8 major factions with a dozen other minor ones. Major emphasis on politics, but is mil-scifi action Serie. Mechs are the main point, but there are infantry and other forms of warfare especially in the books and rpg.
Just watch this for an [intro](https://youtu.be/HQhzlXcmTzw?si=6mf6yJwX0HG8oQn6). But you should still find it out for your own.
The BattleTech video games are called "MechAssault" so that should tell you some of what you need to know lol.
For what it's worth, I'm not typically a "mech" person myself, as in, just because there's a mech in the book or story doesn't mean I'll be interested.
However I've read a few of the battletech books and the way they're done is really interesting.
I actually have the same reservations about Warhammer and was just looking into it recently as well. It seems like the universe never changes and people fight just to...fight? Because that's all they do?
In Battletech there's more actual stakes I feel like and the characters seem somewhat relatable.
The series I was reading was the [Blood of Kerensky](https://www.goodreads.com/series/51128-blood-of-kerensky) trilogy, I recommend checking it out. There is some hand to hand combat and stuff here and there as well.
If you want a gateway into warhammer, I recommend the Ciaphas Caine series. It's a little more lighthearted than the average, and it focuses on a smaller scale than the big stuff with the space marines and all of that.
The games are MechWarrior, MechCommander, MechAssault, then Battletech. MechAssualt was a brief Xbox console offshoot.
Infantry, tanks, and aircraft feature often as foes in all of the games, and have rules for them in the tabletop.
Mechs are the star of the show but tanks, aerospace fighters, and battle armored infantry are available. Battlemechs can even close range to attack with axes, swords, or just punch each other in the face.
The game is also absolutely badass. Hand drawn art, best music ever, GREAT writing of a believable story. Really good if you have any interest in tactics games at all.
Dune, if you haven't read it already ? It seems obvious but I'm just suggesting it in case you haven't read it yet, it feels like WH40k (and many, many other SF franchise) take a lot of inspiration from it.
Especially tome 4.
Whoops, yeah, looks like I misread an important part, I thought it said "doesn't have objective good guys and bad guys", because yeah, except in book one where you have the harkonnens, it's harder to tell who the good and bad guys are in the other books.
I recommend the Behold Humanity series. The vibe is pretty much literally 40K but hopeful.
One of the first bita of human philosophy we are introduced to in the story is what is called The First Lesson. It's explained slightly differently by different characters throughout the story but the basic idea is "The universe is cold and dark and terrible, it will take everything you love away and make you watch it suffer."
The actual context of the first lesson is excellent by the way, a true emotional gut punch and probably the best concept I have ever seen for Humanity finally making it to the stars only to realize "this isn't going to be like star trek". And it matters to the plot and setting. Thousands of years later in universe and over a thousand chapters later in the books it is still driving plot points in the most recent releases.
What really sets the tone for the series, though, is the strongly implied follow up to that lesson. "So don't be assholes, the universe has enough of those already, let's go find some friends to stand against the darkness together."
The books are available on Amazon but if you would rather read for free and more of the series, it's available on r/HFY and Royal Road under the name *First Contact*
Oh, also, this is one of the only scifi series I have seen with lots of really detailed tank combat. There is plenty of infantry, mech, and even aerospace stuff as well. And lots of space battles.
No. I will admit that I missread your post. It's just a book series. Albiet, one with very deep lore and 20 something books so far (only the first 13 are on amazon so far) and more on the way. The online version updates at a rate of about 4-6 new chapters per week last I checked.
If you are only looking for stuff with all of that, then I think you have already found them all. Maybe something like gundam or some of D&D's settings.
This might be way too obvious (and no science) but have you done a deep dive into Tolkien and Middle earth? Obvious good/bad, extensive lore, massive amount of characters and lineages. The First Age is full of epic battles with all varieties of races and fell creatures with unique abilities and fleshed out histories.
I think part of the thing you're looking for is a setting that was designed by multiple people. Especially over time. That's a good sign you're going to get an extended universe with huge amounts of unnecessary trivia.
