Fanfic / This Was Easier on the Tabletop

This was easier on the Tabletop is a BattleTech Self-Insert Fic written by Chris O'Farrell, wherein Aussie John Smith finds himself copy-pasted into the Battletech universe due to an HPG experiment at the New Avalon Institute of Science in 3025.

After spending several months getting used to the fact he's now stuck in a universe he previously believed was fiction and is never going to see his home and family again, a meeting with the Federated Suns' Femme Fatale Spy Kym Sorenson convinces him that since he has the ability to Set Right What's Going To Go Wrong, then he's damn well going to put his hand on the scales of history and give the Federated Commonwealth a better chance at survival.

Fortunately for him and everyone else (except the bad guys, of course), his computer tablet made the transit with him, and it has several Battletech novels loaded on it; novels detailing things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass. Smith unlocks the tablet and gives it to Kym as proof of what he knows, which soon ends up in the hands of the two people best positioned to use this knowledge for good:

First Prince Hanse Davion and Archon Katrina Steiner.

Things spiral from there, but one thing's for certain; the Draconis Combine, Capellan Confederation, ComStar, and the Clans will never know what hit them.

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This fanfic provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ace Custom: For his first Battlemech, Smith is given a customized MAD-2R 'Marauder' by Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner. This is already an Ace Custom as its a limited Command Mech from the Star League Defense Forces Royal Command with a LOT of non-standard equipment 'under the hood', but it is improved with additional weapons refit onto it by the New Avalon Institute of Science. It is a priceless, irreplaceable Mech pretty much any Mechwarrior in the Inner Sphere would sell his mother to get their hands on. Too bad he sacrifices it to blow up Yorinaga Kurita to save Hanse Davion.
• Armor-Piercing Question: John revealing that the Federated Suns knows about the Clans to Wolf's Dragoon's combines this and Wham Line for a thermonuclear Armor-Piercing Question:
  John: “May I thus conclude that you believe your final mission orders from Khan Kerlin Ward were not lawful orders?”
  Dragoons: Stunned Silence
• Asshole Victim: Smith's meta-knowledge is given to the Inner Sphere's two "good guy" factions, who don't hesitate to use it in the Forever War they're fighting in the hopes that they can actually bring peace. Naturally, this results in many unpleasant people getting their just desserts.
  • On a grand scale, despite the fact that a lot of people end up getting hurt and/or killed in the process, Smith doesn't lose much sleep over helping the Federated Commonwealth conquer the shit out of the Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine because he thinks the universe is better off without them. Considering they're both repressive, authoritarian governments with long histories of general human rights abuses and multiple atrocities (especially the Combine!), he's right.
  • Com Star is beginning to qualify for this trope, since the emergence of the Federated Commonwealth and their acquisition of the Helm cache is basically their worst nightmare come true, and they're one of the organizations scheduled for Hanse's personal chopping block, even if they don't know it yet. They too, deserve what's coming to them.
  • On a more personal scale, Duke Hassan Ricol - a treacherous snake of a man at the best of times - is forced to commit Seppuku for failing to disclose the location of the Helm cache to his Warlord, and through him, the Coordinator.
• Author Tract: Invoked, due to the fact the fic is a Self-Insert and the author has some rather strong opinions on some of the things in-universe.
  • As a dyed-in-the-wool adherent to pragmatism, he disdains what he calls the "Cult Of The 'Mech Warrior" as counterproductive, believing that the veneration of battlemechs above all other war machines is foolish when artillery and aerospace craft are perfectly capable of inflicting Death from Above that they have no way of countering. He also considers anyone that engages in battlefield duels and "fair fights" to be holding the Idiot Ball, and wholeheartedly believes in the superiority of "dishonorable" methods of fighting like ganging up on a single opponent, shooting them In the Back, and dropping a Macross Missile Massacre on their heads.
  • He wholeheartedly despises the Star League. When Katrina Steiner raises a toast to the restoration of the Star League, he refuses to join in, and when she asks why he responds with a blunt "Fuck the Star League." followed by three or four hours of debate where he fully exploits his meta-knowledge of the Battletech universe to explain how the Star League was basically an interstellar pyramid scheme that committed innumerable crimes against humanity over the course of its existence.
