Olgar Shiverstone said:
Someone explain to me the difference between Robotech and Battletech.
A quick rundown that I did no research for:
Robotech: In the year 1999, a spaceship crashed to earth. Using the alien technology, terrans created a humongous Space Defence Fortress (SDF1). The SDF housed Macross City.
One of the most important things that terrans learned about the aliens is that they were giants compared to humans. Knowing that there might be an alien/human conflict in the future, they designed a special air fleet for the SDF. This fleet was comprised of special fighter planes that could transform into humanoid mechs to fight the aliens in man-to-man combat. They also had a hybrid plane/mech form. The transformation from plane to mech (and to a lesser extent, the hybrid form) are staples of the Robotech/Macross universe. Mechs are also typically very human like. A common mech weapon is a rifle that the mech carries like a gun.
Enter the Robotech saga, where the aliens come and attack earth, are defeated, make peace with earth, Minmei happens, etc. More SDFs are made. Some humans leave to colonize other planets, fun things are learned about aliens. Eventually, other planets are colonized, etc, etc, etc.
Battletech:
Takes place in a alternate galaxy/universe/whatever that has nothing to do with earth. There are 5 main houses that are always fighting. They fight primarily with Mechs. Major plotlines typically center around bloodlines or mercenaries fighting between the houses.
There are three main types of mechs: small (the Locust), medium (Pheonix Hawk), and large (Maurader). Mechs are humanoid, but only loosly so in some cases. Small and medium mechs sometimes have "jump jets", but the mechs are otherwise ground based. Weapons follow the same small/medium/large pattern as the mechs. Heat is always an issue when piloting a mech, and damage to parts of the mech (arms, legs, head, torso) is a common theme.