Editing BattleTech

[[Image:NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|center]]
{{Game Infobox
|name = BattleTech
|picture = [[Image:NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|200px]]
|type = [[Wargame]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|playno = Trillions
|year = 1984
|books = Total Warfare or The BattleMech Manual
}}
{{topquote|It is the 31st century, a time of endless wars that rage across human-occupied space. As star empires clash, these epic wars are won and lost by BattleMechs, 23-56 foot tall humanoid metal titans bristling with lasers, autocannons and dozens of other lethal weapons; enough firepower to level entire city blocks. Your elite force of MechWarriors drives these juggernauts into battle, proudly holding your faction s flag high, intent on expanding the power and glory of your realm. At their beck and call are the support units of armored vehicles, power armored infantry, aerospace fighters and more, wielded by a MechWarrior's skillful command to aid him in ultimate victory. Will they become legends, or forgotten casualties? Only your skill and luck will determine their fate!|Product promotional tagline}}

'''Battletech''', or '''Mechwarrior''' as most of the non-neckbearded populace know it, is a tabletop wargame about armies of giant robots fighting one another for honor, money, and territory in a far-distant feudal future. Think [[Warhammer 40,000]] but replace the [[Space Marines]] with scantily-clad Mechwarriors and their giant, iconic, Battlemechs.

==Holy Crap, Giant Robots are awesome==
[[Image:Batdroid.jpg|thumb|right|''Battledroids'', the first edition of the game, c. 1984. A ''literally''-textbook example on how to get sued nine different ways from Sunday.]]
In the early 1980s, [[Jordan Weisman]] was [[Weeaboo|fascinated]] by several Japanese [[anime]] involving giant robots, or "mecha." He was quoted as saying that he liked the designs and idea of giant robots fighting on the battlefield, but did not have a taste for the storylines that the Japanese wrote about them. In 1984, Weisman founded [[FASA]] and acquired the licenses to designs from several series, the most famous being ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross,'' though the largest portion came from ''Fang of the Sun Dougram'' and combined them to make Battletech.

The first edition of this game, called ''Battledroids'', was a hex-based boardgame played on a battlefield illustrated with various types of terrain. It came with two large plastic minis of featured mechs, imported from Japan. Initially, sales were mediocre as the sheer size of the mechs made them awkward in gameplay. Soon after the launch of ''Battledroids'' Lucasfilm filed a lawsuit against FASA for using the name "droids," which they had trademarked in 1978. Discretion being the better part of valor, FASA changed the name of the game to Battlemech in time for the second edition printing in 1986. This time, cardboard stand-ins replaced the plastic miniatures, and a tradition was born. To this day, Battletech can be played without purchasing any physical models and with any proxy you please.

Following the release of the second edition, fans of the game clamored for new miniatures. FASA obliged, rescaling their mechs for more convenient play and designing a host of in-house mechs to broaden variety and bridge the gap between the sleek Macross and crude Dougram designs. New models notwithstanding, the third edition, dubbed ''Battletech,'' was shipped with solely Macross- and Dougram-based minis. However, in 1995 [[That Guy|Harmony]] [[Rage|Gold]], an American localization company which had licensed the international distribution and toy rights to SDF Macross, issued a C&D against FASA for the use of all mecha designs from the Macross franchise. FASA ceased production of these miniatures, which were among the most popular designs in the franchise, and published a fourth edition of the game in 1996 again featuring cardboard tokens, which were all based on their own original mechs.

Before '''''Battletech''''', the mecha genre was seen as something that belonged mostly to the Japanese. With few exceptions (''Power Rangers'' and ''Star Wars''), the genre was almost entirely made up of anime productions imported from Japan. Battletech pioneered a new approach to mecha within the Western fandom, featuring mostly stories of pseudo-realistic wars fought by real soldiers rather than teenagers taking on forces of evil or single-handedly winning interplanetary wars, plots that dominated the few mecha series that were subbed by the dedicated VHS fansubbers of the day. More importantly, the physical limitations of the Battlemechs, unlike the limitations of tanks in, say, [[Warhammer 40,000]], are critical to the planning and strategy of outfitting mechs and using them on the tabletop.

===The Mechs===
BattleTech mechs function and are utilized more like tanks with legs than the super-agile flying mecha common in Japanese depictions.  Mechs are deployed in formations of four or five, called lances in the Inner Sphere and stars in the Clans, respectively.  They are able to operate in space, on planets with caustic atmospheres, underwater, and in a wide range of temperatures that would be lethal to humans, from instant-death cold to burn-me-up hot.  One of the biggest upsides of mechs as combat vehicles is their extreme efficiency-of-arms, able to run an effectively limitless amount of time without requiring fuel, and thanks to their hyper-efficient myomer 'muscles', able to carry more weapons and armor per-ton than any other combat platform in existence.  The only things stopping a mech from being able to fight forever are ammunition, repairs, and allowing the pilot to rest.  Even when a mech is destroyed, losing the pilot is a relatively rare occurrence thanks to very effective ejection systems.  A destroyed mech chassis can also be salvaged and rebuilt to fight another day, good as new. This means many mechs are often decades or even hundreds of years old, Ship of Theseus-style, at least in the early 3000s.

As far as locomotion styles, bipedal mechs are the most common, with the weapon systems mounted either in the torso compartments or on the arms.  Quadrepedal mechs do exist but are relatively rare, they are slower than bipedal mechs and don't offer the same amount of weapon space for a given weight class.  Bipedal mechs can also grasp things in their hands (if they have them) like melee weapons or pesky tanks.  A mech swinging a giant katana to chop off another mech's arm is about the most metal image possible.  Early versions of BattleTech feature mechs that could transform into fighter planes, but these were dropped relatively quickly in its life cycle due to copyright problems.

The main downside of mechs is their inability to efficiently manage heat buildup.  Heat is generated by the fusion reactor, the environment, movement, and mostly as a result of firing weapons.  Mechs mount multiple gigantic one-ton heatsink units to deal with this buildup, but it is a constant problem for pilots to manage.  Mechs that feature a lot of energy-based weapons will generate especially high levels of heat, and therefore manage very poorly in extremely hot environments.  Firing all the weapons of certain mech variants at once (the ''Nova'' mech is most infamous) can cause it to overheat to such an extent that the reactor core melts down before the heatsinks can shunt the heat out of the chassis, which is bad.  Safety measures that shut down the entire mech when it reaches a certain temperature threshold are always installed, but since this usually happens in a combat situation, and thus leaves the mech defenseless, some pilots will intentionally disable the safeguards to take their chances.  Depending on the technology level of a given game, more efficient heatsinks can be assigned to mechs that remove heat more quickly and allow hotter builds.  The fluff also mentions some experimental heatsinks that changed the heat energy to light (???) but had the downside of making the mech look like a walking rave, as well as heatsinks that utilized caustic liquids to move heat faster but with a limited lifespan.  

Weapons consist of three general categories:  ballistic, energy, and missile.  Each has their own strengths and weakness: ballistic weapons weigh more, require ammo, but do not generate much heat, energy weapons are the opposite, and missiles can be indirectly fired with targeting data from scouts but can be jammed.  Outfitting a mech for the proper engagement is key to obtaining victory: mechs outfitted for mech-to-mech combat will generally mount only high-damage weapons with lower ammo counts and slower rates of fire, while mechs set for vehicle and infantry combat will mount weapons that fire quickly but do lower damage per shot.  Likewise, mechs that do not expect steady resupply will mount more energy weapons so they are not beholden to ammo counts.

