Lostech

An acronym for lost technology, the word Lostech in the BattleTech universe generally refers to technological advances that existed during the Star League era, but were lost in the Succession Wars that followed. It is typically used as an adjective, but can also be used as a noun (often spelled LosTech). As a noun, it can either mean LosTech as a historical event or situation (the technological decline of humanity throughout the Succession Wars), or denote any item that is associated with lostech.

As a defining aspect, Lostech items cannot be produced anymore under current technology levels, except occasionally by automated facilities which are invariably LosTech themselves. Often the working principles of lostech items are not even understood anymore, in any case the secret of their production is lost. This became a growing problem as more and more vital industry, including automated factories, collapsed from maintenance shortfalls, because nobody knew how to properly maintain the mysterious machinery or simply for a lack of spare parts. In the dark days of Lostech, only scavenging and improvisation kept any advanced technology working at all.

Many lostech items function without requiring the user to actually understand how or why they function. This has given rise to the religious attitude some have to advanced technology, seeing it as a sort of magic, and the rise of ComStar from telecommunications service to a religious order, and even more so the Word of Blake zealots. Many ComStar adepts actually believe that their prayers are just as important for the proper operation of machinery as operations procedures from the manual. The concept of "repair prayer" has become a running joke that some still take very serious.

History of the technological decline

Bombing into the stone age

In the early Succession Wars, all parties sought to destroy the enemy infrastructure. Amidst the overall ruthless mayhem that obliterated whole worlds, factories, shipyards and starships were prime targets. Humanity as a whole literally bombed itself back into the stone age, and the Successor Lords realized too late that the damage was beyond repair.

In 2412, the Ares Conventions were signed under the impressions from the atrocities of that time.

Preserving Lostech

When it became apparent that the ability to build and maintain essential technologies was fading away quickly, irreplaceable civilian assets became regarded as non-combattants through an informal agreement. ComStar was accepted as a neutral caretaker of the interstellar communication network. As LosTech items, even those of strategic value, were generally kept out of the fighting, combat became more and more ritualized in the fashion of medieval battles or even duels. Eventually, neither side would seek to attack the other's DropShips, and in order to prevent damage to urban or industrial areas, battles were arranged in outlying regions. Defeated opponents were allowed to withdraw, and captured MechWarriors were ransomed. This development went hand in hand with the establishment of feudal societies, also reminiscent of the middle ages.

Still, the wars raged on. Although infrastructure was not a designated target anymore, collateral damage still occurred and By the early 31st century, many vital technologies were LosTech. Complex systems such as BattleMechs, JumpShips or Hyperpulse Generators became lostech as a whole as most of their individual components became unavailable, their working principles lost. Many colonies were doomed because declining shipping deprived them of their food and supplies imports, others because vital environmental technology failed, rendering whole worls inhabitable.

The Helm Memory Core

Several research facilities were established in an effort to recover some of the lost technologies. The process was helped along significantly following the recovery of a Star League library core on the planet Helm by the Gray Death Legion and its subsequent dissemination throughout the Inner Sphere in 3028.

With the gradual rediscovery of lost technology, its sacrosanct status eroded away. Military commanders were increasingly prepared to throw [[DropShip]s into battle proper and accept crippling losses to their 'Mech and armor units, knowing that once again, they could be replaced. It was more of a coincidence that there were few large wars following the aftermath of the Fourth Succession War. Except for the War of 3039, which was cut short and saw few real clashes, all Successor States preserved their strength and concentrated on building up their militaries with newly discovered advanced technology. For a time at least, their everlasting feuds were largely reduced to border skirmishes and small actions.

For the first time in centuries, technology was on the rise again, and an upswing made itself felt throughout the Inner Sphere.

Clan invasion

When the Clans invaded in 3050, the Inner Sphere became highly motivated to recover lost Star League technology, and influx of Clan technology gave another technology boost. In addition, the joint enemy enforced a hitherto unknown level of cooperation between the individual successor state, despite their remaining differences. Technology exchange and trade across the board further accelerated the rediscovery of lost technologies.

It seemed as if LosTech could be overcome after all. By the 3060s, the Inner Sphere had re-established a technological knowledge base that approximated the technological state of the Star League era. However, due to the thoroughly ramshackle state of their ailing industries, application of recovered knowledge was lagging behind the technological improvements by a long shot. Overall, the Clans still enjoy roughly two centuries of technological advancements over the Inner Sphere.

Jihad and Dark Age

The pendulum swung backwards again in 3067, when the ultra-reactionary ComStar splinter faction Word of Blake launched their Jihad across known space. With the deliberate objective to quell the technological advance, and to pit as many factions against each other as possible, they used sabotage and nuclear warheads on a grand scale to revert the hopeful development of the last decades. Unknown perpetrators also disabled the interstellar HPG communications network by means of a computer virus, and unknown attackers assaulted the few immune stations. This rendered 80% of the HPG network inoperable.

This setback pushed humanity back inot their darkest days, and set the stage for what is called the Dark Age, where LosTech once again haunts humanity.