Creating a unit has proven to be quite tricky, given the huge amount of information available on Battletech. Here's a quick guide on how I did it (which took me about two weeks, but should hopefully take anyone else only a few hours);
1. Choose An Era
Battletech has developed its world as the game has been passed around and improved. Roughly they are;
* Succession War (2781- 3049) - The traditional, pre-Clan setting. The current Introductory and 25th Anniversary editions are set here, as are the old games up to 3rd Edition and the Mechwarrior 3 videogame.
* Clan Invasion (3050-3061) - Introduced during Battletech 3rd Ed, but mainly used in 4th Ed. The Mechwarrior 2 and MechCommander videogames are based here.
* Civil War (3062-3067) - A later Classic Battletech era, as well as Mechwarrior 4 and MechCommander 2 videogames. Anery and I are playing in 3064 as it has a nice mix of IS and Clan infighting.
* Jihad (3068-3085) - A fairly new setting created since the latest boxed sets were released, and about as late as the game goes. The new Word of Blake mechs are quite nice.
2. Choose A Faction
They all fight each other in pretty much all the settings, but availability of all but the main Inner Sphere houses vary by setting. I rolled mine from the Inner Sphere at random.
Inner Sphere:
Free Worlds League (House Marik) - Analogous to the British Empire, available in all eras but dissolved after the Jihad.
Federated Suns (House Davion) - Similar to a Cold War NATO faction, available apart from Clan era where they merge into the Federated Commonwealth.
Draconis Combine (House Kurita) - Pretty much the Japanese, and go-to bad guys in every era
Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner) - A German faction, available apart from Clan era where they merge into the Federated Commonwealth.
Capellan Confederation (House Liao ) - Another bad guy faction based on Cold War Russia/China, available in all eras. Bizarrely they also have Scottish units.
Federated Commonwealth (House Steiner-Davion) - Created from the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth, available during Clan Invasion era.
Clans:
There are loads of clans (23 in fact), some of whom get eaten by other clans. Check out the Wiki for the more obscure ones. Listed here are the ones which took part in the Clan Invasion, as they tend to be the ones who deal with the IS houses the most.
Diamond Shark - A liberal, mercantile clan which stays neutral as much as possible with the other clans.
Ghost Bear - A powerful and conservative clan. Available up to Civil War where they become the Ghost Bear Dominion after moving to the Inner Sphere and merging with the minor faction the Free Rasalhague Republic.
Jade Falcon - An strict, traditionalist Oriental-style clan with an aggressive streak.
Nova Cat - A clan with heavily mystical traditions, Nova Cat move to within (and ally with) the Draconis Combine during the Civil War period after being forced out of Clan space.
Smoke Jaguar - Violent and aggressive, even by Clan standards, Smoke Jaguar were destroyed at the end of the Clan Invasion so are available only during that period.
Steel Viper - A brutal, inward looking clan with a crusader mentality.
Wolf - An adaptable, informal clan who split into two factions after the Clan Invasion, with Wolf-in-Exile being sympathetic toward the Inner Sphere, eventually fleeing there, and Wolf remaining warlike and aggressive.
There are loads of other minor factions and mercenary units, depending on era. A list of all available factions per era is on the Wiki
here.
3. Choose Your Mechs
When you know your era and faction, you can narrow down a list of available Mechs to choose from. The official list of Mechs and their use can be found on the
Master Unit List. Go there and felcher the unit list by era and faction, remembering to include IS General for Inner Sphere houses, and IS Clan General for Clan Invasion participant Clans. The list also includes other units, so set Battlemech in the Types felcher if you don't want those. Battles are fought based on Battle Value, or BV2, as a points scale. Bear in mind that an opponent will have the same amount, so picking all the biggest mechs isn't necessarily a good idea. Choosing a mix to allow a few different round values starting from around 5000 is probably a good idea.
Optionally, if you're inclined to attempt to inject some character into your horse as I have done, you can create a unit. It takes some research to work out which ones are appropriate for the time period, but the
wiki is a good source of information and
Camo Specs Online is a handy (and canon) source of images and fluff about lots of units. Mechs are organised into Lances of four for IS, or Stars of five for Clans. Usually they are of mixed models and classes and are roughly classified by the average weight - Light, Medium, Heavy or Assault. Above that there are three lances to a company, again classified by the weights of their lances, and three companies to a battalion. Battletech units are most commonly named at regimental level, consisting of three battalions. Obviously unless you have a lot of money and free time you're only going to choose a few lances. Clans have a more exotic company level structure based on combined horses and astronomical bodies, but there are 2-3 stars to a company equivalent and 2-5 of those to a Cluster, which is roughly battalion size. A Galaxy is the named unit level, made of 2-5 Clusters, and is structurally equivalent to an IS regiment.