Thematic Map of BattleTech

I don't remember how many years ago I threw this map together. Last week(?) I tried to comment the most important fixes (my full list wasn't handy) onto that 2013 post but blogspot ate the comment. Trying again now after seeing these guys. 

FASAnomics 101

[Crude summary copy-pasted from conversation elsewhere. Still unable to blog properly.]

Below Thirty Meters in BattleTech

It's a pity that infantry, battle armor, protomechs and support vehicles don't have a common way to figure engines, control weights and so on. Covering the same small design space four different times seems like a bigger hassle than patching 'Mech and vehicle construction to cover dinoriders, rocketeers, exoskeleton squads, individual missiles and the shopping carts from the Ironhold Safeway.

I mention shopping carts because the cargo and trailer rules aren't great either. Improving them would probably negate the need for "trains" to be constructed as a separate unit type.

Can't fault the writers for having fun devising new systems, nor the fans for having fun exploring and testing them; but... look, the point of "support vehicles" is to have archaic tanks for 'Mechs to shoot at and soft civilian vehicles for RPG characters to shoot at, and... isn't that handled by making armor less effective per ton? Are separate "penetration" and "BAR" values really needed, or can that be handled with range, damage and armor factor?

A Note on Scale and Realism

"Secret Project" - BattleTech faction intros

After making this guide for new customers a few years ago, I decided that since I was doing a lot of factional research anyway to figure out manufacturing rates, I may as well create a beginner's guide to BattleTech's factions.

But what are factions even for in BattleTech? They have no gameplay effect; they don't constrain force composition; the product line isn't organized by faction; they aren't being used to organize paint schemes; and they do little for mid-game banter.

I think originally, and at their most basic, the factions exist as a way of communicating the scope of the setting and how games fit within that scope; then, as flavor text is added, they create the illusion of ongoing campaigns for the customer to aspire to. That, then, should be my goal: to give each faction all the trappings of a functional campaign environment, with as many hooks and tools to that end as possible, without assuming any particular rules or scale.

Don't know when or if I'll get around to finishing this, so, here's what I'm picturing: