BattleTech: A History of WarShips

[@barclaybower512]

Man just Cassualy uploads a 2 and a half hour breakdown of warships in the battle tech setting. Utter legand. well done!

[@AGS363]

Thank you very much! I am glad that you enjoyed it.

[@argokarrus2731]

Finally! Someone who talks about the strategic lynchpin of BattleTech! My personal favorite WarShip are usually the really fast ones, the Dante-class for example, seconded by McKennas and the like. I like ships which are fast and can play with range or boat missiles like the Cruiser-class

[@AGS363]

Good picks. The Dante is an especially beautiful and forward-looking design. A shame that only so few were made.

[@EricDKaufman]

Barons FTW.. LMAO.

[@Doomrider47]

Mine is the OG Dreadnaught, starting off as a cudgel of reason to bludgeon Earth into not being dicks anymore. Then at its end pulling a BSG as Amaris's madness begins

[@roguerifter9724]

Ditto. I have a soft spot for Frigates in genera but the Dantes are my favorite in Battletech. I'm still annoyed that for some reason Frigates are the only category of warships not to have a Clan created class. For some reason so far at least all Clan Frigates are updated Star League designs. A while back they did a Tech Readout for the Clan Golden Century era and it introduced some new Warships but they were all Corvettes or Destroyers. I've tried to figure it out many times but I still can't understand why Frigates have the fewest classes out of the non-Dreadnought (Which are the Warship equivalent of Super Heavy weight Battlemechs) categories The fact they are larger then Destroyers usuall (Large Destroyers are the same mass as small Frigates0 means there's more tonnage to create unique designs but the number of Destroyer classes dwarfs that of Frigates even if you only count one class from each of the Davion, Lola, and Essex series (both the Davion and the Essex lines have I and II Destroyer classes while the Lola line has I, II and III)

[@Doomrider47]

@@roguerifter9724That one is easy, Taurians did it best. so they just gave up trying to make any better

[@MrBlueBurd0451]

Praise be to Blake for your work. A subscriber earned here.

[@derekburge5294]

Two and a half hours of deep lore? You spoil us, sir.

[@AGS363]

😉

[@thecuriousanthropologist]

As someone who loves warships and has been making lego models of them for years, this was an absolute blast! This is the kind of video I've always wanted to watch. Thank you so much!

[@AGS363]

No problem, it was fun to make it.

[@randomnetsurfer]

Your narration on this one was particularly good.

[@AGS363]

Thank you! It is always good to know that you improved yourself

[@SpielkindFR]

I am a simple man, I see Battletech, I hit like and subscribe.

[@AGS363]

Simple is good. Beats complicated.👍

[@namefinder]

Warships are the best part of Battletech!

[@AGS363]

Those Dropships are nice too.

[@natester2342]

Man this was so well done i hope you do other aspects of battletech with this much love. Subbed

[@AGS363]

That is the plan. Thank you for your comment and sub!

[@vykryl65]

Important setting information, that we generally ignore because it doesn't affect our typical games

[@AGS363]

So true...

[@jtjames79]

It would make a fantastic augmented reality game.

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of AGS 363 videos 🎉🎉🎉😊

[@tripwire31]

As someone who collects and played with Aerotech/warships I absolutely love how that portion of the game plays. It's just like BT Classic, where it can go as complex or simple as the players want. For me I like playing near barebones aside from vectors. The fleet I've got right now is a Word of Blake themed one. Including mostly the Star League era styled warships (as I prefer them far more visually to the clan versions) as well as using it as a collection for Warships. So I have at least one of each warship class of ship the Word have known examples of that have a metal model. However I've added an Avatar as well as a Dreadnought due to the fact I enjoy both warship types. It is sad that my favorite era of the setting is the last time nearly everyone has access to more than 2 warhsips.

[@AGS363]

That sounds awesome!

[@Warlock337]

It's great to see more drop ship and worship content.

[@AGS363]

😁

[@jefferynelson]

leaving a comment to support this content creator

[@AGS363]

Thank you so much!

[@Athrun82]

An interesting aspect of the development of the Hegemony ships: apart from the first class (the Dreadnought) all other ships were quickly shed of point defenses. Hegemony (and by extension Star League) Warships were more or less ships of differenz sizes bristling with capital weaponry but also rather thin armor (in comparism to the Ships that came during the 2nd Star League). The difference is the doctrine: during the Reunification War SL naval doctrine evolved from "Victory through superior firepower" to more maneuver naval warfare. Which meant that the squadrons were to be supported by Dropships carrying fighter wings (the Titan being the go-to carrier Dropship) as well as most Battleships and Cruisers were now carrying at least 1 fighter wing for self defense. The Enterprise, as you mentioned, was the one time the SL navy tried to fill that gap. After all the SL had no real carrier ships (the Kimagure being an exception and that ship was rare). The Federated Suns and the Combine had dedicated fighter carriers though (the New Syrtis or the Samarkand carriers respectively). In fact the New Syrtis had it's first trial by fire during the Reunification War.

[@AGS363]

Thank you for this excellent comment! You are completely right with your description. (I was thinking about adding some information about the development, but without giving more specs it feels a bit disjointed and two and a half hours are long enough.) In contrast, the latest Warships (Suffren, Mjolnir, Leviathan III, etc.) are bristling with lighter arms, to protect them against ASF and Dropships. Not to mention that they all have carrying capacity for their own Dropships and (in most cases) ASF wings. A deciding factor was the likely adversaries. The SL used Warships build to destroy other Warships, while Post-Revival the smaller vessels are the main danger.

[@Athrun82]

@@AGS363 That and for example in House Liao's case with the Feng Huan cruiser class they put on as much armor as possible because Warships cost a lot of money so better to keep them alive for a long time. In one sourcebook it is likened that even the lightest corvette (Fox for example) costs as much as at least one planet's GDP. And I agree if you would add all that information you would probably end at the 4 or 5 hour mark. The Star League navy was organized differently and the Escort squadrons were basically the carriers: carrying assault and carrier Dropships which in itself carried the fighters needed for point defenses. No need to waste space when you carry all the needed defenses in Dropship form. That and the SL navy was huge. They had the luxury to make so many specialized types of squadrons to begin with. Something neither the Clans nor the IS has the industrial and financial capacity for. Heck the current Snow Ravens are breaking their economy to keep 10 Warships active

[@Ottomatic38]

I am never going to be able to read "Leviathan" the same ever again.

[@AGS363]

The more you learn.

[@nos2342]

Thank you. Everyone forget the combined arms of battletech.

[@AGS363]

That is one of the reasons I made the video. You are welcome!

[@KillerOrca]

The Canopian model of the Athena class is notable for its personalization for the nation that built it, such as the conversion of a cargo bay into a gigantic all hours rave and party room, intoxicat stores measured in planetary volumes, and the most comfortable bunks you'll find on any warship in the Sphere. Occasional losses in communication due to pounding techno music over the radio and the command deck to turn into a giant blunt rotation were considered benefits before the Reunification War

[@AGS363]

Of course, they also enhance the length and caliber of their main gun.

[@downix]

I still want to run my Jumpship setting Mechwarrior RPG someday. This just makes me hopeful that other people would have an interest in it.

[@Keemperor40K]

Everyone loves the Mechs and with good reason, they are big, stompy and undeniably cool. But anyone who really knows, knows that space power is the real power in a space faring civilization and Warships are the real masters of this void. The universe wants to delude itself into thinking that their time is done and that they are expensive and unneeded and yet they are wrong, Warships can and have changed the course of entire wars and their presence alone ensures or denies entire invasions and only other warships allow others to fight them effectively. The Pocket Warship is nothing more than a stepping stone to recreating the mighty battle fleets that once controlled entire sectors and when they return in the proper numbers, they will return to the glory they deserve.

[@AGS363]

You say it! A single WarShip can dominate a complete system and interdict all troop movements. Everyone who disregards them, is a fool.

[@VickyAmaru]

What's your favorite warship? Mine is the Potemkin.

[@AGS363]

Not a bad choice! I personally like the Aegis class, shortly followed by the Mjolnir class.

[@a.h.1358]

“Cruiser class’ Cruiser”? 🤔

[@AGS363]

They named it, not me.

[@ServantOfOdin]

Wait... McKenna was born in 2274, and after 10 years of being a stubborn git to the military, he was promoted to Fleet Admiral in 2295? He was 21 at that time.... Either the historical records of him were written by a mathematically challenged person (i.e. in-lore wise falsified) or child-soldiery was suddenly ok. Also, 10 years to reach fleet-admiral rank? You usually need at least 15 years to even reach the lowest admiraly rank of Comodore.... Double that for full 4* Admiral...

[@Athrun82]

Considering 16 years old could join the SLDF this does kind of feel ok. But you are right 21 and being a Fleet Admiral sounds WAYYYY too outlandish. The writers must have smoked something that day (considering some of the art they used for James Mckenna, I 'd say A lot)

[@AGS363]

Drafting sensible CVs for the characters was never the strong suit for the writers. (For example: Myndo Waterly made it to the office of Primus, when she was just 28, ...which directly violates the lore given in the same source)

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

*RAPIDLY PAYING PHONE BILL*

[@AGS363]

That is a very wise decision. Unpaid bills can lead to litigation and other unpleasant reactions.

[@joshuamidgette4846]

Good video but your Blakeist tendencies are evident.

[@AGS363]

Thank you, but your comment puzzles me a bit. I am as impartial, strictly objective and uncompromising truthful as blessed Blake himself.

[@weirdguy564]

This is one area of BattleTech lore and gameplay that actually is pretty bad. If you like space battles, then I cannot recommend the BattleTech universe. It just isn't that good for space warfare. I think it was deliberately written out of the majority of the lore so that the BattleMech would have the lime light. But we don't do that. We have our own way to play space navy. We repurposed some free rules we found online that are meant for Pre-Dreadnought to WW-2 warships, and 3D printed our own space warships that resemble sci-fi versions of Battleships and Cruisers from World War-2. Think of USS Iowa, then cut it off at the waterline, another Iowa cut as well, flipped over, and the two ships glued together, waterline to waterline. Then stick rocket engines at the fantail, and replace the radar masts with big sci-fi fins, and bridge towers replaced by giant sensor pods. OK, to be clear they are sufficiently sci-fi because they're not literally Iowa's and such. They're custom made 3D models by me, made of lots of straight lines, blocky structures, and hexagons (because nothing says the future like hexagons everywhere...just ask Miranda Lawson's tailor from Mass Effect-2). We did not like how the stats of a Warship from BattleTech are not memorable. For example, i can tell you that the KMS Bismarck had eight 15-inch bore guns. I cannot tell you the armament of any BattleTech warship. A Centurion 9A BattleMech from 3025 has an Autocannon-10 in the right arm, and LRM-10 in the left torso, a medium laser in the center torso, and another medium laser in the rear center torso, and can move 4/6 hexes at normal and fast speeds. Again, name the stats of ANY BattleTech warship, I dare you. That is why we re-engineered our space navy stuff to be more clear and specific. My battleship has 18 KF cannons (Kearney-Fuchida) that fire shells at FTL speeds that explode when the shell re-enters realspace mere moments after being fired, but with the speed of light it takes a few moments for the firing ship to see the results. That is how we fight at FTL speeds and ranges. Using Sci-Fi shenanigans and technobabble to move WW-1 warships into space.

[@AGS363]

You have some wonderful suggestions and ideas, thank you. And of course you are right, the Battletech rules are not really suited for naval battles (no matter if it is a blue or black navy). Even the old Aerotech/Battlespace is not good for the big ships; if you allow the player to fly an Immelmann, you already positioned yourself against fleet tactics.

[@SupComKoni]

Sounds like you're making a space combat system very similar to the Iron Empires setting, the main lore book of which is Bloodstained Stars and the trio of graphic novels. Highly recommend checking it out if you want some really cool space combat descriptions and tactics.

[@ssjjshawn]

Avalon Class Cruiser Mass 770000 tons Length 812 Meters Sail Diameter 1375 Meters Fuel 10000 tons Tip Thrust, 3 gravities Sail Integrity, 4 points of durability KF Drive integrity, 16 points of durability Armament 6 Naval Lazer 45s 2 Naval Lazer 55s 6 Naval AutoCanon 20s 3 Naval AutoCanon 40s 8 Medium Naval Gauss Rifles 14 AR-10 Capital Missile Tubes 4 LB 10 X Autocanons 12 Large Lazers 16 Medium Pulse Lazers 26 LRM 15s with Artimus Fire Control systems 3 screen launchers 21 Anti Missile Systems Armor, 1801 tons of Lamellor Ferro Carbide Dropship capacity of 6 Crew, 198 Heat sinks, 937 Inner Sphere Double Heatsinks Aerospace leaves scars lol And your idea of KF weaponry doesn't work. KF Drives so not move something faster than light in the traditional sense, it's more the IF field created by a Jump ship is a field of super heated matter that is so hot the normal laws of Physics breaks down. Then through the exploitation of Hyperspace Mathematical Matrixes to nominally gain your current and target coordinates within the 3D plane of the Galaxy, that field of matter is able to transform is position in space time with another space of equal mass. This is why IF fields can be detected on the other end of a Jump before the vessel arrives. We also do not know how long a jump actually takes. We can only tell by relative time, but it at the bare minimum takes at least minutes, if not hours to complete this process post Inintal Jump as observations of arriving IF fields at least show. Also the sheer amount of resources that firing a KF Drive as a bullet wastes means it's simply not worth doing that, especially since it wouldn't be an FTL attack, the shot would have no momentum. Jumps also don't work in Gravity wells, so you need a Lagrange point around a celestial body, or to be at the Zenith or Nadir of a point, otherwise a mis jump is possible. Battletechs Warships are Hard Sci-fi, as in they are the closest thing to what real world Space Warships would be if we had it. Better use of resources and actually understanding how the mechanics of FTL works tends to do better than wasting 18 KF drives that would amount to hitting absolutely nothing because they would be detected, noted and moved away from minutes to hours before they arrived.

[@ssjjshawn]

Avalon Class Cruiser Mass 770000 tons Length 812 Meters Sail Diameter 1375 Meters Fuel 10000 tons Tip Thrust, 3 gravities Sail Integrity, 4 points of durability KF Drive integrity, 16 points of durability Armament 6 Naval Lazer 45s 2 Naval Lazer 55s 6 Naval AutoCanon 20s 3 Naval AutoCanon 40s 8 Medium Naval Gauss Rifles 14 AR-10 Capital Missile Tubes (The Main weapons it is know for) 4 LB 10 X Autocanons 12 Large Lazers 16 Medium Pulse Lazers 26 LRM 15s with Artimus Fire Control systems 3 screen launchers 21 Anti Missile Systems Armor, 1801 tons of Lamellor Ferro Carbide Dropship capacity of 6 Crew, 198 Heat sinks, 937 Inner Sphere Double Heatsinks Aerospace leaves scars lol And your idea of KF weaponry doesn't work. KF Drives so not move something faster than light in the traditional sense, it's more the IF field created by a Jump ship is a field of super heated matter that is so hot the normal laws of Physics breaks down. Then through the exploitation of Hyperspace Mathematical Matrixes to nominally gain your current and target coordinates within the 3D plane of the Galaxy, that field of matter is able to transform is position in space time with another space of equal mass. This is why IF fields can be detected on the other end of a Jump before the vessel arrives. We also do not know how long a jump actually takes. We can only tell by relative time, but it at the bare minimum takes at least minutes, if not hours to complete this process post Inintal Jump as observations of arriving IF fields at least show. Also the sheer amount of resources that firing a KF Drive as a bullet wastes means it's simply not worth doing that, especially since it wouldn't be an FTL attack, the shot would have no momentum. Jumps also don't work in Gravity wells, so you need a Lagrange point around a celestial body, or to be at the Zenith or Nadir of a point, otherwise a mis jump is possible. Battletechs Warships are Hard Sci-fi, as in they are the closest thing to what real world Space Warships would be if we had it. Better use of resources and actually understanding how the mechanics of FTL works tends to do better than wasting 18 KF drives that would amount to hitting absolutely nothing because they would be detected, noted and moved away from minutes to hours before they arrived.

[@ssjjshawn]

@weirdguy564 Avalon Class Cruiser Mass 770000 tons Length 812 Meters Sail Diameter 1375 Meters Fuel 10000 tons Tip Thrust, 3 gravities Sail Integrity, 4 points of durability KF Drive integrity, 16 points of durability Armament 6 Naval Lazer 45s 2 Naval Lazer 55s 6 Naval AutoCanon 20s 3 Naval AutoCanon 40s 8 Medium Naval Gauss Rifles 14 AR-10 Capital Missile Tubes 4 LB 10 X Autocanons 12 Large Lazers 16 Medium Pulse Lazers 26 LRM 15s with Artimus Fire Control systems 3 screen launchers 21 Anti Missile Systems Armor, 1801 tons of Lamellor Ferro Carbide Dropship capacity of 6 Crew, 198 Heat sinks, 937 Inner Sphere Double Heatsinks Aerospace leaves scars lol And your idea of KF weaponry doesn't work. KF Drives so not move something faster than light in the traditional sense, it's more the IF field created by a Jump ship is a field of super heated matter that is so hot the normal laws of Physics breaks down. Then through the exploitation of Hyperspace Mathematical Matrixes to nominally gain your current and target coordinates within the 3D plane of the Galaxy, that field of matter is able to transform is position in space time with another space of equal mass. This is why IF fields can be detected on the other end of a Jump before the vessel arrives. We also do not know how long a jump actually takes. We can only tell by relative time, but it at the bare minimum takes at least minutes, if not hours to complete this process post Inintal Jump as observations of arriving IF fields at least show. Also the sheer amount of resources that firing a KF Drive as a bullet wastes means it's simply not worth doing that, especially since it wouldn't be an FTL attack, the shot would have no momentum. Jumps also don't work in Gravity wells, so you need a Lagrange point around a celestial body, or to be at the Zenith or Nadir of a point, otherwise a mis jump is possible. Battletechs Warships are Hard Sci-fi, as in they are the closest thing to what real world Space Warships would be if we had it. Better use of resources and actually understanding how the mechanics of FTL works tends to do better than wasting 18 KF drives that would amount to hitting absolutely nothing because they would be detected, noted and moved away from minutes to hours before they arrived.