ComStar, but they could feel that it was nice and shady. But what really did it for several groups was Comstar and them getting the HPG rights from the Clans. So they drafted plans, carrying them in secret and doing it the old, slow, pony express style way. This culminated in a single, final mission for our Mercenary Company. The pay was good, the job looked simple and we didn't in character know nothing about no Jihad, what even is a Jihad, some kinda hood?
Be here, at Solaris VII. Guard this Person for Three Months while investigations are held. This Mission did not come from the Review board, but from someone the company had worked with several times, one of those 'pony express' boys who we had worked with several times. Grim Dawn, at that time, was almost big enough to be called a Battalion. We had the artillery for it and even had four AeroSpace fighters we could potentially call in. Started out nice and normal. It was Solaris so we were in the flashy stuff, showing off our Companie's goodies. I proudly was in a Fafnir, because Fafnir that's why. We had a guy in Warhammer that he loved. We had a guy in a Phoenix Hawk running every kind of electronics, short of c3 that existed if i recall correctly. Last but not least, an Atlas. Because no Merc Company can call itself complete without one. But would this be enough against the 25th Division of Word of Blake that was about to smash into Solaris VII like the Kool-Aid man through a wall? Yes and no, is the short answer. The long answer is, we alone were not enough.
It started out with them coming in and using all the confusion, as they did and wrecking havoc. But we were not supposed to be there. And in canon, the Solaris Home Defense League, a collection of rag tag gurellia fighting Solaris fighters, managed to force them off. But this time they had the spine and backing of a hardened Mercenary Company. We survived long enough to get a grasp on what they were doing and make them slow down their take over of Solaris City, holding them back from the Stables. Many rolls were made to make it happen, but the Company over a wide area began doing a generally retreating motion. But while we were retreating, the Solaris Stable Warriors were getting ready. And they made their displeasure at their games being interrupted, very, very clear.
To clarify a question, how we did large scale engagements like this is by having the rest of the battle occur while we are doing this and effect it in one way or another. Example, if our side had started winning, we would occasionally get some weapon systems fired from the edge of the map at the enemy side. PPC shot from a Vindicator who happened to have a moment to spare, LRM20 barrage, things like that. It was generally assumed that the rest of either sides lines, as far as how many mechs were alive and how damaged they were, could be considered about the same as the actual battle we were playing.
The battle ended up turning into a sort of, elastic defense in depth as we retreated and used quick light mechs from both our Merc Group and the Solaris stables to cover for the big lumbering heavies and assaults to fall back, relocate, regroup and get into the fight. In the end, my character Kale Dresari died in his Fafnir. He was facing down a Daishi and a Uziel that i can't remember the name of. My armor on my left torso got opened up but i refused to turn my H-gauss off and fired both of those bad boys. The Uziel ate it right in the already damaged CT and watched as his mech fell over, while the Daishi ate all 25 points of damage right into his right torso, which he then lost. But he wasn't dead yet. The next salvo had my Left Torso's name on it and if you know how many slots Heavy Gauss takes up you already know what happened next. After the ejection i had four pilot hits out of five for my character and i was, a tad worried. Landing in a battlezone while being mostly dead and a pistol is not exactly idea, especially when there is enemy infantry.But while sure i had torn off the Daishi's right torso, he was still very, very much alive. And in position to flank people. So, i tagged him and radio'd on up. "Requesting immediate fire Support on Lased target, target is Assault Mech Daishi." Followed by a string of Grid-Coordinates. Remember when i said we like to practice with artillery? Word of Blake found out the hard way. The direct, painful way. But there is one thing that has to be said about long toms. They dont like you or anything in your general direction. That included Kale Dresari. His body was later found, somehow intact but riddled with shrapnel. Still holding that military map. For reference, by this point the area was as clear as it was going to get of Civillians. Battle had been going on for around an hour at this point.
In the end, it was a bloody battle where the Grim Dawn went from being nearly a full Six Lances with Three Long Tom artillery Pieces, Two Lances of Tanks and all that Aerospace... To two lances of Mechs, three Tanks and three Aerospace fighters remaining. While i was the only player casualty, everyone else either ended up loosing their favorite mech completely, or having to scrap it from damage. RIP the Marauder 2 that got shot up so much the only thing that remained was a cockpit. But we won. We were bloody. We were barely alive. But we were also not alone. I believe you have the general idea of what happened from now on down so i will summarize the rest. After this almost pyrric victory, we gathered willing Solaris fighters and began operations in the area. The Jihad still had a nasty effect to be sure, but unlike the first time, it did not set back technology as much as it did, nor did it utterly white out the communication grids across the entire Innersphere. But what it did do was leave a long lasting impression on everyone involved. By the end of the campaign, none of us had our original characters and the Innersphere looked much, much different.