  • He views Clan society as barbaric and holds most "trueborn" warriors in contempt, ultimately seeing them as bullies who only survive because the other Clan castes are effectively their slaves. He also think that Nicholas Kerensky was a psychopath. The only reason he doesn't say any of this to Wolf's Dragoons is because doing so would permanently alienate them and probably get him murdered.
  • By the same logic, he considers the Draconis Combine so utterly vile that It Is Beyond Saving and should be put out of everyone's misery as soon as possible.
  • His sheer hatred for Com Star's actions during the Succession Wars has resulted in him fantasizing about Hanse ordering the Federated Suns' military to seize their HPG stations and kill anyone who resists, gleefully comparing it to Palpatine ordering the clones to "Execute Order 66!".
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Being a man from 21st century Earth, the 31st century neo-feudal society of the Inner Sphere trips up and exasperates John at several points, and several of his views are considered shocking to the locals.
  • A group of nobles on New Avalon find open discussion of sexual positions much less shocking than the merest suggestion of rigging a Solaris match.
  • When Yorinaga Kurita is coming for New Avalon, John almost immediately offers to give his Ace Custom LosTech Marauder to any of the other 'mechwarriors on the planet on the logic they'll make better use of it than he will. Everyone who hears this is shocked that he'd be willing to do this since being dispossessed of a 'mech is considered a Fate Worse than Death for any 'mechwarrior, while he is exasperated at their lack of pragmatism. It remains to be seen how people will react to him sacrificing said Mech to blow up the enemy commander without so much as a second of hesitation or thought of the value of the Mech as anything more than a guided bomb he could use to nuke the enemy CO...
  • Yorinaga Kurita conducts himself according to an unconventional interpretation of the Draconis Combine's Bushido code. He is willing to defy his superiors on matters of honor and personally executes an ISF officer for murdering POWs at Sakhara, but is also willing to commit acts that most rational people consider profoundly dishonorable and would likely get him executed for war crimes if he were tried in a 21st century court. Other characters have a difficult time figuring out what his deal is because of this.
  • Hanse Davion insisting on 'leading from the front' during the Battle of New Avalon despite his huge key-man risk status and the fact that Yorinaga is clearly coming to kill him, drives Smith to distraction vs everyone else from Hanse on down thinking it is right and proper for him to be defending his vassals and world.
  • Women, even independent, powerful high-status women like Melissa Steiner and Kym Sorensen, cannot attend a formal function without a male escort, even if that escort is a relative nobody. Also, if said escort is not a family member, a chaperone, who can start breaking bones if said escort tries any funny business, is also necessary.
• Capital Offensive: Yorinaga Kurita in a butterfly caused by Smith sets aside his Vendetta with Morgan Kell (who publicly berated him as not being worthy of a rematch after his actions since coming out of exile) and instead drives his men straight for New Avalon. Averted as his goal is not to take the planet (he has neither the troops or logistics) but to simply force Hanse Davion to stand against him so he can die killing a second First Prince and regain his honor in death.
• Combat Pragmatist: Smith to a T. He in fact goes out of his way to avoid 1 on 1 fights and works as a team. Freely offered to give up his Battlemech and join the infantry for the New Avalon battle, on the grounds that a fully trained Mechwarrior would make far better use of it than he could. He also was seen not hesitating to gang up on single targets with massed firepower from multiple units, ruthlessly exploits his enhanced weapons range to shoot while the enemy cannot shoot back and in the end does not hesitate to simply use his priceless Battlemech as a small fusion bomb on legs by crashing it into Yorinaga Kurita on autopilot and self destructing it to take him out
• Curb-Stomp Battle: All over the place.
  • Hanse and Katrina take advantage of John Smith's knowledge about Wolves on the Border to capture omni-vehicles from the Dragoons during one of their scraps with the Draconis March forces (thus getting an early preview of omni technology from the Clans), and they use the Dragoon POWs that they ransom back to the Wolves to pass a message warning about the upcoming treachery by one of the Combine warlords who coveted their assets and technology, preventing the raid on their facilities from being successful. On top of that, Katrina sends Snord's Irregulars to reinforce the Dragoons before the battle at Misery, ensuring that the Dragoons had that much more troop power, and Hanse takes advantage of the battle to capture a number of Combine Jumpships that were supporting the Genyosha and the Ryuken, stranding them and crippling Galedon District's spacelift capacity. The result? Wolf's Dragoons and the Irregulars give the Genyosha and the Ryuken a thorough thrashing, utterly destroying them, and manage to leave Combine space with far more of their assets than they did in the original timeline.
  • During the Fourth Succession War, Katrina makes full use of her new foreknowledge to stack the deck even more in favour of the LCAF. By staggering the attack waves, she allows the LCAF logistics train to catch up with her spearhead forces. By choosing her targets wisely, she aimed her forces at utterly savaging the DCMS forces in the Rasalhague District, crippling several major regiments and rendering them impotent for future battles. By reinforcing the forces aimed at Theodore Kurita, she prevented him from escaping despite the Legion of Vega attempting to run interference to cover his extraction, and the Kell Hounds defeat him in a duel, leading to him falling on his sword as his Orion is shot down beneath him. The result? The Lyran Commonwealth solidifies its gains made in reclaiming Rasalhague worlds from the Combine, and instead of over-extending, they hold steady and crush the DCMS forces defending those worlds.
  • Played straight at Sakhara Academy. They are cadets against the handpicked elite of the Draconis Combine who have superior numbers.
  • Played straight and averted during the Battle of New Avalon. Hanse's tactical genius allows him to lead his personal unit into several devastating ambushes of Combine forces, but on the whole the battle is written as two capital-E Elite units - one of whom is on a Suicide Mission - in a bloody brawl. The Combine also inflict yet another curb-stomp on the local cadet force that had been backing up the main troops.
• Dare to Be Badass: Despite his disdain for the "Cult of the Mechwarrior", John hammers that button to talk a group of surviving cadets into accompanying him to ambush Yorinaga's own ambush forces because he knows he can't take them on alone.
• Death by Adaptation: Theodore Kurita and Duke Hassan Ricol. Victor, Katrina, and Hanse and Melissa's other children from the OTL are also likely butterflied out of existence.
• Disproportionate Reward: The nascent Gray Death Legion is hired by Hanse Davion with extremely generous terms. They're being rewarded for something that will no longer happen, so it's baffling to them.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: All over the place. Justified as they are at the spearhead of the critical events but they earn their reputation the hard way.
  • The Davion Heavy Guards and Kell Hounds, arguably Hanse Davions and Katrina Steiner's favorite personal 'troubleshooter' units respectively lead the critical raid on Helm.
  • The 1st Royal Guards, 2nd Royal Guards and 10th Lyran Guards, arguably the three best units in the Lyran Commonwealth, with a massive amount of supporting forces face off against the 2nd Sword of Light, the banner carrier for the entire DCMS in the 4th Succession War and despite the odds, the DCMS troops absoloutly make the Lyrans earn their victory - and the Lyran troops in turn very much do so.
  • The Wolf Dragoons with Snords Irregulars face off against a huge chunk of the DCMS on Misery and in the 4th Succession War. They prove their reputation is not overblown.
  • The Swordsworn are an ad-hoc the unit of the Davion Brigade of Guards Hanse built to guard New Avalon against any attempt by Com Star in this timeline to hit New Avalon. The unit is fresh, but to a man made up of handpicked elite Mechwarriors who Morgan Hasek-Davion quickly proves his credentials with as he whips them into the unit that stands up to and defeats...
  • The Genyosha. Led by Yorinaga Kurita (see The Dreaded), this unit absolutely proves that they are a terrifying force with all the skill of their Davion counterparts, a tactical genius for a leader ... and nothing to loose as they make a suicide run at New Avalon.
• Enemy Civil War: Hanse exploits the meta-knowledge surrounding the Helm Cache and its memory core to disrupt the internal affairs of his enemies:
  • The Free Worlds League is tricked into focusing their ire inwards more violently than usual, as fingers are pointed at SAFE and each other over having dropped the ball on the cache.
  • The Draconis Combine is tricked by a brilliant piece of maskirovka - in addition to planting misinformation about the truth of the cache and the core via the treacherous Michael Hasek-Davion, where it would be shared secretly with the Capellans, then read by Comstar, then secretly handed to an inside agent of the Order of the Five Pillars that was infiltrating Comstar's ranks, Hanse ensured that Takashi Kurita's attentions would be turned against Duke Ricol and the Black Dragon Society, distracting him from the slow buildup towards the 4th Succession War. In addition, he later name-drops Theodore Kurita's children to Takashi at his Big Wedding, as their existence was kept secret from him by both the ISF and the Order of Five Pillars, so as to increase tensions between the Coordinator and both his spymasters.
  • That same misinformation was used to put the screws on a Comstar ROM agent, Helm's own Precenter Rachan, and trick the extremist Blakists into believing the Memory Core lost due to a botched retrieval attempt.
  • In a speech at NAIS Hanse makes a public announcement of the casus belli for the war being the Capellan Confederation's attempt to have him replaced with a doppelganger, and even presents the latter. This gives the war even more public support, while also putting the idea in Janos Marik's head that the earlier rebellion of his brother Anton might have actually been instigated by a double too. This leads the Free Worlds League - which in canon was already a reluctant member of the Concord of Kapteyn - to distance itself from its allies. The same speech also specifically mentions that "the Federated Commonwealth states would never be tolerated and allowed to live in peace by the Confederation and Combine," knowing that the omission of the Free Worlds League would likely be noted by Janos as an offer for nonaggression between their factions.
  • The In-Universe book Thirty Years Later reveals that ultimately Marcus Kurita, Grieg Samsonov and the Black Dragons take advantage of Takashi's coma to launch a coup against Chandy and Theodore's wife and children. The FWL never quite reaches this, as Duke Garth of Irian takes advantage of the doubts Hanse instilled to lead an independent attack into the Confederation, positioning himself as the patriotic champion of the League and outmaneuvering Janos adroitly.
• Everyone Has Standards: Zig-Zagged with Yorinaga Kurita.
  • He is one of the bad guys, but is also furious at the ISF executing cadet survivors at Sakhara as per Combine SOP and personally beheads the ISF officer in charge after putting a stop to it. His people also went out of their way to avoid civilian casualties attacking worlds on the way to New Avalon, and on New Avalon itself scuttled their dropships in a way to avoid the massive devastation they could have caused. It's also noted that unlike normal DCMS practise, the Genyosha did not specifically target ejected mechwarriors or the cockpits of crippled Mechwarriors, leading to a lower death toll among the defenders than was expected. By Word of God, he strongly disagreed with the Coordinator's "Death to Mercenaries" order and his disapproval with that decree was a large reason behind him walking away from his cousin and forging his own path. He also presented Hanse with the chance for an honorable duel 1v1 and only sprung his ambush when Hanse refused, an 'ambush' that was simply him using the exact same tactics the good guys had used against him.
  • On the other hand, he had no problems at all with Takashi ordering the Kell Hounds assassinated in their sleep, or holding a civilian dropship hostage and threatening to blow it and all the civilians on board up if Katrina Steiner's (17 year old) daughter was not turned over to him at once so she can be dragged back to Luthien as a prize. And the basis of his entire grudge against everyone is that he was prevented from dragging the body of Ian Davion back to the Coordinator as a grisly trophy...
• Fix Fic: John Smith's intent with his foreknowledge is to ensure that the darker events of the future do not break the Federated Commonwealth. By the time the 4th Succession War is about to start, his foreknowledge and advice have already butterflied the doom of the dependents of both the Grey Death Legion and Wolf's Dragoons, among other things.
• Future Me Scares Me: Melissa confides to John that she feels a lot of pressure living up to her OTL self. John reassures her by pointing out that since his arrival she's already done more for the Lyran and future Federated Commonwealth than "Battletech Melissa" did her entire life.
• Goomba Stomp: a DCMS Griffin almost takes John out with a classic DFA, if not for his use of a defensive reaction taught to him by Morgan Hasek-Davion. In fact, it goes worse for the Griffin, as he fails to land gracefully and eats a seatbelt check that leaves him recovering slower than John.
• Grew a Spine: Smith has always had a firm spine, but in the Battle of New Avalon, when he gets somewhat over his head he seriously considers finding a way to sit out the rest of the fight. Then he pulls himself together and upgrades his spine from "stiff" to "endo-steel".
• Grudging "Thank You": Katrina Steiner never seemed ungrateful to Smith for his help, or unwilling to reward him. However, in a private letter after the battle for NAIS, she admits that she initially resented him for what he was saying about her beloved sister Nondi. And then, heartwarmingly, offers him her now sincere thanks for everything he's done since - including but not limited to helping Nondi deal with what she learned about her future.
• Humble Hero: John's narration shows that he considers himself just another guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time. It's also clear that many, many people around him hold him in very high esteem for his moral courage (not that he lacks the other kind). In addition, he thinks poorly of his skills as a Mechwarrior, but a combination of his meta-knowledge (plus the many skills and instincts a gamer that played MechWarrior would learn) and the foundation of training that Sakhara and the other elites surrounding Hanse gave him ensures that even his green-level inexperienced self is able to acquit himself well against simulated Clan omnimechs as well as suicidal DCMS mechwarriors.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Averted - John Smith undergoes real Mechwarrior training provided by the AFFS, although his meta-knowledge gives him some minor advantages.
• In-Joke: The title of Chapter 12: "Stormy, with a Chance of raining Omnimechs" is based on a Spacebattles joke about trolling Wolf's Dragoons by asking them the weather on Strana Mechty.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After his heroics at NAIS, Smith escapes hospital and heads into Avalon City looking for a dive-bar.
• Just You, Me, and My GUARDS!: Averted and played straight. Hanse Davion and Yorinaga Kurita both bring their regiments and bodyguards into battle and with them when they face each other. Yorinaga when they meet offers a duel but Hanse refuses. When events actually lead the two into a one-on-one duel, both Smith and Yorinaga's son Akira interfere with it.
• Keep the Reward: Defied. After his bout with Yorinaga, John tries to buck out of being rewarded, to which Hanse rather exasperatedly responds that he can't. Hanse is a Feudal Overlord, and his primary tool for keeping his vassals in line is making sure that loyal service is rewarded. Even if he was inclined to indulge John's Survivor's Guilt and desire for privacy (which he isn't), not generously and very publicly rewarding John for his actions would at best mean that people would do even more insane things to win his approval, and at worst make his vassals think he is an Ungrateful Bastard and look for better leadership elsewhere.
• Male Gaze: John has trouble taking his eyes off Katrina Steiner and Natasha Kerensky when looking at them from behind.
• Manipulative Bastard: Justified Despite knowing that the course of action is quite possibly suicidal, John uses his knowledge and understanding of the "Cult of the Mechwarrior" to convince a group of cadets to assist him in his plan to save Hanse Davion, knowing full well that this course of action will put the extremely green cadets on a collision course with Yorinaga's elite soldiers. He does this fully aware of the consequences and hating himself for it because John knows that Hanse has to survive.
• "Not So Different" Remark: The Inner Sphere's reaction to Game of Thrones. John had the 2 first seasons on his tablet and had them released as "21st century pop culture salvaged from the Helm datacore". John wonders if they would be able to relate to it, only to find that the Inner Sphere, if anything, finds Game of Thrones "same but different" and even spots parallels to their lives he missed. John is somewhat shocked to hear a "talking head" on TV explain how the maesters are obviously intended to be an analogy for ComStar, and the beer-soaked debates about how the five kings map to the five major powers in the Inner Sphere.
