MechWarrior 2: Resource Forum

Except it was Aleksander Kerensky that left the Inner Sphere with what was left of the Star League Defense Force, where they went 1st to the Pentaganon worlds and then farther out to the Kerensky Cluster where the clans now make their home
Everything else is about right

Skyfaller wrote:Nicholas Kerensky left the inner sphere taking most of the military with him. While the inner sphere succumbed to barbary in the following centuries, Kerensky's remnants of the Star League were reshaped into the clans. Each clan takes its identity from a totem, and there 20 clans at the beginning. Over time, these clans were split into two groups: crusader and warden. The crusader clans wanted to return to the inner sphere, seeing Earth as their rightful objective. The clan that would conquer Earth would be ilClan, greatest among the clans. The wardens, however, saw themselves as protectors over the inner sphere. The clans prepared to return to the inner sphere. Among those clans are:

• Clan Wolf. Although a warden, they joined the inner sphere invasion, in order to protect the inner sphere from other clans they found worse. They see enlightenment as their gift.
• Clan Jade Falcon. Fierce fighters, the Jade Falcons are a crusader clan. They are constantly at odds with the wolves, who were Kerensky's preferred clan.
• Clan Ghost Bear. A crusader clan clinging tightly to family ideals.
• Clan Smoke Jaguar. A crusader clan ruthlessly punishing anyone who opposes them.
• Clan Diamond Shark. After losing their warrior caste, they turned to commercializing their technological knowledge.

MW2: Mercenaries depicts the events before and during the clan invasion from the inner sphere's perspective. MW2:31st Century Combat tells the story how Clan Wolf draws Clan Jade Falcon into a massive conflict, with the goal of preventing the Falcons from threatening the inner sphere. Ghost Bear's Legacy is a campaign following that. MW3 tells about the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. I could never get myself to finish MW4, so I can't tell you about it.

There are many books on the history of BattleTech.

i couldn't do netmech before (no internet). What i have read and today's netmech is this:

What i have read: Clans fighting against clans and sometimes themselves.
Today: Extinct clans, few survivors of those epic battles (now on there own) and gaining one or two members sometimes

clan archon > *

at least I think that was it...

oh wow, i guess i'm late for the party. i was 21 back in 1997-99. i played mw2 netmech, then ended up in mercnet in dos. it was great. same bickering in the lounge. more chatting than playing. but all in all, best years of my gaming life. im now 35. lol. i miss my playing buddies. after mw2, i moved unto Heavy Gear II. mw3 killed the series with slow mechs (remember you could aim as fast as you move your mouse) and netmech players in dos disappeared when internet gaming switched to windows...that was the sad part.

yeah i hear ya on the mech3 issue. I remember mplayer had a similar problem. Everyone started heading for mech3 right during the demo. I never could get into mech3 online play myself.

Freebooters, haven't thought of that for awhile, I do remember being hit up by people who were semi-friends to volunteer. And yeah there was some drama sometimes, some of it would leak over to the forums and become long flame wars.

Man you guys are bringing up memories. I was never that high up the hierarchy in Jade Falcon Grand Council, actually I pretty much sucked at the game, at least compared to some of the hotshots on kali. But I remember many fond moments in high school on a friday night eating pizza and netmeching. Good times.

I kind of missed out on the NetMech experience (regrettably), and really only sampled the community with the odd drop here and there.

I played Mercnet a lot though on the 1.1 lobby (it was the easiest to get onto with an old dial up connection, and didn't require mplayer, kali, and that jazz). I remembered it to be fairly active with many clans and IS units growing and dissolving over time and had a dedicated player base. Most of the people there were pretty easy to get along with (at least as far as my memory goes), though given the age of most people at the time (youngins), there were the odd issue of politics (but I don't remember 'em too well). What I really found interesting were the leagues. The leagues that the clans/groups participated in were some of the most interactive (and heh, manual) experiences ever--that included individual tracked kills, to taking individual planets in an almost role-playing atmosphere for the terms of engagement. It made it a little more than just grouping out with people and slashing it out.

Not sure if the Netmech experience was anyway like this (I suppose to some extent after reading MMPD's second post). I know that post MW2 (MW3 and MW4) days, I never really could find an engaging experience like that, and I've done a lot of clan and league stuff in those games that follow.

I remember playing NetMech back in 2012 with you guys when my username was NM1999. I've been playing MW2 Mercs every now and then, but i really hope that you guys can get MercNet working someday