THAT, sounds absolutely *AWESOME* thanks a lot for that story!
I love it.
Great story. Thanks for telling it.
Thank you for the story. This sounds awesome.
So... if our banks and telecommunication companies merge then we'll have ComStar.
God help us all.
Google's working on it as we speak.
Google faps everyday to be like comstar
@@ghoulbuster1 Then they need to eat less soy.
Facebook is working on it as well.
You forgot mobility.
ComStar: Interstellar Banking, Interstellar Travel, Interstellar Communication
Tech companies such as Google, Facebook are trying to become ComStar and they are fighting with states trying to play them against each other just like the houses, having become law circumventing powers.
online payments, Autonomous Cars, Internet Infrastructure
I've known I.T. techs who said prayers to their servers and routers before, but for entirely different reasons than Blakists in Comstar.
You know Martian Techpriests?
Everyone tends to pray to their machines. Whether it's running down a list of directions to turn something on/off/maintain it, or pleading with something to work, we all pray. LoL. It's just a matter of how dramatic you make it. And how much gobbledygook language you mix into it to confuse the common people. XD
Thus sayeth the Blessed Blake "press ctrl+alt+del"
That's because Blake is the true Omnissiah, and totally isn't controlled by energy vampire skeleton robots that can't die.
@@HermeticJazz "Oh blessed HPG Manifold Array. Please, send the data-compressed information packets winging through the void, to your brethren, so they might Deliver the News, as was dictated by the Holiest of Holys, Jerome Blake..." *reaches out and taps the red button that originally said 'Send' but has been retouched by monks for the last 200 years into something from the local dialect meaning the exact same thing.* Boop.
I'd love to hear you tell the story of how ComStar drags the Clans into the Inner Sphere someday, if only for the part where Tyra Miraborg kills the ilKhan so hard that the Clans give her a round of applause and write her into their scriptures.
I know everybody else loves Natasha Kerensky, but how many ilKhans has she killed? Zero, that's how many. She even got taken out by a Star Colonel, the same rank Nicolai Malthus had.
No no, the best part is how the Jaguars named their new shiny class of Assault DropShip after her.
@@VhenRaTheRaptor Y'See that's because the lady taught'm respect.
Fun fact. Blood of Kerensky trilogy were my first ever chapter books. I started reading them (yes because of the cover with Big Stompy Robots) in second grade when I still didn't know what the fuck a chapter even was.
I can't pretend to be super deep in battletech lore growing up. But some of it still formed a keystone of my childhood even if I mostly followed it through the novels and computer games.
That sounds good
Neg, Star Commander Joanna of Clan Jade Falcon's reconstituted Falcon Guards Cluster, was the MechWarrior that defeated Khan Kerensky on Twycross in the Great Gash. The same place the original Falcon Guards lost to Kai Allard Liao's Ambush.
Honestly, "bigger rank = bigger frontline badass" is kind of a dumb way to run a military. So of course that's how the clans do it.
Comstar: the cause of and solution to all of the Inner Sphere's problems.
Well, if your going to be the saviors of the Inner Sphere you need problems to save the Inner Sphere from. Also, you need any and all rivals to be... incapacitated... in every way possible.
Create the problem, sell the solution. The creed of tyrants everywhere.
"ComStar is turning the frogs gay!"
Space Alex Jones moments before an accident.
And any sane person would thank anyone in the shadows that might have done so.
"Engh engh engh it's crap."
Look at the Daniel, see the soy!
@@csmead209 Yes, because censorship is the cornerstone of any free society.
Oh wait...
@@dubuyajay9964 Any real journalists would have been a tragic thing... But we're talking about Space Alex Jones; Nothing lost there.
I'm so glad to hear Freidrich 3 finally got those bees out of the cockpit,
Was worried the constant screaming would have jeopardized the scouting mission!
I was just about to mention that ComStar had more than a bit of a hand in sending humanity back to the stoneage... when you went ahead and did it for me.
Operation Holy Shroud was a thing.
Honestly of Tex was my history teacher, Id be all hot and botherd. Wouldn't miss school.
hot and buttered ^_~ lol why would u be bothered? (not meant bad, is a simple informational answer so u know it ^^)
ɳɐɸɱɣ Ɖᴙσאϵ it’s an expression meaning sexually aroused
i know what He meant and what the saying means. however, the word "bother" Is a negative Expression in any u can use it, why would that be used for something good Like being aroused? so i guess either the saying was Just blabber, and became a saying without having any real Initial meaning, or ppl Just understood It wrong somewhen, and passed it on in the wrong composition from there on. either way, in terms linguistic logic and how picturesc expressions are used to hint at things without directly having to say it, but still Close enough to be translateable, its making alot more sense to say "hot and buttered". in several ways even If u think about it: "hot and buttered" like a Toast ready for breakfast, without the need to wait or prepare it, or "hot and buttered" as in aroused and moist/lubbed, ready for action without the need of more preperations.
Yeah, my great, great grandmother found the sound of his voice "thrilling". This why I use headphones around family.
69 likes
Booyah
The fact that the ship is "Tripitz", and not "Tirpitz" drove me up the damned wall
I did not notice it until he said it.
You too, huh?
Glad to see I'm not the only one.
Same here. Did it really get typo'd in production and they just never fixed it? Or is it just a frustratingly similar name using the same letters -__-
@@Hylebos75 probably when it was named the original name had been corrupted probably just due to some typo in a file. It was so long ago that nobody noticed the change in the name. So they just slapped on what the computer told them. Giving all the history that was lost due to the succession Wars it's not surprising that a couple of minor names in the old history books of pre ftl Earth would probably get a little glitchy.
Sci-fi/space fantasy warships are always underrated. Any setting which doesn't answer the question of "what happens when an enemy fleet cuts your planet off" is half-baked.
Who takes the last doughnut out of the box without anyone noticing: Comstar
*who takes the last box of donuts without anyone else beeing aware there was donuts to be had in the first place...
@@SonsOfLorgar ComStar
Who drank all the milk right after you poured a kickass bowl of cereal?
Comstar
WHOOOO! It's Friday and Tex kicks off my three day weekend with a new Battletech video! HELL YEAH!
EDIT: To whoever is reading this. If you also have the weekend off and Tex has kicked it off on a kick ass note....GIVE ME A BIG HELL YEAH!!!!!
HELL YEAH!
HELL YEAH!!!
The Steiner Assault (scout) squad says, "Aber hallo!" LOL
This video's what I need to explain how the battletech universe can be both futuristic golden age and feudal dirt-farming poverty at the same time.
Also tangent all you want, seriously.
When you put it like that, you make it sound like 40K but without the irony.
@@grimgrahamch.4157 it kind of is. technology being the same, I think the people in battletech are actually far more cold and cruel, because they don't even have religion or chaos as an excuse to glass and ruin so many planets.
@@blackmage665 or xenophobia. Well, they do, but they don't have the out of it being aliens.
@@grimgrahamch.4157 tbf that's a pretty decent take. In both universes life is the cheapest commodity and lost technology is precious beyond measure. Similar but different approaches to make a setting that supports endless messy war for your gaming and tons of room in the fluff for customization.
@@kasperv967 Battle tech is 40k, but you can't blame all the grim darkness on aliens and chaos. It's all caused by flawed humans. To me that makes it far more grimdark.
Tex, I have no idea how much research went into this. But thank you. Space navy combat is definitely one of the less explored areas of BattleTech.
Happy 4th and thanks again!
its an enormous effort by all involved.
@@theblackpantslegionTruly. I know I read something, maybe 2 things, on the Tripitz in the old days when FASA was still a thing but I do not ever remember reading the bit about the Cameron heir.
@@KenS1267 The bit about a possible Cameron heir (actually the diary mentions "twins") was written in the source book "interstellar Players". The diary was part of the group "6th of June", a fanatical Blakist faction. Another part about the Tripitz was in the source book "Blakist files" a Jihad era source book where it was briefly mentioned that the Taurians never discovered why Comstar actually destroyed the Tripitz. But it never went into detail why. A theory within the lore came that some Cameron blood survived within the Great Houses.
@@Athrun82That's why. I ignored all the Jihad stuff completely. Holy wars between space AT&T and space Verizon left me cold.
