Mech Warrior 4: Mercenaries - Plot

Plot

In the game, the player takes the role of Spectre, a male mercenary BattleMech pilot travelling inside the fictional interstellar region of the Battletech universe called the Inner Sphere during the FedCom Civil War (specifically during the time period from January 1, 3066 to late July 3067). The player makes a living earning cash and useful salvage from completing mission contracts for various factions. With these resources, the player can purchase new weapons and BattleMechs, pay for 'Mech repairs, and hire additional MechWarriors for his or her company.

The player has some control over which missions to accept and in what order. In addition, how each mission is performed has an impact on the timeline. For example, killing civilians and neutral targets results in infamy points, which in high numbers can limit the player to brutal and "unethical" missions. Competing in the various Solaris tournaments (a Gladiator-styled combat arena sport) can boost the player's reputation and increase the likelihood of gaining various mission contracts. Also, the player must choose how to balance his or her allegiance to the different sides of the war (Steiner vs. Davion). This is important as allegiance will eventually affect available contracts and even influence the ending of the game.

In general, Spectre's company walks a fine line between the two factions. During the course of gameplay, several characters, including the tactical officer, reveal backstory about the events leading up to their work as a mercenary, and these events often recount the fighting preceding and during the Clan invasion. In addition, depending on the sponsor regiment, the player gets additional history and background on the "current events" of the unit during the course of the game.

Depending on how the player handled allegiance between House Steiner and House Davion, the player would end up with one of three mission paths, each with their own ending. All of them are interspersed with a small epilogue that hints at the Word of Blake Jihad, the opening stages of which began a few months after the events of the game.

Davion Ending: The player ends up assisting Peter Steiner-Davion in defeating the Lyran loyalists. The final mission sees Spectre taking part in the final assault on the Tharkad palace where Nondi Steiner awaits with her bodyguard lance. The backdrop of this ending is canonical.

Steiner Ending: By siding with Steiner, Spectre must assist an agent from the Rabid Foxes special operations unit in obtaining information on Katherine "Katrina" Steiner-Davion's whereabouts. Ultimately, Spectre must deliver this information to Khan Vlad of Clan Wolf. Doing this requires Spectre to undergo a Trial of Position where he must defeat five consecutive Clan Mechwarriors in the planet Carse. This ending has partial canonity as Katherine was indeed handed over to Vlad in exchange for his promise not to attack the Inner Sphere.

Rogue Ending: This ending is actually an offshoot of the Steiner ending. Prior to the final mission, Spectre's tactical officer, Castle, pleads the case for abandoning Katrina Steiner and the losing side of the war. On her recommendation, an alternative opens up. Instead of undergoing the Trial of Position, Spectre elects to take a contract on New Canton to defend a base under attack by the Capellan Confederation. Success results in Spectre's unit taking the base for themselves.