• Parental Substitute: Played with at Sakhara Academy. Smith is a mid to late 30's cadet in a class with kids in their 20's. His maturity and levelheadedness make him the 'wise old man' of the group and gets him assigned the moniker (and later call-sign) of 'Pappy'. Smith in turn feels like a somewhat beleaguered parent trying to keep his kids in line some days - and is later formally made the cadet platoon leader in recognition of this by his instructors - but he clearly wants to look out for 'his' kids.
• Princess Incognito: Melissa Steiner-Davion goes incognito as a mid-ranked Lyran noble at a huge gala at the NAIS escorted by Smith and Kym, with Hanse Davion's blessing. She has the time of her life being able to get out incognito and just enjoy herself and it's a sign (if any were needed for Smith) of just how far Hanse Davion's trust of him extends to let him escort his wife like this, even in a nominally highly secure area.
• Screw Destiny: The very purpose of this Fic of course with Smith determined to avoid things going as badly as they did in the original timeline. This has been directly invoked in a couple of situations by Smith:
  • He kept Patrick Kell alive by forewarning him and Katrina Steiner of the return of Yorinaga ahead of time. Which led to Patrick pulling Morgan out of his seclusion ahead of schedule and both facing down and defeating Yorinaga with the help of a little Star League technology from Helm. Directly disproving Morgans belief that he and Yorinaga were fated to meet and destroy each other in that meeting.
  • Smith held little back about his contempt for Nondi Steiner, Katrina Steiner's sister, who in canon would betray everything Katrina built to help Katherine Steiner-Davion rip the Federated Commonwealth apart, when being debriefed about his future knowledge. This warning would result in Katrina and her sister having a heart to heart talk about her 'future actions', followed by Smith and Nondi also having a talk - offscreen. The end result? Nondi commits herself to the Federated Commonwealth and fixing what went wrong in the original timeline, Smith confirming with her that 'there is no fate but what we make' and promising to only judge her from her actions going forward.
• Self-Insert Fic: The story is told from the perspective of John Smith, a 21st century Battletech fan transported to New Avalon by accident while NAIS are attempting to create their own HPG in a trillion-to-one fluke.
• Space Cadet Academy: Both Sakhara Academy in the Draconis March and the New Avalon Institute of Science qualify.
• Super Prototype: Using the massive amount of components from Helm as well as the first production run of Double Heat Sinks by the Federated Commonwealth powers, a large number of otherwise 'stock' Battlemechs from Helm and elsewhere are upgraded in the lead up to the 4th Succession War and concentrated into key units where they will do the most good.
• Tank Goodness: in particular, Gold Company. Twelve Alacorn heavy tanks that give several DCMS mechwarriors a very unpleasant surprise.
• The Dreaded: Several.
  • Yorinaga Kurita: Played absolutely straight as a pretty much untouchable Mechwarrior without very careful planing and tactics to try and give yourself a chance.
  • Natasha Kerensky: The Black Widow is very much this for John Smith even more than to most other Mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere given that he knows her deepest secrets and feels she lacks impulse control.
  • Smith is almost amused to note that the lethally skilled Clan-born in the Dragoons find him utterly unnerving for knowing things about them no one outside the Clans should possibly know, including the final orders of Wolf Khan Kerlin Ward that only half a dozen people other than Jamie were present for.
• The Gadfly/Troll: Melissa Steiner kicks John out of his apartment to join the Christmas festivities on Tharkad by stalking into his apartment and pretending she's furious at him for meddling with her relationship with Hanse. Up to and including kicking him in the shins. Later, when Smith is commissioned his first Battlemech, she adds in a sentence at the end of the document stating This Page Will Self-Destruct, just to make him jump. Naturally, he's dubbed her the "Troll Queen of the Inner Sphere."
• Who Watches the Watchmen?: Heimdall, the unofficial, secret but quite real 'check' on any brutality of LIC or Archons are known to Smith. As is their most senior 'mole' in Simon Johnson, head of the Lyran Intelligence Corps as well as a number of other 'cells'. So secret that they actually edited out all mentions of them in the copies of Smith's books given to the Archon, and impressed upon him that he was not to mention anything about them to her.

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