Comstar was an absolute master of manipulating the various factions in the Inner Sphere... until they tried their masterstroke, when they tried to cut off the HPG networks and demanded the leaders of the Houses bend the knee. Comstar did this at the same time as the fight at Tukayyid, when their military assets were tied up elsewhere, so they had no means of defending their HPG network. Hilariously, the houses just marched in and took over the HPG facilities.
Edit: Yes, I know that there was more to it, including some members of Comstar refusing to go along, and high ranking members of Comstar sabotaging it by warning the Houses ahead of time, but seriously, there was no way the plan would work, and all the warnings really did was cause the houses to be able to take over the HPG facilities even faster than they would have normally.
Steiner Scout Squad and hipster bashing, thank you for making my Friday just awesome Tex. Take care of yourself.
I'm learning to. Slowly.
@@theblackpantslegion sorry for replying on someone else's thread but you know, no tags anymore. Hey Tex, let's talk whiskey. I identify with the Bourbon and Battlemechs flashpoint more than I probably should haha.
Denying great ships and technology is actually pretty smart on Com Stars part. What better way to make sure Billions of people do not disappear in an afternoon again then to deny huge leaps in tech.
Their intentions weren't altruistic. They were biding their time until the great houses had imploded and then intended to destroy them as the great saviors (and rulers) of humanity.
I wish Tex would read me bed time stories.
“Come now children, gather around. Tonight I am going to read you a story. A story about the dangers of strangers, about what happens when you allow a creep in a fursuit with a magic box into your home while your parents have run off because you’d been acting like a little s*it and they just needed some time away from it all. Oh yes children, tonight we will be reading, cat in the f*cking hat.”
@@dashiellgillingham4579 hey I heard that in his whiskey soaked voice.
And now, a dramatic reading of one fish two fish red fish blue fish.
@@dashiellgillingham4579This would be the Greatest April Fools ever.
"Sometimes I wish the internet wasn't real". I'm sure space AT&T can solve this problem.
More Steiner Scout Squad!
Oh, and I'm totally convinced that TH-cam is secretly run by Comstar.
mcfortner911 well they are owned by Google, and you know the board over there is completely composed of Comstar Adepts.
Or Comstar is run by TH-cam! Duh duh duuuuuuu!
@@WastelandSeven OR GOOGLE IS PROTO-COMSTAR!
Mg7058 Most probably And they're still assholes in the 36th century....yep, that's Google. LOL
@@lexi9956 No. Comstar would have less soy.
Just found this channel and love it. Great lore lessons! And Steiner Assault Squad rocks! "I just scouted an Elemental. It has ceased transmitting." Cracked me up.
It's phrases like, "Wizard space men" that keep me coming back. Nice job, Tex.
"I wanna do my best to not just read verbatim from a WIKI."
So you're not saying it outright, but I'm gonna call out GrimDark Narrator for doing just that with his Battletech stuff. Over and over again.
There's an asshole that does it with WH40K as well in a monotone voice.
GrimDarkNarrator reads from the BT sources books. The wiki has been copied from those.
@@Mugdorna which is.. Better?
I'm not calling anyone out, but I see it as a trend online to copy paste from a wiki into a text to speech. I think battletech has been shit on enough and doesn't need that.
@@theblackpantslegion Fair enough. It is pretty low effort content, so it's nice to see the other side of that.
This video was excellent. But it raised more questions than answers. Why was the Tripitz abandoned? What happened to its alleged cargo? Why did it take so long to discover it? Was there anything on board that ComStar was especially afraid of? Why white and not black or gray? How did ComStar jump in so close? And was there any really great whiskey on board when it blew?
(By the way, Tex does seem to read all of the comments, and often does respond to them. A recent response has earned my subscription. Tex, you're a good egg... or a responsible egg... or at least an interesting egg...)
Oh, all the answers to that and more, in time. Its a mystery. Or is it?
ComStar: Why mind your own business when we can mind it for you?
Hands down the best Mech Warrior Lore content on TH-cam. Thank you for all the hard work these videos require. Truly amazing and I'm looking forward to more, again thank you all...
Thanks for this Battletech lore treat. Listening to Tex takes me back to being 14 again, sitting at lunch with my few nerdy friends and discussing the bits of lore and trying to fit the pieces into the whole tapestry of the history of the Inner-Sphere. You do a great job in setting the atmosphere and drawing us in. I look forward to your next projects.
Also, swear a lot more - you're crossing that line from Cool Substitute History teacher to "Just-Married-and-with-a-kid-underway-must-get-tenure" history teacher to students that still remember your drunken rage days.
