PLEASE VOTE! NEW BATTLETECH CHESS GAME

[Keebler]

SUPER IMPORTANT!!: YOU NEED TO VOTE FOR ONE INNER SPHERE MECH AND ONE CLAN MECH. YOU'RE ABLE TO SELECT UPTO TWO MECHS, BUT PLEASE DON'T DO TWO CLAN, OR TWO INNER SPHERE!!!!

EDIT: In the event of the same Mech being voted for two positions, a Tie Breaker Vote will be held to determine it's final place. And the runner up in either category will be the defacto Mech for that piece.

Please click the links below to vote on your choice of Mechs for a new Battletech Chess game currently in development. The first, and PRIMARY Platform for this game will be the Apple iPad, with future ports to other devices available in the future. Also, we will be attempting to make the game as much Open Source/GPL as possible, while at the same time, available for download at the Apple AppStore. Oh, and to top it all off. It will be FREE for everyone to download. The lists have been compiled after careful comparisons of all of the TRO's, Mechwarrior2 Game data, MechCommander references, and some Mechwarrior 3/4 appearances.

The primary plot is simple. Inner Sphere against the Clan. All Inner Sphere mechs are PRE-3050. Meaning, as they were before the Clan Arrival, with a couple exceptions in the voting choices. Primarily those to fit gaps in weight and armament to balance out the choices. And while the Inner Sphere Oddities might be in TRO 3058, they're SLDF Era, and pre-3025 in origin.

Here is a list of all the mechs available for voting, and their Data Sheets. If you have any questions as to what a mech looks like, and it's Armament/stats, please be sure to check it out before you vote. They are organized by weight.

Inner Sphere:

Flea (20t)
Commando (20t)
Urbanmech (30t)
Raven (35t)
Trebuchet (50t)
Enforcer (50t)
Dragon (60t)
Axman (65t)
Bombardier (65t)
JagerMech (65t)
Catapult (65t)
Guillotine (70t)
Orion (75t)
Black Knight(75t)
Awesome (80t)
Atlas (100t)

Clan:

Firemoth (20t)
Incubus (30t)
Kit Fox (30t)
Adder (35t)
Shadow Cat (45t)
Nova (50t)
Vapor Eagle (Goshawk) (55t)
Stormcrow (55t)
Glass Spider (60t)
Mad Dog (65t)
Linebacker (65t)
Summoner (70t)
Night Gyr (75t)
Timberwolf (75t)
Gargoyle (Man'O'War) (80t)
Warhawk (85t)
Dire Wolf (100t)



All Mechs will be built in the game to their TRO Specifications only. So, no mechs with random JJ's thrown on, just because the Mechwarrior 2/MechCommander MechLab allowed you to. The voting will end once the majority of the programming backend has been completed. So feel free to vote, and or change your mind until that undetermined time.

QUEEN
BISHOP
KNIGHT
ROOK
PAWN



Also, please, only vote for ONE of EACH Faction. ONE Inner Sphere vs ONE Clan mech. And please, no cheating, or attempting to rig the votes.

If you notice any discrepancies, please feel free to post a message. But please, don't ask to change the lists. Once the voting has started, and completed. That's it.

Also, you will note, there are NO Voting options for the KING Piece. That's because in almost ALL Battletech Lore/Canon, the I.S. Atlas, and Clan Dire Wolf are regarded as the MIGHTIEST of their weight class. And are some of the most Recognizable. It's an almost foregone conclusion as to their position on the board.

Feel free to comment here, or in the voting polls, but please, try to keep it on topic as to game development, or mech favorites. No flame wars, insults or other discriminatory behavior.

PS: There are NO RESEEN/UNSEEN MECHS. PERIOD. Until all issues with Intellectual Property and Licensee rights have been resolved (which seem unlikely), they can not, and will not be used. Unless express permission has been given by Smith and Tinker, or their proper owners.

Thank you,
Christopher Thomas


PPS: Firemoth Industries, LLC has no Affilation with Smith and Tinker, WizKids, LLC, Classic Battletech, or the Battletech Franchise. MechWarrior, BattleMech, ‘Mech and AeroTech are
registered trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[ahhchuu]

Awesome and Timberwolf for the queens
Dragon and Mad Dog for Bishop
Axman and Summoner for knights
Orion and Linebacker for Rooks
And the Pawn link is sending me to a complete list of mechs by Pepsi

PS, finally made an account here after hanging around for 7 months

[Keebler]

And the Pawn link is sending me to a complete list of mechs by Pepsi

Fixed.

[LordNova2]

WTF?!.... I was just looking at a chess board last night and thinking about this, only useing the minitures from CBT. LOL

I went with picking the Atlas and the Dire Wolf as the queen, as the same resons you listed the mechs being the mightiest on both sides, I figured it matched the might of the queen in chess.

[Keebler]

I went with picking the Atlas and the Dire Wolf as the queen, as the same resons you listed the mechs being the mightiest on both sides, I figured it matched the might of the queen in chess.

Well, except, depending on how you fight in a battlefield. You protect your largest and slowest assets with your smaller, more nimble troops, and with the larger, more powerful units providing either long range support, or tactical command and control. It kind of depends on how you look at the board/battlefield. I'm not 100% familiar with the Dire Wolf's Command Center Capabilities. But I know the Atlas and Cyclops are used largely as the Command and Control units on a board. Directing the other,smaller lances on the battlefield where to go. And in the end, if both "Kings" are still alive and most of the support units are dead or captured. The Assault then takes up and unleashes his most mighty furry on the other equally impressive Assault.

That's if you look at it from a combat perspective. Because frankly, get one Assault out there in the middle of a few Lights/Meds, or some Heavies, and he'd be toast. Now, take one well equipped Heavy, with speed, agility, and toughness, and he can wreak havoc on many smaller units easily. Because really, other than the Missle or Laser Boats, how often do you REALLY use a Stock Loadout Assault in Multiplayer? You don't, unless you want to get eaten up by the quite skilled Med/Heavy pilots who can run circles around and behind you. Heh, was always fun taking out a Dire Wolf/Daishi in a Flea with nothing but Machine Guns on MW4. But if you're using that Assault as a tactical advantage, with proper defense. You can last quite a long time, providing useful information and fire suppression support from safe distances.

[NotSid]

Catapult and Summoner for Knight.

They both have jump jets and are in the same weight class, only 5 tonnes apart.

[LordNova2]

Yes you can go very easily either way for the Queen or King for these mechs.

I am not fully sure what your referring to by “command center” but it sounds your referring to the old Star League “Command Consoles” which acts as a secondary cockpit and has invaluable tools for a commanding officer to be at the scene of the battle and command his troops. But these only exist in an extremely rare quantity after the First Succession Wars. As far as the Clans are forbidden another person inside of the mech is strictly forbidden due to their fighting ethics, no dual cockpits with pilot&gunner setups, or Command Consoles. They strongly believe that it is most economical and skill-worthy for one warrior to pilot each machine on the battlefield.

If you’re looking at it from the aspect of who is the commander on the field with the clans, often times they pilot smaller mechs. It is not too uncommon for the clan’s Commanding Officer on the battle filed to actually sport a light or medium mech, sometimes it is even an Elemental. As you progress through the ranks and service in clan military society the Keshik will allow you to work with bigger and more expensive equipment, and often times warriors become accustomed and familure to their little Kit-Fox, or other small mech, and so that is what they use thought their entire career. If memory serves me right, Nicholas Kerensky as the Khan of Clan Wolf and IlKhan of the Clans piloted a Hellbringer.
If you look at the clan’s technology around the erra of their invasion of the Inner Sphere, with the use of their EI systems combined with their other advanced sensor and radar systems every mech has the potential, by equipment standards to the Inner Sphere, of having the capabilities of becoming a good command unit. However using and installing the EI hardware is each warrior’s personal choice, due to the fact it greatly limits your remaining career (by about 6-10 more years left after installation) with its nasty side effects of eventually turning the subject insane with paranoia.
However the ethics and fighting styles of the Clans and the Inner Sphere greatly differ due to the differences in their societies and cultures.

