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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Master File isn't, strictly speaking, "official material"... the books are disclaimed with a statement that they're not official setting material. Probably shouldn't count Supika III either, as it was destroyed. The listing, which I compiled a while back, is of colonized worlds... Earth isn't a colony, it's the homeworld. That's why the moon, which was colonized, is listed but not Earth. As far as the episode goes, I was reasonably satisfied by this one. Mirage and Hayate have a few good moments together (go Team Mirage!), and we got some good mecha action. Feels a bit like Ep7 of Frontier, though it looks like next episode is going to be the point where the real meat of the plot is going to be laid bare.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, undeniably. It wouldn't do anything to help the VF-19's bank-breaking price tag, but the ISC alone would go a long way toward making the VF-19 something a military that isn't staffed entirely by combat cyborgs could operate in numbers. There probably wouldn't be a ton of interest, what with the YF-24 derivatives which were coming out in various fleets and being sold by those fleets to the NUNS garrisons of other fleets and planets, but it'd be viable in theory if not necessarily in practice. If it was going to adopt the VF-19 Custom's overtuned engines, I'd assume it'd also adopt the airframe reinforcements that pushed the g-limits to close to 40G.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    In the context of the stories that come both before and after it, I'd say that a more accurate way to think of it might be that the Macross Frontier TV series was a version of the story where the YF-29 wasn't necessary or perhaps wasn't ready in time for the war's conclusion... while the movie is a version where it was. There's no doubt that, in terms of the inter-series "broad strokes" continuity, the YF-29 most definitely exist[s/ed]. Without it, the YF-30 Chronos would not have been possible, as the YF-30's fold dimension resonance system was developed from the YF-29's fold wave system, and its FF-3001/FC2 engines and its beam gun pod were also further refinements of systems used on the YF-29. (Likewise, its rival aircraft, the YF-29B, just plain wouldn't exist.) The VF-31 Siegfried we were introduced to in Macross Delta was developed from the YF-30, so we'd be kind of up a creek without a paddle if the YF-29 was "non-canon".
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Looking back at it, I'm wondering if someone simply fudged the math in converting from kilograms-force to kilonewtons. Between Macross 7 and Macross the Ride, Macross as a whole went from citing thrust in kilograms-force to kilonewtons, and it would be far from the first Macross publication to screw up that unit conversion by rounding in the wrong place. IIRC, the VF-19A was actually equipped with the earlier model FF-2200 engines rated at 56,500kgf rather than the FF-2500E's rated at 67,500kgf. That puts the difference at a hair over 108,000kgf per engine. (The difference in thrust-to-weight ratio is about 2.5x, VF-19EF vs. VF-25.) As far as the benefits of installing an Inertia Store Converter on the VF-19, I'd think the most significant benefit would be the dramatic increase in the number of pilots able to handle the aircraft. Its Achilles heel always was that its maneuverability performance was so high that only the most experienced aces could keep the aircraft under control at anything close to its full potential because of the high g-forces. Insulating the cockpit from those high g-forces means removing, at a stroke, the chief limiting factor in the VF-19's operation. The VF-19's structural g-limit is 31G on the 1st production type and 35.5G on the 2nd... so the pilot would still feel some G's even if pushing the airframe all the way to its structural limit. Assuming the ISC's performance was the same as the type used on the VF-25, you would have to basically fly the airframe to pieces (which the super AI avionics wouldn't let you do unless you specifically disabled the limiters) in order to get close to a debilitating level of g-forces.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    As I pointed out over in another thread (the mecha/technology one), this sort of thing is actually old news and the Draken III would not be the first unit of this type to be featured in a Macross story. It'd be the fourth... IF this rumor from 2ch is actually true. As far as technological influence, that's not necessarily true... all of their designs have been built around stolen UN Forces technology. The usual development trajectory was to steal a current-gen UN Forces fighter, and combine its systems with more Zentradi overtechnology over the course of years until they achieved something on par with the next-gen fighter. (Even the Sv-51 was essentially just a repackaging of stolen UN Forces tech developments, stolen by D.D. Ivanov.) Mind you, the Draken III would be the first unit of this type to actually receive a "Sv" designation.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    He's been pushing that one for ages with respect to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Do You Remember Love?, citing that neither was a strictly accurate depiction of the First Space War's events and the truth was somewhere inbetween. Also, weren't you the one who reported on his 30th Anniversary event declaration that all Macross titles were equally valid?
  7. Seto Kaiba
    OK, so... same source as all the other enemy Valkyries like the Variable Glaug and Feios. I suppose that would explain why the Draken III has an obvious design lineage to UN Forces Valkyries... all of their most successful designs have been based upon stolen (New) UN Forces technology, usually combined with much more Zentradi overtechnology than the (New) UN Forces use. Usually what they build ends up being on a roughly equal footing with the fighter one generation newer than whatever they nicked to build it. The exception being the Sv-51, which is based not on a stolen fighter but merely stolen development data. They built a 3rd Generation-equivalent fighter in the Variable Glaug using overtechnology from a stolen VF-4, they built a 4th Generation-equivalent fighter off systems from a stolen VF-11, and considering the GERWALK and Fighter mode designs of the Draken III I'd wager it's based off a stolen VF-171.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    The players in my Macross RPG got into the habit of referring to using overkill weaponry like the Valkyrie II's big anti-ship railgun, Strike Valkyrie's beam cannon, and the YF-29's MDE beam turret as "pressing the 'F*** YOU' button" because it was their preferred method for making problematic NPCs go away (often permanently).
  9. Seto Kaiba
    The only other known unit to mount that type of engine was the YF-19 No.2 prototype, for which the nominal tuning was approximately 660kN (661.949kN if we're being meticulous). Tuning it up to 697.5kN would be an improvement of a hair over 5%. (Curious choice on Isamu's part, downgrading from the proven FF-2550E to the less stable FF-2500.) ... 's not actually a Macross the Ride thing. Or, at least, not directly. