iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 19/06/2026

I saw this and thought it was the cat with one paw raised. Felines on the brain, I guess 😂

close-up with what might pass for the silhouette of a cat

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 04/12/2025

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy.

A child labeled "IGNORANCE IS BLISS PEOPLE" flees from a goose labeled "Philosophers with questions".

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 18/10/2025

You probably got it right the first time, but just in case the T-Bolt's not enough...

The "Iron Cheetah" 'mech from BattleTech. It's a big bird-legged walker bristling with weapons. This particular image shows a team of battle-armored infantry perched on the 'mech and using it as a fire platform.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 28/09/2025

Happy Tentativa Day to all those who celebrate - and if you're a BattleTech fan reading this, why wouldn't you be celebrating?

Drawing of the BattleTech character David Santos from "Historical: Reunification War". Dave's a clean-shaven middle-aged dude with a crew cut. He looks pensive, as though he knows what happens after Tentativa.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 31/08/2025

There's also the post-MW5:C variant. Please use it responsibly.

BattleTech-ified Sickos meme. MechWarrior 5: Clans villain Cordera Perez looks out at us from the controls of his Timber Wolf. He happily says, "Aff... ha ha ha... AFF!"

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 06/08/2025

Janos Marik's kitschy charm and very OK priorities (such as celebrating the year 3000 with a giant party instead of a war) always make me smile. One of the least-bad House Lords, for sure.

Black-and-white sketch of Janos and Hilda Marik from House Marik (The Free Worlds League) in the style of a holiday photo. They're a middle-aged couple wearing "future of the 1980s" getup. Hilda is smiling so hard you could check her molars for cavities. Janos looks like his feet hurt.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 31/07/2025

After some testing and a bit of grumbling about compromises between MekHQ viability & lore fidelity, I'm leaning towards starting with militarized industrialmechs.

Screen snip from MegaMek (a BattleTech emulator). The partial shot shows a Table of Organization and Equipment from within the MekHQ campaign manager.
Details: The Company shown is the 1st Somerset Volunteers, under the command of Supervisor Knut Espeland. The Volunteers have a Sphinx symbol and a combined Battle Value of 8720. They field four Platoons, each with four Units. 1st and 2nd Platoon each mass 280 tons and are marked with the Heavy Mech symbol. 3rd and 4th Platoons each mass 60 tons and are marked with the Light Mech symbol.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 27/07/2025

An issue discussing some entirely happy BattleTech events should be with subscribers in about eight hours. (And yes, there will be talk about travel times.)

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 25/07/2025

Recently I've been writing a lot of newsletters about how bad things can be in the Inner Sphere and this week will not be that different.

Snip from the MekHQ app showing a BattleTech star map. We're zoomed in on the Free Worlds League - Capellan Confederation border near Andurien. The world Tintavel is highlighted.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 19/07/2025

I'm not sure if anyone told them about my crazy plans, but this is quite a "hold my beer" from the MegaMek developers.

Snippet of Pull Requests from the MekHQ subpage on GitHub. A list of six Improvements:
Implemented Major Psychosis - Hysteria
Implemented Clinical Insanity - Berserker
Implemented Clinical Insanity - Catatonia
Implemented Clinical Insanity - Regression
Implemented Minor Psychosis - Clinical Paranoia
Implemented Minor Psychosis - Confusion

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 18/07/2025

Modding MegaMek's universe data turned out to be easier than expected. Expect a moderate-to-high chance of Historical BattleTech shenanigans.

Partial screenshot from MegaMek's MekHQ application. The interstellar map can be seen. The Coreward third of the Lyran Commonwealth is in the bottom half of the image with a thin slice of Draconis Combine worlds along the edge. Wrapped around the edge of the Commonwealth are the worlds of the Rim Worlds Republic, some in the Rim's olive, others in pink, most split between the two colors.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 14/07/2025

I think it's this one. Though to be fair to Purple Birb, they're pretty good at mending their fences.