There is a vast amount of details we can look into and discuss from the BattleTech lore, along with the CBT and MechWarrior games to figure this out with.
However I would say for all general purposes the Atlas and Dire Wolf are both notable assault mechs in the Clans and Inner Sphere to be qualified for the queen or king piece in chess. There is just far too much detail to discuss and figure out to try and find a perfect match of a particular mech to each playing piece in chess.
Plus I do not think too many people will realy pay that much attention to detail for what mechs were used for what chess piece in the game. As long as the queens and kings are the bigger mechs, and the pawns are the smaller mechs, and the other pieces fall in between I would say it would look good in the final product.

[Archon]

I agree that the Dire Wolf and Atlas are the most iconic assault 'mechs, and thus the best options for the King. Although other more command-oriented 'mechs exist (Cyclops, etc), those two are the best options.

Aaaaanndd... the Hellbringer is an omnimech, which means it was produced after Nicholas' death. I'm under the impression he piloted an Atlas. I checked my sourcebooks, but can't find anything

*edit - Sarna says Nicholas piloted an Atlas II (lolwut?). I hate to admit the canonicity of anything DA related, but TRO3075 says it.

[LordNova2]

Hmm your right, i thought it was shortly after operation Klondike they developled OmniMechs, "The Coyotes developed the modular technology of the Mercury-class BattleMech into the concept we now know as OmniMechs in 2854" This was actually cited from the Operation Klondike sourcbook (CAT 35230, printed 2010), however the same information is also found in the Clan Wolf Sourcebook (Fasa 1642, printed 1991).
while nicholas died on Oct 7th 2834 on Ioron hold in a Trial of refsal with Widomaker and the Wolves. All Khans were present at this trial but most of them were spectaters only. Some of the Widowmakers had brok zellbrigen to save their Khan in the trial and so Kerensky had to break in as an umpire to break up the miss-conduct, during which Kerensky took a blow to the cockpit killing him. Once again this coming from Operation Klondike
Interesting now that I actually go back in research this stuff in the sourcebooks.

The funny thing is, in the Crusaider Clans sourcebook (FASA 1706, printed 1998), they make it sound as if Nicholas Kerensky was only a spectater for this whole event and when things gone awray the Large Laser from Khan Cal Jurgensson's mech struck Kerensky's cockpit killing him, they also state that it is unknown weather this shot was intentional or acedental. But back to the funny thing about this article, they illistrait this event in the Crusaider Clans sourcebook (printed in 1998) with a Summonoer firing its missiles into the cockpit of a Hellbringer.
But even the cannon materials can be off from time to time, both the Clan Wolf sourcebook printed earlier in 1991, and the Operation Klondike sourcebook printed in 2010 both state that Clan Cyote invented OmniMech technology in 2854, while all other sources I have seen show Nicholas Kerensky died on Oct 7th 2834. Hmmm, interesting that they woudl miss-represent this in a cannon FASA sourcebook.....
However I though I also read someware in Operation Klondike that there were new mech designs that the Clans had come up with while Nicholas was still alive, I donot remember if they listed the names to the new designs, but it could be possible that some of the OmniMechs we knew and seen in the Inner Sphere Invasion were standard mech designs they came up with in that timeframe and converted into Omnis later on, sort of like the 'IIC' OmniMechs.

[LordNova2]

Oh yea I forgot to mantion about your Atlas II fluff from the 3075 TRO. Very interesting, and flat out syas he died piloting this mech in the above mentioned events of 2834.

Yes I myself dislike the Dark Ages stuff too since it gose back and rewrites allot of things in BattleTech (more importantly CBT) that have already been greatly covered.

Before actually reading the fluff on the Atlas II I was under the impression that it was designed arround the Jihad Erra (hence TRO 3075), not Star League erra. I'll have to read the fluff over more claerly when i got some time, it bunces arround form faction to faction with several dates of useage and production.