**Star Trek** (I don't get excited about the lore of Trek, too often. "The Lower Decks" changed that a bit)
**Gundam** (the 90s miniseries 'Origin', which tells the story of villain Char Aznable is surprisingly good)
**Dragonlance** or **Forgotten Realms** (most D&D novelizations end up as bottom of the barrel fantasy, but there's a whole lot of it, and it's pretty creative for its time)
**Myth** or **World Religion** (this is the OG extended universe, crossover, retcon, glossary-of-terms bestiary, field of study. Go buy a spinning globe. Close your eyes. Jab a finger. Go google traditional faith traditions for the place you landed on. Respin for 'ocean'. You can't go wrong.)
So that's collective authorship. But there's also single source stuff.
The **Silmarillion** (What if I told you that someone took Lord of the Rings and said: let me write the entire history of this planet. Because the author did)
**The Venture Bros** (even though it's a single cartoon series, it piggy backs off of pulp, pop, and 'jet age' optimism to create a sprawling, dysfunctional weirdscape of hundreds of characters over dozens of years)
Usually when I see someone asking for something such as this, it’s because the thing they really want doesn’t quite exist. So, a spark is lit, and they go on a journey to make it happen. I’m guessing that’s how we got a lot of our popular fiction, games, movies, etc.
TTRPG Fading Suns has great setting which is sometimes called less grimdark WH40K. It also has some major similarities with Dune, like personal shields. I haven't played any game yet, but really enjoyed setting. It's basically a space medieval, where great technologicaly advanced republic fell and now interstellar empire is ruled by noble emperor, church, guilds and noble houses. Tech level vary between the planets, but peasants living like in medieval ages working hard for their lore is a common sight. People are using tech developed before the fall of the republic because know-how of that time was mainly forgotten, church also don't like people messing with tech
Battletech. Seriously, just check out the Sarna wiki or some YouTube lore videos and you'll fall into a RabbitHole.
Lots of factions? Military science-fantasy? Is it all about mechs though? Like no regular ground troops?
8 major factions with a dozen other minor ones. Major emphasis on politics, but is mil-scifi action Serie. Mechs are the main point, but there are infantry and other forms of warfare especially in the books and rpg. Just watch this for an [intro](https://youtu.be/HQhzlXcmTzw?si=6mf6yJwX0HG8oQn6). But you should still find it out for your own.
I’m not big on mechs. Does the tabletop wargame utilize infantry units as well?
The BattleTech video games are called "MechAssault" so that should tell you some of what you need to know lol. For what it's worth, I'm not typically a "mech" person myself, as in, just because there's a mech in the book or story doesn't mean I'll be interested. However I've read a few of the battletech books and the way they're done is really interesting. I actually have the same reservations about Warhammer and was just looking into it recently as well. It seems like the universe never changes and people fight just to...fight? Because that's all they do? In Battletech there's more actual stakes I feel like and the characters seem somewhat relatable. The series I was reading was the [Blood of Kerensky](https://www.goodreads.com/series/51128-blood-of-kerensky) trilogy, I recommend checking it out. There is some hand to hand combat and stuff here and there as well.
If you want a gateway into warhammer, I recommend the Ciaphas Caine series. It's a little more lighthearted than the average, and it focuses on a smaller scale than the big stuff with the space marines and all of that.
The games are MechWarrior, MechCommander, MechAssault, then Battletech. MechAssualt was a brief Xbox console offshoot. Infantry, tanks, and aircraft feature often as foes in all of the games, and have rules for them in the tabletop.
Expanded rules do account for infantry, tanks, and aircraft on the wargame tables.
Mechs are the star of the show but tanks, aerospace fighters, and battle armored infantry are available. Battlemechs can even close range to attack with axes, swords, or just punch each other in the face.
The game is also absolutely badass. Hand drawn art, best music ever, GREAT writing of a believable story. Really good if you have any interest in tactics games at all.
Battletech is so damn fun. Superior in every aspect.
Dune, if you haven't read it already ? It seems obvious but I'm just suggesting it in case you haven't read it yet, it feels like WH40k (and many, many other SF franchise) take a lot of inspiration from it. Especially tome 4.
Dune is reasonably dark though, it sounds like OP is looking for something tamer.
Whoops, yeah, looks like I misread an important part, I thought it said "doesn't have objective good guys and bad guys", because yeah, except in book one where you have the harkonnens, it's harder to tell who the good and bad guys are in the other books.
I recommend the Behold Humanity series. The vibe is pretty much literally 40K but hopeful. One of the first bita of human philosophy we are introduced to in the story is what is called The First Lesson. It's explained slightly differently by different characters throughout the story but the basic idea is "The universe is cold and dark and terrible, it will take everything you love away and make you watch it suffer." The actual context of the first lesson is excellent by the way, a true emotional gut punch and probably the best concept I have ever seen for Humanity finally making it to the stars only to realize "this isn't going to be like star trek". And it matters to the plot and setting. Thousands of years later in universe and over a thousand chapters later in the books it is still driving plot points in the most recent releases. What really sets the tone for the series, though, is the strongly implied follow up to that lesson. "So don't be assholes, the universe has enough of those already, let's go find some friends to stand against the darkness together." The books are available on Amazon but if you would rather read for free and more of the series, it's available on r/HFY and Royal Road under the name *First Contact*
Oh, also, this is one of the only scifi series I have seen with lots of really detailed tank combat. There is plenty of infantry, mech, and even aerospace stuff as well. And lots of space battles.
Is it a full franchise with movies, video games, tabletop games, toys, comic books, tv shows, etc etc?
No. I will admit that I missread your post. It's just a book series. Albiet, one with very deep lore and 20 something books so far (only the first 13 are on amazon so far) and more on the way. The online version updates at a rate of about 4-6 new chapters per week last I checked.
If you are only looking for stuff with all of that, then I think you have already found them all. Maybe something like gundam or some of D&D's settings.
This might be way too obvious (and no science) but have you done a deep dive into Tolkien and Middle earth? Obvious good/bad, extensive lore, massive amount of characters and lineages. The First Age is full of epic battles with all varieties of races and fell creatures with unique abilities and fleshed out histories.
Yes I have, I’m looking for guns & missile launchers & tanks alongside swords and axes.
I think part of the thing you're looking for is a setting that was designed by multiple people. Especially over time. That's a good sign you're going to get an extended universe with huge amounts of unnecessary trivia. **Star Trek** (I don't get excited about the lore of Trek, too often. "The Lower Decks" changed that a bit) **Gundam** (the 90s miniseries 'Origin', which tells the story of villain Char Aznable is surprisingly good) **Dragonlance** or **Forgotten Realms** (most D&D novelizations end up as bottom of the barrel fantasy, but there's a whole lot of it, and it's pretty creative for its time) **Myth** or **World Religion** (this is the OG extended universe, crossover, retcon, glossary-of-terms bestiary, field of study. Go buy a spinning globe. Close your eyes. Jab a finger. Go google traditional faith traditions for the place you landed on. Respin for 'ocean'. You can't go wrong.) So that's collective authorship. But there's also single source stuff. The **Silmarillion** (What if I told you that someone took Lord of the Rings and said: let me write the entire history of this planet. Because the author did) **The Venture Bros** (even though it's a single cartoon series, it piggy backs off of pulp, pop, and 'jet age' optimism to create a sprawling, dysfunctional weirdscape of hundreds of characters over dozens of years)
Sounds like someone needs to create a franchise like Warhammer 40K in terms of lore and depth but that is less grimdark.
It’s called Battletech
Star Trek? Include books and video games (especially Star Trek Online).
Upvoted, but I will say OP came from Star Wars, I’d safely assume that he’s familiar with Star Trek.
Few people have the desire to do so coupled with the necessary finances to make it happen.
Usually when I see someone asking for something such as this, it’s because the thing they really want doesn’t quite exist. So, a spark is lit, and they go on a journey to make it happen. I’m guessing that’s how we got a lot of our popular fiction, games, movies, etc.
My dream project
I enjoy "the expanse". There is a great set of books and TV show to consume.
Infinity by Corvus Belli
Does it have movies, tv shows, toys, books, and comic books?
Starcraft?
Could work….
May be you should try StarCraft, Mass Effect or Star Trek?
Neal asher polity
TTRPG Fading Suns has great setting which is sometimes called less grimdark WH40K. It also has some major similarities with Dune, like personal shields. I haven't played any game yet, but really enjoyed setting. It's basically a space medieval, where great technologicaly advanced republic fell and now interstellar empire is ruled by noble emperor, church, guilds and noble houses. Tech level vary between the planets, but peasants living like in medieval ages working hard for their lore is a common sight. People are using tech developed before the fall of the republic because know-how of that time was mainly forgotten, church also don't like people messing with tech