Ive been hearing a lot of claims that MZ is not canon.

Is there any legitimate reason why? You know, like, legitimate reasons. Not just you didn't like the idea of aliens in fallout. :<

The only legitimate reason I can think of is that its DLC and thus optional content, but DLC is generally considered canon in sequels despite being optional. Mothership Zeta is canon until Bethesda says it isn't, but odds are it will never be brought up ever again so it doesn't really matter whether someone wants to pretend it never happened in the Fallout world or not.

Mothership Zeta really didn't mess with the storyline enough to really make an impact into Canon. It wasn't like DLC's like Broken Steel, which pretty much added to the Canon Fallout 3.

Mothership zeta really was just a bit of fun and you got to se the aliens and since there were signs of aliens through fallout, people got there answer, but the death rays gone, you cant land the ship, but you can look down at the earth, i wonder if id done it early i could have found hightrousers or the missile satellite the enclave were using and shot it with the ships main gun.

Mothership Zeta messed with Canon on an epic scale. It implies Aliens may have caused the great war. That alone changes greatly the entire point of Fallout. Which is man alone caused the great war and now is trying to rebuild from the mistakes of the past, and yet war. War never Changes. If aliens had something to do with it then it was not our fault. Even asking the question "Did aliens really cause the great war?" Is enough to mess with Canon.

"The end of the world occurred pretty much as we had predicted; too many humans and not enough space or resources to go around. The details are trivial and pointless, the reasons as always, purely human ones."

Even just "War, war never changes" in it's simplicity tells the story of Fallout. War, war never changes... until Aliens attack! :ahhh: Then it becomes a whole other matter.

Aliens were always just an easter egg in past Fallouts, nothing more. Bethesda took a joke and took it way to far to the point where it would ruin Fallout if MZ was canon.


On Topic: No there is no official reason why people call it none canon. No Dev has called it canon or none canon. I hope to god they come right out and say it was a fun easter egg DLC.

Fans have turned against other mistakes in the past. "The Burned Game" for example. Even Bethesda will not touch it.

Not all in game content needs to be canon... The Tardis, Godliza, The Federation Shuttlecraft, the Chosen one destroying the water chip... Not to mention the Wild Wasteland stuff.

Here are a few:

1. The DLC is really "far out there" in terms of other game content. Going to Pittsburg, the swamps of maryland, or Zion National park is significantly more different than being abducted by Aliens and taken aboard an orbiting mothership. Nothing "post-apocalyptic" about it. <_<

2. Mothership Zeta flirts with the idea that Aliens started the Great War. Something that would fundamentally alter Fallout (for the worse).

3. If MZ is canon, then we must assume that the CWBOS now has access to the array of technology aboard the ship. In addition to Enclave tech, this would make them unstoppable. If Bethesda wishes to prevent the creation of this sort of "god" faction, then MZ cannot be canon. Furthermore, if we see no evidence of Alien tech when and if the CWBOS are revisted, then we can assume MZ isn't canon.

We cannot say it is canon or it isn't canon. But here are some things to consider when speculating...

1. In the original two fallout games, aliens were just Easter eggs for the player to laugh about it and go about their day as usual. In New Vegas, you can clearly see a crashed Mothership Zeta recon ship but again, it's an Easter egg, just like every Wild Wasteland encounter. Before Mothership Zeta, Fallout 3 had the famous Recon Ship Easter egg and the Firelance random encounter...and a mention of the former in the Citadel terminal. No game had a fleshed out DLC like Zeta.

2. Mothership Zeta did have more than a few references to Pre-War America, meaning it isn't really breaking lore. In regards to the aliens transmitting launch codes to U.S and Chinese missiles, it's only speculation and is completely proved false when you see somebody like Mr. House able to predict the political tensions of 2077 rather than putting aliens into his equations.

3. Not all decisions made by the player are canon, especially regarding decisions in the original game about Shady Sands. However, every main game and their DLC options ARE canon in some way. By main game, I mean the first two games by Interplay, Fallout 3 by Bethesda, and Fallout New Vegas by Obsidian. With that said, let's see all of the Fallout 3 DLC options.

Operation Anchorage is canon in terms of how the Anchorage battle played out(not to the letter of course as it is a simulation made by General Chase). The Pitt is kind of iffy but it is canon in terms of what the Pitt became after the Brotherhood scourge but before the Lone Wanderer came in. After that, it's really hard to tell. Broken Steel of course is canon and the canon option obviously is the Brotherhood of Steel knights are drinking mead in Camelot while the evil wizards of the Enclave are vanquished by a knight in shining armor. Point Lookout is...just a fun DLC. But it does reveal something about punga fruits and the state of the location where Point Lookout is.

Now for New Vegas DLC so far. Dead Money gives backstory on Father Elijah, Christine, and adds the Sierra Madre in the lore. Honest Hearts is the canon story about the Burned Man, and Old World Blues is the most epic rendition of what was happening in Pre-War America and adds to Ulysses' backstory along with building up for the final battle of epicosity with Ulysses.

So obviously every DLC is canon in some way and I think Mothership Zeta, being as linear as it is, is probably canon to a point. Except the Death Ray. I really can't see the Death Ray battle with the other ship at the end becoming canon as it pretty much gives the Lone Wanderer more power than any other protagonist. Yes, even the Courier. But I'm glad Mothership Zeta was created...why? Because it gave way for the most epic mod ever in Fallout 3. Mothership Zeta Crew

No. As the people above me have said, the idea that aliens started the Great War is just...[censored]. And then if the CWBOS had access alien technology, including space flight, they would, almost literally, own America.

I thought then aliens where above earth only they’re because of the robot horses?

DarkZerker, the thing about Op. Anchorage, is like you said, a figment of Chase's imagination, I remember reading somewhere in the game or on the Fallout wiki that General Chase was..how do I put it...bonkers.

When was it implied that aliens might have started the great war?

I never got that impression.

I like to think Mothership Zeta happened in the Lone Wanderer mind though a Med-X plus Psycho induced high

On a terminal, it shows that the aliens had acquired the launch codes to the United States of America's ICBMs, and the launch codes to China's ICBM.

Those are small two minute easter egg encounters though, Mothership Zeta is an elaborate three hour quest line.



That is a pretty good quest mod despite the Enclave members with European accents.

I dont see anything wrong with that. Unless it specifically said they used said launch codes.

It implies they might had something to do with it. That is just as bad as saying they did because it puts doubt in the main cause of the Great War.

MZ if it was canon, as other pointed out would make the CWBoS a super god faction. That would also ruin fallout.

As if the BoS are already over God Tier enough. I mean, they've been put in all of the games so far.

Like Styles said Mothership Zeta wouldn't be that bad if it hadn't been for those little hints that they threw in there like the holotape of the soldier being interrogated about what the launch codes were that hinted that Aliens might have caused the great war. Mothership Zeta is a abomonation that should never have been made, im one of those people that stick up for Bethesda for the way they handled Fallout 3 but it was just a horrible mistake they made, they took a easter egg and made it into a entire dlc. If they HADN'T thrown the little hints about aliens causing the great war in and just made it a little side story that really didn't have any bearing on the main game or the Fallout universe that would be one thing, but as it stands now its just a blight that deserves no better treatment from Fallout fans than the burned game gets.

I think the idea of MZ 'hinting' at aliens being the cause of the great war is more of a singular interpretation that happens to be shared among those who hated the DLC in the first place....

Ive just played through fo3 again, theres nothing in it that gives lyons brotherhood alien technology, because it would take the lone wanderer to give it to them and give them access to the transporter, and theres nothing in the dlc at all that gives that technology to lyons brotherhood, and any link that they may have caused the great war is barely implied its just information, its only whatever conclusions you wish to jump to, theres more evidence of some sort of colonisation, the weird collection of horses, the data being gathered from captured people, the storeroom of artifacts, and the alien human hybrids. I think its a fine dlc as long as its just as it is, you went onto the ship destroyed the death ray, wrecked their experiments and killed the hybrids, and the captain and crew and the support vessel, and the anti ship weapon is just that, it wont hit the earth, its not the death ray. Also launch codes are nothing without the ability to program the missile to give it a target, and why would they need nukes since the death ray is way more devistating.

:rofl:

Oh please god, please.

I really had to facepalm at the hint that Aliens were behind the Great War because it really does take a important part of the canon and gut it with a rusty razor blade.



He was referring to the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood chapter.

I don't mind it being canon unless it strictly states that aliens caused the Great War. Fallout would then essentially become redundant.

I would still buy the Fallout games even if Mothership Zeta is canon, however I would lose a lot of respect for Bethesda if the Aliens causing the Great War is canon. I would hope it was simply a typo they didn't notice. :cryvaultboy: :brokencomputer: