THE INNER SPHERE | Big dumb apes throwing nukes. An introduction to Battletech 

Just so you know, the use of “March” by the Federated Suns goes back to the use of the term “March” for the border areas of England.

The JumpShips actually take roughly 15 seconds for a jump, regardless of the distance... up to 30 light years, as that is the maximum distance, barring a few super rare items. Recharge times are usually 7 days, but ranges 5-14 days depending on the star you are in orbit of. Also, the Steiner Scout Lance XD In truth, that was largely based on one situation where they realized the enemy had hacked their comms... and then decided to send 4 Atlas mechs through a canyon, claiming on comms that only a Scout Lance was covering that approach. Well, the trap worked. :)

So I was listening but not really watching... I heard "Would you like to be richer than a god but dumber than a brick" and I just knew that it was about Steiner. I look and see the blue fist, but best is the 'prepare to be scouted.' tag on top. Wonderful.

Now there is no chapter for Free Rasalhague Republic but I will forgive you for this. The space Vikings may not so be careful.

It’s not hordes of Capellan light mechs, it’s hordes of Capellan orphanages.

The Plausible Deniability Comguard Customer Service Commando team will be seeing you shortly.

Comstar is a little more than you let on. Effectively, before being renamed as Comstar, they were the last vestige of the Star League, which were joined by several SLDF regiments who did not follow the exodus. As to what thier actual mission was, that's debatable as Jerome Blake had other plans.

I have been playing Battletech since '87 and you broken down everything to its simple common denominator. I loved it!! It also helps new players to understand the Battletech universe. Love to see more episodes i.e. Houses, Mercenary groups and the Clans. Keep up the good work!

If Steve likes the idea of being an infantry grunt and going toe to toe with battlemechs in the square circle tell him about the Grey Death Legion

I was happy Harebrained’s 2018 Battletech basically used the faster than light FX from the Battlestar Galactica reboot. It was a very cool visual and also very unique in a field of warp drives and hyperspace blur. Also Battletech is hilarious in that nuclear rain on population centers was totally normal for a while. But attacking a jumpship? THAT is a crime against humanity.

8:15 On the point about jump travel according to lore, Jumpships make instant jumps up to 30 lightyears at a time. The best description I have seen is that they create a hole deep into and out of hyperspace that they go into and pass to the next system like passing through a doorway. The ships themselves DO have thrusters and can move but not very far or fast. They charge their batteries with Solar Sails mostly, that's what the arms on the rear are for, holding the sails. 27:35 The Lyrans also have a lot of Colonial British influence with the way their 'social generals' work as well. You can buy you way into an officers commission in the Lyran army. Sucks to be a rank and file in Lyran space because you never know if your getting a good leader or a 'bought' leader. You know like most middle managers.

Funfacts: The Lyran Commonwealth actually developed and produced one of the best light mechs in the Inner Sphere with the Wolfhound. - The Free Worlds Leage basically becomes the industrial powerhouse of the Inner Sphere after the Clan invasion. - The Capellan Confederation turns into the technologically most advanced Great House by far. - Davion turns into a fucking joke. - House Kurita fucking bitchslaps the Federated Commonwealth in the war of 2049.

Jumpships max out at about 30 light years per jump. While essentially instantaneous, the farther the jump, the longer the time between point A and point B. This is how Clan Wolf was able to breach the Wall and invade Terra. They jumped in from about a light year out, and the Wall couldn’t be activated in time as the jump signature was too short. Also why the original Terran Alliance was only 30 LY radius. The distance that the military could respond in a timely fashion.

I'll give you an: A+ for enthusiasm; A for creativity; B for general knowledge of Battletech Lore; and a C- for Accuracy of BattleTech Lore. That said, I'm enjoying your channel, even if, on occasion, I wince or want to reach for the keyboard, 'course, I figure plenty of other's are doing it faster then me. Calling the 3025 era the 'Golden Age', heh. Yeah, sure. Maybe the Golden Age of playing the game as it was originally presented to us older sorts, but, as far as the lore (armchair or professional sorts included), every one - well, I'm sure most Capellen's and some Clanner's probably don't know - the only true Golden Age was during height of the Star League, if one ignores the Periphery's viewpoint on that period of history. Foolish ingrates, those Periphery sorts, if they'd only drank the Star League brand koolaid... Well, as you say, that is a story for another video. Heh.

jumpship and warship clarification. the first successful jump occurs 2108. the recharge time was approx 2 weeks. by 2225, most jumpships deploy a sail to recharge. this reduces the recharge time to 6-8 days. with the addition of the lithium-fusion battery, a jumpship could make a new jump every 3-4 days. the real time consumption is transit between jumpship and planet, which is typically 7-10 days each way. as far as the SLDF space fleet is concerned. prior to the Amaris coup, the SLDF had nearly 3000 warships. by the end of the war, Kerenski exodus included 402 warships and 1349 transport jumpships. the SLDF fleet that remains in the innersphere primarily joins Comstar, approx 80 warships and 300 jumpships. Comstar kept this fleet hidden from the houses until the clan invasion.

Great first episode i immediatly love it What i love about battletechs ftl is the backstory of it invented by kearny and fushida they were both laughed out of everywhere for their proposed theorem and died poor and reviled by the science community years later it is discovered their work is actually the literal holy grail real working ftl and they died never knowing their part in launching humanity to the farthest frontier

as a long time Battletech nerd, I love this

Oh sweet another really fantastic Battletech playlist. This is some truly amazing work, thank you for building the RU-vid Battletech presence in such a tremendous way.

Aliens smell bad; throw rocks at them. Except Number Six, she can come over to the house any time,

One thing to note about the FedSuns. They have great industry, economy and science behind their State as a whole, but it's not quite as evenly distributed as, say, the Lyrans or FWL. It's not unusual to arrive in a system on a FTL starship, shuttle to a planet on a dropship, land in a spaceport, and then hitch a ride to your destination from there on a carriage pulled by an animal. Some planets (or population centers) are every bit as high-tech as you would expect a thousand years in the future, while other planets (or rural areas) are much less advanced - 18th to 20th century in some respects even. While this would not be unheard of in other Successor States and especially the Periphery nations, it's a bit more common than one would think in a state so advanced otherwise.

This video has low resolution explainations based on a lot of memes which kinda skims over a lot of the more interesting details.

The only thing Davions and Taurians can agree on is that Capellans need an ass-whooping.

hearing podcasts while i game or just procrastinate is lovely

Thanks for this Canadian and I hope you'll continue making them. Cheers buddy and have a good one!

As someone who kinda knows the lore (read a lot of books in my teens, and am reading more now) but isn't super familiar, a lot of the phrases used in this video describing certain factions are absolutely hilarious and completely true.

The ships very much do basically teleport yeah. Between the top and bottom of a systems Star, the most stable places in the system

My favorite Draconis Combine story is after the Clans, the scientists were told 'I like theor armor. Make some.' So they did, and the Director said it was garbage, and almost executed the head of research because of it, but he managed to convince them to let them try again. The Director said yes, but tge researcher would be the test pilot. This guy was like 60-70. But they did it, and so the researchers climbed into the suit he made and was submitted to hellfire from mech scale weaponry. The suit was *heavily* damaged, but the researcher survived (barely), saluted the Director, and then passed out. His reward for this was a massive promotion and basically becoming the Directors personal researcher to work on whatever crap he said he wanted built.

A couple quick notes on the House militaries. Steiner is THE house for mercenaries. While all houses hire Mercs, Steiner's pro business attitude means Mercs are viewed as just another vendor providing a service. Steiner is the most even handed in its treatment, also paying the best in general. Also, while it's senior officers are the laughing stocks of the Inner Sphere, there enlisted and NCO are considered among the best. Also, a good part of the Commonwealth's strength comes from ownership of Hesperus II, which has the single largest Mech production facility in existence. In the 3025 setting, Hesperus II makes more mechs per year than the entire Capellan Confederation. Free Worlds League - Their military is a paradox. Trying to get a large scale offensive going is a waste of time, because of the autonomy of their regional militaries. On defense however, they are one of the best. Because they don't tend to launch a lot of attacks, their defending forces tend to be better maintained, especially with their industrial might behind them. The FWL has the largest intact shipyards in 3025. The FWL is also the only manufacturer of the Awesome. Their biggest weakness is they have never been the hero faction. Capellan Confederation- You oversold the CCAF a bit. In 3025 they are not the OP mega boys they become in Dark Ages. Their elite units, especially the Warrior Houses and the Death Commandos are the equal to any other Houses elite unit, but their line units and garrisons tend to be poorly trained and poorly equipped. Also, centralized command is so bad, that the Chancellor abolished the rank of General. Colonels report directly to the Chancellor (or the Command Council). Federated Suns - One of if not the reason for FedSun military success is their military organization: the RCT or Regimental Combat Team. Basically, instead of operating their mechs in ad hoc arrangements with armor and infantry, the FedSuns permanently tie their mech regiments to combined arms formations. An RCT is 1 Mech regiment, 3 regiments of armor, 5 regiments of infantry, 1 regiment of aerospace and a battalion of artillery. This RCT might be split up to cover multiple assignments, but for invasions, usually the whole RCT is committed. This means when the FedSuns do roll, they roll heavy. Also, the Fed Suns have a serios tech fetish and are the leading force behind technical advancement, centered on the New Avalon Institute of Science. They have also been the longest Hero faction.

My man hoots sent me. I was struggling to find a good battletech lote channel and you were the top recommendation

Free Worlders where you at!? Down with the Steiner's!

Interested in your take on the periphery states that survived everything the Innersphere throws at them.

Very good, I came in with just about no Knowledge about Battle Tech, and now I feel I have a good foundation for future exploration. Thanks!

First Succession War summed up: "Who can deplete their nuclear stockpiles first?"

49:50 Mariks: That's my secret. I'm always in a Civil War

Quality explanation, thanks!

I think each house actually does build a few jumpships every year. You do need to replace things after a time cause no ship can last 500 years of use. The Warships though, at Starleauge level. Yeah they dont bother with them cause they just figure they are way to expensive and everyone follows the rules of not messing with jump ships so why make warships you dont need that cost to much.

Great overview of Battletech.

House Marik: The only threat to a Marik, is a Marik. Glory to Marik.

Super fun video!

Nothing like a 2D map explaining 3D space.

My understanding of Battletech comes entirely from playing the TCG back in the day. Surprisingly, I actually knew a lot of this stuff.

"hello, I am steve" "hello, I AM GROOT". has a similar ring ya?

This is no Black Pants Legion, but it is pretty good.

1:12 "steeeeeeeve!!! Gummy bears...".

I'm not a fan of the Capellans, but you gotta admit, when they get it right, they get it right. The Vindicator? Solid general purpose trooper. The Cataphract? An effective heavy battlemech cobbled together from different parts that shouldn't have worked together. And then there's the Raven, the single most revolutionary battlemech created since the fall of Star League. The Hatchetman? It's basically a fat Whitworth that traded missiles for a big stick. The Raven is an electronics warfare platform created at a time when such things were barely considered possible by the majority of mankind. That's not even getting into their technological advances in the post-Clan Invasion era, one of the most significant of which was _given_ to them by the FedSuns in a near-unusable state that they then corrected.

7:01 yes,this is the happy adventure universe with toys is the 1 im thinking of...

Somebody : "Capellan's" Science Insanity : "Deploy all the BattleMechs!" "throw the damn SUN at them!"

Well, a few things; First, that is not how Jumpships work. They leave the standard 3 dimensions of space, travel through a higher dimension then drop back into the standard 3 dimensions. Basically, imagine you are a spot on a piece of paper, in a stack of paper. You want to go to another location on that paper. Rather than draw a line across that sheet, you instead punch a hole in the sheet above you. Then you travel across that sheet, punch another whole in it and drop back down onto your original sheet. You then went from one spot on that sheet to another without traveling between them. Put another way, your locked in a room in an office building, rather than going through the door, you squeeze through the ventilation shaft to the floor above, then walk through that floor to another location and craw through another duct to a different room on the original floor you were on. Thus you traveled between 2 rooms on that floor without traveling between them. That’s how a Jump system works. Second, the Succession wars have lasted 300 years not 500 (at the start time of 3025). Third, The Steiner Scout Lance is a joke. No, that is not how LCAF units normally perform recon. They have Scout Mechs, Scout Vehicles and Scout Units like everyone else. In-fact the Commando is a Steiner produced mech, with other Houses having surplus of captured units. Steiner developed the Wolfhound (with the aid of Team Banzai). They also produce most of the standard Scout mechs, such as the Locust, Stinger, Wasp and Firestarter. As for the supposed “incompetence” of their military officers, that is also false, Yes they do have a system of allowing nobles who do not receive their families hereditary title to take the title of “General” and yes that has caused some issues with incompetent fake “Generals” ending up in command of front line units they shouldn’t have, but overall the LCAF has some of the most competent officers in the Inner Sphere. The Nagelring is arguably the best military academy in human occupied space. It’s graduates are some of the best officers anywhere. Most noble “Generals” are given command of local militia units on their home world or one a planet well away from the borders while major units such as the Lyran Regulars or Guards are normally commanded by graduates of the Nagelring. Fourth; The reason the Houses aren’t building Warships is not because their too expensive. In-fact they restarted production of warships during the Clan Wars. These Great Houses (even the tinny Confederation) encompass the economies of literally hundreds of worlds, hundreds of billions of taxpaying citizens. Certainly they can afford them. They don’t have any orbiting as museums. If they had then they would have long ago refurbished them and placed them back in service. The Warship requires a special compact KF drive that is much more expensive and more complicated to produce than the civilian Jumpship system, which was produced in separate facilities. During the first 2 Succession Wars, these facilities were the primary target of enemy attacks, including raids sent for the purpose of destroying the enemies ability to produce warships. As a result most of these facilities, including ALL of the facilities capable of producing the more advanced Warship drive were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. The Grey Death computer core allowed some of these to be repaired and brought back on line during the Clan Wars. Aside from this, the only warships remaining in existence since the disappearance of LCS Invincible in 2853 were those hidden by Comstar and those operated by the Clans. If the Great Houses had been able to produce them they most certainly would have, and did. Cost was not a factor.

It's crazy how I like all these major factions but for different reasons, the suns might be my favourite because I love knights and nobles, Steiner have that cyberpunk 2077 militech feel, which is great, Draconis is just space Japan, and I love Japanese history, the free worlds seem like they'd be fun to worldbuild a faction of, and the capellan are just evil but in a fun to watch kind of way.

A jumpship can only jump 30 lightyears at a time. They then have to recharge their batteries.

Capellan confederation- wild card every good group has a wild calrd

very cool

1:41 its only 1000 years in the future?... "To start a story 1 must become the fool.".

Give me a rifle and a LAW, and I'll put that Atlas in the forever box.

Most accurate title ever 😂

4:35 it sounds like the universe i think of but only made a little.

you should do the periphery nations as well. it'll make people like me who side with the periphery VERY happy. 😁😁😁

Lyrian commonwealth military is literally pay to win lol

"I think I stepped in some Steiner"

New to the series, given what u told us about Comstar isnt it likely they were doing stuff to destabilize the Star League

Cool😊

As Tex says, always shit on capellans

The Star League Defense Force was the greatest military ever created by humanity. They suffered devastating losses at the end of the Amaris Civil War in 2779 the remaining SLDF forces left known space in 2784 and returned in 3050 as the Clans. House Davion is my favorite faction. The Battletech book that had one alien species was called The Far Country it was set in the 2500’s I believe and a lot of people hated it. Aliens and Battletech don’t mix.

Can you go over the periphery as well?

A little sad that you completely omitted the most kickass General in Battletech History. Aleksandr Kerensky..

The FWL continues to exist because they actually have competent commanders. Up until a protagonist shows up then they become braindead.

Comstar reminds me of what America OnLine (AOL) would have become if it succeeded.

1:01:52 your committing Sudoku? Not committing Seppuku? Also Anti-'Mech Jump Infantry are a thing. Every house uses them and normally have the Dispossessed in their ranks. If you can sit in the seat of a mech.... its yours... I will hose to get the former owner our latter.

The DC has the kintaro and the hunchback. What do you mean they dont do mediums? I guess when you do it right the first two times... lol great channel

Do you have this as a podcast? I'd like to listen on the road

I love Steve.

Hate to ask, what's the song? I know that I know it, but I cant think of it.

So jumping is a bit like Dune with folding space.

"He died, he had no heirs" I mean yeah, he got shot point blank by his best friend who then ordered his soldiers to murder his entire family and entomb their bodies in the royal palace lol.

49:31 does this planet happen to share a name with the isonzo river?

Funny how comstar turns into the word of Blake and starts nuking everyone when they don't get their way/their prophecy doesn't become true

So jumpships FTL in BT function exactly like FTL in BSG, but it’s “very unique “?

Cross-species kink - another benefit of the space program, just like Velcro.

Steve. Have you considered joining the death corps of Krieg?

Additional tidbit about the jump travel. It is so sensitive to gravitational disturbances that the only (stable) jump points are well away from the elliptic of the solar system. Generally most transports civilian and military use standard jump zones above and below the system's sun. adding additional time to interstellar travel as the dropships then need to transit to their destinations. I have not seen anything to suggest your 'velcro' theory that jumpships do not retain their kinetic energy. And most systems within the limited jump radius are unlikely to have a high relative energy. if there is a significant relative motion then part of the time they spend recharging might be correcting this.

You forgot the Free Raslhauge Rebublic. Aka the Space Vikings.

