When I originally pitched for Technical Readout: Golden Century, I envisioned the TRO as a new launch platform to springboard exploration into one of the last and least developed BattleTech eras: the Clans’ Golden Century. Centered around the Golden Century TRO, I conceived a basic plan to create a series of small supplemental Turning Points, Spotlight Ons, and even a few Touring the Stars. The supplementals would focus heavily on Golden Age content to help bring the era to life, while providing affordable, easy-to-use, electronic-only products that players could dive right into. The idea never bore fruit, but could still happen.
That said, I selected the Clans’ Golden Century for the TRO because it’s a dynamic period in BattleTech history, especially if you’re a fan of the Clans. Besides the excitement of accelerated technological development, the Golden Century is also when each Clan developed their unique identity and culture.
In BattleTech lore, this is kinda a big deal.
Also during the Golden Century, many of BattleTech‘s greatest rivalries were born: Jade Falcon v. Wolf, Steel Viper v. Raven, Mandrill v. Mandrill, Hell’s Horse v. Ghost Bear, and more. Their creation splashed across many of BattleTech‘s most beloved novels, sourcebooks, and plot lines. The adversarial relationships born in the Golden Century played out center stage during the Wars of Reaving narrative, with many resolving in violent ways.
Development of a Technical Readout is a deep dive into published lore…
Development of a Technical Readout is a deep dive into BattleTech’s published lore and its vast product library for unit and design references. It involves a lot of list building, cross-comparison, and decision making. Some of the TRO units in the book were easy to identify and include. TRO 3060 and TRO 3067 were two particularly helpful publications; each included references to Golden Century machines. But one-off unit references are often found in single products or novels, and nowhere else. So a lot of sleuthing is required. There are some “deep cuts” in this Technical Readout, and I’m hoping readers were surprised and happy to see something like the Pella ASF, which is only mentioned in a single BattleCorps short story written by Phil Lee.
Organizing the research data into a shared spreadsheet for tracking key data points included items like manufacture, weight, type, and date of introduction. This allowed me to organize the book’s Table of Contents, and assign writer tracking. One of the (many) goals I set for this Technical Readout was to present a solid mix of unit types and Clans
But I knew before starting my research that unit mix and representation were not going to be easy. For much of BattleTech’s publishing history, the focus has always been on a handful of the twenty original Clans. Moreover, the BattleMech, which is the king of the universe and the tabletop game, is revered amongst the Clans. This was going to be an uphill battle. And my first research pass confirmed it: The data charts were heavily skewed in favor of ’Mechs, Clan Wolf and Jade Falcon. If I wanted a mix of units and Clans I’d have to create the representation myself.
I started the process by identifying gaps in weight classes, dates, and where Clan representation was lacking. I then graded each Clan by how many of their units were represented in other products. Granted, Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon were always going to be heavily represented in TRO: Golden Century. There was just no way around them, but where I could I wanted others. And where I couldn’t add the other Clans, I looked for other ways to get them into the book.
To find entry points I looked for plausible selections that could fit the identified gaps while avoiding the two caveats I was saddled with: One, the number of total book entries, and two, new art. My new art budget was already assigned to units I predetermined in the initial product pitch, so new art was out of the question, but as a digital-only product, I had some wiggle room in determining the ultimate number of unit entries included in the TRO. Unfortunately, it was readily apparent the unit gaps were huge and numerous. There was absolutely no way I was going to fill half of them with full-length descriptions.
The solution was a compromise fix I first saw in TRO: 3075: small descriptions for Royal SLDF units. It was a natural solution and easily implemented. Not only could I cram dozens of variant designs onto a full spread, but I could distribute some Clan representation while doing it. Even Clan Widowmaker got a few lines in the book. This is the main reason why TRO: Golden Century has the early Clan innovations section with prototype equipment. It offered a handful of opportunities for other Clans and has the nice secondary benefit of giving players new units for playing in the earliest days of the Clans.
While the Golden Century TRO never did gain enough traction to launch all of the semi-planned supporting products, it was the first new full-sized TRO published by CGL for five years (the same gap between my last post!). It’s a book I’m particularly proud of because it reminded players that the Wars of Reaving were rooted deep in BattleTech history and lore, plus it has warships! Lastly, TRO: Golden Century reminds me that good research and creative flexibility are key components to successful product development.
Until next time!