Mechs range between 20 to 100 tons in four weight classes, though a few experimental units lie outside these ranges. The weight classes are light (20-35), medium (40-55), heavy (60-75), and assault (80-100).  Considering their size (23-56 feet), that's pretty light; the Maus (33 feet long and 11 feet high) mega-tank that Adolf Hitler demanded weighed 188 tons. Most mechs are also only a little slower than the M1A1 Abrams with a top speed of 72 km/h (45 mp/h) on road, while some scout variants can reach speeds of 120 kph and faster.  Mechs can also be mounted with jump jets that give them the ability to hop across the battlefield or up/down terrain.  According to varying fluff depictions, mechs are even able to climb up/down cliff walls and perform flying dropkicks to enemy cockpits, which is awesome.

Depending on where in the timeline the specific game takes place (this is a player choice), there will be two possible classes of mechs: Battlemechs and Omnimechs.  Battlemechs are the older style, with a set number of variants that cannot be changed in the field.  This style was universal in the Inner Sphere before the arrival of the Clans.  Omnimechs, a Clan invention, feature a modular construction style and are able to have their loadout quickly changed in the field as the situation demands.  For example, a ''Dragon'' Battlemech comes in a default configuration consisting of one LRM-10, one Autocannon/5, and two medium lasers.  The 1C variant replaces the Autocannon/5 with an Autocannon/2 and more armor, while the 5N upgrades the Autocannon/5 to an Ultra Autocannon/5.  A pilot must use one of these variants, and is incapable of changing the loadout without serious reworking of the mech's internals.  Conversely,  a ''Mad Dog'' Omnimech comes with a default configuration of two LRM-20s, two medium pulse lasers, and two large pulse lasers.  A pilot is freely able to modify this loadout as they see fit, say dropping the two medium pulse lasers for more missile ammo/armor or changing the LRMs to SRMs for short-range engagements.

Like most Western sci-fi series, Battlemechs are somewhat inspired by real theoretical technologies; their weapons range from machine guns (albeit very big ones) and missiles, to railguns and particle accelerators. The biggest leaps from reality (aside from FTL travel) are the fusion reactor, (a technology still only theoretically possible,) the neurohelmet, (which interfaces with the pilot's brain and keeps the mech upright based on the pilot's own sense of balance,) and the massive muscle-like myomer fibers that actually allow the mech to move.

While Battlemechs dominate the battlefields of Battletech, armored vehicles still have a place. Most of the time, tanks, hovercraft, and APCs are used where mechs would be too expensive (or too advanced) to maintain, or in roles where a mech would be ineffective. This means that, in addition to Battlemechs, one can find infantry, vehicles, aerial vehicles, naval vehicles, and spaceships. It is worth noting that vehicles can be a real threat to Battlemechs in great enough numbers, since they mount the same weapons as mechs.  Some tanks can also push the 100-ton limit and sport the gigantic weaponry usually mounted on an Assault mech chassis.  In other words, where mechs are [[Space Marines]], the vehicles are more akin to [[Eldar]] Aspects.

Mechs in BattleTech also have a curious tendency to go up in a mini nuclear explosion when their reactor core is breached by weapon fire.  We're talking mushroom cloud, explosion, heat, radiation, the whole bit.  This has been nicknamed "stackpoling" after BattleTech novel author Michael Stackpole, who includes at least one of these events in each novel he writes.  If the reactor was actually breached, what should happen is a meltdown of the reactor (and probably some chunks of the surrounding mech) that quickly burns out because the reactor can't maintain the fusion reaction without proper containment.  Reactors are generally incapable of generating an actual nuclear explosion: real-world reactor "explosions" are usually a result of the coolant flash-overheating and generating a pressure-based steam explosion that destroys the reactor building.  Lingering radiation would still be a problem of course, but that is usually handwaved away in BattleTech fluff or not mentioned at all.

==Fluff==
[[File:Mad_Cat.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The [[Timber Wolf]] (Mad Cat if you're <s>Inner Sphere</s>Freebirth Scum), one of the most iconic BattleMechs in the series.]]
Much like [[Games Workshop|Warhammer]], the Battletech franchise has an extensive expanded universe. Dozens of books, numerous spinoff games, video games in multiple genres, and even an animated cartoon have delved into the setting and created an entertaining, if convoluted, history that has real influences on how the game is played.  Unlike Warhammer, there are no [[Xenos]], so humans get all the glory (and blame).

===History of the Inner Sphere===
After a period of typical [[Cold War]]-era speculative history, mankind was mostly united under the Terran Alliance and discovered how to travel faster-than-light by opening up artificial wormholes. By 2235, most of mankind's interstellar colonies threw off the yoke of the Alliance and formed their own stellar nation-states. What followed was a period of war and chaos which led to the rise of the "'''Great Houses'''," feudal dynasties of powerful families adhering to various pseudo-historical ideals (like Kurita's Japan fetishism) competing for total dominance of mankind. However Terra, as Earth became known, remained the most technologically-advanced star nation, and remained unconquered by the competing Great Houses who turned their focus on one another instead. This is one of the reasons for the severe technological stagnation that is a hallmark of the Battletech universe.

In 2349, the Terran Hegemony introduced the first Battlemech, the 100-ton ''Mackie'', and the face of war changed forever.

===Mechs Just got Real===
The introduction of the ''Mackie'' shifted the focus of military development away from interstellar Warships back to ground forces. The Terran Hegemony was able to prove that the 100-ton Battlemech was far superior to conventional ground vehicles (interestingly, the Terran Hegemony's main battle tank was the Israeli Merkava), allowing a single man to destroy formations of opposing non-Mechs. Of course, the rest of the Inner Sphere wanted the same capability, and in 2355 the plans for the Battlemech were stolen. The Age of the Battlemech had begun.

During the next hundred years, as the Great Houses vied for supremacy and founded the nucleus of the future Successor States, the Terran Hegemony was able to exert great influence as the most technologically-advanced and neutral of the great powers. This would lead to the creation of the '''''Star League''''' in 2571, a grand union of all of humanity's interstellar nations. While ostensibly created for the purpose of uniting mankind and keeping the peace between the stars, it was also a massive powerplay by Terra to secure the raw materials it needed to maintain its technological edge and once more bring mankind under Terra's dominion. In keeping with the feudal society that now dominated mankind's worlds, the position of First Lord of the Star League was invested in Terra's ruling House, the Cameron dynasty.

While Hidden Wars would plague the Star League throughout its reign, no conflicts were fought between its members as long as the Star League Defense Force kept the peace between factions. Terra's hoard of advanced technologies were shared freely among the worlds of man, and a new Golden Age descended. It all came to an end in 2766. The last of the Camerons was assassinated by Stefan Amaris, a power-hungry politician from the Periphery, the ring of interstellar nations that had refused to join the Star League and had been conquered for their trouble. Claiming the mantle of Emperor of the Star League and Director-General of the Terran Hegemony, Amaris was immediately denounced by the commander of the SLDF, Aleksandr Kerensky.

===A New Dark Age===
[[File:Aleksandr Kerensky.jpg|thumb|right|"Fuck you guys, I'm out." - Aleksandr Kerensky, Great Father of Clans]]
The Amaris Civil War destroyed the League, and led to a new Dark Age. The Great Houses, throwing off their loyalty to Terra, refused to aid either Amaris or Kerensky, and waited for the war to pass. Kerensky emerged the victor, but with the Cameron dynasty ended the other Great Houses began to vie for position of First Lord of the Star League. Disgusted by the politicking and betrayal, in 2784 Kerensky took the greater portion of the SLDF into exile beyond the Periphery. Those who remained pledged their loyalty to the Star League's last civil authority, the Ministry of Communication, which would later become Comstar, the sole provider of internet connections between worlds. Thus the Star League lost its last measure of power, and the Great Houses began the First Succession War.