The draconas people literally just sound like Imperial Japan in World War 2. Like Japan had their own manifest destiny type shit and it was even more toxic

He keeps saying Lyrian instead of Lyran, and no how much I try to ignore it, I cant

Comstar did not exist until 2800 when kerensky left and the succession wars. Before that it was known as the hpg first circuit.

I’m new currently playing throw MW5 only battle tech game I’ve played and I ended up siding with house Devion

Jump drives are not unique or original to Battletech. They had similar stuff in Traveller, but it might even predate that.

I don't know, death fighting a battlemech might be preferable to life in the Draconis Combine...

12:46 Actually BT FTL or Jump Drive is a lot like the Dune "Travel without moving" concept. A Jumpship while "jumping" is not moving at all as it simply "flashes" out of existance here and then flashes INTO existanmce over there... 15:23 TO quote Tex of the Blackpants legion channel "COMSTAR" is little more than a jumped upp telecommunication company... Basically a telephone company with its own military... LOL Indeed the Capellan Confederation's sole purpose for existing in BT verse seems to be pummeled by.... Someone...Anyone..Everyone...

I really liked the silly bird people. The book they're in kinda sucks, but i liked the bird people.

If this was a game like Total War or HoI4 it would be my favourite game ever!

Steiner Scout Lance memes converted me from Davion. Or do I still like Taurians?

the FWL hate is completelt unjustified here imo

What about Rasuaslhuge

Purple Bird Strong!*

Interestingly enough the idea of people buying their way into a position of power in the military often tended to work out fairly well in history. Like don't get me wrong of course you had the situation where you had the absolute spoiled brat who didn't know shit doesn't have a lick of common sense who would just buy his way to the top sure that happened and they'd get crushed. But actually what tended up being more common was the fact that they could buy their way in instead of earning it was usually the people who could afford to buy their way in where the people and really the only people who could afford an education in tactics and Battle and everything else they were the only people who could afford the schooling to learn to be generals and officers. Which meant that they had a tendency to actually be better than regular enlisted. Like sure you might have a regular analysted soldier who has a pretty good I for detail and mind for techniques but he is learning and figuring it out on his own in the battlefield he does not have access to hundreds upon thousands of years of military knowledge. He does not get to learn from the mistakes of his forefathers because he hasn't the money. And even being able to buy your way into the military historically there were times where the leaders of those militaries would turn down somebody trying to buy their way into a position if they genuinely thought that that person would be a shit person. Like if they had somebody who they knew particularly was fucking insane and would do absolutely dumb shit and would not be any sort of tactical and would just run everyone into death just for funzies they would say nah chief I don't care how much money you give me you're not getting this position.

Lyran, not Lyrian.

Going up against a mech as infantry is tantamount to suicide.

Clockwise hater??? No... Just saving the best for last :) (If it pleases the Coordinator, I shall be here all week.) The Draconis Combine is medieval Japan... pure and simple... At least the romanticized version of medieval Japan... If your (life or) death serves the combine, it is an honorable (life or) death. They are also very tradition bound. When a unit was receiving the latest and greatest mechs, one pilot is said to have spoke up saying (I do not recall the exact wording, but) If it does not displease the coordinator, I would prefer to die in battle in my grandfathers battlemaster (a mech that was at the time several hundred years old and quite outdated, but had been handed down for generations within that pilot's family) It should be noted this attitude was mirrored from the real world where in WW2 japanese officers who where by coincidence of birth descended from samurai would take ancestral swords into battle (after having them modified to reflect regulation sword size and style) and use those swords in combat instead of the rifle they where issued because it was permitting the weapon to see battle again. To prove them worthy of their samurai linage.

Star league is not super UN, that would be the terrain alliance and is just as corrupt as the real UN and born from that same irl un in lore, except it collapsed because of exsess coruption and became the terrain hegemony. Star league is super space Rome. Stefan Amaris did replace Star league, but after a few years got his ass handed to him by the remanence of Star league that by all rights, should of lose that war but won. also someone is very bias in there faction love... Capellan confederation is just modem China, not north Korea, centralised national socialism at its finest, just like real life.... and Davion only stopped there invasion because of comstar crashing there economy and sanctioning them for "Davion attacking a hpg" witch was comstar attacking themselves to stop the fed com from taking over the whole IS.

Honestly seeing how much of a shit show the battlemech universe is and how idiotic the way the fracturing of the star league started, I wouldn't be surprised if Aliens were responsible because humans would be way too op if they left them be ( I know, it's a human dominated universe) or its just shortsighted human stupidity at work."OK, I killed the emperor of the star league........now what?"