What the heck? The Inner Sphere is a *drums rolls* a sphere, not a disk. The Galaxy is immensly larger in scale than the Inner Sphere. The Milky Way is approx. 100,000 light years "wide" and a fifth that "tall" (20,000 light years). The Inner Sphere on the other hand is on the order of 250 light years wide and tall. So no, it is not a disk, sheesh.

And 3-d maps are very simple to produce. Show a map from the top view, then show it from the side view, and for good measure show an isometric view. All we need is a map that simply is positioned from a Point of View as if you were looking at the Combine and the Commonwealth from the "side". This would give you a good view of the depth of the IS.

Looking at a 2-d map is very misleading. Say Outreach and Carver V look like their only several lightyears apart but in truth Outreach could be 100 lightyears "above" Carver V and not be close at all.

Well, one could assume that the 2-d map of the Inner Sphere only shows approximations of distance and not real values. I know its a stretch.

The real reason is of course: 3-d maps are hard to make by hand. The earliest map of the IS I saw was not done on computer but an illustration in the instruction book for Crecent Hawks Inception. (note: my memory is fuzzy and I may be wrong) And now that the 2-d map is 'canon' it would be hard to change. It would be like redrawing the state of texas to look like a fish. It might be cool but many people would not like it.

Speaking of redrawing the state of texas...

Invade Mexico. Yeah!!!