You can always check the video description for the timestamps to see how long it is. I've written the Second Succession War series to be around 20 minutes per episode.
Honestly, I'm more surprised that this level of exact numbers and play by play, almost week by week detail is even available. Most franchises wouldn't even bother and just say "it was a terrible war, and everyone died. Nukes were involved. The end."
Most of the old sourcebooks didn't go into this level of detail. The First and Second Succession War sourcebooks only came out within the last decade, by which point BT was over 30 years old.
@@SvenVanDerPlankAt least Battletech got into more detail at some point about this highly complex and messy events. Most franchises would kill for that level of detail
I love the world building that has always been a staple in BT. yes it has gotten better over the years but you can look at it as in universe historians finally actually making the effort to collect and publich all of the data. i mean hell, think of how many battles how many worlds, etc etc .. that is a massive project , possibly generational considering the hundreds of years of war. the political intrigue and just dirty realism of the cannon universe makes fleshing out sorties and campaigns extremely easy and through, unfortunately most other tt game systems do not put in the effort or just go with the simple concept of the universe moves forward, and it should do so in a way that has plot and consistency and builds the world itself - and a lot of this is supported as much by the community as the current license holder - whomever that is at the time. looking at Sven, prof tex, mechfrog, mageleader, big red, and and the rest all those artists writers editors that help put it out... i mean you creators are the introductory gateway drug for new hobbyists ... thank you, sir, so very much for this series
I wonder what kind of mech Ilsa piloted at her final engagement. You would expect House leaders to rock the heaviest possible chassis, but a Liao doesn't 'feel' like they'd be in something like an Atlas or Battlemaster.
Hmm, I'm still holding out hope that reason will prevail among the leadership of the Great Houses and they will avoid another destructive conflict. You can't spell, "See, now we have peace in our time," without "Inner Sphere!"
Chesterton starts with a "C", so belongs with "Capellan" & "Confederation" as it matches, unlike "Davion". It helps with my OCD: Opinionated Capellan Determinations. So,... there. 😛
Thank you. It's always really nice hearing that I've introduced someone else to the franchise since my own introduction was through another BT channel a few years back.
Can’t wait, your channel alongside Tex has really got me into the lore of BT. So much so that I’m starting to get interested in the table top game as well
Second Succession Wars drinking game he mentioned another planet: Toss chance cube for WMD usage . if lose toss take a drink, if WMD used take two Next flip a coin for chem or nuke.... if lose toss take a drink, if WMD used take two but honestly - i love playing tt during the Succession Wars, the variety of combat theaters and quality / quantity of combatants. it is fantastic
I always enjoy the military break down; it gives us a good look at how bad things have become in 3025, just by seeing how drastically reduced the numbers are at the start of each war.( even though by the 3rd the numbers are really not a 'True' reflection on capabilities, since everything is damn near Lostech by that point).
Well contrary to popular belief, the lowest point is at the end of the Second Succession War. The Great Houses spend most of the third gradually rebuilding. They do lose the last couple pieces of advanced tech early on, but the militaries of 3025 are far more capable than the militaries of 2864.
See, if I was Comstar and deadset on fanning the flames, Ilsa's body going home wouldn't be in the cards. That feels far too conciliatory and respectful if I was trying to bring out the rage.
Well, not to put to fine a point on this; but this episode kind of hurt... 😉 Was bound to happen in any event. That being said as usual great stuff Sven and the modifications made for presentation really 'pop'. Thanks again for all your hard work and I can't wait for the next!
Better get used to it. This whole war is really going to hurt. Glad that the changes in style worked for you. I was experimenting with removing the animated icons just to make video production a little faster, but wasn't sure if people could still follow along. We'll see what the reception is.
Blue Water Naval Campaign. Cool. I like hearing about those in sci fi. Even if Brown Water skirmishing is arguably more likely to come into play for most.
They are more powerful than the sixth largest faction by an order of magnitude, but they no longer have parity with any of the other Successor States by the time the 2ndSW ends. Still too powerful to discount or wipe out though. They're like Italy in the World Wars.
You can read much more on the tactics employed by the ground forces in the sourcebooks. I trim a lot of that out of the videos for time and to keep it a relatively high level overview. BattleTech rarely concerns itself with the logistics, for better or worse.
Cleaning up border gore is a perfectly valid casus belli if you're a 4X player. It's been years but I think I recognise the music used from Mirrors Edge Catalyst?
Starting to get close to the mass die off of civilians who where around for the Star League. Only a couple more decades and then it's gone from all living memory
Sure thing. There's thirteen episodes in this series. If I manage to stick to my schedule of one a week then the compilation should be out at the end of April.
not to be pedantic but you've been using the bio-hazard symbol for chemical weapons. the symbol I suspect would be correct here is the skull and cross bones. other than that great video.
Thank you for the correction. I'll see if I can find an appropriate warning sign online and swap them out. Edit: there is a specific icon for chemical weapons so I'll use that in future chapters.
I think the distinction matters little as chemical weapons would be primarily be used against infantry and thus are a biohazard also with biological weapons. But, perhaps some kind of poison symbol would work.
@@SvenVanDerPlank I don't want to be ungrateful, or to sound disparaging... But yes. Not by much though, if the total runtime were split over two instead of three videos they would have been a good length for me. Don't get me wrong I like short videos, that are circa 10-15 minutes long as well. I just really prefer 30ish minute installments over 20ish minute ones. To be clear though; I'm just happy to be getting good content that I enjoy. And I'm grateful for the insane amount of work that you must put into these videos. So just keep it up, in whatever way works best for you.
Not at all. Thank you for the feedback. I was trying to find a length that would allow me to consistently get one chapter out a week while still be sufficiently long to be worth doing a premiere. The whole 2ndSW is written to be about this length, but in the future I can maybe explore doing alternate longer/shorter videos each week.
@@SvenVanDerPlank thank you for reading and engaging with my feedback. Alternating longer and shorter videos would give me something to look forward to. But if the current length is what allows you to upload as often as you do, please stick with it. The fact that you bundle the videos at the end of every series, really means that the length of the individual installments matter less in the long term. Those anthology uploads are always my favorites. And getting them chapter by chapter is awesome. I mostly just don't want them to get any shorter.
Can never have enough detailed Battletech cannon... Been at it since Battledroids and appreciate your care and coverage of the original cannon. Thank you, keep up the brilliant works.
Oh hey, it's that time of the year again. When war crimes are just another means of diplomacy. And every day is WMD day. Thanks Sven. It's a really great video. The campaign progress (or lack thereof) was easy to follow.
I've been playing MechWarrior since MW2. Unfortunately never found the time to get into the lore and by the time I wanted to it seemed like a huge undertaking. Your videos are without a doubt mandatory viewing for those of us curious about the Battletech universe. I'm hooked. I've been trying to watch as many as time permits. In some cases rewatching them. Your production quality has consistently improved and so have your narration skills. Thank you so very much for your work. I always look forward to your vids. Cheers !
Thank you. Large part of the reason I started this series was to help make the extensive background history more approachable as I know it can be intimidating, so it's nice to hear it's working for people.
Not interested in vital strategic information from the most cunning of the intelligence operatives? Have you taken leave of your senses Sir. Another winner, great work as ever.
Your style is very compelling! The music, visuals, maps, and narration complement each other and bring all these videos together. I'm sure it's not easy!
Great series, just like those that preceded it. Only one small thing - when talking about chemical weapons, label for biological weapons is shown instead.
Thank you. Someone else brought up this point. That was my ignorance not knowing the precise meaning of that warning sign. I have corrected it for future episodes and for this one when I got back to render the compilation vid.
One of the best videos I've done, I think. Hope you all enjoy.
Yes, but does it include Yo' Mama?
I'll always carry Yo' Mama in my heart.
Planning my day around this. Can we get an a time length ahead of the premier?
You can always check the video description for the timestamps to see how long it is. I've written the Second Succession War series to be around 20 minutes per episode.
