Why Smoke Jaguar, a Universally disliked and Bloodthirsty Clan?

[TitanGear]

I was so interested when I saw CLANS... Brought back memories of my time from Mechwarrior 2 as a Wolf, Jade Falcon or Ghost Bear Trueborn. No you had to pick the clan that gets effectively erased due to their barbarism and sick tactics they used to attack their enemies. Did you try n take a page out of Disneys book and make the bad guys "Misunderstood" or relatable? This is right around the same vein as Naughty dog forcing us to play as the troll that killed Joel, "I cant remember her name and I aint looking it up" I highly reccomend yall consider adding more "CLANS" to your clan game otherwise this will be a hard pass for me.

[Alpha2518]

Publicado originalmente por ExplosiveBolts:

Why is it so bad that you get to play as the irredeemable bad guys? It's an interesting angle that we haven't seen before.

This. We played as the 501st Legion killing the Jedi in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and then crushed the rebellion and it was awesome. But the Jaguars are too far? Really?

[Axeface]

I dont like the clans, Ive never really wanted to play as them - but of all of them I think Smoke Jaguar is the most interesting choice.

[bfmsc]

I think there are several reasons:
1. back to the 1990s, the mw2 has wolf, jade falcon and ghost bear storyline, only jaguars don't have their own story line. So If mw5 clans choose jaguars, it may attract those who played mw2.
2. Although jaguars are most bloodthirsty, warlike and cruel toward everything including its own warrior caste, but ironically their first khan was actually a pacifist consumed by war and violence and finally gone mad after some incident. so, a story about an atavistic jaguar warrior maybe an interesting one.

[Vogel]

Publicado originalmente por Axeface:

I dont like the clans, Ive never really wanted to play as them - but of all of them I think Smoke Jaguar is the most interesting choice.

I’m not a fan of Clan culture as a whole, but gotta admit I really like their ‘mechs.

Looking forward to piloting them in this game, even if I have to play as a Clanner.

[BoogieMan]

I don't know much about Smoke Jaguar, but didn't they get more or less stomped out of existence as a result of their invasion of Port Arthur in Mech Commander? As far as I recall, they took the planet, then an IS counterattack was launched, which struggled, called for reinforcements, then finally retook the planet leaving Smoke Jaguar in tatters, then after Tukayyid, basically defunct.

But I guess we'll probably be playing them during during their better days as opposed to when they're getting roflstomped.

[Super Sheriff Epathus]

Publicado originalmente por TitanGear:

Publicado originalmente por MadWolf:

If you run into the Smoke Jaguars accusing them of "atrocities", then you don't know anything about the universe and other factions. There are no bad or good, evil or kind people in the universe, everyone is the same there and it depends on which side of the information is provided. There is not a single fiction in which it is objectively written about Smoky Jaguars from their point of view. But at the same time, for example, the House of Davion are considered saints and heroes, but the Dragon Syndicate and the House of Liao will disagree with this. The Great Houses destroyed many planets with orbital, nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons during the Heritage Wars. After that, they did not do this because they did not have warships, but after that they appeared and during the Jihad and other wars there were no less horrors. Two well-known Clans were absorbed, for some reason you do not scold the Wolves, or do you think the absorption of Clans is without victims? It is necessary to know the universe and there are many examples there. And the Smoky Jaguars were simply made scapegoats, because that's what the authors wanted.
Smoky Jaguars are "children" compared to Blake's Word and others at Home for their deeds. So explore the universe and don't follow myths and patterns.

I will even say more, there was a point in the orbital bombing of Turtle Bay, because the guerrilla war of the local population would not allow the planet to be controlled and the troops to be there. The civilians themselves went on the warpath, and for the clan it was nonsense and did not fit into their concepts.

I just feel if they are going to name it "Clans" they should have more clan options than the Jags, Heck ill take all the Crusader clans if need be. Just seems like a writing dead-end to follow only the clan that gets systematically erased from the Inner Sphere. I guess it works for a standalone DLC.

