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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Sept 30, 2005 9:40:46 GMT -5
Since the community has changed quite a bit since the last time this poll was posted (August 17th), I felt it would be valid to post it again, to get a feel for what the 'current' consensus is. As of this writing, no decision has been made in one direction or the other.
Please vote!
As we now find ourselves on the brink of 3069, we are nearing the time in the BattleTech universe where major events begin to unfold, including the Grand Alliance formed by Devlin Stone in order to fight the Word of Blake. Those of you familiar with the timeline know that this is a truly interesting period, and as such, I'd be interested in knowing whether or not an 'advance' to the mid 3070s is something the community would be interested in. Please vote!
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Post by Lieutenant Kei-teh Kintaru on Sept 30, 2005 9:53:17 GMT -5
hell yeh! lets move it up to squash us some blakies
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Post by Dr. Jessica Saturina on Sept 30, 2005 10:29:51 GMT -5
I am one that doesn't know about the timeline, but I'm for what ever everyone else thinks is good for the group as a whole.
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Morgan Blake
Logistics Coordinator
LEGIONNAIRES - Elite
Posts: 122
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Post by Morgan Blake on Sept 30, 2005 10:49:45 GMT -5
I'm a bit in two minds.
Being new, it means I lose alot of character development opertunities for Morgan and Aliesha.
On the other hand, it provides an easy way for everybody to upgrade their mechs and gives enough time for all custom mods to have been fully installed/tested/evaluated.
It will also give reasonable time for the upgrading of the Liberty to have been properly completed.
Morgan
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Oct 1, 2005 14:38:31 GMT -5
I'm all for advancing the timeline to 3074-3075, but I think it's important we have a good story of what the Legionnaires have been doing for five years. Perhaps we could serve as an Opposition Force (OpFor) unit at a House military academy? I've read of a few mercenary units pulling that duty, which would keep us out of major combat for a few years but still keep our skills sharp. Basically, we play the role of the "enemy" during training manuevers, emulating the tactics and strategies used by the various foes of the House military. The Screaming Eagles mercenary outfit served as the OpFor unit at the Woodbine Training Center in the Federated Suns for example. Any other ideas?
I was thinking about saying that my character, William Rhodes, took a couple of years off to try his hand at being a pilot in the Mech Games on Solaris VII, something he's always wanted to do since he was a kid. He'd find that the reality of the Game World is much different than the fantasy, and after having not a lot of success and loosing plenty of money, he would return to his old unit, the Legionnaires with a new battlemech of his own design. What do you all think?
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Post by Gen Miyamoto on Oct 1, 2005 19:48:36 GMT -5
Since I have no strong feelings in favor or against the timeline advance, I chose to abstain from voting. I offer this as an alternative to rhodes' proposal: The legionnaires continue thier operation as a for-hire company, perhaps with some lengthy contracts with various companies or houses.
This could create some aspects of unity and character devlopment through a shared past. For example, a briefing from Ben Maxwell could include a remark about not seeing a repeat of operation IX, and there might have been a suggested poor outcome from a previous op. By watching closley to what operations get mentioned alot, and the sort of tone people use, we can slowly weave a block of events that fills the span of time we jumped. It would allow for a more personal feel of the break.
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Morgan Blake
Logistics Coordinator
LEGIONNAIRES - Elite
Posts: 122
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Post by Morgan Blake on Oct 2, 2005 8:52:19 GMT -5
3067 - 3068 which is where we are now is when the Word of Blake kick off their Jihad. It is basically the primer for the whole Wizkids / Mechwarrior Darkage thing.
While I don't have the new book "Dawn of the Jihad", from what I have read on the CBT site and the Wizkids site, basically the entire universe goes to war against the WoB and their allied forces. The allied forces from what I gather are certain periphery planets, if not whole nations, pirate bands and other less 'good guy' types. I believe that this war rages for at least 10 or 15 years, but I'm not certain about that.
Even the clans in the IS join in the war against the WoB. I think the home clans, ie those that did not invade keep out of it but contact is lost.
So the most likely actions that the Legionnaires have been taking is combat against WoB or their allied forces.
Does anyone have the Dawn of the Jihad sourcebook to add any concrete details ?
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Oct 2, 2005 15:08:27 GMT -5
I have the Dawn of Jihad book but it only describes the first year of the war. Future supplements will advance the timeline further.
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Post by Captain Adam "Gunman" Wolf on Oct 3, 2005 9:31:19 GMT -5
Seeing as how I cant get on regularly enough to actively partake in an OP on the level I would like to, I dont feel that I should vote, and as such I will obstain from voting like Gen, but I do have a few things to say about the jump in the timeline.
First of all, I'm not too familar with that portion of the timeline, most of my knowledge is based around the first Clan Invasion and shortly thereafter, pretty much ending where we are right now. The whole WoB jihad is lost on me as far as the details go. But the idea of having the whole Inner Sphere, AND the Clans on top of that fighting side by side, is definately intriguing. It would allow for much easier acquiring of Clan weapons and battlemechs, as well as other equipment. The time jump would allow for custom mods to be made to any and all 'mechs as well as to the Liberty herself. The problem is though, it could remove alot of character development possibilities as well as leave a fairly large blank spot in the units history as a whole. While this last problem could be remedied rather easily through the construction of a basic back story for the jump of 5-6 years, it could still leave a rather unclear idea of what happened which may pose some problems, although I doubt any that would be worth worrying about.
Perhaps if we were to use a combination of Rhodes and Gen's idea for a backstory it would work the best. We could create a short list of some contracts, non-sequential, that would create a basic idea of what we had done over the 5-6 years that everyone could work off of. From there we could fill in the blanks between the stated contracts with our own ideas and thoughts as Gen had suggested. One or two of the contracts could involve us being OpFor in various House military academies, which would give us access to more technology and new tactics. If we wanted we could even have the Legionnaires enter into Solaris VII via a team-based tournament, if they have those, just to add a little something new.
With the amount of creative minds on this site, I'm sure we would have no trouble creating a believable and workable history to cover the time jump easily enough.
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Oct 3, 2005 17:56:57 GMT -5
Good points, Adam. I too am a little concerned about loosing some character development but I think if we all stick our heads together it will all work fine. I've heard that some people are eager to start experimenting with the Dark Age mechs (ie Jupiter). I don't know much about when those designs came out in the timeline but the mid-3070s is probably closer to the date then where we are at in 3068/3069.
At the moment there isn't a lot of detail from official sources about the mid 3070s. Most of what has been released are a few small references from the MechWarrior: Dark Age game. This of course means that we have a lot of creative freedom to fill in the blanks as we see fit. FanPro's timeline will eventually catch up and we can work it into what we are doing or not depending on how we feel.
To tell you the truth, I really don't care that much whether we play in 3069 or 3075. To me the Legionnaires are enjoyable either way.
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Post by Captain Adam "Gunman" Wolf on Oct 4, 2005 9:26:00 GMT -5
As long as we dont go headlong into the Dark Ages, or at least what I've heard about them, where its back to Construction and Forestry 'mechs fighting against ancient battlemechs that are few and far between. Keep in mind I've heard very little of the Dark Ages game and timeline, and most of what I've heard is rather biased. But as long as we get to keep our current toys and maybe get a few new ones, it should be alright.
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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Oct 4, 2005 14:52:47 GMT -5
How would everyone feel about a 1 or 2 year leap as opposed to a 7-year jump?
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Post by Assassin Saburo Kintaru on Oct 4, 2005 15:43:57 GMT -5
Hay, u know im gunna stay here no matter what happens, so i dont mind! ^_^
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Oct 4, 2005 16:51:57 GMT -5
Since I havent read the books (and I'm gonna go buy some. Any suggestions?) I wouldnt be able to tell ya what my opinion is. So I really dont care what we do.
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Oct 4, 2005 22:06:25 GMT -5
Alex, I would start with the Warrior Trilogy (En Garde, Riposte, Coup) and then read the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy (the first one is called Lethal Heritage).
Stone's disarmament programs (where you get Forestry and Construction Mechs) don't happen until the 3080s after the Republic of the Sphere is founded. I agree that the later Dark Age setting (3132) is a little weak. I would prefer the late 3060s or 3070s. Like Keith said, I'm here for either one.
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