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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Journey Mountain Studios" data-source="post: 9300660" data-attributes="member: 7036006">I'm going off of old memory, so apologies for any lapse in accuracy, but I remember for Battletech most of the rules and reasons for things are to make Mech vs Mech battles as cool and as likely as possible, despite all reason.Sure the empires fought for populations (taxes, labor), positioning (invasion points, choke points), much like today. But the Battletech lore explains that what these empires are really fighting over was what remained of advanced civilization, the high tech factories. The story is essentially a post-apocalyptic interstellar mech brawl. All the things we take for granted like automation, nuclear power, computer chips, targeting and tracking systems, space mining gear, water purification, are very rare and only a handful of planets have factories that make those things. To prevent these and things like Jumpships and Mech factories from being destroyed by open warfare as had been happening for hundreds of years, everyone agreed not to target them or scorched-earth them and instead do raids or battle for the planet off to the side a bit.Plus it was easier to just grab an already established industrial base than try to set up the mining equipment yourself. Until they finally discover ancient blueprints and equpment, Battletech is a war fought with leftover scraps (hence the handing down the mechs that still work, from parent to child). But it's a scrapwar where the remnants of ancient tech, the mechs, are an insane force multiplier against contempory companies of tanks that barely outstrip what we have today. So instead of trying to invade with an army of vehicles and troops in hundreds of dropships, you invade with a regiment of walking death machines in just a few dropships. Again, the entire lore is contrived to make mech battles worth having, especially on a tabletop map, where your company alone gets to decide control of an entire planet (or at least just the factory there).Also, yes it took a week or two for a jumpship to recharge using it's own solar sails and batteries, but in civilized space where trade is common, jumpships recharged more quickly at stations at the jump in point. Some jumpships, especially the warship types, had double sets of batteries so they could jump in and then jump out again without recharging. And yes, planets that could afford it, or had the techincal know-how, did invest in air defenses and fighter cover to destroy incoming dropships...but not many planets could afford to have these either and the invaders just landed away from what few defense sites there were anyways.All of this is to say what others have said above. Make up whatever reasons you need to make Mech fights worth doing, because Battletech sure did.</blockquote>

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