In 3025, two important events happen. First, an alliance between House Steiner (Lyran Commonwealth) and House Davion (Federated Suns) results in the destabilization of the stalemate, with the Fourth Succession War lopping a huge chunk off House Liao (Capellan Confederation) territory. Second - less important in the grand scheme of things, but more important to us - the spoiled daughter of a noble family from House Marik (the Free Worlds League) runs off with her boyfriend and their family mechs to Galatea, where the two form a mercenary outfit - the First Octopus Overlords.
The boyfriend is killed in the outfit's first battle during their first contract, but the Overlords wind up doing pretty well for themselves subsequently, racking up three dozen successful contracts (and a couple of failures/contract breaches - nobody's perfect) over the next two and a half decades - participating in the Fourth Succession War, the Ronin Wars (being one of the few mercenary units that actually fought when hired by the nascent Free Rasalhague Republic) and the War of '39. The outfit expands from its initial size of a mech company (12 BattleMechs) to a reinforced batallion (48 BattleMechs plus artillery and air support). The Overlords' consistent work earns them several friends in combined Davion/Steiner space (the Federated Commonwealth, FedCom for short) and Marik space (The Free Worlds League) as well. The Overlords even set up shop on an abandoned Capellan colony, establishing a home there.
Then came the Clan Invasion. In the early part of 3050, an aggressive and technologically advanced group of invaders emerges from the coreward Periphery (galactic north), proclaiming themselves the descendants of Kerensky and stating their intent to retake Terra and re-establish the Star League under their rule. The Clans rapidly wipe out the bandit kingdoms of the coreward Periphery, then start on the major houses, taking off huge chunks of the FedCom and Draconis Combine space, along with about half of the Free Rasalhague Republic - including its capital. Then, they come to Zoetermeer, where the Overlords are stationed.
Our company takes on the forces of Clan Jade Falcon and we hold our own, but, in the end, are left hanging out to dry by our employers. Only a desperate challenge against the enemy allows the bulk of our company to escape. Not all of us make it out - many mechwarriors (and some of our favorite mechs) are left behind on the dry, dusty surface of Zoetermeer. Several are captured by and choose to join the Jade Falcons, while our company's former commander and several others choose to retire.
The overall invasion is temporarily halted when an aerospace pilot from the Free Rasalhague Republic rams her fighter into the bridge of a clan warship, killing the invasion commander. The clans continue to hold their conquered territories, while the powers of the Inner Sphere try to scramble together enough forces to hold the new defensive lines.
Afterwards, we are invited by the Wolf's Dragoons (THE premier mercenary outfit of the Inner Sphere) to participate in a conference on their world, Outreach, to share our experiences fighting the Falcons. The leaders of the major powers agree on a temporary suspension of their bickering to commit forces or materiel towards battling the invading clans. In the end, we are offered two choices.
We could commit to taking further contracts against the Clans. In exchange, we would be able to trade in some of our many spare standard-tech mech chassis for individual pieces of upgraded equipment which we could use to improve our working mechs. We will be on retainer, able to do as we see fit, but when the time comes, we'll be expected to show up with everything we've got - we won't be fighting the clans *all* the time, but it'll happen pretty frequently as long as this anti-clan coalition lasts. This is the high stakes - high reward route: we will be paid extremely well, have the opportunity to take more clan salvage (and let's be honest, be on the cutting edge of history) but the clans are deadly opponents.
Or, we could get our mechs fixed up and go about our business, which is taking contracts across the Inner Sphere to use our BattleMechs to break things and hurt people. With the major powers of the Inner Sphere focused on the Clans, there is plenty of work for mercenaries as House units are shifted to the new front lines - said houses, mega-corporations and individuals still need to project force all across the Inner Sphere. This is the low stakes - low reward route: we will be paid a lot less well, and will be watching history from four-month old reports sent out to backwaters whenever the HPG network gets around to delivering them, but our opposition will be Inner Sphere forces. Which is not to say that things won't go pear-shaped or backstabby, or we won't ever see the clans, just that we'll be technologically even with, or superior, to most of our opposition.
[] No Guts, No Galaxy - Fight alongside the Inner Sphere's best against an implacable and deadly foe. Become a part of galactic history, or die trying.
[] Mediocrity in Perpetuity - Take reliable work in the galactic backwaters. Watch history being made by someone else, from a distance.
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Welcome to the 1st Octopus Overlords, a mercenary company that's made a (relatively small) mark on some parts of the Inner Sphere ("I'm doing my part, too!"). This is a direct continuation of Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek. The format is pretty straight-forward - we'll pick a contract from some options, travel to our destination, where we'll (likely) resolve a series of tactical battles. The story is told mostly in the form of battle reports resolved via MegaMek (https://www.megamek.org, full disclosure, I'm one of the devs), with the campaign logistics ("SpreadSheetTech") handled by MekHQ. Which is just as well, no way I'd be able to keep track of all that stuff manually. The audience will be asked to provide input on tactical, strategic and personal matters. If you've claimed a character, you'll have "override" privileges for decisions by that character.
Other than choosing the difficulty level, anybody who wants their characters from the previous quest to remain with the company should speak up. Or, opt to let your character retire to bring in new blood - the cash out payments are pretty good. Additionally, anyone else who wants to claim a spot on the dropship(s) can do so. The mechwarriors who have survived to this point and chosen to remain with the company so far are listed in the TO&E below, with previously claimed characters being bolded. If you pick a currently dispossessed mechwarrior (aka one without a mech), or if you want to swap mechs, this is a great time to do it. And hell, if you want to take an aerospace fighter pilot, they get plenty of air time, too. Apologies if your chosen character doesn't necessarily get too much air time or buys the farm the first mission out, that's just how it goes out here.
If you're not sure what a particular mech does, sarna.net is a great resource. Some of the mechs have had minor customizations done - mostly trimming down MG ammo to half a ton or rotating rear-facing weapons forward.
Current roster: