Warhammer 40k

[Professor Donger]

There's no xenos, the main split between the "super-factions"(clan and inner sphere) isn't even that different just looking at it from the outside. Then looking at the sub factions, how do you actually describe the differences between say... Ghost Bear, Jade Falcon, Nova Cat, and Diamond Shark to someone who knows little about battletech in a short amount time(say, 5 minutes) and be able to get any specific details stated that might pique someone's interest? That's not to say there aren't differences, but you're not going to be able to get anyone interested with just a brief summary.

The current era for Battletech is so wild too because it's the "Il-Clan era" and as I learned about the lore my brain just got confused. Like what do you mean the clans invaded again?

 

[p1138]

The current era for Battletech is so wild too because it's the "Il-Clan era" and as I learned about the lore my brain just got confused. Like what do you mean the clans invaded again?

Yeah I know the Il-Clan era exists, but I couldn't tell you anything about it other than "look, they did it again" and some mechs got updates. But to be fair, they had to do... something after the mess the setting had become(not saying the ilclan stuff is any better). But again, it's one of those...

"Can you summarize this to someone in 5 minutes at a game store and hope to find some specific thing that they get interested in?" Probably not. Meanwhile I can show someone a box of orks, give them a 60 second summary, and they'll be able to grasp most of the surface level details and differences between them and space marines. Trying to show the difference between a Timberwolf and an Atlas isn't going to amount to much.

 

[Professor Donger]

Yeah I know the Il-Clan era exists, but I couldn't tell you anything about it other than "look, they did it again" and some mechs got updates. But to be fair, they had to do... something after the mess the setting had become(not saying the ilclan stuff is any better). But again, it's one of those...

"Can you summarize this to someone in 5 minutes at a game store and hope to find some specific thing that they get interested in?" Probably not.

The guy who ran me through my first Battletech game even pointed out that most people play in the clan era or succession wars, the Il-Clan era just doesn't exist to most Battletech fans

 

[p1138]

The guy who ran me through my first Battletech game even pointed out that most people play in the clan era or succession wars, the Il-Clan era just doesn't exist to most Battletech fans

Sure, but that honestly makes the situation even worse. Let's say you were some rando who heard about battletech yesterday and decided to look it up. You see where the timeline is, but then go to engage with the community and they're just ignoring it. I think most people would find that strange, wonder wtf is wrong with the IP or community, and then just walk away from it at that point.

 

[Professor Donger]

Sure, but that honestly makes the situation even worse. Let's say you were some rando who heard about battletech yesterday and decided to look it up. You see where the timeline is, but then go to engage with the community and they're just ignoring it. I think most people would find that strange, wonder wtf is wrong with the IP or community, and then just walk away from it at that point.

That's very true. It's why those Warhammer tourists defending the Femstodes by saying "who cares about lore" are stupid. Lore matters because it gives players a reason to give a shit about your game. Some of the most fun I've seen people have with 40k was from them playing in themed leagues with set campaigns and lore made up by the store for why all the factions were fighting.

Like you said, Battletech has always had iffy lore and world building, and the devs destroying their writing staff for woke points hasn't helped it.

 

[Dead Lion]

I'll concede its an IP thats hard to make good games about at times. Im surprised they went the total war route rather than Stellaris + Ground Invasions but its just the usual drama farming by 'content creators'. Even the term is some newspeak bs instead of artist because they know that they arent real artists.

They went the total war route becouse Total Warhammer sold about three billion copies

So Razorfist is being a bit of a fag as usual
Wyświetl załącznik 9118827

Most of the Warhammer games that have come out recently have been pretty decent and Battletech is still very much a niche franchise that's split between two owners

It's just an ass setting for an RPG since it's deliberately designed in a way that two lances of mechs thugging it out is the only viable mode of conflict resolution.

 

[Newcomer 42]

There's no xenos, the main split between the "super-factions"(clan and inner sphere) isn't even that different just looking at it from the outside. Then looking at the sub factions, how do you actually describe the differences between say... Ghost Bear, Jade Falcon, Nova Cat, and Diamond Shark to someone who knows little about battletech in a short amount time(say, 5 minutes) and be able to get any specific details stated that might pique someone's interest? That's not to say there aren't differences, but you're not going to be able to get anyone interested with just a brief summary.

I recall the XBOX games used the Sphere Republic timeline IIRC. It was good enough for arcade games.

The current era for Battletech is so wild too because it's the "Il-Clan era" and as I learned about the lore my brain just got confused. Like what do you mean the clans invaded again?

