Fan Fiction Discussions

The Naming Of Warships

2026-03-09T07:25:03.0070000

**The Naming of Warships**

The Naming of Warships is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a warship must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there’s the name that the admiral uses daily,
Such as Lola, McKenna, Black Lion or Essex,
Such as Union, Avenger, Overlord or Vengeance—
All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the line-breakers, some for the raiders:
But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a warship needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can it keep up its thrust perpendicular,
Or spread out its broadsides, or cherish its pride?

Of all the thrust profiles that a warship may bear,
The most dignified name is the one that says where.

There’s the **Cargo** name for the slow and the steady,
The **Fleet** name for those that must stay with the body,
The **Line** name for the wall that will never break,
The **Attack** name for the ones that close in for the kill,
The **Fast** name for the screen that keeps up with the thrill,
The **Strike** name for the hit-and-fade raiders,
The **Interceptor** name for the high-G predators,
And the **Impact** name for the relativistic hammer—
The only good reason to push that hard in the black.

Then there’s the mission that tells you its purpose,
The name that the crew uses deep in the dark:
**Mech Transport** to drop the ’Mechs where they’re needed,
**Fighter Carrier** to launch the wings on their wings,
**Cargo Transport** to haul the beans and the bullets,
**Gunboat** to ram with its nose full of fire,
**Barge** to broadside with weapons all ’round,
**Lander** to fight once its boots are on ground,
**Picket** to watch with its sensors extended—
All of them sensible, everyday missions.

But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The deep and inscrutable singular Name
That the warship itself can never confess.

When you notice a warship in solemn silence sitting,
With its engines at idle and its weapons all cold,
You may think it is dozing, but it’s really just fitting
Its three secret names into stories untold.
For a warship is proud, and a warship is vain,
And it never will speak its particular name.

So the Naming of Warships is a difficult matter—
It isn’t just one of your holiday games.
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter,
But a warship must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

My (first) attempt at an alternate timeline

2023-09-23T23:45:05.8130000

My first attempt at an Alternate Timeline; not a masterpiece, but hopefully easy to follow.

I have in a separate link, as I had trouble posting it here.

All Because of a Vision AU (i.e. Clan Nova Cat takes the other road) (battletech.com)

Reviews would be nice.

Home Defense Meme

2023-08-18T18:10:31.9870000

I've seen a few iterations of the "I own a musket for home defense..." meme around the internet, and I decided to adapt it for BattleTech: I own an Atlas for home defense, because that's what General Kerensky intended. Four pirates break into my hangar. "Curse you, pirate scum!" I yell as I grab my neurohelmet and power up my 'Mech. Core the first one with my AC/20; he's dead on the spot. Fire my missiles at the second; miss him entirely because they're long-range and nail my lancemate's Wolfhound. I have to resort to the booby trap installed in my other lancemate's Stinger. "Surprise, you bastards!" The blast shreds two of them. The explosion and its attendant shrapnel finally set off alarms across the base. Charge the last terrified pirate, fists flying, and crush his cockpit. He bleeds out waiting for help that never comes, because he's a pirate, so fuck 'im. Ah, just as General Kerensky intended.

CBT Fiction recommendation

2023-07-16T13:29:50.8330000

Hey all. Not quite as much online here as before... mostly because I'm stuck with a phone as my primary means of communication.

I'm recommending this fiction (still in progress): https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14032932/1/Throw-a-Stone

The author has a "quirk" in that the 'Mech of choice is the humble Urbie! Actually a pretty good read (so far) and is enjoyable.

The idea for an "anthology" of Battletech short stories

2021-01-24T02:12:32.1370000

I thought of this idea late last night, and worked out a few bits and bobs of it. Basically a series of short stories, with all different mechwarriors, and the only connecting thread is the mech they pilot.

The battlemech will be called "Eris" after the Greek Goddess of Strife and Discord. The name comes to the first mechwarrior when he sees the serial number of the mech, xxxxx-Er15.

I was thinking making the battlemech a Thunderbolt TDR-5S and starting out as a member of the SLDF during the Amaris Coup.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas, let me know...

6 Legged mechs

2020-08-02T13:02:37.2930000

So I started talking with a friend of mine, and this started to happen.

El Basic Fluff:
With advancements in Quad battle armor allowing the onboard computer to figure out foot placement for the pilot, More exotic mech configurations became feasible.

A mech with 6 legs, rule chunks in no particular order...

A: 6 legged mechs are only 1 level high.
B: May go prone or stand without movement cost.
C; Reduces the cost and limits of level changes by 1. aka Going up or down 3 levels cost 2 MP. 1 level changes are free, like Wiges.
D: When determining the direction an attack comes from, use the Vehicle table. aka more side hits.

E: Each leg is limited to the structure and armor of an arm for a given mech's size.
F: Hit table, the important bit, Left and right sides remain the same. Leg and Arm hit locations are resolved on a special hit table, similar to a tripod mechs leg locations. On a 1-2 the front leg is hit. on a 3-4 the middle leg, and a 5-6 the Rear leg. If an attack comes in from the front apply a -1 modifier, if the rear a +1 modifier. (aka, an attack from the front will hit the front leg 3/6 of the time, middle leg 2/6 and rear 1/6 of the time.)
G: Damage transfers into the side torso.

H: -2 Piloting roll like quads.
I: must lose 2 legs to loose that bonus, like a quad losing 1 leg.
J: Critically damaged legs can be jettisoned to avoid movement penalties from critical actuator damage.
K: Takes half damage from falling due to failed PSR checks. Takes full damage if it somehow skids off a cliff or something.

More optional rules...
L: Leg crit tables are 12 crits, but actuators take up twice as many slots. I think this one is going to be dropped entirely.
M: If the mech is prone at a higher level then whatever is shooting at it, Hits on the actual leg location on the hit table are eaten as though the mech had partial cover. Arm locations still activate the secondary hit location table.

N: I'm not planning on changing the construction rules. Standard structure weight. Maybe I could see a 10% increase to structure weight, same as a tripod. But thats still only 1 ton increase in weight at worst. No big deal.

O: Front legs guns shoot forward, Middle can choose front or rear (Must be designated as rear firing.) rear legs shoot rear only.

Game Balance is mostly compared to a quad. extra mobility, extra leg armor, though legs are more fragile individually. But it looses the ability to fully exploit partial cover and other benefits of being 2 levels tall that a quad has. Its also going to be prone to having its side torso's blown away due to the changed incoming attack direction.

Decent Fiction

2019-04-01T02:55:06.0400000

Long time gents. Missed all of you greatly. Had to deal with way too many life issues.

Thought you might enjoy this fic:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11573171/1/Clover-Spear-The-Story-of-the-56-War

The basic idea is that Hanse Davion had his heart attack as before, but he lived and came up with a plan to end the Clan menace.

Battletech vs Robotech

2018-07-25T03:11:58.9000000

If you think about it Robotech, BattleTech, and even Transformers are all late 80's and have a lot of similarities depending on which viewpoint you take on it. I don't want to deal with transformers mash up on BT the poor games gunna have to get pretty cracked as it is for this to be the next level on what the clan invasion was to 3025...Zentraadi themselves already the size of a small to medium mech without armor are an obvious advantage and aliens with extreme combat and spacetravel capability would be a whole new way to challenge the human race and theres plenty of backstory/lore to draw from. I'll have plenty of my own thoughts eventually but I just thought of this so give me your thoughts and ideas to share with anyone feeling adventurous enough in recreating such a crazy campaign all the way to lostech alien salvage long forgotten being discovered and reactivating a beacon that brings these giant humanoids from beyond the known galaxy

Text from the old site?

2017-07-06T20:34:13.8470000

I too have lost a hard drive to the ravages of time, and I don't have a copy of the fiction I did to go with two armory entries on the original Solaris7.com, If anyone has an archive copy, could they paste in the text for these two mechs?

Black Stallion BKS-01 (L1 IS 80T Custom)

Miracle Thirty-Four M34 (L1 IS 60T Custom)

The second one had an accompanying picture (Miracle Thirty-Four), bonus points for finding it too.

Mucho thanks!

- ScrapIron Prime
- enlisted with Headhunters of Davion