Interresting that the Davion´s seem to try to prevent the overly "generous" use of ABC Weapons ....
I like Paul. He actually had restraint, and his rare nukes were limited to military targets.
As far as Successor Lords go, he wasn't too evil. And pretty competent too, which is a bonus.
Aint nobody skippin nothing .... u keep right on giving out those military numbers 😊
Well if you like stats and graphs, you aren't gonna want to miss the next chapter, because that's all it is.
Press F for Ilsa Liao btw went down like a champ
Honestly, I'm more surprised that this level of exact numbers and play by play, almost week by week detail is even available. Most franchises wouldn't even bother and just say "it was a terrible war, and everyone died. Nukes were involved. The end."
Most of the old sourcebooks didn't go into this level of detail. The First and Second Succession War sourcebooks only came out within the last decade, by which point BT was over 30 years old.
@@SvenVanDerPlankAt least Battletech got into more detail at some point about this highly complex and messy events. Most franchises would kill for that level of detail
I love the world building that has always been a staple in BT. yes it has gotten better over the years but you can look at it as in universe historians finally actually making the effort to collect and publich all of the data. i mean hell, think of how many battles how many worlds, etc etc .. that is a massive project , possibly generational considering the hundreds of years of war.
the political intrigue and just dirty realism of the cannon universe makes fleshing out sorties and campaigns extremely easy and through, unfortunately most other tt game systems do not put in the effort or just go with the simple concept of the universe moves forward, and it should do so in a way that has plot and consistency and builds the world itself - and a lot of this is supported as much by the community as the current license holder - whomever that is at the time. looking at Sven, prof tex, mechfrog, mageleader, big red, and and the rest all those artists writers editors that help put it out... i mean you creators are the introductory gateway drug for new hobbyists ... thank you, sir, so very much for this series
I wonder what kind of mech Ilsa piloted at her final engagement. You would expect House leaders to rock the heaviest possible chassis, but a Liao doesn't 'feel' like they'd be in something like an Atlas or Battlemaster.
The unit she was in was mostly Marauders and Warhammers, and she wasnt identified until her body was, so probably one of those
She was in a MAD-3R.
@@SvenVanDerPlank It IS a command mech...
This lore series continues to amaze me. As someone who likes to dig into game settings I really appreciate the effort it takes to pull this off.
You're welcome, glad you're enjoying it.
Hmm, I'm still holding out hope that reason will prevail among the leadership of the Great Houses and they will avoid another destructive conflict. You can't spell, "See, now we have peace in our time," without "Inner Sphere!"
lol, just gonna preemptively drop a timestamp here before the video premieres 7:13
@@SvenVanDerPlank This does not bode well...
It's crazy to think that only a few short years after this the Golden Century begins while Comstar starts planning HOLY SHROUD shenanigans.
Chesterton starts with a "C", so belongs with "Capellan" & "Confederation" as it matches, unlike "Davion". It helps with my OCD: Opinionated Capellan Determinations.
So,... there. 😛
Your logic is undeniable.
Demeter and Dieron start with D...
I've gotten into battletech because of this channel thank you sven
Thank you. It's always really nice hearing that I've introduced someone else to the franchise since my own introduction was through another BT channel a few years back.
Another great addition Sven!
Can’t wait, your channel alongside Tex has really got me into the lore of BT. So much so that I’m starting to get interested in the table top game as well
That's great to hear. I'm really glad you've found the videos interesting.
Skipping a Sven update *with logistics and numbers* is no friend of mine!
Are you really a BattleTech fan if you haven't succumbed to the madness of numbers, graphs and tables?
@@SvenVanDerPlank I dare say NOT, good sir! One must embrace the madness, yes yes.
The depth of fluff so perfectly narrated is just amazing. Very well done!
Cheers. Glad you're still enjoying the videos, Sebastian.
the new music adds alot to this series, also loving how in depth this is
I too am really enjoying the different vibe the change in music brings.
Second Succession Wars drinking game
he mentioned another planet:
Toss chance cube for WMD usage . if lose toss take a drink, if WMD used take two
Next flip a coin for chem or nuke.... if lose toss take a drink, if WMD used take two
but honestly - i love playing tt during the Succession Wars, the variety of combat theaters and quality / quantity of combatants. it is fantastic
Play this drinking game if you want to end up dead, just like all those other millions killed in the Succession War.
@@SvenVanDerPlank EXACTLY... realism in entertainment....
I always enjoy the military break down; it gives us a good look at how bad things have become in 3025, just by seeing how drastically reduced the numbers are at the start of each war.( even though by the 3rd the numbers are really not a 'True' reflection on capabilities, since everything is damn near Lostech by that point).
Well contrary to popular belief, the lowest point is at the end of the Second Succession War. The Great Houses spend most of the third gradually rebuilding. They do lose the last couple pieces of advanced tech early on, but the militaries of 3025 are far more capable than the militaries of 2864.
See, if I was Comstar and deadset on fanning the flames, Ilsa's body going home wouldn't be in the cards. That feels far too conciliatory and respectful if I was trying to bring out the rage.
Excellent work as always sir! Can't wait for more!
Fantastic work!
Continue to love what you are doing.
Thank you, glad to hear it.
Well, not to put to fine a point on this; but this episode kind of hurt... 😉
Was bound to happen in any event.
That being said as usual great stuff Sven and the modifications made for presentation really 'pop'. Thanks again for all your hard work and I can't wait for the next!
Better get used to it. This whole war is really going to hurt.
Glad that the changes in style worked for you. I was experimenting with removing the animated icons just to make video production a little faster, but wasn't sure if people could still follow along. We'll see what the reception is.
Blue Water Naval Campaign. Cool. I like hearing about those in sci fi. Even if Brown Water skirmishing is arguably more likely to come into play for most.
OUTSTANDING sir!
That was one of the most intense fronts at the start of the Second Succession War. But as we will soon learn, things are about to get worse.
Worse for Liao, anyway. The 2ndSW is really where they cease to be one of the five main powers.
@@SvenVanDerPlankWait the stopped being considered a great power after this war ?
They are more powerful than the sixth largest faction by an order of magnitude, but they no longer have parity with any of the other Successor States by the time the 2ndSW ends. Still too powerful to discount or wipe out though. They're like Italy in the World Wars.
@@SvenVanDerPlankWoW. Normally I don’t like house Liao and the confederation but nobody deserves to became a meme like Italy was
A rather impressive effort by Ilsa Liao.
This is so much to digest. I wonder if there is an analysis on the tactics and logistics.
You can read much more on the tactics employed by the ground forces in the sourcebooks. I trim a lot of that out of the videos for time and to keep it a relatively high level overview. BattleTech rarely concerns itself with the logistics, for better or worse.
Cleaning up border gore is a perfectly valid casus belli if you're a 4X player.
It's been years but I think I recognise the music used from Mirrors Edge Catalyst?
You're correct. I was listening to some ambient mixes while writing the scripts and thought they would work well as backing tracks for the project.
The details are the best part :)
keep them coming mate
love it
Excellent!
Cheers MechFrog
Starting to get close to the mass die off of civilians who where around for the Star League. Only a couple more decades and then it's gone from all living memory
I do briefly mention that in an upcoming chapter. Soon there will be no-one alive who remembers it.
Interesting and fun as always :)
Can't wait for the rest
amazing bro I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the premiere
Don't worry, I'm just happy folks enjoy the vids regardless of whether they're watching live.
great video
Love it!
Cavtastic work👍
Late but getting good!
I'm gonna wait for the Director's Cut :3
Sure thing. There's thirteen episodes in this series. If I manage to stick to my schedule of one a week then the compilation should be out at the end of April.
For the Confedetation !!!
We brougt Chesterton home !!!
Took you long enough.
Home? It wasn't a Capellan world to begin with. And just cause it can't reject them doesn't imply consent.
god i love history lol
not to be pedantic but you've been using the bio-hazard symbol for chemical weapons. the symbol I suspect would be correct here is the skull and cross bones. other than that great video.
Thank you for the correction. I'll see if I can find an appropriate warning sign online and swap them out.
Edit: there is a specific icon for chemical weapons so I'll use that in future chapters.
@@SvenVanDerPlank unfortunately my knowledge of chemical weapons doesn't date past WW1 so the skull is all I know.
I think the distinction matters little as chemical weapons would be primarily be used against infantry and thus are a biohazard also with biological weapons. But, perhaps some kind of poison symbol would work.
I've already sorted it. I'll reserve the biohazard for the rare biological weapons.
👍
The only thing I am not interested in is shorter videos.
As in the first three chapters of this series are too short?
@@SvenVanDerPlank I don't want to be ungrateful, or to sound disparaging... But yes. Not by much though, if the total runtime were split over two instead of three videos they would have been a good length for me.
Don't get me wrong I like short videos, that are circa 10-15 minutes long as well.
I just really prefer 30ish minute installments over 20ish minute ones.
To be clear though; I'm just happy to be getting good content that I enjoy. And I'm grateful for the insane amount of work that you must put into these videos. So just keep it up, in whatever way works best for you.
Not at all. Thank you for the feedback. I was trying to find a length that would allow me to consistently get one chapter out a week while still be sufficiently long to be worth doing a premiere. The whole 2ndSW is written to be about this length, but in the future I can maybe explore doing alternate longer/shorter videos each week.
@@SvenVanDerPlank thank you for reading and engaging with my feedback. Alternating longer and shorter videos would give me something to look forward to.
But if the current length is what allows you to upload as often as you do, please stick with it. The fact that you bundle the videos at the end of every series, really means that the length of the individual installments matter less in the long term. Those anthology uploads are always my favorites. And getting them chapter by chapter is awesome. I mostly just don't want them to get any shorter.
Can never have enough detailed Battletech cannon... Been at it since Battledroids and appreciate your care and coverage of the original cannon. Thank you, keep up the brilliant works.
Oh hey, it's that time of the year again. When war crimes are just another means of diplomacy. And every day is WMD day.
Thanks Sven. It's a really great video. The campaign progress (or lack thereof) was easy to follow.
I've been playing MechWarrior since MW2. Unfortunately never found the time to get into the lore and by the time I wanted to it seemed like a huge undertaking.
Your videos are without a doubt mandatory viewing for those of us curious about the Battletech universe. I'm hooked. I've been trying to watch as many as time permits. In some cases rewatching them. Your production quality has consistently improved and so have your narration skills.
Thank you so very much for your work. I always look forward to your vids. Cheers !
Thank you. Large part of the reason I started this series was to help make the extensive background history more approachable as I know it can be intimidating, so it's nice to hear it's working for people.
Not interested in vital strategic information from the most cunning of the intelligence operatives?
Have you taken leave of your senses Sir.
Another winner, great work as ever.
I see the word auld and am immediately excited 😅
Your style is very compelling! The music, visuals, maps, and narration complement each other and bring all these videos together. I'm sure it's not easy!
Thank you. I appreciate the compliment and glad that you're finding it enjoyable.
Still loving this series and the deep dives you go into each episode
Great series, just like those that preceded it. Only one small thing - when talking about chemical weapons, label for biological weapons is shown instead.
Thank you. Someone else brought up this point. That was my ignorance not knowing the precise meaning of that warning sign. I have corrected it for future episodes and for this one when I got back to render the compilation vid.
Wow! Go Ilsa Liao!!!
Excellent as always
Cheers YourSeatAtTheTable, I'm glad you thought so.
Always great!
another beautiful Sunday with coffee and battletech😊
All your your videos are good. But i bet this a banger.
i like the details thanks
Good work Sven!
Best way to end the night! Woop! Epic as always.
Hi, I'd be very interested in the source of the intro video and music
It's an extended mix of the song "Back in the Game" by Solar Fields. The mix is done by the YT channel Gaming Ambience.
Sweet, thanks for the video. look forward to these every time @@SvenVanDerPlank