Headscratchers / Transformers: Devastation

• Which continuity does this game take place? Teletraan Alpha tells the Autobots of their incoming fates in the 1986 Movie which made me think that it was in the G1 timeline. Then at the end, Defensor and Superion help Prime and Wheeljack in commisioning the Optimus Maximus project, which made me think that the events took place in the Combiner Wars timeline. So... which continuity does this game take place?
  • It's likely the Combiner Wars timeline is an alternate history version of the G1 timeline, where things happen in much the same way, only with more combiners being involved earlier than normal. What I want to know is why Optimus says that Optimus Maximus is a price he has to pay when there's four other characters involved in the project that'd probably be worse off within the gestalt mind.
  • Traditionally, Combiner team members are built with the capability already built in (thus why the Stunticons, Aerialbots and Technobots could combine despite being newly created). Being modified into a Combiner would probably be difficult, and there's no way Optimus would allow other Autobots to go through it unless he'd been modified first. And if something goes wrong...
• You'd think that Optimus would be smart enough to have Wheeljack build a device to sap up the database inside the Ferrotaxis, thus ensuring that destroying it wouldn't erase what was left of Cybertron's culture. What makes this slightly more grating is that Prime was considering the option of destroying the damn thing in case stopping the Plasma Core on the Proudstar failed. What gives?
  • Considering how the whole game seems to take place within a comparatively short amount of time, it's possible Optimus simply didn't think of it, especially since the Ferrotaxis spends most of the game in Decepticon hands and the situation was getting increasingly hectic. Even Wheeljack needs time to think, and there just wasn't time for that.
• A small one, but what's up with Skywarp's line in the final chapter? How would Starscream's absence make him the leader, as Megatron is still around? Is this a nod to the original series, or maybe a removed plot point?
  • Maybe it's a snark to how Starscream always wants to be the leader.
• Just to whom do the Autobots sell their weapons to? (Or, for that matter, buy them from?)
  • Wheeljack buys the T.E.C.H you've sold and sells it back to you for 50 times the price.
  • Maybe the sell button means that the weapons are a) put aside for further R&D b) Dismantled for their materials or c) given to other Autobots/as reserve
• Why would Megatron escape on Long Haul? Not only can he fly, but defeating Long Haul reveals that Megatron moves at least as fast, if not faster than him in tank mode.
  • Perhaps its an exertion to move in vehicle mode. We see when Grimlock sprints that there's hint of firebreath and his jaw moves like he's panting. Plus why run yourself when you can ride in style on your lackey's back?
  • it may also be a matter of aim; Trying to watch where he's going while also shooting would likely be a bit much for even Megatron. So, he stands in Long Haul's truck bed and lets him handle the directions until the big guy's taken out.
• Why do the stats affect the things they do? For example, Fireblast (traditionally the stat that indicates the power of a character's guns) improves melee damage and defense instead of ranged damage, Strength improves health instead of melee damage, and Intelligence affects ranged attack damage instead of, say, experience gains or some other purely mental feat. All the stats feel wrong, other than arguably Rank, if only in a "well, I don't know what else it could be" way.

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