So I have a problem with character creations. I believe Austin Walker has talked about his similar compulsion. If a game gives me a character creation in an established world I am spending two weeks on wikis researching for my character. Normally I just quietly enjoy my own stuff but since in this game your Merc Company and character are front and center I thought it might be fun to share with the forum my stuff (and maybe you'll share yours too!).

My MechWarrior is Hayat Al-Ajlani. His family moved from the Azami world of Algedi in the Draconis Combine after his parents became frustrated with fealty to the central government and failure to shift in social class. As the game dictates (char-gen spoilers) they eventually found success in the reach and became defacto Nobles on a small world in the Aurigan Reach with Hayat as the first in line. By the time he was 16 the family was destroyed by bankruptcy and were parents dead by their own hand. Hayat fell in with an Inner Sphere merc company where he attained a taste for the work and his callsign: Amyr. It stands to reason mercs would sarcastically call the kid who is the heir to a dead throne a name meaning "Prince".

By the end of the tutorial you have established your own Mercenary company. Having learned through his parent's experience and his time with the Inner Sphere mercs that Cash Rules Everything Around Me Hayat has become a pragmatic person with no passion for feudal standing or politics beyond the opportunities they offer. Naturally he has given his company a title that makes clear who they serve: the Swords of Tharwa. Tharwa being the word for Wealth; the guiding hand of Amyr's band of MechWarriors.

Neat! I believe my character is named Sara Hazaan and I think I picked the same backstory as you but maybe the last bit was I became a freelancer. Callsign is "Wyvern" and my company is "Wyvern's Fire". (I have been playing a lot of Monster Hunter lately.)

I played the first mission. I don't remember what I picked for stuff. I need to play it more.

The background is neat but it doesn't seem to do that much then give you other dialogue options.

@soulcake: Some of those dialogue options end up affecting your crew, so I would be interested to see if having a certain background helped or harmed those results. Regardless, it is nice to be able to put an additional bit of narrative structure behind your created character.

@mycoolyounghistory: Yeah the background is always a neat option.

Haha even if the backgrounds had no game impact I'd still love it. I write bios for every Empire I play in Stellaris and that's just a text box for the AI to read about me.

@hayt: neat story, but I find the option of a noble family from the deep periphery doesn't really work canon wise in the setting and place were the story takes place
specially if you consider that the region where you character family is supposed to be from is basically the other side of the galaxy map, and that place wasn't rediscovered till way after the clan invasion.

but I do admire your creativity has been a while since i heard about the umayyad caliphate ☺️

@stressedoutcat: the text made it sound like the star league (?) Fled to the deep

@travisrex: they did but the other direction, here is a map

@stressedoutcat: Thanks! I figure over the decades a person can move great distances though so I'm not too fussed with location. As for discovered I'm not sure about that as the Hanseatic League has been mucking around with Nuevo Castile for hundreds of years. That said discovered or not I am happy with the notion of people leaving it to go elsewhere fitting within canon.

@hayt: if they did they would have also known about the clans well in advance of the invasion ?

either way backstory has no effect on the actual story itself.... but I would like to one day see a story rich RPG set in the battle-tech universe... well I can hope for it.

@stressedoutcat: the clans are way further out than Neuvo Castile though. Is everything outside the inner sphere considered undiscovered? Like is the Hanseatic League unknown too? I don't have any issue with the idea of people coming those places anyhow. Like Umayyad is an origin for classic battletech so I figure It's okay

@hayt: depends on time, Neuvo Castile wasn't rediscovered till way after the invasion.. and it is even believed that the Umayyed forces themselves that came to the castilians were fleeing/lost expeditionary force of clan wolverine

@stressedoutcat: i see what youre saying now, thanks.

Lol nice, all this lore talk is beyond me. Any good book recommendations?

This game looks cool, is it more like xcom or a 4x/grand strategy type game?

XCOM is probably the closest comparison, though instead of base management you handle the finances of a mercenary company - and unlike XCOM you don't get paid every month - you just have to make sure you've earned enough money in missions to cover your monthly expenses. You're also much more free to pick your missions and you negotiate the amount of money, salvage (which can be used to build new mechs or restock your ammo and weapon supplies) and faction reputation you'll get as you accept the mission.

The actual combat is a bit closer to the 90s X-COM games than the reboot games, as the direction your mechs face is incredibly important (as you have to deal with protecting your weaker rear armour and the firing arcs of your weapons), something that was just handled automatically in the new XCOM games. There's also a lot additional stats to manage - heat, armor, pilot health and morale.

Rob Zacny at Waypoint said it's basically like late-game XCOM from the start, which I guess is a decent comparison.

@doom616: They have many novels but I just get my kicks from reading the Sarna wiki and source books, some of which are free now.

Also someone did a fun lore summary on these very forums over here. It leads to 3025 which is the outset of the game.

https://www.giantbomb.com/battletech/3030-50915/forums/battletech-timeline-a-cliff-notes-1804939/#1

@fisk0: Sound dope, i never played the original xcom but this game looks like it's my type of thing. Hopefully i can pick it up at some point but it's pretty steep for me atm.

@hayt: Wow, you really must be in heaven with this game being out now, huh? Don't know much about BT lore but the small bit you get in the game really interests me.

My humble mercenary band:

I'm not very good at coming up with names.

I'm a complete newbie to the Battletech universe and I'm enjoying the game so far, but I prefer the combat in the new X-COM games a lot more. Giant stompy robots are pretty cool, though.