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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    I feel I didn't communicate the substance of my point correctly... the finer points of engine design and tuning are obvious to an engineer, but not necessarily to the average person. What I'm talking about is a circumstance where the FF-3001/FC2 engine is running with a stock configuration and stock ECU software, but external controllers on the data bus communicate in such a way that the engine is simply never commanded to yield full power. The engine is still capable of that power on paper, but the control software elsewhere in the aircraft is written in such a way that the aircraft is not capable of commanding the ECU to yield that much power. (This is actually quite common in automobile engines as a safety feature... particularly with e-motors, which can yield maximum torque at 0 rpm. I've had personal experience with what can happen when that protection is not functioning, and it certainly gets the adrenaline pumping.) You're misremembering, I'm afraid.It's the fighter you race him with BEFORE you get the YF-30 for the first time that suffers engine trouble, causing you to lose the race. (On New Game Plus, this is literally whatever fighter you're flying, even the YF-29.) The second race when you're using the YF-30 is then interrupted by Guld and Brera attacking you and dumping you into one of those trench runs. Slightly different model. The YF-29's two main engines are FF-3001/FC1 engines, the difference in net thrust between that the the /FC2 type the YF-30 uses is just 5kN.You are right that the YF-30, with its high-powered engines and fold dimensional resonance system, was able to go toe-to-toe with an improved YF-29 designated YF-29B Percival and win.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    No, they are both just FF-3001/FC2... the VF-31's FF-3001/FC2 engines are just detuned 11.1% for reasons that have not been explained. There are probably as many possible reasons for it as there are parts in the engine itself.Like I said before, having two of the exact same model of engine tuned to different levels of performance is something that happens a LOT in Macross. Just because you don't like it won't make it untrue. There are any number of potential reasons for using a detuned engine... like increasing the time between maintenance overhauls of the engine, reducing the burden on the cooling system, reducing structural stresses on the aircraft, reserving more reaction output for generating power instead of producing thrust, etc. The airframe shape and mass had pretty much nothing to do with it, actually... unless you'd count the airframe design being incompatible with an ISC. The reason the VF-171EX uses detuned FF-2550F thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines is that they pushed the fighter right to the design tolerances. Had they tuned those engines for maximum power the excess thrust and its implications for maneuverability would have put the pilot in the unenviable position of being able to accidentally fly the plane to pieces. There is a third possibility, as we have alluded to before... the engine could be the same FF-3001/FC2 and something in the design of the aircraft the engine is installed on is imposing a limit on the engine's performance, like greater system loads on the PGS, the design limits of the airframe, inadequate cooling, etc.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    The Blu-Ray Limited Edition's liner notes are an official publication for the series, vetted by the show's creators, so it's an extremely safe bet that the stats are accurate.Macross Chronicle is by no means the only source of official stats or an exhaustively complete resource, but it is an excellent centralized information source spanning all of the main Macross titles produced prior to its time of publication. It's certainly not unheard-of for there to be errors when a magazine is the source doing the "big reveal" of the stats due to editorial cockups, but by the time they've made it to stuff like art books or liner notes they're pretty well vetted and official... so I wouldn't start holding my breath for a correction at this point. As I've said several times already, this is not an uncommon thing for Macross to do... having the same model engine tuned differently installed in two different variants, or two of the same variant built to different local specifications. (The VF-19 Master File has, IIRC, presented the same model engine used in a half dozen VF-19 variants tuned at least four different ways... but even the VF-1 has examples of this.) Aye... I'm a powertrain development engineer working in vehicle electrification and alt-fuel systems.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Not what I meant. We don't know what actually changed between those models of engine... and thus, why it went to a completely new form of designation that hasn't been used before now. Very rarely they do (VF-19EF Caliburn) but more often than not they don't... they're simply identified as local/regional versions of that variant.You'd run out of letters pretty quick considering there are dozens of planets and fleets out there, each of which is technically at liberty to modify specs for whatever it's building. (Not everybody uses the same alphabet, but you'd still run out of letters right quick.) Our resident aviation engineers would seem to disagree with that "it must be a defective model" on a real-world experience basis... No, they're both using the "real" FF-3001/FC2. Just ones built or tuned to a different set of operating requirements or local build standards. That would be because Macross Delta is the first title to start to put actual quantification of the engine performance improvement resulting from a fold wave system. Prior to that, the increase was simply "large".It certainly appears that, when the fold wave system was conceived, Kawamori didn't anticipate it being included in aircraft intended for production. (Also, no slash in the FF-3001A's designation.) Yes, I and everyone else here is very familiar with it... but the problem is that's for competing hypotheses on otherwise equal footings. What I'm pointing out (and others are as well) is that your premise isn't as realistic as you believe it to be... and that I'm not really debating here, I'm merely pointing out long-established trends and facts in the Macross universe. Macross Chronicle has not yet covered anything from Macross Delta. The stats come solely from model kit packaging and the liner notes for the Blu-Ray limited edition release.I'm sure that, some day in the not-too-distant future Macross Chronicle will receive a 3rd Edition to cover Macross Delta and any newer titles released in the interim with an even greater page count than the 1,600 page 1st Edition or bookshelf-straining 2,560 page 2nd Edition. I won't look forward to that day without at least a little worry, since it's not a cheap undertaking when it's ~$7 a volume (not counting shipping) and the number of volumes gets close to 100. (1st Ed. was 50, 2nd Ed. was 81.) As previously explained, it is not uncommon for two VFs to have the same model engine tuned to different performance levels... so I doubt the VF-31's engine is a typo. It was meant to be a derivative of the YF-30 (per Kawamori), so it seems highly unlikely that citing the FF-3001/FC2 engine was an error. Esp. given that it's been cited consistently.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    The point is that we don't know how similar the FF-3001A and FF-3001/FC2 are... we don't know what technological advances were made between those two models to produce that sizable jump in power. No, it's a relatively well-established fact that not all fleets and planets possess the same levels of manufacturing capability. It depends on things like the age of the fleet or colony, the industrial presences there, whether or not they have factory satellites, etc. They have, for the most part, the same blueprints... but not all of them have the ability to build them to the same standard, and some choose not to build them to the same standard for their own reasons.One example given is that the Macross Frontier fleet did not have the ability to produce the specific grade of hypercarbon armor used in the VF-25's wings, which had to be supplied from the Macross Olypmia fleet. Some of the initial batch of VF-25s had wings made with inferior materials as a result. No I'm not, you just don't appear to have understood me. I'm just stating the facts of the Macross universe here.In the Macross universe, it's an established fact that a particular variant built in different locales will not necessarily be identical in terms of quality or performance. But they will, however, carry the same basic designation because they're local versions of that base variant spec adjusted either for the tactical demands and preferences of that regional military or the limitations of the local manufacturing capabilities. The VF-171 is practically the poster child for this (and may be the original offender), but it's been mentioned in connection with the VF-19 and the VF-25 as well. The VF-25, however, wears that fact fairly openly... There's even one case where a locally-produced VF-19C was made with adjusted specs for what I can honestly only characterize as "trolling". (Seriously, Macross Galaxy's corporate army really is THAT juvenile sometimes.) No, I really meant "to a higher standard"... see the above.Though there are any number of other minor modifications or limiting factors that could also account for the VF-31's FF-3001/FC2 engine having inferior performance to the YF-30's... like cooling system issues, airframe structural limits, tuning changes to optimize the engine for a particular set of operating conditions or requirements, etc. There is, however, no indication that the FF-3001/FC2 engines in the YF-30 were in anything other than factory condition when the fighter was put into combat service briefly in 2060. We're talking about a VF from a game, yes, but the stats are presented in the same format and in the same official publication (Macross Chronicle) as the stats for any VF that's shown up in animation.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    At the risk of pointing out a hole in your reasoning, you're assuming the FF-3001A and FF-3001/FC2 are only slightly different. That isn't a fact. That is an unfounded assumption as well... one of the more frustrating parts about the way the New UN Government and New UN Forces are presented in later Macross works is the existence of regional variations. This was first hinted at in Frontier and exploded into an ugly mess with the help of Macross the Ride, the fact that the vagaries of having the individual fleets and planets of the New UN Government having a choice between building their own VFs, buying export models, or locally building an existing fighter design under license led to a significant amount of local variation.(Believe me, this next bit frustrates me to no end...) So, starting at some as-of-yet unidentified point in the 2040's, you could have the same variant of VF built by three different local governments and all three could have different specs while retaining an identical operational designation for most purposes. A VF-171A built for the Brisingr NUNS could have a different set of capabilities and performance limits than a VF-171A built by, say, the Macross Frontier fleet... but they're both still VF-171A's as long as the base design isn't deviated from too heavily. (So, of course, now every time we go to document a fighter we have to stop and ask "Is this the base spec, or is this a local spec version?".) It's perfectly possible that the FF-3001/FC2 engines built by Uroboros AWDAP for the YF-30 and the FF-3001/FC2 engines Surya Aerospace acquired for VF-31 trial production were the same design built to different standards based on budgetary constraints or issues of material quality. The Brisingr cluster is not a wealthy region, so they may have built the FF-3001/FC2 to lower design tolerances to save money or because the VF-31 lacked the structural strength for the full-strength engine as a model economized for mass production. They could have made minor design changes to reduce the thrust output in favor of greater generator output or more stability in a particular power band (since the VF-31s are mostly used for low-altitude combat). The YF-30 was, after all, built by Aisha Blanchett and Uroboros AWDAP with the nearly unlimited wealth of Strategic Military Services and Bilra Transport Co., so it wouldn't be surprising if they could build the FF-3001/FC2 to a higher standard. The teased VF-31 Master File may lend some help on this front... or it may do what the VF-25 book did and comment almost exclusively upon one of those local variations instead of the base design! That's inconsistent with over thirty years of relatively consistent formatting of information... overboost performance is always given separately from normal engine operating maximums. That's why I don't buy that theory... it would mark a radical and pointless departure from their well-established stats publishing format. Even the VF-31 stats are presented in that consistent manner. Word.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    There may be some method to their madness, I will elaborate below. Granted, that's the case normally... but the choice of "tuning" carries a much broader set of implications than "trimming" does, and I don't think they're misusing the term. (This is coming from my work as a powertrain development engineer in the auto industry, mainly, but also a bit of my experience in robotics.)What you call "trimming" is also commonly referred to in other applications as "chip tuning": changing the engine control software calibrations stored in the engine control unit's EEPROM. The engine itself isn't changed, but the way its software behaves can be altered by changing timings, pressure limits, etc. for improved or diminished performance. The term "tuning" also encompasses "performance tuning" as well... in which an engine's hardware, software, and calibrations can all be modified to increase aspects of the engine's performance (usually at the expense of other areas of performance). It's this that I think they mean when they use "tuned" to refer to modified engines. Physically modifying the engine for increased power, for greater fuel efficiency, for greater generator output, etc. (or the reverse, like the VF-171's FF-2110X engines). I think it's particularly likely that there are changes to the engine hardware and software in cases where they refer to tuning... especially given that many cases are engines of diminished performance intended for export, and the NUNG wouldn't want to make it so easy for the people buying the export engines to recal them for the same output as the federal NUNS fighters have. I wouldn't put it past them to write-protect the engine control software as well, so an engine couldn't be rebuilt to federal NUNS spec and still function normally. If it's just a calibrations thing, then the engine cals could be reprogrammed or reset to increase the performance of the detuned engine. If the tuning extended to changes to the engine's hardware and software, that would be much, MUCH harder to reverse. As noted above, I suspect this is what was done to export model engines... and why, when aircraft that were using a detuned engine model were upgraded they outright replaced the engines with a new model. (The VF-171EX.)
  8. Seto Kaiba
    There are a few significant problems with your reasoning here.The first is that, while it may be the same engine, the version the VF-31s are fitted with is a significantly detuned version... so it's the same engine, but the performance is not the same. The second is that the YF-30's 2,110kN is NOT presented as being the engine's boosted output, but as the rated performance of the engine itself... the same as the VF-31's 1,875kN. The only logical interpretation of the stats is it is NOT accounting for the improvement provided by the fold dimensional resonance system. This is true of experimental and early prototype aircraft... but the ones that have featured in Macross stories have been pretty uniformly the late or final prototypes which were built to full or near-full military spec using the production-intent materials and hardware. The VF-X-11 No.2 that was appropriated by the Dancing Skulls for a rescue op became the final production spec for the VF-11A. The YF-19 No.2 prototype in Project Super Nova was practically identical to the initial VF-19A Excalibur production model. The YF-21 No.2 didn't change a hell of a lot either, given that most of the changes were to the control system. The YF-25 Prophecy also was pretty much full military spec except for the special monitor turret for data recording. The YF-27-5 probably doesn't count because even though it was nowhere near the military spec for the VF-27, it was still fully combat-ready and was made with an intention to mislead people about the capabilities of the true VF-27... The YF-30 was, by all accounts, a full custom-fab job by the Uroboros AWDAP facility in partnership with Shinsei and LAI. The only part I'm aware of that was "off the shelf" was the Ariel II "Brunhilde" super-AI control package off the VF-25. (It's a safe bet the VF-31 is also an Ariel II platform, but I wonder if it's also using the Brunhilde build or if Surya came up with their own software to drive the flight control system?)
  9. Seto Kaiba
    The YF-30 Chronos and VF-31 Kairos/Siegfried use the same engine... but the version used by the Kairos and Siegfried has been detuned 12.5% (1,875kN vs 2,110kN). Given that one of the only stated details of the fold dimensional resonance system is that it outclasses the fold wave system of the YF-29, even if the increase in thrust provided by the overboost mode was the same 15% the YF-30 would be producing more thrust because of the greater capability the base engine offers. (The YF-30 is also capable of independently penetrating fold faults, an option no other fighter has.) The YF-30 Chronos is only a technology demonstrator as seen in Macross 30, but with less mass, 12.5% more engine power, a superior version of the fold wave system that grants independent ability to penetrate fold fault barriers, and the heavy quantum beam rifle the fighter was equipped with for live combat was a MDE beam rifle (one megadeath nastier than what the VF-31 has.)
  10. Seto Kaiba
    No problemo... the "thermonuclear reaction burst turbine" isn't a term often used. Macross the Ride threw it around a lot, and Macross 30's voiceover actually did throw it out rather blatantly at one point, but it's usually a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of affair.(As a fun note, it appears that the easiest way to tell the engine type apart is the model number. Each block of engine types seems to start with __99, the initial one being FF-1999 for the QF-3000 Ghost, while thermonuclear reaction burst turbines started at FF-2099 from the VF-16 and VF-11MAXL, and Stage II engines appear to have started with FF-2999, for which an upgraded model was used on the Sv-262.) If someone wanted to be a smartarse, the point could be made that Isamu's YF-29 from Macross 30 was a vanilla-colored YF-29. IIRC didn't that one have the fold wave system as its Box 3 weapon in-game? We know for relatively certain (thanks Great Mechanics G) that the Kairos does not have a fold wave system or any fold quartz-based subsystems except its ISC. Given the parts commonality between the two, I'd argue it is a fair statement since the Kairos and Siegfried are using detuned versions of YF-30 parts with performance differences in excess of 10%. The Draken III only superficially looks like a single-engine VF... it does in fact have two FF-2999/FC2 engines.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Yep... unless the fighter in question is outfitted with a fold wave system or fold dimensional resonance system, or a four-engine configuration using Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. There's no "burst" in the name of the Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. The thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines were the previous generation engine model that replaced the initial thermonuclear reaction turbine engines and were in turn replaced by the Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. It's a lot more limited than that.The stock 2-engine 5th Generation VF has enough surplus generator output to run only light energy conversion armor around vital areas like the cockpit and the engines. GERWALK mode and Battroid mode enjoy boosted armor strength for the entire airframe. The VF-27's 4-engine configuration enabled it to optionally run its energy conversion armor and pin-point barrier in fighter mode, though it isn't clear if the generator surplus is sufficient to fully power the armor or if that all-around coverage is at a reduced level vs. battroid mode. VFs like the YF-29, YF-30, and VF-31 Siegfried Custom are able to fully power their energy conversion armor in all modes because their generator output is supplemented by the fold wave system or fold dimensional resonance system providing energy directly from super dimension space. (This, of course, is bank-breakingly expensive and not widely applied.) Aye, 100% in all three modes if you've got a fold wave or fold dimensional resonance system supplementing (or outright replacing) generator output from the engines with energy drawn from super dimension space.As noted above, the YF-29, YF-30, and the Siegfried version of the VF-31 can all do this by virtue of being equipped with either a fold wave system or a fold dimensional resonance system. Whether the Sv-262 is able to do this is unclear, since its reheat system is a sort of poor man's fold wave system to improve engine performance... it's not mentioned if it has dimensional energy conversion capabilities too. At present, there is no indication of any YF-30 besides the one on Uroboros... which was apparently economized significantly to make the VF-31. (Curiously, the VF-4 Master File makes brief mention of a VF-30... so the original model may have made it into mass production after all.) See the above about the VF-27's armor... it could run the armor, certainly, but at full power without a fold wave system? That's not clear. No source I am aware of has described the fold wave system as anything other than a standard feature of the YF-29 (and presumably YF-29B).
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, Battroid mode has a few other major tactical advantages in a dogfight... its agility is extremely high because it can leverage, AMBAC-style maneuvering, high-thrust verniers, and the main and sub-engines for one. It also makes it a good deal easier to bring the heavier guns to bear on multiple targets and intercept missiles. (This is the subject of some considerable fussing on Gamlin's part, because battroids were presented as being capable of high lateral g-forces during that kind of maneuvering and he was hacked off that Basara could handle it to the fullest and he couldn't.) Macross 7 and Macross Frontier were both quite good about showing that Battroid mode could be used offensively in a dogfight... and even Delta threw that one bone in a recent episode where Hayate went charging at Keith in battroid with his gun pod blazing. Max, of course, sets the gold standard back in the original series against Milia inside the Macross itself.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Not even the audience. In all honesty, I have this weird suspicion based on the way the guard had NO PROBLEM letting Kaname into the same hospital wing as a patient that, if Walkure had foregone the attempted break-in and simply showed their IDs and asked to visit Mikumo, the guards would've had zero problem letting them in and would probably have asked for autographs. Like... getting tossed in the clink for an episode was a "Why did you do that? You could've walked right in the front door any time you wanted!" thing. And remove his Orphan's Plot Coupon? NEVER! From what we've been told, it sounds like the movie was intended to be a wrap-up/climax rather than a compilation movie like DYRL? or the others. It sounds like the stuff that was earmarked for the movie got rolled into the 2nd cour, so there may not be a plan to do a movie after adapting the movie's plot for the extended series.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Well... I'd imagine that fold quartz is like any other commodity, with a value that varies from place to place based on a variety of market factors. Supply and demand, the relative difficulty and/or danger of extracting it from Protoculture ruins or Vajra hive sites, the purchasing power of the local currency, and the exchange rates of the different local currencies should all affect the regional market price for fold quartz. On Windermere, the market value of fold quartz appears to have been relatively low. It was plentiful and easy to harvest, and demand was and is limited by the difficulties of Windermere's trade situation.1 Fold quartz is probably more expensive on a planet like Uroboros, where it's plentiful but dangerous to harvest because the Protoculture ruins all over the planet are positively crawling with lethal bio-technological guardian creatures2 able to inflict serious harm on even a modern Valkyrie... or a planet that doesn't have any Protoculture ruins or former Vajra nesting sites. OK, I could understand discontent with the Sound Force Valkyries... but otherwise I thought it was all right. Macross Zero is kind of its own category, because its VFs have extremely low thrust-to-weight ratios3 and aggressively limited endurance because they're relying on conventional overtuned turbine engines burning high-powered jet fuel. With them needing more than half their engine output just to stay aloft in Battroid mode and energy conversion armor consuming 90% of the engine output in Battroid mode, that was always going to be a losing battle where battroid mode was less hovering or flying and more "falling, with style!". 1. Being surrounded by fold faults, the Windermere Kingdom's interstellar trade relationships were fraught with difficulty for any export at even the best of times. The New UN Government's strict oversight, regulation, and restriction of trading in fold quartz certainly didn't help, and I'll wager the trade restrictions that came with being reclassified a hostile foreign power after the war of independence did not improve matters one jot. 2. The Dyaus, who are also large enough to make sending explorers in on foot unviable... and that's not counting the occasional cruiser-sized Mother Dyaus. 3. ~1.8, approximately 1/2 that of a stock VF-1A-4 Valkyrie.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Don't apologize for asking questions! As to whether the Xaos Valkyrie Works VF-31 Siegfried customs have the super-high purity fold quartz classified as the "Philosopher's Stone", the published specs don't say but it's a safe bet they do. Probably only two of them instead of four, given that the VF-31 has just the two engines. I'd have a hard time formulating a sound theory regarding the Sv-262's "reheat system", since that's a poor man's fold wave system. My gut feeling on that one would be that it probably is using lower-quality fold quartz below the "Philosopher's Stone" level, since the writeup says it's fold quartz nicked from the ruins on Windermere. (But at least these philosopher's stones aren't made from dead people or sought after by a noseless magical nazi, right?)
  16. Seto Kaiba
    I'm crushed they didn't reenact that one scene from Titanic out on the bow of the Sigur Valens. That's assuming the movie is still a thing... and, honestly, with as many problems as the TV series has had I don't have any confidence in the staff polishing this turd for the cinema.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, his One True Threesome. Don't forget holograms!Maybe the original plan was to cure Var syndrome through nuru massage? Seriously though, the explanation in the Blu-Ray special features is stupid too... there's really no reason for the body suits to be completely transparent or for the holographic projector harness to be underwear. It's fanservice and nothing else... one more serious flaw in an overwhelming litany of flaws that plague this series. Well, strictly speaking... you don't have to, but you absolutely can. Honestly, what it feels like is fan fiction. BAD fan fiction. The kind of bad fan-fiction you normally have to go to the eight letter R word for.Macross Delta had some pretty glaring problems even before the second half went to hell. A bunch of its cast are blatant expys of the more popular characters in Frontier, and the cast is so huge that characterization got spread awfully thin and left almost the entire cast a collection of flat characters, and many of them aren't really relevant to the plot at all. They expect us to care about all these flat, largely useless characters like Theo, Xao, Qasim, Makina, Reina, Kaname, Messer, etc. Several of them, like Makina, Reina, and the twins, are obviously only in the show to throw the h-dojinshi circles a bone and could be deleted from the series without consequence. The first half of the series is better, but if you go back and rewatch it you quickly notice that the characters are present... but don't seem to be at all involved in the story until the last two episodes. Stuff is happening around them, but all they can do is react to it with dull surprise until the attack on Ragna. Nothing they do has any real effect on Windermere's advance and the Aerial Knights. In short, they're not really participating. Literally everything they do either achieves no result or helps Windermere, and for the majority of the series they don't seem to even care. They actually attempt to stop the NUNS from taking a proactive stance to oppose Windermere, which is full-on "Whose side are you on, anyway?". They do such a sh*t-awful job that it's impossible to take them seriously as an elite mercenary outfit hired to protect the Brisingr Cluster when they achieve nothing, practically hand the cluster to Windermere with a bow on it, and their leader's only character trait besides being XBOX HUGE is that he's renowed for being really phenomenally bad at his job. Lady M is no better, since she seems to be holding an idiot ball up until Windermere seizes Ragna, and then quietly vanishes into the background. For the first time in Macross history, they've managed to take a great set of mechanical designs, great music, a handful of engaging characters, and an enormous and well-developed setting and produce a whole that is somehow significantly less than the sum of its parts. Macross II and Macross 7 used to be the fandom whipping boys for being unimaginative in story or mediocre in animation and design... but now we have Macross Delta, a show we can point to and definitively say "This is how you do a Macross series wrong."
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Are "Dancing Skulls" or "Havamal" necessarily better? Those are two famous special forces units in Macross.IIRC the name "Londo Bell" is something to do with the unit being headquartered at Londinium colony in Side 1... and may have originally been meant to be London Bell.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    French for "Course"... used by the film industry to describe a 3 month arc of approximately 13 episodes.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    As I noted over in the other thread, this seems to be a macro version of the fold stones on Uroboros... though the effect used by Windermere seems to be different from the one generated by the ruins, possibly indicative of Sigur Valens generating it instead.In theory, it shouldn't be any different from a normal fold... it's rendering two discrete points in space coterminous by linking them through fold space. Either the bubble of normalized space that normally carries a ship during a fold is sitting in the middle of the fold gate to provide a realspace bridge between point A and point B, or the origin and destination are bridged thoroughly enough that one isn't necessary. The "warp bubble" a fold drive normally generates is a bubble of normalized space around the ship which is then cut off and exchanged for an equivalent volume of space at the ship's destination... the ship isn't being moved, the space containing the ship is. All a "fold gate" is is the transition point from fold space to normal space. No, you're right... energy conversion armor requires a rather substantial amount of energy to run. I'd assume the VB-6's stock engines are tuned to emphasize generator output over thrust production, and are probably fusing their fuel at a faster rate to keep up with the energy demands of such an enormous mecha.As to why they wouldn't upgrade the engines, what I was getting at over in the other thread is that, after upgrading the armor to the same Advanced Energy Conversion Armor used on the VF-25's Armored Pack (which is so expensive the pack is restricted to ranking pilots and aces) they probably had to keep the costs down somewhere... and engines are one of a VF's most expensive parts. (Structural and/or thermal limits may also be a factor, since upgrading to an engine that produced greater thrust would also increase the burden on the engine cooling system and flight-related stresses on the airframe.) Pin-point barriers also require a LOT of power... more than energy conversion armor, if one takes remarks about the YF-19/VF-19A into account. The YF-19 (or VF-19A) needed to devote 60% of its reactor output just to run the barrier system.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Remember a couple days back when I mentioned there were occasionally problems when Chronicle described things in a less-than-clear manner? This is another good example of that.The Macross Chronicle mechanic sheet lists the mass for the SMS VB-6 Custom as 101,900kg, the same as the Ravens model, but also says that the aircraft was lightened by SMS's rework... so that's what that's about! They probably had to economize somewhere... all that Advanced ECA isn't cheap by any means, and a complete retrofit of the control system probably didn't do the general operating account any favors either. Possibly something that was added in a block upgrade in the 2050's... or something along those lines.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    As I predicted several episodes back, the ruins seem to include a macro version of the fold stone system that was present on Uroboros... enabling point-to-point teleportation by space fold for small craft over short distances, presumably by simply making two locations briefly coterminous through fold space. In theory, it isn't any different from a normal fold effect, it's just a static bridging of two locations instead of a temporary one. The ship likely has no need to generate its own protective bubble of normalized space-time (the "warp bubble" of which Chronicle speaks) if the static gate is fully bridging Point A and Point B. However, it's unusual that the one generated by the ruins is a normal fold effect, while the one generated for Windermerean ships is that odd blue-purple vortex instead. Perhaps the one Walkure and Delta Flight used is generated by the ruins, and the one the Aerial Knights have been using is generated by a zero-time fold system on the Sigur Valens.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    At this point, I think I'm probably well within my rights to demand an apology from everyone who bagged on Macross II for not innovating and mixing it up as much as other Macross shows. At least the Macross II staff were trying...Delta's production team seems to be completely phoning it in, to such a worrying degree that the Konig Monster is far from the only scene they nicked whole cloth from Frontier and reskinned. Most of the VF-171 shots were also lifted from the Frontier series... and of course, there's copious reuse of parts or entire CG models from Frontier like the Elysion, the Barette City ship, Cheyenne II, etc. Even the more prominent characters have been fairly blatant copies of Frontier's. Mikumo is trying real hard to be Sheryl 2.0, Freyja and Hayate are less mopey (and better) versions of Alto and Ranka, Keith is now going all creepy overprotective brother (Brera) on Heinz, and Berger Stone seems to be competing with Roid to be the new Grace O'Connor. I was with ya up 'till that last part... that's like cleansing your eyes by dunking your entire head into a poorly maintained, overfull septic tank. Don't do that, they'll just make their own potato vodka instead of writing a decent episode for once...
  24. Seto Kaiba
    The "VF-1R" in Macross is an alternate name for the VF-1改 Refined Valkyrie from the Macross II parallel world timeline story Macross 2036. It's actually not one variant, but a family of (at least) three: the VF-1AR, VF-1JR, and VF-1SR. They're a major evolutionary upgrade of the VF-1 Valkyrie platform that rolled out in the late 2010's, and were developed by the newly formed Takachihof Company. They also sometimes go by the name "Attack Valkyrie" and have a semi-permanent Super Pack like the VF-2SS that combines the features of a Super and Strike Pack (called the Super Pack II).http://www.gearsonline.net/series/macross/2036/ The VF-1SR was flown by Macross 2036 protagonist and player character Komilia Maria Fallyna Jenius, and the VF-1JR was flown by her wingman and love interest Lott Sheen. The other VF-1R is what The Show That Must Not Be Named calls the animation error VF-1A with three lasers.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    sketchley covered the main points in his usual excellent fashion, so I'd just like to make one additional relevant point WRT the VF-171's tech specs: The VF-171 Nightmare Plus, like the other 4th Generation VFs, is outfitted with thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines... an evolutionary upgrade from initial thermonuclear reaction turbine engine designs with greatly improved heat exchange technology and fuel efficiency. On paper, a 4th Generation VF isn't supposed to need a FAST pack for most space ops. They probably just use conformal fuel tanks to extend their range on long range patrols. Why we've come back to FAST packs being a thing in some 5th Generation VFs seems to be more a matter of carrying hundreds of missiles without ruining the fighter's thrust-to-weight ratio than a genuine need to extend the fighter's propellant capacity and acceleration. (Of course, toys have something to do with it as well...) We have no idea... no quantification of the fold wave system's performance has ever been made. I'd assume the VF-31's fold wave system is less bank-breaking since the requirement seems to be one super-high purity fold quartz chunk per engine and the VF-31 has just two engines...
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