Doing It Realistically This Time

by Rajvik_Wolfboy

Summary:

A Battletech AU build for writers who are sick and tired of FASAnomics

Welcome to Battletech: Doing it Realistically this Time, (DIRTT). What does that mean for most people and for the universe you ask? It means a rewriting of the history, economics and politics of the universe so that they actually make some sense. Now, most players tend to ignore these things in favor of the short term fun of “Big Stompy Robots fighting Knightly battles in space” and thus tend to ignore the background outside their favorite faction and their (usually violent) interactions with their neighbors. Even the game masters that run the “A Time of War” side of the universe tend to ignore the general history and its inability to coexist with itself. And because this is a game that is perfectly fine.

As a writer though, and as a history major, (minors in political science and economics). I find myself bucking this system that doesn’t even agree with itself and taking on the task that some have called Sisyphean to rewrite this universe with one coherent thought. I, unlike the original creators, am not looking for mad max with knightly robots, (if I was I would play Palladium Rifts as a Glitterboy) I want Battletech that makes sense, so I started working on what would be changed.

Changes:
The primary change from the Canon BattleTech (BT) universe is a slowing of the spread of humanity through the Inner Sphere to something that approaches the actual advancement of technology and the expansion of mankind across the planet. In Canon, it took five years between the authorization by the Terran Alliance for the Deimos Project and the first manned jump, and another eight years of scientific outposts being set up before the first colony is landed. That in of itself is just too damn quick for any government. It takes the better part of a decade just to build a nuclear aircraft carrier from the ground up, and that is with known and tested technology that is arguably already 20 years out of date by the time its installed, it does not include the design time. So expansion, both because of the time to design the equipment, as well as the need to both test it and set up the infrastructure for the shorter jump range ships is the first thing to slow the spread of humanity. Because of this:
1: It took humanity over a century for the jump engine (KF Drive) to get through testing and (Terran) Alliance government only use.
2: As of 2750 humanity has not filled the known universe and are not hurting for habitable planets. (Use Age of War Era maps)
3: HPG technology is limited to space stations as they are not deemed safe to use within the gravity well. (Its something that never made sense in canon, it’s the same tech as jump drives, just being used to make an extremely small wormhole to send a communication laser through.
4: The KF Boom has not been invented, yet.
5: Compact Jump Cores are limited to warships due to cost, there are no sub-compact jump cores.
6: Instead of everyone belonging to one nearly failed Neo-Feudal state or another there are a bevy of choices of government types from Neo-Feudal to republics, to near anarch states. (looks at Lyrans and Free Worlders)
7: While the Battlemech and artillery are the kings of the groundside battlefield, (with armor and armored infantry coming in a close second) The warship, the fleet tender, the fighter and the assault shuttle are rulers of the orbitals, and as the saying goes, he who holds the orbitals, controls the planet.
8: Weapons range varies depending on what it is being fired at. Against mechs and tanks, standard ranges are standard, against infantry they are three times the range.
9: If weapons ranges don’t change to reflect reality, (M2 .50caliber machine gun has an aimed range of up to 1200meters and a lethal range, (unarmored) of 3-5km) then hex size changes from 30m to 300m

Finally, formatting. Formatting will be broken down into different categories.
“Dorm Days” will show a picture of the Star League Defense School from the point of view of its students as the universe advances around them.
“Class Assignments” will be enhancements to “Dorm Days” as you get a look inside some of their assignments, mostly in their history, leadership, and political science courses
“Ghost Stories” is an independent storyline delving into the folklore of the universe.
“History” and “Timelines” will give the textbook look at what has passed in the universe while “Historical Scenes” will show some of these things happening.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of DIRTT