Canonically destroyed in operation Bulldog by the revived Star League. The Star League fell mere months, maybe years later. After the devastation of the Great Refusal the clans fell into the Wars of Reaving and the war against the Society, until the Star Adders began a movement to purge the inner sphere taint from the minds and cultures of the clan, annihilating the clans who had opened themselves to the sphere and forcing them out of the Kerensky Cluster. After this the Smoke Jaguar survivors were reconstituted into the Stone Lion clan... and Devlin Stone took other Smoke Jaguar survivors and turned them into the Frateris, who would eventually be reconstituted by First Lord and IlKhan Alaric Ward after the conquest of Terra and the triumph over the Jade Falcons into the new Clan Smoke Jaguar.

Why the Smoke Jaguars? Because they matter.

[[*~MAJA~*] Mandragoron]

I also dont understand why they choice the ♥♥♥♥ up clan. Its a big red flag for me.

[Mina Murray's Typewriter]

Just copying and pasting from a previous thread since someone decided to necro this from September:

As others have said: there generally aren't any "good" factions in Battletech and the Clans are no exception. I'll be curious about the overall narrative of this game and how it tries (or doesn't try) to humanize the Smoke Jaguars, but my read on them is that they served as a solid example of the hypocrisy baked into the Clans' highbrow rhetoric and propaganda.

The story the Clans tell about themselves is upended over and over throughout the setting. Just as the pomp and dignity of all the monarchist regimes of the inner sphere are a thin veneer for bloodthirsty, vainglorious pricks, the Clans' ideals - that they fight with honour (until it's inconvenient) and are the best at fighting (except when they lose all the damn time) and they prize their cultural purity (except when y'know, they don't) - is shown as a thin veneer, a lie they tell themselves. If you're going to make a game about the Clan Invasion, taking the Smoke Jaguars as your main POV is the easiest way to have a built-in tragic arc. Plus, depending on how far into the Clan Invasion the game story goes, you also get the added drama of being a soldier having to grapple with becoming the hunted after only ever being trained to be the hunter. And finally, as the primary failsons of the Clan Invasion, you also get to have bits where the leadership gets big mad that Clan Wolf keeps showing them up.

Also, Smoke Jaguars have started to come back in the more recent eras in the game, so their demise isn't entirely a foregone conclusion anymore.

[Ry0K3N]

"this will be a hard pass for me" No one cares about you.

"their barbarism and sick tactics" Malvina Hazen wants some words with you.

[Ry0K3N]

Publicado originalmente por *~MAJA~* Mandragoron:

I also dont understand why they choice the ♥♥♥♥ up clan. Its a big red flag for me.

If you would know something minimal about the Batteltech universe you would now every clan is F-ed up.

[Tibster]

If the core game is good, the awesome modders will do the rest. I don't care what clan its based on!

[Alrik]

All Clans use eugenics and a caste system with the genetic modified warriors on top.
The Smoke Jaguars are not better or worse than any other Clan, and they were not targeted by the new Star League because their actions.

They were picked by the new Star League for extermination because House Kurita, Marik and Liao didn't wanted to help House Steiner to finish off Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf.
Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf still sufferd from their war against each other, and Clan Wolf was even splitted in two factions.

Also the Khan of Smoke Jaguar was the il Khan and the Smoke Jaguars the strongest of the invading clans.
Anhilation of the strongest Clan was considered the best way to show the other 17 remaining Clans that the new Star League was serious about ending the Clan Invasion.

[Zamza]

I think TIE Fighter did an excellent job in framing your actions as restoring "peace and order" to the Empire even though you play a faction who blows up populated planets for fun. I

It'll be interesting to see how PGI frame it and get you to do some questionable actions. Maybe if you glass that city full of innocent civilians as a bonus objective, you'll get a shiny new omni-mech keep. Or maybe they'll won't tell you what's inside those dropships... Or maybe they'll just flat out lie to you. Who knows?

[Rodso]

turtle bay

[Leorik]

I think the real reason for this choice is we have had the perspective of the 3 other clans in their invasions that the only perspective left was the Smoke Jags.