Scenes from "The Simpsons". In panel 1, Groundskeeper Willie stares out the winder and mutters, "It won't last. Brothers and sisters are natural enemies, like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Argh! Damn Scots! They've ruined Scotland!" In panel two, Principal Skinner mildly observes from his desk, "You Scots sure are a contentious people." In Panel 3, Groundskeeper Willie looms over Skinner's desk and roars, "You just made an enemy for life!"

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 10/07/2025

Battletech family - who is your favorite Clan? Mine is Smoke Jaguar for a whole lot of reasons. The main one is that I very much enjoyed the puzzle of using the statements of these people's enemies to work out what they were really like.

Emblem of Clan Smoke Jaguar from BattleTech. It's a stylized silhouette of a powerful cat, leaping forward with its teeth and claws bared.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 01/07/2025

I like the late contract #MegaMek battles but they do get a bit samey. This gif could be any of four that I fought in the last month of the first job - skirmish with opfor until the employer shows up, then provide fire support while they finish the fight.

Automatically generated gif showing the shape of a MegaMek (emulated BattleTech) battle on a hex map with a long north-south axis. The friendlies are denoted by green rectangles and start in the south, meeting opfor (red rectangles) in the south-center region before a large allied force (blue rectangles) arrive to carry the day.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 30/06/2025

Last week I cursed my BattleTech rolls by talking trash about James McKenna. This week I turned my scorn on House Davion and there were results. #MegaMek

Partial screencap from MegaMek, a BattleTech tabletop emulator. OpFor's Rifleman takes an SRM6 and Medium Laser to its paper-thin rear armor and suffers catastrophic engine damage.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 23/06/2025

So last week I decided to badmouth James McKenna. (I'm aware that this rules out ever having a hot streak of luck in BattleTech again.) Web version of the letter is at: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/hegemony?r...

Black-and-white drawing of the BattleTech character James McKenna. He's presented as a lantern-jawed blond man just entering middle age. McKenna seems to be deep in thought, as though contemplating a coup against a tottering democracy.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 18/06/2025

It's a shame that by the time the storyline was picking up in the 3020s we only had old & busted Janos - just a shadow of the guy who once declared a year-long party for his whole realm.

Black & white image of Hilda and Janos Marik, characters from the BattleTech franchise. The two are posing for a holiday snap in front of an alpine landscape. They're a middle-aged couple wearing sunglasses and "future of the 1980s" outfits. Janos is a bearded man with light hair. He might not be having a good time. Hilda is a tall brunette woman smiling so hard you can inspect her molars.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 12/05/2025

This week's newsletter went out to subscribers yesterday, but the web version's live now at: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-d...

A version of the "Apology Form" exploitable for Khan Ian Hawker, a BattleTech character. Reasons for behavior are; (1) I was jealous of Khan Ian, (2) I did not study his codex, (3) Living in the degenerate atmosphere of late-stage capitalism has conditioned me into a slavish adoration of parasitic merchants, (4) ChatterWeb convinced me that everything was his fault, and (5) My Transit Disorientation Syndrome was acting up. The bottom line tick box is "I will hereby respect Ian Hawker and I will NOT talk down on the savior of Clan Diamond Shark"

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 10/05/2025

One of these men is the greatest hero of his Clan, a man whose skill and sacrifice saved his people from a dark fate - and the other guy's Aidan Pryde. This week's newsletter will be with free subscribers tomorrow & it's already live for supporters old & new at: ko-fi.com/post/Tukayyi...

Star Colonel Aidan Pryde from BattleTech. He's a hard-faced man with dark hair and dark eyes. Aidan wears an armored mechwarrior vest and seems to be standing inside a hive built by giant bees. (Or he's in front of a hex map, you decide.)

Khan Ian Hawker from BattleTech. Khan Ian is a man just hitting middle age with a sharp nose and short blond hair. He's wearing what looks like a dress uniform with a high collar. Ian's looking out at us like we might be lunch.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 06/05/2025

Me: "OK, I have some time to focus on reading this stuff about Khan Ian Hawker and-" My brain: "Dia-mond Shark doo doo duh-doo duh-doo doo" (repeats endlessly) 😬

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 05/05/2025

Big Red was mostly right. The Nova Cat plan was kinda crazy - but the inconsistent Khan among these three was our boy Bjorn. If you haven't seen the newsletter yet, the free web version's at: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-s...

Khan Bjorn Jorgensson from BattleTech, as portrayed in Era Report 3052. Bjorn's young and new on the job as Ghost Bear Khan at this point. He's a lantern-jawed dude with a widow's peak.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 03/05/2025

This week's newsletter discusses the strategies of the first three Khans on Tukayyid. 1 kinda crazy, 1 inconsistent, 1 unlucky - but which is which? Free subscribers will get this issue via Substack in about 26 hours. Early access for supporters is already live at ko-fi.com/post/Tukayyi...

Khan Lincoln Osis from BattleTech. He's a thick-necked man with a short mohawk and a furrowed brow.

Khan Severen Leroux from BattleTech. An old man wearing a high-tech aerospace pilot suit.

Khan Bjorn Jorgensson from BattleTech. A strong young man with a widow's peak.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 30/04/2025

Me, a humble fan trying to understand Tukayyid: "Hey Nova Cat, wh-" Clan Nova Cat: "AAAHHHHH!"

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 29/04/2025

The anniversaries of the Battle of Tukayyid are almost upon us. This week's newsletter discussed the challenge to battle and looked at the Clans' bidding strategies in the context of their supply situations. secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-t...

Anastasius Focht, a character from BattleTech. He's a lean old white dude with long hair. He has an eyepatch on his right eye, the other is blue-grey. He's wearing a white-grey ComGuards uniform with a high collar and stares out over the viewer's left shoulder.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 23/04/2025

What else was I going to talk about on Smoke Jaguar week? The most recent issue of my newsletter could have been about the Fidelis - but instead it discussed the atrocity at Turtle Bay: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/on-the-edo...

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 16/04/2025

I am once again suggesting that Ulric Kerensky may not have been such a nice guy after all. (Great, fascinating character though.) The latest issue of my newsletter discussed Ulric's elevation to ilKhan: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/the-electi...

Victor Manuel Leza Moreno's illustration of Ulric Kerensky from BattleTech: Legends. Ulric is a middle-aged white dude with sunken blue eyes, short grey hair and a circle beard. He wears a grey Clan Wolf uniform (easily identified by the insignia on the right breast). His expression is impassive but he's probably fitting us into one of his complicated plots.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 12/04/2025

Just some mild #MegaMek therapy against the bot - I'm teaching myself that my luck might be streaky, but it's not all bad.

A Direct Blow from a Clan Large Pulse Laser takes the head off one of OpFor's Stormcrows.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 05/04/2025

This week's newsletter honored Elizabeth Hazen's birthday by discussing her legend. It's already with subscribers but the web version's live at: secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/the-birthd...

Margarita Bourkova's depiction of Elizabeth Hazen from BattleTech: Legends. Hazen is a white woman with brown eyes and dark, braided hair. She wears the green uniform and yellow sash of the Royal Black Watch.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 02/04/2025

The new splash art inspired me to dust off MekHQ and get into some trouble. Changes to the StratCon campaign system make mission success a bit less likely (especially in the early going), but I think my company has a nice record now.

Snip from MekHQ (fan BattleTech game) showing the basics of the "Black Flag" Mercenary Company. They're a Veteran unit with a 69% Mission Success Rate.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 08/02/2025

Bit of a busy week but the next issue continues the Jaguar vs. Wolf theme through the leadup to Operation REVIVAL. Free subscribers will be receiving it in Smoke Jaguar hours (4.20pm UTC, about 14 hours from now).

The BattleTech character Leo Showers as depicted in Era Report 3052.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 01/02/2025

The next issue of the Secrets of #BattleTech newsletter will be e-mailed out to free subscribers at 4:20pm UTC (in about 12 hours). Snarlie insisted that this is an "important time to Smoke Jaguar everyday". I don't know what that means, but I try not to argue with Smoke Jaguars.

Emblem of Clan Smoke Jaguar, a faction in the BattleTech universe. A powerful cat springs forward with its teeth bared and claws ready to strike. It looks happy to me.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 30/01/2025

How you feel is how you feel, but here's the skeet where you raised lack of empathy as one of the sociopathic traits that Nicholas exhibits. Surely it's reasonable for me to respond to that?

Capture of user Bick_Donald @bickdonald.bksy.social insisting that "he" (Nicholas Kerensky) has "a number of traits of a sociopath [including] lack of empathy".

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 01/01/2025

We're now closer to the times of Technical Readout: 3025 than we are to the times of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, last of the Ottonian dynasty. I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

Depiction of the crowning of Henry II as Holy Roman Emperor. The Monarch is seated, holding an orb and sword. Clergymen crown him while nobles look on.

Front cover of the BattleTech sourcebook, Technical Readout 3025. A Marauder BattleMech is shown going from blueprints (on the left hand side) to war machine (walking towards the right hand side).

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 28/12/2024

Push is still one of my least-used physical attacks but I'm getting better at choosing it in appropriate moments. #MegaMek #BattleTech

MegaMek summary of a physical attack. A Victor VTR-9B performs a push attack on a Warhammer WHM-6R. The already-damaged victim falls into Depth 2 Water, causing catastrophic flooding of all of its torso compartments, as well as the left arm and leg.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 18/12/2024

Last week's newsletter talked Clan Widowmaker, generally seen as the villains of the early Clan years. I wanted to see if there was reason to rethink the "ew, spider!" reaction these folks get. Link in the quoted post. #BattleTech #MechWarrior

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 18/12/2024

The #MegaMek team have added auto-resolve & improved logistics management to their development builds. What a great excuse to throw out my old saves & make new stories. Which era should I start in this time? (Last two saves were 1st Succession War and 3040s.)

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 05/12/2024

With the amount of hype the pictured post is getting, there's clearly a lot of enthusiasm for Clan Wolverine - but not a lot of knowledge about what happened to them after they reached the Inner Sphere. Thankfully, last week's newsletter (link in the quote) was about the fate of the Minnesota Tribe

Capture of a post from @btnotis.bsky.social hyping up Clan Wolverine as the best faction of BattleTech.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 02/12/2024

If you see this, QRS with the BattleMech you'd pilot! Real talk: I'm not good at split-second decisions and it would be a mistake to put me in a 'mech. Standing around the holotank helping to piece together the enemy's intentions, though? That's something I can do.

Mobile Headquarters from BattleTech's Technical Readout 3025. It's an armored truck pulling two trailers - the first with communications gear jutting from its roof.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 01/12/2024

Anyone up for some #BattleTech trivia? Take your best guess at this one: Operation MUSCLEBOUND developed the myomer bundle technology which made 'mechs viable. In which city did the project take place?

BW sketch illustration of Myomer research. Two members of the research team stand in the foreground, seemingly in disagreement. Behind them, the myomer bundle has been attached to gym equipment and is ready to be tested. Signs reading "DANGER" and "MYOMER RESEARCH AREA | STAND CLEAR" are on the back wall.

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Secrets of BattleTech @secretsofbattletech.substack.com · 30/11/2024

Most of the time I don't really understand the Phoenix Hawk IIC being an Assault 'mech - but then there are those moments when I find myself wishing for more Phoenix Hawk to love... #BattleTech #MegaMek

Text snip from MegaMek showing a Phoenix Hawk successfully kicking a Wyvern in the head. The 45t mek's foot does 9 damage, enough to strip off the victim's armor but not enough for a critical hit roll.

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