Mechwarrior Online: LibArc Organization

[Hotfoot]

While the game is still in closed beta, it's one I'm sure many of us will play. According to the game's website, when you join, you will be asked to join a House. Now, there are rumors of free Mercenary companies running around, but that said, of the major houses, we as a group should select one once all is said and done to join. It's too early to make hard decisions, since the bonuses of the houses are not yet set, and that should clearly be a factor in the decision, but I would like to open up the discussion of the matter to those of us who plan on playing this Free to Play Mech game. Given the number of us that played World of Tanks, I suspect there may be some overlap.

Above is a poll listing the six confirmed houses for the game, which is going to be set in 3049 to start, let's discuss, shall we?

[Batman]

Technically, neither the Draconis Combine nor the Free Ralhague Repulic are houses
The Combine is the political entity ruled by House Kurita and the Republic I think never had the time to establish one to begin with.

Yes of course I'm nitpicking. I just wondered why Kurita wasn't listed by name like the others. Oh, and Davion.

[Dark Silver]

At heart...I've always been a Mercenary.

[B4UTRUST]

Now admittedly I'm not fluent on Mechwarrior and Battletech background, but didn't House Davion and House Steiner merge?

[Hotfoot]

They did later on in the timeline, something like around 3058, so there's still quite a bit of time for that yet.

[frigidmagi]

As I recall they merged and then broke apart because a certain crown prince was a moron. But I stray from the topic. I honestly think I would vote mercenary, because none of these houses are really worth any loyalty. But I'll tell you what, if anyone here wants to, make a sales pitch. Convince me.

[General Havoc]

Um... Go Giants?

[White Haven]

Free Rasalhague Republic! Because it takes real stones to play the FRR in 3049, knowing what's about to come crashing through the roof like an airdropped Kool Aid Man.

On the plus side, Clanner salvage, fuck yeah!

[Dark Silver]

Honestly, I'd be willing to change my vote and sell my Mech to the FRR


.....especially if I get some choice Clanner Salvage....

[Cynical Cat]

Go DCMS! Smart princes and Theodore Kurita's awesome is contagious!

[Batman]

They did later on in the timeline, something like around 3058, so there's still quite a bit of time for that yet.

Actually, they merged quite a bit earlier in the timeline (3028 if memory serves), 3058 or thereabouts is when the breakup happens.

[White Haven]

Fairness compels me to add, Frigid, that the 'certain crown prince' was essentially AFK fighting the entire Clan invasion at the time. It was more a case of 'Jesus, woman, can't the scheming and backstabbing wait until the EXISTENTIAL THREAT is dealt with? Bitch!' than anything else.

[Batman]

Especially as if Katherine had simply asked for the throne Victor would likely have gone 'by all means, better you than me', at least before he found out she murdered their mother.

[Cynical Cat]

Fairness compels me to add, Frigid, that the 'certain crown prince' was essentially AFK fighting the entire Clan invasion at the time. It was more a case of 'Jesus, woman, can't the scheming and backstabbing wait until the EXISTENTIAL THREAT is dealt with? Bitch!' than anything else.

Bullshit. Said prince decided he personally had to go to Clan space and leave the largest nation in known space with an incompetent regent when he knew his sister was trying to grab power instead of say, letting someone else (like say the Kurita who was already going and could handle this shit ) do it or send one of his many capable generals in his place.

[White Haven]

Nooot so fast, Cyncat. If Victor had said 'shit, sorry guys, dynastic troubles, BRB' and fucked off back home before the Star League counterattacks, you'd be sitting here giving him at least as much shit for doing that as for staying put. What it comes down to is that he had to choose between a dynastic squabble at home and the ongoing campaign against a threat to the entire Inner Sphere, and he chose the existential threat over the House spat.

[Cynical Cat]

Nooot so fast, Cyncat. If Victor had said 'shit, sorry guys, dynastic troubles, BRB' and fucked off back home before the Star League counterattacks, you'd be sitting here giving him at least as much shit for doing that as for staying put. What it comes down to is that he had to choose between a dynastic squabble at home and the ongoing campaign against a threat to the entire Inner Sphere, and he chose the existential threat over the House spat.

Bull. The Star League counter attack had already been launched. What he went off to do was participate in a reinforcement wave that was launched after they realized the Smoke Jaguars were abandoning the Inner Sphere and reinforcing their Clan space holdings. Which other ruler of the Inner Sphere personally went on either mission? None. Theodore Kurita sat his military genius ass at home because he was, you know, the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Victor never wanted the throne and this was just him running away from it yet again and his entire realm paid for it in blood.

P.S. In Battletech WWTKD? is an excellent rule of thumb.

[Josh]

I gotta go with the Cat here. Victor was a company commander at heart and always wanted to stick his nose straight into the fight. The FedCom Civil War can be directly traced to various acts of negligence on his part. Task Force Serpent and the followup relief operation should've been handled by Hohiro, who had a pretty good track record in these ventures.

I voted DCMS, but I'd be amenable to merc, just so long as we're not talking Gray Death Legion or the Kell Hounds. I could deal with the Dragoons, and I was fucking born to ride with Colonel Camacho and the Caballeros.

