Where better to start than the beginning? As it turns out... pretty much anywhere else. The Terran Alliance is so early in the BattleTech timeline that there is virtually no art for it and what major events we know of are poorly documented. I show a map of secessionist planets at one point that has fewer than ten highlighted, but in reality there were half a hundred. Outside of the Alliance, A LOT was happening during the 23rd Century, and that'll be the focus of the next video, bringing the two roughly up to the same point in time. I'm not going to work through the history linearly though. I'm probably going to jump ahead to 3025 to do a faction overview or maybe document a recent campaign using maps and unit heraldry. Let me know what you think. We don't know what the flag of the Terran Alliance was, only that its colours were "green, red and white." I went with the simplest possible design because I have no artistic flair. If you want to create some flags/icons of your own and have them included in future videos, I'd happily give you full credit if it's something you're interested in. Yes, those Star League era warships in the video are FAR larger and more powerful than even the Alliance Dreadnoughts but like I said, no art exists from this era.
These early videos really glossed over a lot of stuff. At the time I thought I was going into more detail than I'd seen anyone else do on this era, but it wasn't until I reached the Golden Age where I really hit upon my current balance. One day I might revisit the Age of War.
Damn this is a great essay. You summarized this wonderfully, and have fantastic reference material. Honestly that intro video was the best thing to come out of Harebrained schemes. (Essay I said.... sorry. God damn this is some of the finest lore overview ive seen, cant believe you have structured these to reed back to back so damn smoothly!)
Thank you for these. Makes it easy for some of the newcomers to get some deep lore info. I have been playing for year and still learned something. Nice work.
Good video and well done, an excellent summation of BattleTech lore. The only possible minor quibble I could muster is that I feel like the term Exodus in BattleTech lore is most strongly associated with the departure of General Kerensky with the bulk of the SLDF from the Inner Sphere, so using that term to refer to a different event might invite confusion later -- but that's a very trivial complaint on an otherwise excellent video.
Im guessing this is the place to start with your historical series? Bit difficult to understand with the order of the playlist that it's in. Very excited to listen to these during my commute though thanks! Also, is that a wee Scottish lilt i hear in your voice?
Yes and no. You're better off watching the compilation videos at the beginning of the playlist. I upload one for each series after completing all the individual chapters. They've had any errors discovered along the way corrected. There are currently four of them, soon to be five.
Slight suggestion: although this can date the video going forwards, perhaps a quick word at the start (or when relevant) regarding the point in the setting's history you are discussing vs. what the current year is? I say this because as someone who is still only beginning to dip my toes into the setting I saw the first vid and thought it was the current state of affairs but that's not really it, no? Not saying it needs to be in the vid, maybe in the notes below, either description or pinned comment? Thank anyway dude, great vids!
Good suggestion but I think it comes from a slight misunderstanding. The current extent of the lore is around 3150 if I remember correctly but the starting point for both the tabletop, games and the novels is 3025 so the first wave of videos I have planned are going to explore that time period (and the pre-history that lead up to it) before moving on in the timeline to look at more recent events. Edit: Sorry, I didn't even realise what video this was a comment on, thought it was on my introductory vid. The time period is in the thumbnail but I'll add it to the description as well. Not space in the video title unfortunately.
This is some very solid work. Just found your channel swing Battletech and a ton of C&C both some of the first games I ever played so going to be checking this out.
Oh, so THIS is why we dont have portable fusion generators yet. (Mumbles angrily about GM for not hurrying the hell up on that) Still, cool to see the EXACT point things broke from our world. And to remember that this was all written in the 80s so XD.
Fall of the Soviet Union in 2011: How you know this game dates backs back to 1984. :) I kind of miss the days when it was called Battledroids and came with Macross model kits in the box...
I love those little oddities. At one point in the early Warrior books they're gathered around a state-of-the-art LED screen and then someone pulls out some paper maps to make a battle plan.
Interesting question. I think the answer is probably no. They'd most likely be aware of their own nations history, or at least a state-sponsored version of it, but I think the rest would be a mystery unless you're Thelos Aubern or something. If you were to ask me about a political map of Europe 800 years old I think I'd struggle to tell you much of anything.
I'm not sure about a mechwarrior since they have more short-term concerns, but some of this info could be available to scholars in sufficiently tech-rich systems. Perhaps ancient knowledge was more common in the Star League when Humanity was at its height. I think it's less a point of Earth History but rather the histories of thousands of systems that an average citizen would be interested in.
A Periphery one obsessed with the Roman Republic/Empire heavily based his pirate kingdom on it, the Marian Hegemony. By the 3000s, that has to be even more obscure and less relevant than the Terran Alliance.
I would have to re-watch but there are a bunch of names to keep track of in other people's videos of this sort. I didn't feel like I had to do that here as you focused more on the factions, I guess. That was just my reaction when I watched it 3 days ago after watching a few others attempt the same sort of thing. Bottom line: yours was easier for me to follow.
Where better to start than the beginning? As it turns out... pretty much anywhere else. The Terran Alliance is so early in the BattleTech timeline that there is virtually no art for it and what major events we know of are poorly documented. I show a map of secessionist planets at one point that has fewer than ten highlighted, but in reality there were half a hundred.
Outside of the Alliance, A LOT was happening during the 23rd Century, and that'll be the focus of the next video, bringing the two roughly up to the same point in time. I'm not going to work through the history linearly though. I'm probably going to jump ahead to 3025 to do a faction overview or maybe document a recent campaign using maps and unit heraldry. Let me know what you think.
We don't know what the flag of the Terran Alliance was, only that its colours were "green, red and white." I went with the simplest possible design because I have no artistic flair. If you want to create some flags/icons of your own and have them included in future videos, I'd happily give you full credit if it's something you're interested in.
Yes, those Star League era warships in the video are FAR larger and more powerful than even the Alliance Dreadnoughts but like I said, no art exists from this era.
How about the DS2 mod, is it finished bro?
DS2 mod?
@@SvenVanDerPlank Yes
Honestly all looked fantastic. You used the material well.
I'm going back through and watching older videos of yours Sven. This is so nice to see the early history of Battletech covered.
These early videos really glossed over a lot of stuff. At the time I thought I was going into more detail than I'd seen anyone else do on this era, but it wasn't until I reached the Golden Age where I really hit upon my current balance. One day I might revisit the Age of War.
@@SvenVanDerPlank well early work always has that issue until you find your balance. However, it was very enjoyable!
Neat. This is a period in the lore that is so rarely ever covered. It's nice seeing the early formative years getting some attention.
Thanks, I've got two more scripted for the same period, just too busy to record them at the moment.
Damn this is a great essay. You summarized this wonderfully, and have fantastic reference material. Honestly that intro video was the best thing to come out of Harebrained schemes.
(Essay I said.... sorry. God damn this is some of the finest lore overview ive seen, cant believe you have structured these to reed back to back so damn smoothly!)
Thanks, I appreciate it. I'm glad you're enjoying them.
Thank you for these. Makes it easy for some of the newcomers to get some deep lore info. I have been playing for year and still learned something. Nice work.
Good video and well done, an excellent summation of BattleTech lore. The only possible minor quibble I could muster is that I feel like the term Exodus in BattleTech lore is most strongly associated with the departure of General Kerensky with the bulk of the SLDF from the Inner Sphere, so using that term to refer to a different event might invite confusion later -- but that's a very trivial complaint on an otherwise excellent video.
Excellent point on the Exodus. In the context of the video it works but I'll change the thumbnail.
Perhaps call it the Diaspora, like Halo does?
This content is really great! I hope you gain some traction and can make more!
Thanks, glad you think so. Growing an audience is hard work but hopefully I can gain some interest as you say.
Man surprised to see a new Vid so quickly! well done!
Thank you, I've been thinking about these for a while so I've had a few ideas ready to go. Hopefully I can get the next one out within a week.
Im guessing this is the place to start with your historical series? Bit difficult to understand with the order of the playlist that it's in. Very excited to listen to these during my commute though thanks! Also, is that a wee Scottish lilt i hear in your voice?
Yes and no. You're better off watching the compilation videos at the beginning of the playlist. I upload one for each series after completing all the individual chapters. They've had any errors discovered along the way corrected. There are currently four of them, soon to be five.
