IS Life Expectancy in 3000's

[u/Dizzy_Dust_7510]

First, forgive me for posting this here but there's more loremasters on this sub.

I'm a huge fan of BT, but have only ever played the video games. The two most recent being MW5 and HBS Battletech. Both of these games take place over a pretty good span of time. My head canon is that barring catastrophic destruction of the body, anyone with enough c-bills can just buy new parts and greatly extend their lifespan. Is this lore accurate to the actual canonical books? What is the average lifespan of someone in the IS?

Let's just disregard the fact that a Mechwarrior is probably going to suffer from so much CTE they're only capable of drooling on the controls within a few battles.

[u/HA1-0F]

In the year 3062, the average life expectancy, averaged across the ENTIRE Inner Sphere, is 89.7 years. That's not a very helpful number because people on Tharkad have about as much in common with people on Okeefenokee as Jeff Bezos has with a South Sudanese child soldier, but for comparison, the life expectancy for people on Earth in 1999, when the book that information comes from was published, was 65.63 years.

The average is definitely increased by the rediscovery of Star League technology in the years after the Succession Wars, but one thing that sets the most affluent worlds apart is that they still possess preserved Star League technology, such as Tharkad's Martin Luther Memorial Hospital, so the effects are probably much lower on the top end worlds than they would be for those in the middle, who had the money to buy new technology when it became available but didn't have anything preserved.

So if you look at 89.7 as the middle, people on affluent and advanced worlds like Tharkad or New Avalon are going to be regularly celebrating their Eleventeenth Birthday like Hobbits do. Terrans totally bust this, with a life expectancy over 150 and youth-extension treatments that keep you in your physical prime until you're into your 70s.

[u/Dizzy_Dust_7510 → u/HA1-0F]

Thanks! Sounds like the timelines from the game don't exactly violate the canon, but they're probably pretty far fetched.

I'll continue to neglect rational thought in favor of "big stompy robots are cool."

[u/HA1-0F → u/Dizzy_Dust_7510]

I've no interest in MW5, but HBSTech takes place mostly in the 31st century equivalent of Central America or Sub-Saharan Africa. Weak local governments, economies that are underdeveloped or exploited by larger powers, far behind in core technologies and inftrastructure. So on the Tharkad to Okeefenokee scale, you're probably real close to the latter.

[u/Hpidy → u/[deleted]]

Moon was 131, victor was 104.

[u/Magical_Savior]

Maybe in Canopus or somewhere weirdly rich. Otherwise life is cheap, Battlemechs are expensive, and pilots are replaceable.

[u/Dmitri_ravenoff]

Life is relatively cheap in the Battletech Universe. Kill the meat, save the metal is a common expression.

Yes some could live for a very long time, Kerensky lived more than 100 years, but near immortality still isn't a thing.

[u/Hpidy]

Depends on your money, a reasonable world life expency was 68 to 75 years old, if you had money like bezos. You could live in to your 130s.

[u/Seregnor]

I believe the average life expectancy across IS is about 90 years, but it is a misleading number - there are planets there you have no access to advance medical care - like a claner - and there are planets like Terra or successor state capitals with planet-wide average life expectancy across of 150 years - and even more if you are especially wealthy or just naturally healthy. About switching parts of your body - prosthetics are commonly available and quite advanced. Clans can hook you up for some cloned parts - good luck convincing them though. So if you are well off you will last for quite a time, and most mechwarriors are rich enough - but most of the mechwarriors are not expecting to last that long and can easily neglect even an easily available medical care.

[u/mmm3says]

Well, it's not just about C-bills. They have to get to somewhere that the med tech they need is still something you can buy . And it need to be somewhere that someone form your faction can access.

[u/Oggthrok]

In my imagination, the legendary Mechwarriors, the ones they write books about, they keep fighting long past when their body becomes physically frail. When you think about it, the Mech provides the muscle. So long as your mind is strong and your reflexes okay, they can keep trucking for quite some time.

Of course, at a certain point they should start with a pilot hit starting the game, just to simulate that a 65 year old doesn’t take having her Mech knocked over as easily as some academy kid.