Anyone know any good ones? I'm new to the fandom so I don't have any preconceptions/hated tropes yet.

 

The only active one I am currently following is False Prophets on SV. Don't let the first few chapters fool you, the COYA/SI elements are actually pretty negligible in the story outside the initial set-up.

The fic is set before the fourth succession war and is about a young Comstar recruit inheriting a merc company from her father in the Free Worlds. I find it to be an interesting mix of action scenes, political intrigue and "management". It updates in batches since the author writes the next arc of the story(normally takes him around a month) before publishing it a chapter per day..

Alternatively you might want to try out some of drakenisstuff, he has written quite a few lengthy Battletech fics over the years and I found most of them okay-ish. Davion vs Davion for example is one of the rare fics that is set in the Star League era (and despite its set-up isn't nearly as fix-it as you might believe).

 

I read D v D (D) yesterday and didn't mind it. The ComStar recruit one...there's a shit ton of telling. I only got as far as the end of their first merc contract before losing engagement.

I did notice there's a fair bit of the nitty gritty details of Mechs and such in the fics I read - is that prevalent in most Battletech fics, or was that just a consequence of trawling SB and SV for fics?

 

The Misadventures of Darius Davion stories aren't perfect by any means (not free of grammatical annoyances for instance), but are fun if "Flashman, but in a battlemech" is an idea which appeals to you the way it does to me.

Might be confusing for people not especially familiar with the important names and events of the era it's set in, not sure.

 

That was also my experience but it is not like I have read that much Battletech/Mechwarrior fan-fiction either... And while I would say that the Comstar/mercenary one gets better I don't think that it really changes its style dramatically so I can't really advise you to power through.

 

There is this story;
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/this-was-easier-on-the-tabletop-a-battletech-si.659596/
It is decent. MC passes his info right away and seems to be getting groomed as an Intelligance Agent and aide to Hanse Davions Intelligance Chief/friend.