Talk:MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf

Game as in-universe entertainment

Just as the BattleTech Cartoon was eventually declared canon by way of being referenced in-universe as a Lyran entertainment holovid series, I could buy MechAssault as either a holovid game played by citizens of the Inner Sphere or as an science-fantasy action film, similar to other canonical productions like "Kingdom of the Gypsies," "Immortal Warrior," "Exit the Dragon," and "Invaders from Beyond the Galaxy."

There are too many variances from canon for the storyline to be taken as a faithful rendition of anything within the official BattleTech history. This places the MechAssault series in stark contrast to the MechWarrior and MechCommander series, which fit reasonably well into the BattleTech universe's continuity.— The preceding unsigned comment was posted by Mendrugo (talk • contribs) .

That's an interesting look at it and is certainly possible (Flashpoint mentions people playing Mech video games), but sadly it's just speculation unless you ask the developers. It might be worth asking about it though. -BobTheZombie (talk) 14:10, 7 June 2016 (PDT)

Ben Rome answered the inquiry. Per his response, "There isn't any way to reconcile it. It's simply a game based on the property, nothing more." (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=53094.msg1225293#msg1225293)Mendrugo (talk) 13:25, 9 June 2016 (PDT)

New user here. Was browsing through the site looking into potential canonicity of the game series' and became confused with some portions of this page. Decided to make a profile to discuss what I see as contradictory information and to clear up confusion.

1. This page claims that Dante is an Omniss colony and thus the black market of technology is non-canon. Initially I had questions concerning how it could be impossible to setup a BM simply due to it being illegal (That's kinda the point of a black market). Looking into it however yielded supporting evidence for the speculated BM in the planet's page: "There was no way of enforcing this ban, however; with Dante lacking an offworld communication due to ComStar not being allowed to operate communication facilities in the system, the government of Dante lacked even a means for complaining about breaches of their regulations."

2. "All the JumpShips in the game have the appearance and maneuverability of WarShips." This seems too vague. What does it mean that the ships have the appearance and maneuverability of warships? Is there really anything that is canonically locked into warship design and away from standard jumpships besides the compact drives?

3. "JumpShips in the game can cover hundreds of light years in a single jump" I currently have no working copy of MechAssault2 so take this one with a grain of salt. I do not recall the characters specifying that the longer distances are only 1 jump. Again this is my least stable criticism and may have no basis.

4. "In the game, Jerome Blake developed data cores with nigh-magical powers" "Per canon, Blake [...] had no mythical or magical powers" Similar to my second point this portion seems incredibly vague. What specifically in the technology on display is magical? I understand the Lava Cannon is tenuous but the other technologies seem to simply be far ahead of their time.

5. Finally "In the game, the Word of Blake launched the Jihad in an effort to find and claim the data cores. Per canon, the Jihad started as essentially a series of accidents and misunderstandings in a misguided Blakist effort to reverse the dissolution of the Second Star League." It is entirely possible to have multiple reasons for preforming any series of actions. Unless there is some kind of direct contradiction between actions taken in the game and solid canonical thoughts of those characters I do not see a reason why each cause is antithetical to the other.

If I am dead wrong about anything here please let me know. 00:28, 19 September 2020 (EDT)HiveCell (talk)

You're not dead wrong. In fact, you raise valid points. So thanks for that! :)

Dante in particular is a good point to bring up though the article already took this into account by stating it is "unlikely", not "impossible" that Dante would have a black market.

JumpShips are of a pretty standard design in BattleTech, and essentially incapable of moving in-system, so if a ship is shown to both jump and use thrust movement for in-system transit then it has to be a compact core vessel with thrusters - which in turn is the definition of WarShip under BattleTech construction rules.

The Jerome Blake datacores... sure, it's all just technobabble, but as depicted they are exceedingly far-fetched within the established framework of the BattleTech canon to the point of violating canon.

Finally, the spark that started the jihad - and the plans and plans within plans that set up the powder keg in the first place - are well-understood and documented. There is a direct contradiction here in that 1) the WoB, specifically Cameron St. Jamais, fired the first shots by accident/misunderstanding and it all spiralled out of control from there; and 2) the war the WoB was really going to fight was a genocidal attack against the Clan homeworlds, for which their preparations were complete. No Blake datacores factor into any of this, and the WoB decision process was entirely reactive to other factors.

Ultimately, I thus regard Mendrugo's analysis as solid. Frabby (talk) 12:05, 21 September 2020 (EDT)

I don't agree with the point about Jumpships. I've read on a few pages on this wiki that they can maneuver in-system and there are even a few models specifically built for that. Why would they be called "Pirate" jump points if they could only effectively be used by Warships? In addition how effective would Jolly Rogers be if they couldn't maneuver in any significant way?

Concerning the Datacores is there any stronger authority on that? Just the claim it's far-fetched without given reasons is a shaky foundation I'd like to reinforce more. I keep seeing people claim the cores have tech that's magic or similar but no reasons to back that statement up. For example the Lava Gun is fantastical as it fires an unstable substance for which we have no precedent for rapidly creating or reliably containing given in-universe technologies. HiveCell (talk) 14:58, 21 September 2020 (EDT)

Made an Account for this discussion. even if the game isn't cannon, which i'm fine with, it's annoying how the games Battle Armor is now left to wither away in the non-cannon zone. the Inner Sphere kinda needs a "general, everyone has dibs on it" battle armor, and it looks cool too. it's basically a less bulky elemental, with less firepower, which is on par with IS tech compared to Clan tech. (fyi i havn't seen the new IS battle armor minis Catalyst is making, if there similar tell me) User:A Grey Knight (talk) 6:18, 30 March 2024 (EDT)

I've got good news for you! Catalyst just canonized the MechAssault 2 battle armor last year: Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 29's Dragoon (which we still need to write a page for), complete with a nod to the 'Mech-jacking tool. Meanwhile, if you're looking for a 'general, everyone has dibs on it' Inner Sphere BA, check out the Inner Sphere Standard suit. -- Tumult&Travail (talk) 18:27, 30 March 2024 (EDT)