They did what?
The setting is literally stuck with the fucking Clan invasion.

t's just an ass setting for an RPG since it's deliberately designed in a way that two lances of mechs thugging it out is the only viable mode of conflict resolution

More like the setting ignores planes and vehicles when it's convenient. One of the first BTech games was a rpg of sorts, the one about being a trainee stumbling upon the clan invasion.

 

[Professor Donger]

They did what?
The setting is literally stuck with the fucking Clan invasion.

Basically, Clan Wolf succeeded in conquering the Earth and resurrected the Star League for like the third time. This all happened in 3151, the Battle of Tukayyid that essentially stopped the Clan invasion was in 3052.

 

[p1138]

I recall the XBOX games used the Sphere Republic timeline IIRC. It was good enough for arcade games.

Sure, but those games were just big robots shooting at other big robots(which is what 90% of battletech is when it comes to gaming). Razorfap was crying that there's no battletech CRPG. It isn't that there's no material to work with. There's no audience(existing or potential) for such a thing to justify spending tens of millions of dollars to make it.

 

[Humble Architect]

Battletech is, like all mechshit, for fags.

Which explains why a raging queer like Razorfist likes it and seethes that the Chadhammer setting is more popular. This is a little man who is so weak and bitchmade that the woman he was threatening laughed in his face and said he’s not scary.

And going after Rogue Trader of all things? Fuck off, Owlcat are kicking ass.

 

[Snekposter]

For Dawn of War, it was a big deal specifically because it was a Warhammer rts, but even then it was a pretty solid rts for its time, especially since most people were only used to like Age of Empires at that point, and maybe command and conquer but even those games were kind of niche.

Dawn of War was one of the first games to have things like abilities on non-caster units (you know, like hand grenades for infantry) and mixed unit weapon loadouts. And I'm pretty sure having some sort of cover system, even one as primitive as it had, was a first for something on that scale. It came out in 2004, and unlike Warcraft 3 in 2002 it was a near-complete reimagining of what an RTS could be.

 

[negativlad]

I like 40k I think the Revilers are a cool bunch of guys for the goth space marines to have.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Late, but I finished Ashes of the Imperium. And overall I really liked it. It has the great advantage of stepping into the unknown part of the lore without the baggage of the Heresy. So there is better suspense about characters and events. I liked all the characters, it had some great moments especially in the political angle, and the ending of the Word Bearers subplot was just perfect.

Only negative was Femstodes existing but at least it doesn't make the example obnoxious.

I think the main issue with the book is starting to harp on the Imperium's decline, which is pretty ridiculous when it's ongoing for 10000 years, with a good chunk of it they've been on the upper foot in relative peace. Like yeah it's not the utopia the Emperor envisioned, but still they are in control.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

Finished reading Hive and I gotta say letting Abnett bounce around characters while he writes a fuck ton of interesting world building and focuses on the interconnected plot lines is what I hope they have him do more often.

The man falls apart when he has to focus on only a few characters and can't fill pages with his autistic attention to detail in words building, but Hive played to his strengths.

It's also interesting for spoiler reasons, but I recommend just reading it. Great book.

 

[God of Nothing]

I don't really like the books. The plot is often times thin at best, and the action is done by people who clearly don't know how to write fights in general, much less military operations. So everything reads like a vaguely described desperate skirmish where characters who would realistically be slaughtered somehow manage to solo entire hordes of hostiles who lore-wise would annihilate anyone fighting alone, something vastly more obvious in Genestealer plots where these utter fucking morons go into cramped enclosed spaces and somehow survive the abominations that can rip through ceramite like it were paper.

And also so much detail is put into irrelevant bullshit that never comes up again. Yes, the planet is very drab and miserable. It does not need a pragraph every 2-3 pages. Neither do I need the characters' thoughts and beliefs spelled out to me for nearly an entire page. There is so much of this I think a good deal of these stories could be told in a fraction of their actual size.

 

[daniel day]

I don't really like the books. The plot is often times thin at best, and the action is done by people who clearly don't know how to write fights in general, much less military operations. So everything reads like a vaguely described desperate skirmish where characters who would realistically be slaughtered somehow manage to solo entire hordes of hostiles who lore-wise would annihilate anyone fighting alone, something vastly more obvious in Genestealer plots where these utter fucking morons go into cramped enclosed spaces and somehow survive the abominations that can rip through ceramite like it were paper.

And also so much detail is put into irrelevant bullshit that never comes up again. Yes, the planet is very drab and miserable. It does not need a pragraph every 2-3 pages. Neither do I need the characters' thoughts and beliefs spelled out to me for nearly an entire page. There is so much of this I think a good deal of these stories could be told in a fraction of their actual size.

Read the better books then? There are dozens of examples of good books in this thread, and if you dont like them because they build up the setting as much as the character then why are you even interested in warhammer? The setting is as important, if not moreso, than any individual character. At the end of the day the books are to show off new models, tell an alright story, and gives nerds a backdrop to make their own stuff or take inspiration from, and at that warhammer novels are really good.

 

[Professor Donger]

Finished reading Hive and I gotta say letting Abnett bounce around characters while he writes a fuck ton of interesting world building and focuses on the interconnected plot lines is what I hope they have him do more often.

The man falls apart when he has to focus on only a few characters and can't fill pages with his autistic attention to detail in words building, but Hive played to his strengths.

It's also interesting for spoiler reasons, but I recommend just reading it. Great book.

I'm currently on part two, but did you ever figure out what some of the lingo used in the hive is?

Soul I assume is like person

Ja is sir/ma'am I think

Fracka is fuck or it's derivatives

Burn is obviously riot

Startch is kill while startched is killed etc.

I couldn't figure out what Eckya means though or however you spell it like when they say "Eckya bad time"

Im surprised that I'm enjoying the multiple perspectives as much as I am, my favorite interaction so far has been the one cop character and the Arbites, her refusing to stay back because "I am the law and they'll listen to me" only for the people she wants to talk to to book it was predictable but still hilarious.

On a side note I'm building an Ork list for an 11th edition crusade and I wanted to run it by you guys. So far if I only include the Armageddon box I should only have to add Ghazgul to start with, since from my understanding the points for the crusade start at 1k and then end at 2k

Obviously I can only work with 10th edition units right now so here's the list based on that.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ FACTION KEYWORD: Xenos - Orks
+ DETACHMENT: More Dakka! (Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!)
+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 1005pts
+
+ WARLORD: Char1: Ghazghkull Thraka
+ ENHANCEMENT:
+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 11
+ SECONDARY: - Bring It Down: (1x4) - Assassination: 6 Characters
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Char1: 2x Ghazghkull Thraka (235 pts): Warlord
• 1x Ghazghkull Thraka: Gork’s Klaw, Mork’s Roar
• 1x Makari: Makari’s stabba
Char2: 1x Nob with Waaagh! Banner [Legends] (70 pts): Kustom shoota, Waaagh! banner
Char3: 1x Painboy (80 pts): ’Urty syringe, Power klaw
Char4: 1x Warboss (75 pts): Kombi-weapon, Twin slugga, Big choppa
Char5: 1x Warboss (75 pts): Kombi-weapon, Twin slugga, Big choppa
Char6: 1x Weirdboy (65 pts): ’Eadbanger, Weirdboy staff

10x Boyz (80 pts)
• 1x Boss Nob: Big choppa, Slugga
• 9x Boy: 9 with Choppa, Slugga
10x Boyz (80 pts)
• 1x Boss Nob: Big choppa, Slugga
• 9x Boy: 9 with Choppa, Slugga

11x Gretchin (40 pts)
• 10x Gretchin: 10 with Close combat weapon, Grot blasta
• 1x Runtherd: Grot-smacka, Slugga
1x Kill Rig (155 pts): ’Eavy lobba, Butcha boyz, Savage horns and hooves, Saw blades, Stikka kannon, Wurrtower
1x Wartrakks [Legends] (50 pts): Spiked wheel, Twin big shoota

 

[harbringer883]

Finished reading Hive and I gotta say letting Abnett bounce around characters while he writes a fuck ton of interesting world building and focuses on the interconnected plot lines is what I hope they have him do more often.

The man falls apart when he has to focus on only a few characters and can't fill pages with his autistic attention to detail in words building, but Hive played to his strengths.

It's also interesting for spoiler reasons, but I recommend just reading it. Great book.

Can you provide a recap of the plot please?

 

[Professor Donger]

Can you provide a recap of the plot please?

Not to sound like that guy but why not just read the book? You can find it online for free pretty easily if you know where to look.

 

[DiabeticSydePhil]

I couldn't figure out what Eckya means though or however you spell it like when they say "Eckya bad time"

A lot of it is sort of self explained by context, but there's a short key in the author's afterword at the back for common ones.

Eckya is effectively just 'very' or the British type of 'bloody'.

Soul I assume is like person

Ja is sir/ma'am I think

Soul/Bond are both the equivalent of 'citizen'.
Ja is indeed sir or ma'am.

The funny ones are where high and low hive use different terms for the same thing, but it's more rare in the book thankfully. Starch is to kill but so is crumple, except that one is only used by gangers.


I enjoy the world building, you can understand why characters act the way they do and nobody is out there doing random bullshit that makes no sense for their character. The Arbites chick is one of my favs as well just because she fully understands everyone in the hive is a weird person with weird bullshit cultural nonsense going on, but since she's from the Imperium at large she'd really just prefer they all start acting normal.