>>96150452
Battletech is...an amusing one.

People will endlessly argue for hours on the subject, but from what I can tell, the prevalence of battlemechs is...mostly a cultural phenomenon. They were first devised as a terror weapon designed to strike fear, and then they became a tool of the aristocracy to reinforce their power and prestige...and because the setting went full DUNE and never moved on past aristocracy nobody has ever given them up yet.

>>96051878
>ASFs carry more weapons and armor than Mechs ton-for-ton
All that armor doesn't really help them much when a single scratch will see them careening into the earth, and they're fucking expensive too for such a glass cannon.

>>96051889
You can have both of those things without needing modern-day like planes. Not sure why you'd want to move away from the 80's aesthetic.