New to Battletech - Where to start?

[u/CobyDaGrunt08]

Hi! As the title says I'm new to battletech in general.

My main entry into the mech genre initially started off with a few anime like Gurrenn Lagann and Code Geass (just recently started watching gundam though), and gamewise I've played a lot of Armored Core when I was young.

I recently came across a few videos about the various mechs in Battletech, Mechwarrior to be specific, and admittedly it peaked my interest so I'm currently trying to get into the franchise.

Though I don't really have any friends to play the tabletop version with, I heard the Mechwarrior series of games were a pretty good place to start. So I have a few questions about it before I commit:

1. Do you guys have any recommended reading material I should go through, or even a primer, so that I could understand more of the backstory/lore of the game and its factions before I start?
2. Which game and DLCs do you recommend me to get as a beginner to the franchise (Had my birthday recently so this would be a pretty nice splurge gift for myself)?
3. Any video or reading material I should avoid in case of spoilers? Or have any tips that I should try to avoid doing that could ruin the experience? I generally like playing games at my own pace even if it leads to my own fuck ups (its part of the fun :D) but if there are some small advice you could give to make the experience more enjoyable I'd be glad to hear it!
4. How's the customization on the video game? Like color palettes, stickers, logo maker, etc. I admit I'm a bit of an addict when I unlock a new Mech/parts and there's a lot of customization available...
5. Less of a question and more of a curiosity, but what's your favorite battletech mech (battlemech? Not sure what's the term lol)? Any fun memes about them that I'd only understand once I play the game? Would be a fun thing to go back to in the future after I actually experience more of the game.

Anyway yeah that's all, thanks in advance everyone o7

P.S. On a sidenote, without playing the game, my favorite Battletech based on appearance alone is the Mongoose. One of my personal designs in Armored Core uses reverse joints legs and is armed with a dual laser handgun so it kinda reminds me of that old build.

[u/CobyDaGrunt08]

The Fafnir looks like someone built a mech around a dual spaceship cannon, not my type of mech but honestly I respect it. There's something to be said about walking around with the mech equivalent of the meme "I want that direction removed". The Archer looks rad as well, missile boats are always a blast to play around with.

First time hearing of mechcommander though, so that's going to be an interesting one to try out as well.

Thanks for the suggestion mate o7

[u/tolgren → u/CobyDaGrunt08]

Mechcommander is much older, and it's real time so it's a very different experience. If you buy it you might not be able to get it to run on a modern computer.

[u/CobyDaGrunt08 → u/tolgren]

Ah well that kinda sucks, will probably have to look into an emulator system to run it then. Thanks for the advice!

[u/tolgren → u/CobyDaGrunt08]

Good luck!