BattleMech
BattleMechs are legged armored fighting vehicles in the BattleTech Universe. Standing between 8 and 14 meters tall and heavily armed and armored, they are the main heavy ground combat vehicles. A person who operates a BattleMech is known as a MechWarrior.
BattleMechs are what Starfleet Starships are to Star Trek, Lightsabers are to Star Wars and Space Marines are to Warhammer 40,000. They are the specific Battlefield Technology that the setting is named for.
History
The BattleMech is the end result of the Myomer technology's use by IndustrialMechs; the Terran Hegemony saw that on some backwater worlds and colonies that some desperate garrisons would use IndustrialMechs for back-line combat, and wanted to see if the technology was actually viable for long-term combat operations. The Hegemony placed Dr. Gregory Atlas, one of the finest scientists of the time, in charge of the project, as he and an army of Hegemony scientists worked to refine the tech for military purposes. The results of these top-secret projects came the tests of the Mackie of the 2439, which worked so well that the Hegemony almost immediately chose to put it into production, completely changing the face of warfare from that point on. The Hegemony, naturally, tried to keep this shit under wraps for quite some time, trying to amass as many of them as possible before finally getting the chance to use them against the Draconis Combine in 2443, completely devastating the Kurita forces save for one tank, who told the greater Inner Sphere community of this miraculous and terrifying new tech. Naturally, everyone and their grandma tried to get their hands on it, taking less than 12 years before the Lyran Commonwealth's daring raid on the planet of Hesperus II received the plans, and therefor the rest of the Inner Sphere began to make their own mechs for warfare, and the Age of War got some great use out of the new tech, which ironically was actually only a prelude to the real zenith of BattleMech development; the birth of the Star League.
The Star League meant the end of the Great Houses playing grab-ass for power (at least, officially) and that all military technology was in the hands of a single monolithic power in relative peace and prosperity, and therefor development of the tech skyrocketed. The invention of Jump Jets, Gauss Rifles, the LAM mech, and myriad electronic and internal improvements, as well as a massive explosion of Mech variants meant that as humanity saw it's peak, so did the BattleMech, even if it only lasted a few hundred years. All of this however came to a grinding halt with the sudden slaying of First Lord John Nicholas II by Stefan Amaris and his Amaris Civil War, where the SLDF had to use everything at it's disposal to gain vengeance for their fallen lord. This stagnation was further exacerbated by the SLDF largely fucking off to the Deep Periphery where nobody would see them again for almost 500 years, leading directly in to the Succession Wars.
The Succession Wars sent humanity on an increasing backslide of technological progress, and the BattleMech suffered dearly for it, to the point that whole classes of Mech almost went extinct due to the sheer level of cost, lack of resources, and plain old lost plans and factories that ultimately wiped scores of Mechs from battlefields across the Inner Sphere. This was only halted 28 years into the 31st century with an enterprising Free Worlder's unbelievable discovery on the devastated world of Helm; the cave system that spanned much of the underground around the ruined world's old capital held an amazing discovery of a massive Star League-era cache of information stored deep underground that housed life-changing blueprints, schematics of mechs long thought to be rumor or museum pieces, exact material needs, and weapons that hadn't been seen in the Inner Sphere for decades. Naturally, ComStar tried to get their grubby paws on it all with the intention to destroy it, but the Mercenaries that'd been granted access to the world of Helm fought them off and aggressively disseminated copies of the information throughout the Inner Sphere in order to get back at ComStar for blaming them for war crimes. This set off a new renaissance of development of the technology.
And then the Clans showed up and changed everything with what they had been working on with all that time out in the boondocks.
The utility of a BattleMech
An often asked question (usually by smartasses in the BattleTech general threads) is just how useful a Mech is in a universe that is harder science-fiction than say, Star Wars or 40k, given that they share a universe with Tanks, Hovertanks, AeroSpace Fighters, and Powered Armor. The Answer is largely in both the way wars are fought in BattleTech, and also in performance per C-Bill.
The BattleMech has many advantages that Tanks and Fighters simply can't match in open combat; while an AeroSpace Fighter can absolutely fly better and move faster than any Mech, it's usually more resource intensive to use in ground warfare and is generally better served in upper atmosphere trying to tie up DropShips and the like. The Tank is venerable, mounts all the same guns as a Mech, and hasn't been completely replaced by them and probably never will be, but even with the advances in Fission technology, many tanks in-universe are still dependent on comparitively archaic fuel sources and design methods (such as treads and structural weakpoints that suddenly became much less forgivable in a time of big stompy mechs) that keep them limited to support or artillery roles. The BattleMech, any of them at all, might be expensive, but they don't have to worry that much about fueling, all of their armaments are usually far more numerous and pack a much more painful punch than anything else, and they have the very useful ability to effectively negate most difficult terrain due to their sheer size, weight, and ability to move like a human does in most cases, and if they happen to run into some, a good majority of Mechs can simply use Jump Jets to get around them. Some can even get shot to pieces and still run if they manage to keep all the vital shit in one piece, though the company the MechWarrior works for will probably be out a good amount of C-Bills and time for repairs.