Four Succession Wars, over the course of two centuries, would follow. Never would a Great House gain enough strength to declare itself master of mankind, especially since none would ever conquer Terra. Technology would stagnate and regress, creating the Lostech phenomenon, technology which mankind could no longer reproduce, maintain, or even understand. Where before feudalism had been a political phenomenon, hundreds of worlds across the Inner Sphere regressed to or below the technological level of the 20th Century, and hundreds more in the Periphery failed entirely. The sole bright spot was [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Comstar]], the corporate religious entity which maintained the Hyper Pulse Generator network that enabled FTL communications between inhabited worlds. Comstar became the rulers of Terra in the wake of the Star League's collapse, and leveraged their control of the HPG network to ensure their inviolability in exchange for maintaining the incomprehensible HPG networks and neutral treatment of all communications between worlds. In order to maintain their power, they would actively sabotage, headhunt, or kill all promising technological advancements and promising scientists to maintain their monopoly and techno-religious authority.

Eventually the Inner Sphere would stabilize around the Great Houses and their associated stellar empires. However, technological progress remained stagnant, and the rare factories capable of producing such advanced technologies as Battlemechs became critical components in the shattered military-industrial complexes of the so-called Successor States. Millions would die so that an LED monitor factory could be taken by one side, or so that a hundred precision-machined laser lenses could be plundered from a forgotten SLDF armory. Real progress towards recovery could only be made after large caches of information which survived the fall of the Star League were recovered; the most significant were the recovery of a long-lost Star League university's library in 3013, and the recovery and free dissemination of the contents of the Helm Memory Core in 3028. In 3028, the two largest and most powerful Successor States, the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth, were united by dynastic marriage, and it seemed that a new Golden Age might be only decades away. 

But the Inner Sphere had forgotten all about Kerensky's exodus, and nobody wants ''Peace'' to break out in a wargame setting, soooo...

===Suddenly Clannerscum===
Kerensky and his followers first settled on the Pentagon Worlds, where they tried to start a new society and a new Star League. They failed though, and the wars erupted between the worlds, showing the bitter irony of life. Kerensky tried to move on, but suffered a heart attack, and the leadership was overtaken by his son, Nicholas Kerensky (who unlike his father had hair and was probably a closet [[furry]]). Nicholas took the remaining followers with him to a planet he called "Dream Land" and established the twenty original Clans.

The Clans are a tribal society that is divided into five castes - Warriors (Religious and Political Leaders and Soldiers), Scientists (Less respected but are considered highly important), Merchants (Detested and only kept as a necessity), Technicians (Engineers and Warrior's Servants), and Laborers (Serfs, repressed as needed). Although during the birth each child is tested for their relevance to a certain caste, but more often than not are the same as their parents. Speaking of which, Clanners strongly believe in eugenics, and most of the Warrior Caste members are genetically enhanced clones/mashups. Other castes are selectively bred by the instructions from Science Caste. On a positive side it would mean that even [[neckbeard|neckbeards]] would end up breeding. On the other hand, the society has only a few acceptable non-technical forms of information, meaning that there really is no reason for there to be neckbeards. Paradoxes aside, Clans were created towards efficiency, and even their language differs from the one used in the Inner Sphere. Clans constantly compete in everything, from combat to technological prowess, as they foresaw their return to the Inner Sphere and its liberation. (By their hands, of course.  And logically resulting in their control.)

And that day was not far off.

===ilClan===
A prophecy of days far off, the '''''ilClan''''' is a religious myth that states that someday a Clan will take control of Terra, the Cradle of Humanity. The Khan (leader) of the Clan of Clans which captures Terra will become the new, true ilKhan (Khan of Khans) and re-establish the Star League, over which their blood shall reign in perpetuity. All will be Clan, Clan will be all. 

'''''ilClan''''' is also an [[Skub|abortive Battletech rulebook]] that has been in the works since '''2002''', ever since the '''Dark Age''' Era was published. Ostensibly intended to be the next historical Era, featuring all new rules to reflect the dominance of Clan society and technology, the bankruptcies and sales that Battletech went through stalled all development. In addition, most fans are [[Advancing the Storyline|vehemently opposed to the destruction of most of the factions]] in the game, and have spoken up at every opportunity to denounce the plans behind ilClan. A prank release of a provisional ilClan historical outline drew tremendous outcry and Catalyst Game Labs has subsequently decided to focus on rereleasing and updating older Era rulesets.

===Meanwhile, In The Inner Sphere===
...Of course, when the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere with the intent of liberating it from the feuding Great Houses, those same great houses <s>said "okay" and handed over the reins</s> put aside their differences and fought the Clans to a stand-still.  This was an incredible show of camaraderie, and the most cooperative the houses had been since the Star League fell.  It was all quite touching, really.

Of course, once the Clans were wrapped up behind a truce line, it was time to get back to good-old inter-house wars.  In an ultra-brief summary: There was the FedCom Civil War, kicking off the <s>Fourth Succession War</s> Word of Blake Jihad, a bunch of religious fanatics with cyborgs and nukes, and eventually someone forgot to pay the phone bill and the interstellar faster-than-light communication network went down. This issued in the last era in the fluff known as the "Dark Age."

This is also considered the second ruination of the franchise by some.  Many long-time fans think highly of the Succession Wars era of Battletech, right after the fall of the Star League.  Marching around the field with walking tanks so expensive and rare that it's better to lose a pilot than a weapon is a powerful fantasy.  It's often described as being "Mad Max with mechs."  Of course, the blasted hellscape of the post-apocalypse is hard to maintain when the Clans invaded with their own brand-new shiny toys.
The shift from "squabbling tribes with rusty guns" to "courageous defenders with shiny factories" is often considered the first ruination of the property.  When the squabbling of the Inner Sphere was broken up again by quasi-religious zealots and Battletech was forced to stitch in aporypha from its bastard child, (the miniature game MechWarrior,) people considered it the second collapse of the franchise.

==Factions==
While each faction has a certain flavor and preferred equipment/tactics, factions do not limit your gameplay choices to particular sets of mechs/units/components, as in many other games ([[Warhammer 40,000]] is a good example, amongst many other skirmish-level wargames). So if something you want to use is in specific era of Battletech History (FEDCOM Civil War, Clan Invasion, et cetera), anything goes. Although its common for players to roleplay as being employed by some major power, and limiting themselves to their styles. Either that, or they play as mercenaries and do as they please. Seriously, the amount of in-fighting is in effect galactic level (in warhammer 40k -- aside from humanity itself -- only the ''Necrontyr'', the flesh incarnations of the [[Necrons]], ever fought each other to such a long and drawn out extent).

===The Inner Sphere===
While other time periods might have better or more interesting rules, the most popular ruleset remains the eras between the Foruth Succession War (3028) to just before the Word of Blake Jihad (3067). This list of Inner Sphere factions covers those periods.

====Federated Suns====
Ruled by House Davion, the Federated Suns is feudal Space America or nepotistic Space UK. [[Lawful Good]], ruled by a Great House as inbred as any other is, and with all positions of power occupied by the same set of mostly blood-related elites. Without the blue blood, you're just a clever commoner. However, the Federated Suns isn't as stratified as the other Successor States, and it's easier for a common citizen to climb the ladders of wealth and power, which fuels an entrepreneurial society that is among the wealthiest in the Inner Sphere. They’re heroic defenders of freedom and democracy, provided you define “freedom and democracy” as “being ruled by the Federated Suns”.

