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Technology in the BattleTech universe is quite diverse, including:
BattleMechs
Battlemechs from cover of the book The Legend of the Jade Phoenix by Robert Thurston Battlemechs from cover of the book Patriots and Tyrants by Loren L. Coleman Battlemechs from cover of the book Storms of Fate by Loren L. Coleman A BattleMech (Mech), in the science fiction of BattleTech, is a war robot ~10-12meters in height, and up to 100 tons in weight. These vehicles are powered by fusion reactors and are capable of fighting underwater and in outer space.
BattleMechs use a muscle-like artificial fiber called myomer to articulate their legs to move. Powerful gyroscopes provide stability, which the pilot controls with a neurohelmet, which effectively links the 'Mech's computer into the pilot's nerve system. The movement of a 'Mech is controlled by joystick
BattleMechs are armed with a frightening array of weaponry, including lasers, short, medium, and long range missiles(Interestingly, BattleTech missiles are far shorter ranged than their modern counterparts. This was explained as guidance technology being lost over time, through the Succession Wars.), machine guns, autocannons, gauss rifles, flamers, particle projection cannons (PPCs) and the 'Mech's own arms and legs. A single 'Mech can easily destroy a city. A BattleMech's only true rival is another 'Mech - artillery, aircraft, and tanks are nearly worthless against them without BattleMech support or a strong advantage in numbers.
The first battlemech ever developed was the Mackie, a well described 100 ton box with legs. Developed in 2439 by the Terran Hegemony, first deployed in 2443, and produced throughout the rest of the Inner Sphere after the BattleMech construction plans were stolen in 2455.
Rarely used configurations of battlemechs are the Quad and LAM (Land Air Mech).
The Quad mech was quadrupedal mech, notably the Goliath and Scorpion mechs.
The LAM had the ability to transform into a conventional aircraft and revert back to a BattleMech mode, enabling it to quickly travese great distances in shorter time, however its weight limit, real life legal conflicts with Harmony Gold(The LAMs, as well as several other Mechs, were based heavily off of mecha designs from Robotech/Macross and other anime series') would end its official existence within the universe. The Wasp, Stinger and Phoenix Hawk were famous LAMs. This information is currently being re-evaluated.
A flying 'Mech was made as add-on to Combat Flight Simulator 2, copyright of Microsoft, by a third party. It was called the Stormcrow, and had two wings projecting from th etop. It is capable of vertical take-off and landing.
The Quad mech, though much maligned, has experienced a bit of a renaissance in the years after 3060. With the rediscovery of more efficent weapons, internal structure, and armor, the quad mech's stability and ability to carry heavy weapons has much improved. However, the stigma associated with the general design still lingers, leaving the normal dual-legged battlemech the vastly more common 'mech.
Dropships While Jumpships move units and other hardware from star system to star system, it falls to the dropships to move them inside the system. Almost all dropships are capable of landing on a planet, and they are the primary method of moving goods and armies.
Dropships range in mass from 3000 tons (the smallest attack dropship) to well over 100,000 tons (massive freighters). And all sizes in between.
They are based around two basic hullforms, aerodynamic (resembling that of the space shuttle) and spherical. The aerodynamic ones are generally smaller than spherical ones, but are capable of at least crash-landing. The spheroid ones have all the aerodynamics of a rock in flight, and must rely on brute drive strength to remain in flight.
The most common dropships in millitary service are the spheroid "Union" and "Overlord" class dropships.
HyperPulse Generators The HyperPulse Generator (HPG) arrays are based upon numerous worlds all across the Inner Sphere. Comstar owns and operates these, collecting payment from those who wish to transmit messages. The FTL devices are the primary means of interstellar communications, and ComStar has a virtual monopoly on their usage.
However, following the schism of ComStar after the battle of Tuukayid, HPG technology has slowly begun disseminating to the members of the inner sphere, with ComStar itself accepting money to help fund the creation of new stations.
As transmission is expensive, messages are frequently bundled into batches of hundreds, sent simultaneously. So, while the transmission of HPG array messages is done nearly instantaneously, it may be days, weeks, or months before a message is sent; one can pay a higher fee in order for "priority service". The maximum range of an HPG pulse is 50 light-years.
Transmission stations are categorized by a rating, either A, B, C, or D. Most stations in the inner sphere are class A or B stations, meaning that they transmit regularily and have high volume capacity. Class C and D stations are more often seen in the perhipery or in backwater worlds, and they only transmit once a week or month, sending a few batched messages.
The transmission itself is a variant of the jumpdrive. The system effectively allows a radio transmission to travel through hyperspace for distances of fifty light years. The transmission cannot be bidirectional due to the manner that jumpspace works, but if two HPGs are used to establish a connection, you can use one to recieve transmissions and the other to send them, effectively bootstrapping a bi-directional comm system. This was first seen in the years leading up to the FedCom civil war, when the Archon subsidized construction of more HPG centers to allow real-time communications between New Avalon and Thakad, effectively across the entire inner sphere.
Jumpships Jumpships are what make interstellar exploration, colonization, and warfare possible. Dropships dock to the Jumpship, which is almost always positioned either at the nadir or zenith points above or below a star, where gravitational influence is negligible and FTL travel is possible. To jump, the Jumpship calculates the correct course and field strength and fires the Kearny-Fuschida drive, which instantly transports the ship to the projected star system, up to 30 light-years away.
It is possible for a jumpship to use "pirate points" which are closer to the planets--and are caused as the planetary bodies of a system orbit, cancelling one another's gravitational influence--but these points are much harder to navigate to compared to the traditional nadir and zenith points around a star.
Instantaneous interstellar travel would make warfare extremely volatile were it not for the limitations of the Kearny-Fuschida FTL drive. The jump, or teleportation of a very large mass, cannot be triggered at will. It must be preceded by a number of days spent collecting copious amounts of energy from the nearby star, which is done by means of a solar collector with a span of many miles. The immense energy is accumulated in storage pools/banks/batteries/capacitors, and dumped into the drive system wholesale to achieve the jump.
During the time of the Star League and before, there were massive armed and armored jumpships called WarShips. At the height of Star League, fleets of thousands of these behemoths roamed the stars, enforcing the League's will. The majority of these, and those belonging to the Inner Sphere's Houses, were destroyed during the fall of the League, or disappeared along with Aleksandr Kerensky and the SLDF, and most of their shipyards were heavily damaged or obliterated. It has only been in the later part of the 31st century that technology has risen to a point where building fleets of new WarShips is even somewhat feasible.
OmniMechs OmniMechs Their weaponry and equipment may be mounted and unmounted in a modular manner, allowing MechWarriors to customize their war machine's loadouts to emphasise their own skills and environmental considerations making them all the deadlier foes to face in battle. Another part of the omnimech that makes it so powerful in warfare is because the fact it is modular the logistics are vastly simplified allowing for quick repairs and re-equips from any other mech. The omnimech was originally based off of the Mercury battlemech and is simply an evolution of that style of design. During the 3060's the Inner Sphere began deploying their own omnimechs which were first reverse-enginnered copies of captured clan designs and eventually made into their own types.
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