Not swearing was a challenge. And a chore. Thanks though
Oh my god.... That was .... I got chills down my spine during that. I mean I knew It was a dark grim time then but I literally Saw with my eyes (figuratively) ...( I don't even know what I just said ) but your tone was as dark as Night and the Grim And Evil smell of Comstar lurked around every Corner of this horrible Miserable time. Battletech is Alot darker and has a more terrifying history than I originally had thought. Great work on this though. Really had me in there like I was seeing it. Not many ppl can do that. Actually idk anyone who has. Wow
Oh and I was sitting in the pitch black dark watching this. Helps get the mood set early
Thanks. I appreciate it.
Loving this entire series man. The Steiner Scouting squad is definitely my favorite of the skits.
IIRC there was a story arc dedicated to this very story in the (2018) Battletech game in the DLC. Was super interesting.
Steiner Scout Squad is my favorite show of all time.
Dude, I want to thank you guys for this. I Have been a ignorant Mechwarrior for most of my life and now I feel like you are putting all of its history into a Great Courses media for us. Thank you.
You're most welcome sir
Tex, my dearest love, thank you for the gift of this video.
Thanks kindly
These videos are great in-universe fun. I've been marathoning and thoroughly enjoying each one. You have my Like, my Comment, and my Subscription.
As always, f'n amazing!!! BT remains one of my top universes and you do it the justice it deserves... Thanks to you, good sir, and to all that make this happen!
Love your work, Tex!
More Steiner Scout Squad Adventures, Ja!
If we're doing Ships we need to talk about the Perigard Zalman, The Leviathan's, and the Reaving.... or a Trial of Annihilation may be in your future.
Time for a Tex marathon to take the edge off
Didn't even know about this, even though I've read all the Classic Novels.... I need to start reading the tech manuals. Thanks for this Tex!
Sourcebooks, not tech manuals. You want bits of lore on particular weapon systems? Read a tech readout. Want to know the history of the various national powers? Read a sourcebook.
What Tripitz, comrad? I see no great warship
Take him to the infirmary, he's clearly in shock.
You didn't see the Tripitz, because it's noT FUCKING THERE!!!
I have to admit, i've always wondered what happened to the scout squad, especially the one with the bee's...
Good news all round.
Love your videos. Can't wait for more delightful history from the Battletech universe.
Also Steiner Scout Squad...that's some fine recon right there
My father introduced me to a lot of military stuff, then introduced me to battletech, robotech and hte gundam franchise and my love for tanks with legs and energy based weapons are still solid to this day
Tex! Great Episode! Love the Steiner Scout Lance! Guess Discount Dan didn't pay for his adds this episode? ;p Hope the "Minnesota Tribe" episode is coming soon, one of my favorite legends from Battletech.
One day it'd be great to have a video on the founding of Comstar, the capture of Terra during Silver Sheild and its transition from a corporate entity into the secretive holy order it became. Comstar is probably one of the most interesting factions in all of Battletech; the nuclear brotherhood and shadowy puppet-master behind so many events.
Am I the only one wants a "stonecutters" like song about Comstar now?
YES! More Tex Talks Battletech! Today is glorious! Also, your tangents are always awesome, don't ever think you need to hold back.
Love the Bismarck reference; how true. Such a horrific weapons platform in the hands of crazies? Not good.
I suppose Bismarck's sister would have been too on the nose.
Still simply amazing and even after this the 5th play through I can say I will be back again...
(I make these comments for two reasons. One is to say thank you for all the effort and hard word that went into this production. The other is to hopefully boost the algorithm and awareness of this awesome channel and hopefully help you attain a few more CBills to produce more)...
Thanks bud. But I already have the curse of the Algorithm.
Loved this to bits! The Steiner was hillarious. And most importantly, I'm glad that you are really constructing a narrative and fleshing out the stories.
appreciated
Battletech is the kind of thing I've always been tangentially aware of, but never really got into. With Star Wars' current state, I am all for learning about the history of the big stompy robot setting.
Thank you for making this!
26:16 - The best thing ever said on the internet.
This one is always happy to see a new Battletech Lore video from Tex. You have made my Saturday better day that it would otherwise have been, sir. Thank you.
I've just recently started watching and your videos are amazing. I love the writing and care you put into each of these videos. The editing is amazing as well. These videos have been a huge boon for my mental health as strange as that sounds and I really enjoy watching one or two after work to wind down. Really really really great work!
Thank you for saying so. Be kind. Be well. Survive.
Man, from a random TH-cam suggestion this has been nothing but gold. Serious help in getting through quarantine.
I'd love to hear your take on more mechs, especially the Marauder. Never played tabletop, but always had an affection for the universe and that mech in particular.
When writing history, these kinds of tangents are entirely appropriate and even helpful-this is why academic history documents are written and cited with footnotes.
Any of these videos makes me want to start a new campaign on whatever the most recent Mechwarrior game is
ComStar strikes me as taking on a very God Emperor of Dune role in the Battletech universe; 'the rest of you fucked up so now I'm in charge and we're doing it my way for the next millenia or so.' But they don't have the precog (as far as we know) and so they have to make do with ninja-fleets and massive stockpiles of SL-era mechs.
Interesting comparison
Great job Tex! Your videos are awesome!
The Steiner Scout Lance bit was hilarious XD
24 minutes in and my first thought is "so house cameron might be running a farm in the far periphery and no one could ever find them?"
Best reveal of all time
I do what I can.
Another great lore video, much thanks to Tex and everyone involved. Glad to see some light shined on comstar being the dirtiest evil megacorp in sci fi.
10/10 would reveal again
This really helps as context for the Mechwarrior 5 storyline, such as it is. Well done!
Yet again, the best damn voice I've heard for story telling. Bringing the grimdark to battletech since whenever :D
I am just getting into the Battletech Lore and hopped on the new Kickstarter. These vids are serving as great hype fuel. Keep it up!
Minnesota tribe you mean clan wolverine, or the serviors of the not named clan, which was in the periphery the whole time doing merc work . I was a fasa rep back in the day tex keep it up you do a great job and thank you for all you do
Thanks Jimmy
Does the Minnesota Tribe still have A member of the true bloodline.
Of cameron? Because that's something I've always suspected.
I’m so glad I found a recommendation for your Battletech vids in a random comment section. These bring back so much nostalgia and joy.
And also convinced the youthful Clanner in me that the Inner Sphere rules.
I like you content. I like that you put a spin on everything, as apposed to many that just read off a wiki. Was delighted to see this video in mt "recommended list"
This whole thing was mesmerizing. I felt myself being lured into a hypnotic trance, filled with dreams of a glorious dystopian future.
Good ol' Tharkad Broadcasting Company bringing us the truth that after Tukkayid, the Falcons fought and lost a war to Emus.
So glad I found you for battletech lore. I haven't found any other channel like you or that can match your great story telling voice!
Thank you much.
You, Sir, are a Poet of The Battletech-verse. Very enjoyable video.
Watch this and the Battle of Tukkiad three times over the weekend. After finding your videos I decided to look through all of the stuff my parents had any attic from when I was a kid. Boom found all of my BattleTech stuff Tech readouts, record sheets, Miniatures, Maps, ect. I started reading through the compendium Master rules Etc. And started hosting games at the local vape shop as well as playing with my brother. Then downloaded some books on Kindle thanks for bringing me back to the world of BattleTech TEX!!!!
Never was interested in Battletech, this was the first "lore" I heard and DAMN! sounds pretty interesting.
Great stuff, looking forward for more. You're doing a great job. Keep it up.
Subbed in 10 seconds :)
Have a great day Mr. Pants
thanks
The narration is always on point. Thanks Tex!
Before I get to my question I do want to say to Tex and crew: thank you very much for these videos. At some point I do hope to become a Patron of yours, but at the moment I'm working pretty hard on a fan-based BattleTech project that's.... Well, let's just say it's quite heavily involved. Around about 100 pieces of art by Matt Plog alone, along with brilliant art by others like Alan Blackwell and Matt Maeda, several dozen TRO articles, a handful of short stories and a large overall narrative that involves three independent units and the Word of Blake... And actually a relatively large number of custom miniatures for various designs in the project...
Anyway, getting back to the question I mentioned: I am very much curious, would you like to possibly have a character or two in the project? And if so inclined, I wouldn't mind getting your feedback on parts of the project as well, though that being said I'm sure you have your hands full so I'll understand if you decline that part of it.
hit me up at theblackpantslegion@gmail.com I'd be glad to see what you have. I had thought I'd answered this before but youtube ate it. My humbles apologies!
@@theblackpantslegion - No apologies necessary, my good sir! I just sent you a reply. Here's hoping that the sheer length of the bloody thing doesn't bore you to tears. -_-; I did include some links to shiny pictures and a couple of turntables of the custom miniatures to try to spice it up a bit. :P Also included some of the lore.
Always looking for pointers and suggestions. :)
Thank you so very much for your time!
Man if Tex isn't the best narrator then I don't know who is. Thanks for gifting us with your suave voice every video and keep up the good work!
Hey, what are your thoughts on the "Mechwarrior: Dark Age" era of the setting? I really haven't heard many people talk much about it and when I joined the Battletech Fandom, "Dark Age" was the most recent thing to have come out.
Its pretty awful.
Pretty much everyone hates it. It was a hamfisted attempt to restore the status quo and recapture the charm of pre-Helm cache Battletech, in a time where everyone who played the game was looking forward to seeing where the setting would go and to what great heights it would reach after the new influx of technology the clans brought into the innersphere.
It should have been golden age if anything, a good century of prosperity. But no, the internet was cut off and everybody went nuts (again).
The worst part though is the current ERA that Catalyst games has put out. The ilkhan era were essentially the Clans are now again trying to do the exact same thing that they did before, only this time Comstar having put all its cards on the table is just outright bristling with every single thing that they could possibly have holding around Terra just waiting for the chance to smack some more trash born. Which doesn't make sense to me because you'd figure the Clans would have learned beforehand that trying to make a Mad Dash right for the center of the inner sphere never works it's never worked in the last three times that they tried to do it why the hell did they think it would work on the 4th. What's more so Comstar doesn't need to hide anymore about its power so it's just sitting there flexing going " yeah f around and find out gamer" also it's been suspected that the Dark Age was caused by the Jihad. A single last ditch effort by remnants of the word of Blake to fully succeed in their original plan of blocking out the entirety of the hpg grid. The main source of evidence for this is because Terra itself went down, only for a short while but long enough to raise suspicions about how comstar could let something like that happen as the last time that that happened it was done directly by them or rather their word of Blake Splinter Group. So everything since the end of the Jihad has been a mess, there's been very little that's actually been done about devlin Stones time and the founding of the Republic of the inner sphere itself as the Dark Ages gameplay done by The Wiz Kids HeroClix Mech Warrior tabletop war game takes place long after Devlin Stone vanished after founding the Republic.
These are hands-down some of the best lore vids I've seen.
Thank you kindly sir.
*"There can be only NONE"* - Cpt Murphy, Sealab 2021
Make THEM think of a plan!
I declare Martian Law!
It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!
Holy fuck, that was fascinating! I try and vote in as many polls as I can. This is currently my favorite TH-cam channel and I check back regularly for more content in case YT is hiding it. I tell anyone who likes Battletech and also will listen to go watch you. Your videos provide a great source of an important battlefield advantage: knowledge. Knowing history is almost as important as knowing one's enemy. And you present it in such an enthralling, eloquent manner. Thank you.
Imagine if the Taurians actually got it without interference from Comstar.
Pretty much going from the "Unofficial Sixth" of the powers of the Inner Sphere (sure, it's Periphery, but strong enough to kinda matter) to the single strongest.
Heck, even if they simply reched it and booted it up before Comstar blew it, it would have blown the lid of he idea that there are no surviving warships, as Comstar would basically have to unleash their fleet to stop the Taurians.
Even if they had gotten it back to their own space, they'd have never kept it. ROM and the Maskirovka were already on it.
@@rylian21 Well, I'd personally guess it's pretty hard to hijack a fully operational Warship held by a respectable military power when they'd already be expecting to get it hijacked from them - and that part would be even more of a given if said scenario includes the initial ComStar force getting there too late.
Not saying they can't do it - it would just be a lot more likely for the Warship to either get overwhelmed by a pissed off Comstar or just killed by lack of communications by them. Anyways, both of these would inherently be suspicious, I guess, although like with all things ComStar, censorship is inevitable.
Just stumbled accross your channel via this video via (shockingly) the youtube recommendation algorithm. I have been a huge battletech fan since MW2 and your stuff is absolutely fantastic. Keep up the great work!
I shall
it can be said though that nobody ever decrypted any transmission from the steiner scouts as they all spoke in some obscure rimworld dialect
German is the official language of the Lyran Commonwealth
Awesome editing, awesome subject, awesome narrating! Subscribed! Just as mechwarrior 5 finally drops on us from high orbit. Your narrations are gold!