And regarding the warfare, BattleTech's universe has a mutually agreed upon set of rules of warfare in the Inner Sphere and also from the Clans that typically ensures that something that can hit a target hard, fast, coordinate with other units, and then protect that position better than the other side could, often many at a time. A legion of tanks might be able to do that, and as cool as Aerospace Fighters are, they're simply not built to handle that kind of sustained combat with clear ground objectives like a lance of four Mechs, usually all around the same size and with varied payload description, could do on their own. There is a reason everyone who didn't have the tech at the time wanted one; it saves money in the long run to cut a whole company of soldiers and tanks' firepower down into four giant robots that can shrug off (or at least not be downed by) being shot with an artillery cannon.
Also it's the fucking tightest shit imaginable, and if you seriously need to ask the question "why would someone want to pilot a giant robot" then I'm afraid this game just isn't for you.
BattleMech Systems
Weaponry
- Lasers: Basic directed energy weapon. They are fairly cheap, do fairly consistent damage and since they're powered by the mech's reactor they don't need ammo. That said while they do burn into your enemies' armor, they also generate waste heat.
- Autocannons: Abbreviated as AC. An enormous machine gun/cannon that fires explosive shells in short bursts. Autocannons have variable ammo caliber sizes and are mostly grouped into categories of default damage numbers. While they don't generate much heat and are often times much better at taking armor off a Mech, they're also dependent on their hard ranges of minimum distance, requiring a lot of maneuvering to make work.
- Autocannon/2 - The sniper rifle of Autocannons. While it's next to useless in a close-range firefight, it's good at taking potshots from a distance that even LRMs can't reach. Almost anything that has one usually loads up on special munitions to offset the loss of damage.
- Autocannon/5 - Arguably the first Autocannon ever made, it does respectable but not especially impressive damage at longer ranges, and can open just the right armor type in a pinch.
- Autocannon/10 - The gold standard of Autocannons simply due to it's sheer utility; it can do some real damage, has a reasonable range, but critically it also has no minimum range that the MechWarrior has to consider when using it. Most 'Mechs that have an Autocannon will almost certainly default to this or any variant of it.
- Autocannon/20 - The short-range, big damage variant. Can only shoot about a few hundred yards out, anything dumb enough to be in it's range is pretty much scrap if the Autocannon lands more than one hit.
- Particle Projector Cannons: The other standard Energy weapon, but generally much spicier than any Laser. A massive Cannon that fires a concentrated stream of ions and protons at a target at such velocity and strength that the Mech it's attached to experiences a kickback from it. The Mech that gets hit can experience serious electrical damage from the volley, and as such they are prized parts of any Mech it's attached to; rivalling Autocannons in terms of overall usefulness. The Mech it's attached to has inhibitors to prevent the cannon from frying it's own circuits, but some mad lads play dangerously and pull that particular thing off in dire straits to see what happens when they let the PPC really cook.
- Missiles: You know how these work; a big rocket full of boom comes straight down on your opponent's face. Most Mechs that have them have a dedicated platform designed to deliver the payload; from dedicated missile systems designed to be fired at short, medium, or long ranges aided by fire control systems, or simpler, fixed range missile launchers like the Arrow IV that are designed to even out the terrain of a particularly unlucky stretch of land. Very useful, but prone to jamming due to a reliance on computer tracking.
- Gauss Rifle: A Gauss Cannon that has been standardized with powerful electromagnets to shoot a solid metal melon straight into and more often than not through opposing mechs. It generates almost no heat and is quite powerful, but is incredibly energy intensive and often enormous, requiring Mechs to almost be built around that weight limitation rather than the Rifle around the Mech's limitations.
- Flamers: They're in BattleTech too! You use them for almost the exact same purpose as you would in another wargame; melting infantry. This is much less useful in BattleTech however given that almost nobody uses full-on infantry anymore, but it can be helpful to raise the heat of a Mech to intolerable levels. The Capellans later invented a variant called Plasma (
no, not that one) which uses ionized & viscous foam bullets launched at infantry or light armor like modern white phosphorus or napalm. - Machine Guns: For killing squirrels. If you're in a mech primarily armed with these you're mostly just there to keep infantry or restive insurgents tied up, or, and I'm sorry to have to break it to you now, you're in the Mech that's expected to die.
Other
- Myomer: A synthetic musculature which contracts in on itself when an electrical current is run through it. Apply 9-volt battery, kick foe in the 'nads.
- Engines: Your standard BattleMech is powered by a hydrogen burning Fusion Reactor. Most vehicles used Internal Combustion Engines, or odder engines like Fuel Cells, and Fission Reactors. Yes, the rare Mech actually used some of these too, but the Fusion Reactor was the default go-to here. Engines come in all shapes and sizes, though the easiest way to keep your Mech useful is to have an engine that doesn't take up too much valuable space.
- Gyros: Not a sandwich beloved by greeks, but a spinny hunk of high-tech metal that helps the 'Mech stay upright. Losing this means your 'Mech gets to lie down for an extended period of time, namely for the rest of the battle.