Thanks to their great wealth, the Federated Suns can afford to fund actual scientific research in the form of the New Avalon Institute of Technology, or Space MIT, and the Davions supported most of the tech development and recovery in the Inner Sphere prior to the Clan Invasion. They also got lucky when they found an ancient Star League library filled with various editions of tabletop wargame splatbooks. They are known to be the house that first heavily employed or utilized a lot of Clan personnel and technologies after the conclusion of the invasion.

The Federated Suns also kind of have a thing for autocannons. Think [[Space Wolves]] with wolves, or [[Orks]] with [[Dakka]], and you have an idea. If it does not have an autocannon on it the Suns will find a way to give it one, and if it does have an autocannon they find a way to upgrade it to a Rotary Autocannon. So if you like autocannons this is the faction for you.

Prior to the Fourth Succession War, the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth were united through marriage, forming the Federated Commonwealth, the largest and most powerful empire in the galaxy since the Star League. In order to bridge the distance between the two nations, however, the Federated Commonwealth had to conquer large swathes of the Capellan Confederation, which they did easily. However, only a few decades later the Commonwealth was broken up by the FedCom Civil War, when Katrina Steiner schemed to either take over the Commonwealth or secede the Lyran half of it because she was a royal bitch. The FedSuns are currently getting kicked around by pretty much everybody during the Dark Age, primarily because the current head of the house, Caleb, is extremely paranoid and rather psychotic. <strike>''Save us, Julian!''</strike>

====Lyran Commonwealth====
House Steiner: Germanic Norse-Scots, the Lyran Commonwealth are the biggest and the richest of all the houses. Except all their commanders are nigh-incompetent. Always, no matter what, their commanders are genocidal and idiotic. To make up for the incompetence of command, Steiner forces are armed with the best weapons money can buy, with a serious hard-on for Heavy and Assault-class mechs(and tanks). A standard Steiner scout lance features four 100-ton '''''Atlas''''' mechs (imagine a scout-recon team composed entirely of Warlord Titans and you will start to get the idea). Steiner forces tend to be big and slow, barely able to outmaneuver enemy fortresses. Of course, once they(eventually) get into range, you can kiss that fortress goodbye.

Thinking they're all clever, the Steiners hook up with the Davions and form a super state called FedCom in an effort to kick everyone's ass (see above).  Predictably, this Beauty-and-the-Geek romance starts out exceedingly awesome then epically fails and it's back to single life for the too-pretty Steiners.

====Free Worlds League====
Halfway between Space America and Space Yugoslavia, the Free Worlds League is a federal democratic republic. No, really! They have a parliament and everything. Of course, the commander-in-chief of the Free Worlds League Military is always a member of House Marik because parliament doesn’t think anyone else can do the job, and the entire country has been operating under martial law “for the duration of the emergency” since the Star League broke up, but in principle, both democracy and federalism are alive and well in Marik space, making it impossible to get anything done.

Everyone in the Free Worlds League hates everyone else in the Free Worlds League. After finding out that Captain-General Thomas Marik had been in hiding running the Word of Blake for decades and the guy they’d taking their orders from all that time was actually just some hobo picked up off the street, they gave up on trying to make the thing work at all and collapsed. After the Dark Age, said hobo’s daughter managed to put it back together again, which kind of makes you start to wonder about that whole “only the Mariks can handle the Captaincy-General” thing.

The Free Worlds League Military is built around combined arms warfare, treating infantry, vehicles, and aerospace fighters as if they were just as useful as mechs. They also used to have the most LAMs, back before [[squat|LAMs ceased to be a thing]]. They don’t get a lot of attention, since they’re far away from the FedSuns and the Clans and therefore don’t get involved in stories about factions the writers actually care about.

====Draconis Combine====
House Kurita: The Draconis Combine, also known as... IMPERIAL JAPAN IN SPACE! No, seriously, they follow Bushido and include more pseudo-Japanese in their speech than a participant of [[/a/|AnimeCon]].  Both from the age of Samurai and the Militaristic Imperial period of the 1920s to 40s. The 12 year old listed above, if he/she leaves Davion, will likely move to this [[weeaboo]] paradise with its delusional "fierce solo samurai warrior takes on all opponents Kurosawa Style"  appeal, not realizing that lone mechs get [[rape|gang-banged]] by enemies who are teamed up like a pack of mechanical hyenas. Defended by weeaboos despite being responsible for the single most horrific massacre in human history during the First Succession War. For an alternate look into this supposed massacre, please read ''Did 52 million really die?''

Similar to the Davions and their love of autocannons and Steiner and their love of everything heavy and assault, Kuritans are really, really into PPCs (Particle Projector Cannons).  If there is a mech that can possibly mount a PPC, the Dracs will put one on it.  For instance, see the ''Catapult'': a 65-ton long-range fire support mech intended for indirect fire using the Long Range Missle (LRM) racks in its "ears".  Almost every variant of the ''Catapult'' is centered around these LRM racks with a few minor backup weapons, they are a reliable, battle-tested design that no commander in their right mind would attempt to 'fix', because isn't broken...except in the eyes of House Kurita.  Once the Combine got their hands on it those ears were replaced with two PPCs for direct fire support and two machine guns for <s>civilian massacres</s> INFANTRY DETERRENTS.  

Kuritans were also [[Fail|involved in the worst Battletech novel ever written]], wherein a ship of theirs was lost in time and space, and [[what|found giant, alien, sentient chickens]]. Far Country is a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6zQ6ZqEqg0 Shamefur Dispray]! and pretty much serves as the only time aliens are actually mentioned in the BattleTech unvierse.

====Capellan Confederation====
House Liao: rulers of The Capellan Confederation. Autocratic Imperial Chinese/Russians (mostly Chinese) with a caste system based on personal achievement. Fond of insane rulers and weird pseudo-religious cults and secret societies. Frequent invasions makes them prone to guerrilla war and various underhanded and sneaky tactics. They go for stealth and electronic warfare the way the Davions go for autocannons, best exemplified by their iconic Raven electronic warfare 'mech (which, depending on the model, actually looks like a bird; weird but cool). Got the absolute shit beat out of them by the Federated Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War, got revenge when the Commonwealth tore itself apart a few decades later.

====ComStar====
ComStar: The result of what is essentially Comcast IN SPACE being self-appointed caretaker of human knowledge while the Great Houses were busy stomping each other back into the Stone Age during the Succession Wars. Their original purpose was to maintain politically neutral control over Terra (Earth) and the Hyperpulse Generator (HPG) arrays deployed across the galaxy. These HPG arrays allow faster than light communication and are considered "off limit targets" for warfare since they are Lostech and thus are not easily replaced, if they can be replaced at all.  The permanent or temporary loss of a HPG array blacks out communication for an entire planet, which can be used for tactical purposes by someone insane enough to risk the wrath of ComStar and the rest of the Inner Sphere.  Turned into a quasi-mystical/religious organization with a tendency to covertly influence things from the shadows to maintain the balance of power. Maintains a large (larger than any of the Great Houses can guess) standing army with a lot of lost technology at their disposal. Famed for their role in halting the Clan Invasion... but not for their role in triggering it.  

ComStar is also famous for introducing the ComStar Bill (C-bill) as a standard galactic currency.  Rather than being backed by material goods, each C-bill is backed by ComStar's faster than light message delivery service: One C-bill will guarantee one millisecond of data transmission, enough for a few pages of bare text or a small image, with larger transmissions costing more, and with additional fees for higher priority and the like.  The value of the various Great House currencies can be weighed against their worth in C-bills which allows for currency exchange on a galactic scale.  The C-bill is the primary way that mercenaries are paid and in turn pay for goods and services, and thus the most common currency encountered by players.

====Minor Powers====
*'''Free Rasalhague Republic''':Space Norse/Vikings. May have been awesome. For the reason for past tense refer to: ''Clan Invasion, Why Not Get in the Way of One'' (Third Publishing of Liao, COMSTAR ISBN 474-Alpha-467-Upsilon-345). They later join up with the Ghost Bears and become the Rasalhague Dominion. They are awesome because now we have Viking clanners.
*'''Word of Blake''': An ultra-reactionary splinter faction of ComStar that got butthurt after ComStar ditched all the pseudo-religious bullshit. Broke away and launched an all-out jihad(''yes, they actually used that word'') on literally everyone shortly after the Federated Commonwealth Civil War came to an end. Made liberal use of weapons of mass destruction and rendered several entire planets uninhabitable. Fond of genocide, re-education camps, unstable technology, and mass murder. As a result, they were eventually crushed as a result of pissing off the entire fucking universe, but not before undoing a lot of the technological progress that had been made after the Clan Invasion. Basically used by the publishers to reset the average technology level of the game due to a lot of players feeling it was advancing too far and getting away from the quasi-feudal feel of earlier editions. Ironically enough, their mechs were more streamlined and featured a lot more experimental technologies for people would eventually blow the entire game setting back to the quasi-iron age.
*'''The Republic of The Sphere''': Established by an individual calling himself Devlin Stone, who mysteriously surfaced at some point during the Blakefag Jihad, and helped pull the galaxy out that colossal clusterfuck through a series of successful military campaigns. Upon the Jihad's defeat, Stone met with ComStar Precentor Martial Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and laid out a philosophy which Victor would privately describe as ''militant socialism keyed to altruism''; Officials and authorities would have their assets placed in a blind trust. Public service would be rewarded. Greed and corruption would be punished. All weapons would be placed under the government control. [[Just As Planned|Surprisingly, it worked]], at least for a time, ushering in a new era of peace for the core worlds. However, after ruling as Exarch of the Republic for a while, Devlin Stone stepped down and shortly there after disappeared, vowing to [[Sigmar|return when he was needed most]]. It didn't take long before everything went to shit again and was plunged into chaos when the interstellar communication network was sabotaged. Was gangbanged by a combination of separatist factions, the Capellans, and Clan Jade Falcon before finally saying FUCK IT and retreating back to Terra. <strike>''You guys realize Stone is the [[Emperor]], right? Right?''</strike>
*'''Taurian Concordiat''': A Periphery Nation bordering the Federated Suns and Cappellan Confederation. Didn't like either of them, especially the Suns due to the devastation of the Reunification War (Arguably the Suns started it, but was the SLDF that did most of the damage. But the Star League is no more, so the Davions get all the blame). Ironically, they have basically the same culture and government as FedSuns, and the two would probably be allies if not for the fact that Taurians can’t stub their toes without blaming it on a Davion plot.
*'''Marian Hegemony''': A bandit Kingdom bordering the Lyrans and Free Worlds League that decided to become the Roman Empire IN SPACE. 
*'''Magistracy of Canopus''': A hedonistic matriarchy bordering the Free Worlds League. A nation of cybernetic catgirls, whose largest export is pornography.
*'''Outworlds Alliance''': A backwater state near the Federated Suns and Draconis Combine. Was the Periphery-est of the Periphery states until Clan Snow Raven moved in. 
*'''Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission''': An independent group that certifies and provides force rankings for various mercenary groups.  
*'''Kell Hounds''': A merc company headed by Morgan Kell. His son Phelan was captured by Clan Wolf when the Clan Invasion first began, and by the end was running the Clan until it split. Took in Phelan and the Exiled Wolves afterwards. Generally, are tough but cool guys all around.
*'''Grey Death Legion''':Mercenary group who were famous for finding and distributing the Helm Core, which allowed the Inner Sphere to regain technology formerly lost during the Succession Wars.  Generally an author's favorite in the books.
*'''Wolf's Dragoons''': A bunch of Clan Wolf advance scouts disguised as a mercenary group.  Came to the Inner Sphere with a ton of mechs that the Clans considered outdated but hadn't been seen in the Successor States in centuries and were considered Lostech... Which should have tipped the Great Houses off that these guys might be bad juju.  Instead of providing intel to the Clans for their invasion, Wolf's Dragoons pulled a fast one and tried to prepare the Inner Sphere for war with the Clans. They are generally pretty awesome guys, even if part of that awesomeness is because they get a ton of attention in the fluff due to the writers' obsession with anything related to Clan Wolf.

===The Clans===
Each clan is named after an animal, and yes those are the animal's full names. 

* Clan Blood Spirit: The smallest Clan. Noted for having the toughest training, favored Battle Armor, and had no official allies. :(
* Clan Burrock: The only clan to support the Dark Caste. Liked picking on the Blood Spirits before they were absorbed by Clan Star Adder.
* Clan Cloud Cobra: The Religious types. Loved aerospace fighters and jump jets. Obsessed with collecting genetic bloodlines other Clans don't want.
* Clan Coyote: Native Americans in Space. Also like to scheme too much for their own good. Known for creating a shit ton of tech (unlike [[Adeptus Mechanicus|some people]] on Mars...)
* Clan Diamond Shark (Clan Big Nose): Used to be called Sea Fox until Snow Raven killed their namesake (with their current one) the only clan that views the merchant caste as equal to their warrior one. Later brought back the Sea Fox and changed their name back. The only Clan to allow all castes to vote, making them arguably a genuinely democratic republic.
* Clan Fire Mandrill: The Clan whose gimmick was to always have a few subfactions to foster internal competition. At first it was manageable and it improved the Clan, but then the factionalism snowballed into more than 10 mini-subfactions which made the whole Clan a laughing stock among the Clans. 
* Clan Ghost Bear:  The only clan to be founded by a married couple, as a result they're the only clan to still have normal family units.  Much more protective of its civilian caste than the others.  Nearly devoured the Free Rashalague Republic in the Clan Invasion. 
* Clan Goliath Scorpion: Stoners with rose-colored nostalgia glasses. Also noted for elite marksmanship and ambush tactics. 
* Clan Hell's Horses: The only clan to think tanks are useful often uses mix arms tactics rather than use spamming mechs.  Have hot rod flames color scheme.
* Clan <strike>Temper Tantrum</strike> Ice Hellion: Speed freaks with a big ego. Their Khan seems to bitch every time their forces lose, which is often.
* Clan Jade Falcon: The Spotlight stealing Clan second only to the Wolves, with whom they have a fierce rivalry. Slightly less evil than the Jaguars below. 
* Clan Mongoose: Basically a footnote in Clan backstory. Extremely aggressive, tend to attack everyone near them. [[Fail|Got their asses kicked by everyone else before being absorbed.]]
* Clan Nova Cat: The Spiritual types, they decide their policy with visions, which 9 times out of 10 ends badly for them. Some of the best marksmen in the Clans, often competed with Clan Goliath Scorpion. Joined Smoke Jaguar in attacking the Draconis Combine, then sided with the Combine right after everyone decided the Jags had to go. Eventually got destroyed during the Dark Ages. 
* Clan Smoke Jaguar: Essentially super aggressive World Eaters trained to pilot mechs. Known to fuck shit up until their smaller numbers (due to infighting) fucked them over in long campaigns. Were eventually wiped out by the Inner Sphere counter-attack after they murdered an entire city from orbit. What goes around, comes around.
* Clan Snow Raven: The space jockeys of the Clans. Became BBFs with the Outworlds Alliance.
* Clan Spirit Cats: Offshoots of the Nova Cats after they were annihilated by the Combine. 
* Clan Star Adder: Boring, but very, very practical, which benefited them a lot. They like to upgrade their lasers to heavy lasers.
* Clan Steel Viper: Self righteous xenophobes who wanted to cooperate with the Inner Sphere but also treated freeborns like dirt, and then wondered why nobody liked them. Responsible for Clan genocide known as "The Wars of Reaving". [[Fail|Got genocided in return.]] 
* Clan Widowmaker: Got annihilated for accidentally killing Nicky. What was left of it, however, <strike>gave birth</strike> (lies Clanners aren't born)  to the most dangerous MechWarrior ever, Natasha Kerensky.  
* Clan Wolf: The spotlight stealing Clan, courtesy of it being Kerensky's personal clan. Split up into two factions following the Refusal War.
** Crusader Wolves: The guys who want to continue the invasion of Inner Sphere.
** Warden Wolf-in-Exile: The guys who want to defend Inner Sphere against the rest of the Clans, who they think are a mockery of Kerensky's teachings.
* <strike>Clan Wolverine</strike> Not-Named Clan: These guys pissed off Nicky to such extent that they were annihilated. [[What|There are many theories about them returning to Inner Sphere and taking over it as shadow masterminds in order to destroy the clans.]]

