The Mackie was the first operational battlemech, fielded by the Terran Hegemony in the 25^th Century. This lumbering 100 ton monster ruled the battlefield when it arrived, but truth be told it had many systems that today would be considered primitive (it had protection and firepower, but none of the speed and agility we’re used to).

The Mackie was followed by the 1^st Generation of battlemechs. Some, like the Combine Gladiator were failures, while others, like the humble Wasp (the first to introduce jump jets) or the Commando (the first mass-produced light mech) are still in production (albeit later variants), as are iconic mechs like the Shadow Hawk.

A period of intense development followed, where the Hegemony tried to retain its technological edge, and the other star nations sought to keep pace or even outdo the Hegemony. This 2^nd Generation of battlemechs included a number of entirely new models, such as the Archer (recognized as the first mech built from the ground up using only 2^nd Gen tech) but also a great deal of refinement of existing 1^st Gen mechs.

Battlemech development continued unabated up until the creation of the Star League in 2570, but battlemech tech was already mature with 2^nd Gen, and no major differences exist between late pre-League mechs and early post-League mechs. It was these 2^nd Gen war machines that partook in the long and bloody Reunification Wars.

War is ever the catalyst for change, and battlemech technology continued to improve, giving rise to the 3^rd Generation Battlemechs from around 2600. An example of a 3^rd Gen mech is the iconic Marauder. This is the point where the first technologies that are now said to be lostech were introduced. For example, the first Marauder series had advanced CASE protecting its ammo stores and was among the first mechs to use Ferro-Fibrous armor. Mechs of the 3^rd Gen would also have increasingly advanced computer systems, systems that are now either too expensive to field or completely extinct.

After the Reunifications Wars all the Inner Sphere had access to the same ever-expanding knowledge and tech base, paving the way for further advances in battle technology. By the mid-27^th Century, however, only the SLDF was a relevant fighting force, far outstripping the House armies in size – and research budgets. Thus it was that only the elite units of the SLFD, the so-called “Royal” units got access to the penultimate 4^th Generation battlemech technology.

During the reign of Jonathan Cameron (r. 2690-2738) a ban was placed on “Royal” tech to ensure that the Houses would not be able to gain access to this tech. The embargo was not entirely successful, but it did much to limit the spread of the most advanced technologies.