Wonderful thank you!
HBS really knows how to make a really good slideshow.
Slight suggestion: although this can date the video going forwards, perhaps a quick word at the start (or when relevant) regarding the point in the setting's history you are discussing vs. what the current year is? I say this because as someone who is still only beginning to dip my toes into the setting I saw the first vid and thought it was the current state of affairs but that's not really it, no? Not saying it needs to be in the vid, maybe in the notes below, either description or pinned comment? Thank anyway dude, great vids!
Good suggestion but I think it comes from a slight misunderstanding. The current extent of the lore is around 3150 if I remember correctly but the starting point for both the tabletop, games and the novels is 3025 so the first wave of videos I have planned are going to explore that time period (and the pre-history that lead up to it) before moving on in the timeline to look at more recent events.
Edit: Sorry, I didn't even realise what video this was a comment on, thought it was on my introductory vid. The time period is in the thumbnail but I'll add it to the description as well. Not space in the video title unfortunately.
This is some very solid work. Just found your channel swing Battletech and a ton of C&C both some of the first games I ever played so going to be checking this out.
Thank you. Hope you enjoy some of my other videos.
Loving these
Nobody:
McKenna: **deletes Australia**
We were better off without it.
I do not see a playlist for Battletech. How can I find your videos?
It should appear at the end of each video in the last 20 seconds. If not it should be pinned to my homepage if you click on my channel.
Oh, so THIS is why we dont have portable fusion generators yet.
(Mumbles angrily about GM for not hurrying the hell up on that)
Still, cool to see the EXACT point things broke from our world.
And to remember that this was all written in the 80s so XD.
Fall of the Soviet Union in 2011: How you know this game dates backs back to 1984. :)
I kind of miss the days when it was called Battledroids and came with Macross model kits in the box...
I love those little oddities. At one point in the early Warrior books they're gathered around a state-of-the-art LED screen and then someone pulls out some paper maps to make a battle plan.
@@SvenVanDerPlank Yep, I remember that. Classic "there are no cell phones in Neuromancer" moment.
Good video I like the maps.
Thank you, they were pretty fun to work on. Just finishing up a few more for the next set of videos.
Song on 6:15?
All the music in these early videos come from the HBS BattleTech soundtrack.
So humanity makes cluster fucks after clusterfucks why am I not suprised????
We learn by screwing things up... Sometimes.
With such beginnings of governments its no wonder so many went to the Periphery to start a new.
And so it begins!
would a mechwarrior in the 3000s even know any of this
Interesting question. I think the answer is probably no. They'd most likely be aware of their own nations history, or at least a state-sponsored version of it, but I think the rest would be a mystery unless you're Thelos Aubern or something. If you were to ask me about a political map of Europe 800 years old I think I'd struggle to tell you much of anything.
I'm not sure about a mechwarrior since they have more short-term concerns, but some of this info could be available to scholars in sufficiently tech-rich systems.
Perhaps ancient knowledge was more common in the Star League when Humanity was at its height. I think it's less a point of Earth History but rather the histories of thousands of systems that an average citizen would be interested in.
A Periphery one obsessed with the Roman Republic/Empire heavily based his pirate kingdom on it, the Marian Hegemony.
By the 3000s, that has to be even more obscure and less relevant than the Terran Alliance.
Thank you for leaving out the names and not just reading a barely intelligible wiki. Made the course of events much easier to follow.
No problem, but could you explain what you mean by "leaving out the names?"
I would have to re-watch but there are a bunch of names to keep track of in other people's videos of this sort. I didn't feel like I had to do that here as you focused more on the factions, I guess. That was just my reaction when I watched it 3 days ago after watching a few others attempt the same sort of thing. Bottom line: yours was easier for me to follow.
Okay, thanks for the useful feedback, I'll keep that in mind going forwards.
Wait, are Australia and Scotland sunk in battletech lore? Or did they just get wiped of human life?
"an island off," not "the island of."
More please
How did Scotland become a island?
An island "off" Scotland, not "of" Scotland.
Elon Musk IV is the catalyst
ohh nooo reverse bulgaria is the future would government