===Wars of Reaving===
[[Advancing the Storyline|Fed up with having to write more stuff about Clans nobody cares about]], a bunch of Clans were wiped out after the Jihad, or driven out of Clan territory. While the in-story explanation is that a butthurt ilKhan decided it was time to make a powerplay after not having won anything out of the Inner Sphere Invasion, everyone knows that there were several Clans that had no discernable effect on the game. 
*'''''Annihilated or Absorbed:'''''
**Blood Spirit: Got wiped out for using civilian militias which "isn't clan-like" and [[Bullshit|marked for annihilation for letting people fight for their homes.]]
**Burrock: Tried to re-establish themselves after being Absorbed, got defeated.
**Fire Mandrill: Too fractured to fight back effectively.
**Ice Hellion: [[Fail|Killed themselves by trying to steal Jade Falcon and Hell's Horses territory.]] What few survivors remained joined Goliath Scorpion.
**Steel Viper: Took over the Clan Homeworlds and gave everyone free reign to remove the “taint” of the Invader Clans by any means necessary. Forgot that they themselves were an Invader Clan.
**Nova Cat: Destroyed by the Draconis Combine for being on the losing side of a Civil War.
*'''''Exiled or Abjured:''''' These Clans were forced out of the Clan Homeworlds on the pretense of being "corrupted" by Inner Sphere influences. Some later formed the '''Council of Six Clans''', representing the Clans that now exist in the Inner Sphere.
**Ghost Bears: Banished to the Inner Sphere and eventually founded the '''Rasalhague Dominion.''' Joined the Council.
**Goliath Scorpion: Ran away and conquered Nueva Castile(Spaniards vs. Arabs IN SPACE) in the Deep Periphery, forming '''Escorpion Imperio.'''
**Hell's Horses: Stole some of Clan Wolf's territory in the Inner Sphere, and end up getting banished from the Clan Homeworlds. Joined the Council.
**Jade Falcon: Banished to the Inner Sphere and tried to conquer Terra but failed. Still rules the parts of the Inner Sphere they conquered during the Clan Invasion. Joined the Council.
**Sea Fox/Diamond Shark: Ended up in what's left of the Free Worlds League. Split up into semi-independent merchant fleets and are now a collection of gypsy "Khanates" that sail the starlanes of the Inner Sphere. Joined the Council, but also joined the FWL as a member state. In the meantime, managed to bring the Sea Fox back from extinction, and changed back to their old name. 
**Smoke Jaguar: Some of them showed up as super-secret Clanner loyalists to the Republic of the Sphere. Still in the Fortress Republic.
**Snow Raven: Ran away and conquered the Outworlds Alliance in the Periphery, forming the '''Raven Alliance.''' Joined the Council.
**Spirit Cat: What's left of Nova Cats, joined the Free Worlds League as a member state.
**Wolf: Splintered into several factions. Basically conquered by the Lyran Alliance and Katrina Steiner's descendant claimed the mantle of Archon. Wolves-in-Exile refuse to join and are doing their own thing. Clan Wolf-Alliance joined the Council. “Katrina Steiner’s descendant” is in fact a Trueborn Clanner thst Katherine Steiner-Davion had made using both her own genetic material and Victor Steiner-Davion’s, because regular incest just wasn’t crazy enough for her.
*'''''Home Clans:''''' Theses Clans still hold territory in the Clan Homeworlds and consider themselves "True Clans."
**Cloud Cobra: Still around.
**Coyote: Sneaky bastards. Got their hands on the genetic material of the last known descendant of House Cameron.
**Star Adder: TOP DOG
**Stone Lions: Made from the Hell's Horses who were left in the Clan Homeworlds and didn't get exiled.

So basically there are now ten Clans: The six Spheroid Clans, and the four Home Clans. The rest are either dead, formed hybrid societies, or are even more minor than before and thus save the writers from some hard work in upcoming TROs.

==Mechanics==
[[Image:Group-Plastic-Miniatures.jpg|thumb|right|The standard use of hexmaps renders the purchase of miniatures optional, though miniatures rules for the game are available.]]
[[Image:Blankrecordsheet.jpg|thumb|right|Record sheets are one of ''BattleTechs''' greatest blessings and curses.]]
The basic mechanic is simple. Two six-sided dice are used, with a to-hit (Equal or greater to) system. Initiative is interlaced, with the loser moving first and the winner able to react. All weapons damage is technically done at the same time, and therefore "Who shoots first" is insignificant, although the order in which weapons fire from any given unit resolves is important. Larger weapons can scrub off large quantities of ablative armor, while smaller multi-hit weapons stand a better chance of forcing Critical Hits once a location is damaged. If you get hit, you mark off the weapons damage rating from your armor. If the shot penetrates your armor, you roll potential criticals. Firing weapons and moving about generates heat, which you must keep down to keep your 'Mech working properly.

Unlike games such as ''[[Warhammer]]'', where many units are either killed on the first shot or left unscathed, and little information is recorded, ''BattleTech'' uses record sheets to mark off each 'Mech's cumulative damage, ammunition, pilot status, and heat. Also, there are hit locations, so limbs can be blown off. The record sheets allow for effects that are more detailed, but this also increases the overall playtime. Although expert players can get through matches just as fast as players of other games of more or less equal size, new players often find that the game plays slowly. This is usually due to the time spent referencing hit-location tables, critical effects, etc. For new players, 2V2 matches are best, with 4V4 matches being the "Cap", in order to have games that do not take excessively long. More experienced players can run games of 12v12 or larger in an afternoon, though these will often be multi-player games in which each ''player'' controls only a handful of 'Mechs.

One of the biggest appeals of ''BattleTech'' is that all of its units are made with a predefined set of rules. Custom designs are fully possible, though they are not likely to be welcome in tournament matches or pick-up games. 

''BattleTech'' uses a build system based on 'Mech tonnage. You start with a Chassis limit, from 20-100 tons. You then determine engine size based on how fast you want your 'Mech to be (how many hexes you want it to be able to move per turn) you then allocate the remaining tonnage to control systems, weapons, ammo and armor. This method varies slightly depending on the technology of the chassis, but not overmuch. Though the system has recently been removed, there were previously three "Levels" of technology. 

'''Level 1''' (Now called "Introductory Tech") referred to early-era gameplay. Only the more rudimentary weapons and technologies are available, though the critical rules remain the same. This is the preferred level at which to learn, and is synonymous with the equipment available during the Succession Wars era. It is also the level of play made possible with starter boxes.

'''Level 2''' was Tournament-level gameplay. This introduced new equipment and electronics, as well as Clan technology (A more technologically advanced, but militant people). Though the rules are generally the same as those in level 1 gameplay, more-complicated equipment such as ECM, Anti-missile systems, Cluster munitions, etc were better suited to more-experienced players. It is the level of play made possible with separately-purchased rulebooks. Note that, as the in-universe timeline advances, some more-advanced technology is designated "tournament-level", and several items that were Level 3 before the switch are also now "Tournament-Level". 

'''Level 3''' referred to all advanced gameplay and equipment, including specialized gear from Historical manuals and the ''Solaris VII'' boxed sets/adventures. This has since been split out into "advanced", "experimental", and "era-specific" technology. This also included all equipment that was not listed in the core rulebooks. More complex rules were inserted in order to increase the realism and flexibility of the game. These include new weapons, new or altered terrain rules, artillery, alternate rules for major mechanics such as Line-of-sight, etc. Though Level 3 rules included "prototype" equipment not printed in the core rulebooks, the standard rulebook in regards to Level 3 play was called ''Maxtech''. This has now been replaced by the Catalyst Games release of ''Tactical Operations'' and its sequels. 

'''Advanced''' technology (not to be confused with "advanced rules" is covered largely in ''Tactical Operations'', and may be common but incorporates additional rules or restrictions that make it difficult to use without preparation. 

'''Experimental''' tech is not mass-produced in-universe. The items are used in one-offs, prototype designs, and other weirdness. The ''Experimental Technical Readout'' series showcases this tech level, and most of the rules are in ''Tactical Operations'' or ''Strategic Operations''. 

'''Era-specific''' technology incorporates advancements that were later abandoned in-verse. Usually these items were displaced by a superior version of the same technology, although there are some like the Listen-Kill missiles (which exploited a weakness in standard ECM protocols, later patched out) which are simply active for a few years and then abandoned once changing circumstances make them ineffective. Era-specific tech is the province of Historical sourcebooks, the ''Interstellar Operations'' rulebook, and a few campaign books.

==Expansions==
The RPG companion-game, titled '''Mechwarrior''', was created in the late 1980s, so that players could simulate the lifestyle of the Mechwarriors they played. A 2nd edition (1991) and 3rd edition (1999) were also released. 3rd edition became renamed ''Classic Battletech RPG'', in order to avoid confusion with the [[clix]] games, and though it was available as a .PDF download, it was not reprinted until 2006. These were replaced by ''A Time of War'' in 2009, supplemented by ''A Time of War Companion'' in 2012. 

'''Aerotech''' and '''Battlespace''' were two different games which simulated space combat in the ''BattleTech'' universe. Movement handled differently due to the zero-gravity nature of space, and was played on a different scale.

==Spinoff Games==
Due to it's popularity through the late 80s and early 90s, ''BattleTech'' spawned a multitude of spinoffs and expansion games. 

'''[[Lost Worlds]]''' dueling books.  NOVA adapted their melee dueling system to make four books for Battletech mecha.  Each book has the opponent's view of the mech on each page, and a character sheet listing possible maneuvers.  Since it used the same system as the rest of their books, you could have "20-ton Locust vs. skeleton with scimitar" duels.

'''AeroTech''' and '''BattleSpace''' were both games featuring Aerospace Fighters and DropShips/WarShips respectively, fighting in orbit before any of the action in the BattleTech game itself could begin. Both games eventually got absorbed into BattleTech's rules in the ''Total Warfare'' edition. 

'''Battletroops''' was a game that was made to simulate the ''BattleTech'' universe, with infantry in mind as the main units. It later  had an expansion pack to incorporate clan equipment, as well as Elementals, but the game did not sell as well and the rules have since been abandoned.

'''Battleforce''' was a revision of '''BattleTech''', made in recognition of the fact that large-scale combat could not be effectively played out using the current system. Battleforce simplified each 'mech into a simple set of numbers, so that they could be clustered into units and fight over a much larger area. Battleforce 2, released about a decade later, also introduced planetary invasion maps and rules to go along with them. Although the maps are available in Map Compilation 2, the rules will be reprinted in the ''Strategic Operations'' and ''Interstellar Operations'' sourcebooks.

The '''Solaris VII Boxed set''' was made to simulate the fast-paced gladiatorial combat on the game's world of Solaris VII. It included new rules, new maps with special rules, new mechs, and supplements for roleplaying. Little known fact. Some of the designs used in the original Solaris VII set were redesigns of the ''BattleTech'' 'mechs... themselves copies of Japanese mechs!  When the product tried to sell in Japan, half of the designs were already copyrighted by other well known anime companies, and the in-house designs were simply not "Japanese" enough for their tastes.  Though the product itself flopped, it's maps were reprinted and re-released in 2004, as well as a complimentary up-to-date rulebook. Rules have since been standardized to match those of ''Classic Battletech'', but "Special Map rules" have been included. 

The '''BattleTech Collectible Cardgame''' was produced by Wizards of the Coast in 1996, and ran until 1998. Though it's popularity had begun to wane after the first core set, the release of the Pokemon card game was the nail in the coffin. The Battletech CCG hosted some very impressive artwork, though the game favored swarm-decks filled with plenty of weak, cheap 'mechs, and it's non-"Creature" cards were too weak to have an effective deck based around them. After five editions (''Battletech Limited''/''Unlimited'', ''Counterstrike'', ''Mercenaries'', ''Mechwarrior'', ''Arsenal'') Battletech CCG came out with ''Commander's Edition'', which picked some of the best cards of the last few editions (though it abandoned or revised some cards for inaccuracies or "brokenness") It had one final expansion, Crusade, which introduced the Steel Viper clan, though there were some prior cards that did reference the clan.

In July, 2013, Catalyst Game Labs released '''Alpha Strike''', a miniatures combat ruleset designed specifically to appeal to fans of Warhammer and Flames of War. It combined BattleForce statistics with improved miniatures rules.  It's generally scoffed at by grognards but the only feasible way to play a regiment-sized battle in less than one lifetime.