[Josh]

Also if I went Caballero I'd totally go in for a Phoenix Hawk so I could jump about like a madman and then explode the first time somebody sneezes on my back armor.

[Batman]

What's wrong with the GDL or the Kell Hounds? If you can deal with the Dragoons, they should be no problem. If anything the Wolves are even more straightlaced than either of those.
Though I can absolutely see why you'ld be happier with the freewheeling ways of the 17th Recon Regiment.

[frigidmagi]

Basically here's my take on Victor and why I could never in good faith swear to the man. His job wasn't to personally lead battles or fleets. His job, his highest duty was to the entire Federated Commonwealth and it's peoples. He wasn't a (just) military officer but the highest executive authority in the land. He doesn't get to go play war with his girlfriend because it would be easier for him. Maybe he shouldn't be the highest authority, maybe that's not where his heart lies. Well fucking tough. The lives of billions are literally at stake here. He should have made sure he was replaced with a competent ruling authority or sat his ass down in the big boy seat and done a man's job. As it was he allowed his sister to reunite a war his parents risked their lives to end, split apart a realm that may have been (given his relationship to Omi in addition to the raw power inherent in the realm) the Inner Sphere's best chance at peace if not reunification. He flat out ran from his responsibilities whenever he got the chance handing his sister a chance to start civil war on a silver platter. While a great battle field leader, he's a crappy ruler.

I have issues with either the other societies or their leadership. I'm... rather iffy as vassal material in all honesty.

Am I being picky? Maybe, but that's my call to make.

[Josh]

What's wrong with the GDL or the Kell Hounds? If you can deal with the Dragoons, they should be no problem. If anything the Wolves are even more straightlaced than either of those.
Though I can absolutely see why you'ld be happier with the freewheeling ways of the 17th Recon Regiment.

I generally liked the portrayals of the Dragoons as characters. Yes, they got Mary-Sued to hell and back- five regiments, all with what amounted to second-line clan equipment and so on. But they felt good in their stories, not all 'Hooah we're elite listen to us we're badasses' but more like 'You really don't want us coming down on your head.'

The GDL suffers from the fact that William Keith basically wrote one story his entire career- plucky, outnumbered band deep in hostile territory fights off overwhelming odds. That's essentially every GDL story up until the Legion gets destroyed, as well as the plot of his Fifth Foreign Legion trilogy and the one book I read that he put out under another name. With some writers, you don't know if getting stuck in a stale formula is the writer sticking to an easy story or a publisher pushing because that's what's sold before. With Keith and how he did it across multiple publishers it seems more likely that he found the writing formula he liked and stuck with it. So I was kind of happy to see them get wiped out in the Civil War, and good riddance that they were in Katherine's pocket when they did it.

As for the Kell Hounds, it's more the lack of exposure we get with them. We barely ever got to see any actual stories that showed them being this fearsome elite regiment, and even when they did show up in a story (Luthien, or defending Arc Royal) they tended to end up as background characters, usually because Victor was involved or Takashi Kurita was bitching out Shin Yodama or whatever. So how do we know they're elite? Because we get told regularly 'Oh, the Kell Hounds? They're badasses.'

But yes, the Caballeros are my boys and girls.

[Josh]

I have issues with either the other societies or their leadership. I'm... rather iffy as vassal material in all honesty.

Am I being picky? Maybe, but that's my call to make.

Well, there is Marik and the Knights of the Inner Sphere. Yeah, it is directly feudalistic in nature, but the entire principle is about protecting the innocent and so on, which I'd figure would appeal to you.

[Cynical Cat]

I have issues with either the other societies or their leadership. I'm... rather iffy as vassal material in all honesty.

Am I being picky? Maybe, but that's my call to make.

Every state has its issues, even the FedCom Golden Boys, so you don't feel bad shooting them. Same reason that both North and South have different flavors of dickishness in Heavy Gear.

[Cynical Cat]

The Grey Death were always Steiner tied so them breaking for Katherine in the civil war makes sense. It's not like they knew that Katherine whacked her mom.

The Kell Hounds suffer from being Stackpole's pets and being awesome by authorial fiat. The Dragoons were well developed over a long time and didn't have an authorial bale out every time bad shit happened to them. The Dragoons fucking suffered and bled through some heavy shit.

But yes, the Caballeros are my boys and girls.

I'm shocked, shocked that you would align yourself with iconoclastic, renegade, noncomformist, wild cowboys. Of course, they are awesome and they do work for one of the more awesome Kuritas.

One thing I always liked about the Dracs is that they might have had a comformist orientated society, but they make good use of their renegades and wild boys and girls. Ghost Regiments, Arkab Legions, Proserpina Hussars, Legions of Vega, and Dieron District oh yeah.

*pours some whiskey on the ground* For the bad boys and girls of the 18th Dieron Regulars, The Pride of Dieron. You fought well and died hard and your enemies will never forget you. It was an honour to serve with you and lead you into battle.

[Josh]

It don't mean shit if you ain't got the golden bullet.

I did like that they had the GDL as a nominal example of a 'good' unit following their Steiner loyalties. Katherine was quite popular and if she hadn't been so murderously insane she would've been light-years better than Victor as Archon-Princess.

But then the smarter of my two cats probably could've done a better job than Victor. At least she'd stay in the big chair most of the day.