- Armor: The yang to weaponry's yin. Depending on the tech level you're playing at, can come in flavours ranging from plain ol' vanilla Standard to double-fudge FerroFibrous, caramel Laser Reflective and whatever demented flavour-of-the year that the New Avalon Institute of Science has come up with. Most Mech armor is ablative, meaning that it's designed to slough off when hit.
- Jump Jets: Systems that make the 'Mech bounce along like little bunny Froo-froo. On 'Mechs, they're a fusion-rocket system, however vehicles and infantry sporting them usually use some sort of jet or chemical/liquid-rocket system. Weirder systems have been developed (think mechanical pogo-mounts). Yes, there is a Jump Jet equipped tank called the Kanga.
- Heat Sinks: Glorified radiators, Heat Sinks are mechanisms which deal with built up heat, which Mechs can quickly accumulate in combat. Firing lasers, getting hit by flamers, using Jump Jets and so forth can all build up heat which can damage the machine's system and cook a Mech Warrior alive. Double Heat Sinks are more effective than vanilla heat sinks but were also LosTech up until the 32nd century.
- Neurohelmets: At base, Neurohelmets allow the 'Mech to borrow the pilot's sense of balance. More advanced systems (generally LosTech or ClannerScum) could provide a VR simspace for the pilot and shunt sensor feeds right into the pilot's brain. Also serves as a security system, as they're keyed to the pilot's brainwaves.
Types of BattleMechs
The most common classification of BattleMechs in-universe is by weight. How it's actually calculated is up in the air, as it doesn't appear to take into account the complete weight of the vehicle (since many Mechs have almost 10-20% of their tonnage taken up by armor), but it's generally agreed upon that this is the optimal "weight" of a fully kitted out BattleMech.
- Ultralight Mechs: Any Mech under 20 tonnes. Most of them are effectively just aluminum eggs with legs used to patrol garrisons and colonies out in the boondocks with a glock wired to a button. The difference between one of these and an IndustrialMech is very, very difficult to parse.
- Light Mechs: Mechs between 20 and 35 Tonnes. They are normally cheap, easy to deploy, fast and lightly armored and are used for Scouting, Raiding, or in some cases urban defense. In Universe they are usually the most common type of Mech known.
- Medium Mechs: Mechs between 40 and 55 Tonnes. Able to throw down better than a Light Mech while being faster and cheaper than a heavy. Also includes specialized support units. Mostly used for tactical needs on paper, but tend to be wildly flexible in purpose in practice. Many of the more useful and iconic mechs in the series are in this category if they aren't Heavy Mechs.
- Heavy Mechs: Mechs between 60 and 75 Tonnes. The workhorses of most armies, affordable heavy power while still being able to move faster than a truck heaving forward. Several of the most iconic mechs in the series are in this class.
- Assault Mechs: Mechs between 80 to 100 Tonnes. The heavy hitters; ponderous and pricey but durable with heavy weapons and armor to both take and dispense a serious beatdown. Unless you get a BNS-1S. Then people mock you.
- Ultra Heavy: Any Mech that is more than 100 Tonnes. Up until the 32nd century, the general consensus was that Mechs more than 100 Tonnes were basically laughably bad penis compensators. In the 32nd century people are beginning to make them work, but logistics keep them towards being thankful .
Other
Beyond weight, there are a few other specialized types of BattleMech, each with their own strengths and drawbacks.
- Bipedal: A mech with two legs, most common type; broken down into three separate subcategories such as Humanoid, Reverse Joint, and Digitigrade, however performance between the three is negligible as all three have both standout variants and regrettable variants alike.
- Tripodal: An experimental three-legged variant that's only rarely been used, even when the design idea gained traction in the 32nd century, only four mechs in the entire canon have ever used this variant.
- Quadropedal: A mech which has four legs instead of two. They have something of a bad reputation for allegedly requiring more crew and less armor. Are far less common than Bipedal Mechs, but are still fairly common as mobile fire-boats. Another transformable variant is "Quadvees" among Clan Hell's Horses that can change back and forth into tanks.
- Land Air Mechs: sometimes called LAMs. Basically a light mech that can transform from an Aerospace Fighter into a regular mech. They got invented during the Star League and were experimental reconnaissance units but got phased out due to being more fragile than regular fighters and mechs. Out of universe, Battletech developers decided it was too much effort to keep without lawsuits from Harmony Gold (as seen with the infamous "Unseen/Reseen" mech artwork from other IP's).
- OmniMech: the Lego/Swiss army knive variant of a regular Mech. Can change their loadouts as quickly as diapers' but are way more expensive.
Notable BattleMechs
Over the span of seven centuries there has been like a bajillion different makes and models of Battlemechs, most of which have at least a couple variants. As BattleMechs can last for centuries and are rather resilient things that can more often than not be at least partially salvaged after their pilot has been removed, there are still plenty of vintage units out and kicking. For a comprehensive list, go to Sarna.