==Video Games==
'''Official Games'''
* Crescent Hawk's Inception (Infocom, 1988)
* MechWarrior (Activision, 1989)
* Crescent Hawks' Revenge (Infocom, 1990)
<!-- don't try to "fix" the spelling of the Infocom games; the product titles actually are that incorrect -->
* MechWarrior II (Activision, 1995)
* MechWarrior II: Mercernaries (Activision 1995)
** MechCommander (FASA, 1998)
* MechWarrior III (Microprose, 1999)
* MechWarrior IV: Vengeance (FASA/Microsoft, 2000), Black Knight (Microsoft, 2001), Mercenaries (Microsoft, 2002)
** These games had two expansions that gave more mechs, the Inner Sphere Mech Pack and Clan Mech Pack.
** <strike>MekTek released a legal port of Mercenaries, with both Mech Packs, new mechs, and battlesuits all inside, plus multiplayer support.  Free to download.</strike> MekTek's jumped ship from MechWarrior after losing the rights to freely distribute. Microsoft may still hold rights to distribution and will accordingly do fuck-all with it. RIP in pieces, Mercs. (modDB page for MW4 still has the files if you want 'em. Alternatively, grab it off your tracker of choice.)
* Mechassault 1 (Day 1/Microsoft, 2002 for Xbox)
* Mechassault 2: Lone Wolf (Day 1/Microsoft, 2004 for Xbox) 
* MechCommander II (FASA/Microsoft, 2001. The full game is offered by Microsoft for free [http://www.microsoft.com/en-ph/download/details.aspx?id=11457 here].)
* MechWarrior Online MMO (Smith & Tinker/Piranha Games, A F2P game first released on 2012 and currently out as a full product on Steam.)
* MechWarrior Tactical Command (Personae Studios, 2012?, for iPhone/iPad. After some uncertainty, MTC was fully released in the itunes store. Too bad it sucks.)
* BattleTech (Harebrained Schemes, 2018) - funded through Kickstarter and headed up by Jordan Weisman)
** Turn-based strategy game, similar to the original tabletop game. Takes place during the Succession Wars, in a formerly empty area of the Periphery.
'''Unlicensed Games'''
* [http://www.mechlivinglegends.net Mechwarrior Living Legends] (Wandering Samurai/Clan Jade Wolf, 2011)

'''The following are free, homemade versions of Battletech:'''
* MechWar v1.12 (MS-DOS)
* [http://megamek.info/ MegaMek] (Java)
* BTMUX - ascii-only mmo (anyone old enough to remember what a MUD is?) (any OS)<br/>You could play it in pure ascii, or get [http://bt-thud.sourceforge.net/thud/ a graphical helper]<br/>Most of the existing ones are gone, but [http://frontiermux.com/news.php FrontierMUX] seems to still be alive.
* <strike>[http://neveron.com/ Neveron] (web-based mmo)</strike> [Taken offline on July 31st 2014]
* [http://www.titansofsteel.de/ Titans of Steel] (MS-Windows)

==Current State==
[[File:Never give up.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Little Urbie, the greatest of us all.]]
In 1998, the U.S. release of ''Pokemon'' for the Gameboy, and the subsequent cartoon and cardgame, had a damaging effect on the tabletop games market. Comic book stores which had previously stocked tabletop RPGs, wargames, and collectible card games found that they could turn a better profit by stocking more ''Pokemon'' goods and cutting out the weaker-selling products. Only a handful of better-selling tabletop games, such as products by Games Workshop and the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' games, were able to remain. In 2001, FASA ceased operations, and many fans of the ''BattleTech'' series began to look for other games. ''BattleTech'' was purchased by [[FanPro]] and [[Wizkids]], donning the name ''Classic Battletech'' in order to better separate it from the now-floundering ''Mechwarrior'' Clix-game license. Despite still having products released for it, ''Classic Battletech'' was often put on the back burner, as Wizkids showed preference to their clix-games. It was later licensed to [[Catalyst Game Labs]], who have since released a new boxed set (6th edition) based on the newly revised core rules. This boxed set, once again, contains plastic miniatures. Though the plastic miniatures (When compared to plastic miniatures produced by other companies) are decidedly low-quality, they are more than sufficient as playing-pieces for new players who are experimenting with the product. In making low-grade miniatures for the box set, the overall price tag remained low, while giving players something more tangible than a cardboard cutout. The game is beginning to gain popularity once again, despite the dropping popularity of tabletop games in general. In 2014 Catalyst Games released an updated box set with higher quality miniatures for the same price.

Jordan Weissman's reacquired of the ''BattleTech'' games' license and the founding of his new company Smith & Tinker, which gave hope that there will be another ''BattleTech'' universe game sometime in the future, despite no announcements since its founding.

===MechWarrior Online===
[http://mwomercs.com/ Mechwarrior Online] has already been officially launched. Even though the launch itself was fairly lackluster, with no new features compared to the past few months of open beta, the game is in a somewhat average state of balance and gameplay, and the feel of piloting a BattleMech was translated faithfully. As of October 2014 PGI, after ousting their publisher and striking out on their on a few months back, has been making notable progress in advancing the game and interacting with the player base.  Update:  Despite garnering some good will from the community after ridding themselves of their publisher, PGI has been doing their best to waste the Mechwarrior license and drive off good chunks of their player base.  Mostly through increasingly draconian punishments and obvious cash-grabbing with constant new 'Mechs for sale.  This has been revealed as the standard MO of PGI's CEO, Russ Bullock.

===Battletech 2018===
Harebrained Schemes has announced their return to Kickstarter in fall 2015 in order to fund [http://battletechgame.com/ Battletech], a turn based tactics game featuring RPG mechanics for Mechs and MechWarriors.  As of this writing the game has been fully funded and reached several stretch goals. In fact, the game's been released in April 2018. The game is a turn-based strategy game, more faithful to the board game than the mech-sims the series is known for on the vidya circuit. Think the new XCOM games, but with mechs. You know, like the zillion other Kickstarted XCOM clones.

Game is already released and is generally regarded as skub due to the dev team's severe SJW infestation (read: HBS banning people who complained about shoehorning "non-binary" bullshit into the fluff and story text that lauded some houses over the others for being more "diverse" from the forums) plus misleading backer marketing by Paradox and a raft of serious technical issues on release. Most people agree that the gameplay is at least decent, though, and the crippling bugs are being patched. Harebrained Schemes has since been bought out by publisher Paradox Interactive, which could mean [[World of Darkness|even more SJW bullshit in BT's future]] or high quality DLC and sequels.

===Mercenaries 5===
After almost two decades since the last proper Mechwarrior game in the franchise (MechAssault doesn't count), we're finally getting an honest-to-gods story-based mechpilot sim game like the days of yore. Piranha Games, the company responsible for MWO, is also creating [https://mw5mercs.com/ Mercenaries 5], and is so far looking like a faithful re-creation of the classic Mechwarrior pilot sim games of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Its still in early development so its too early to tell what'll be the end-product, but is looking good so far, and we can only hope PGI doesn't muck it up by shoving boatloads of micro-transactions down the fanbase's throats like what they did with MWO, or what current AAA-game developers are doing.

==External links==
*[http://megamek.sf.net Play through the tubes with MegaMek]
*[http://www.sarna.net Battletech Wiki that holds much information about the universe]
*[http://bgb.booru.org/index.php Blue Gunner Booru, a /btg/-maintained taggable gallery of BT and related art. Perpetually in-progress.]
[[Category:Wargames]][[Category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]][[Category:BattleTech]]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Glorious_3d_Terrain.JPG|Glorious 3d terrain
File:More_Glorious_3d_Terrain.JPG|More glorious 3d terrain
File:Infantry_Strike_From_Behind_As_The_Kuritian_Lance_Takes_On_4_Steiner_Mechs_And_6_Tanks.JPG|Infantry strike from behind as the Kuritian lance takes on 4 Steiner mechs And 6 tanks
File:Kuritians_Advancing.JPG|Kuritians advancing
File:Surrounded.JPG|Kick party
File:Eridani_Light_Horses_MechWarrior.png|Bad mofo
File:You're_awesome.jpg
File:Dougram_and_shadowhawk_comparison.png|The original anime mecha Dougram (left) compared to the original "unseen" Shadowhawk (center) and the modern Shadowhawk (right), a robot so badass it transcends cultures and 4chan boards
</gallery>
</center>

==/tg/ Battletech Creations==
*[[Velatine Federal Republic]]
*[[/tg/ Homebrew Mech Designs]]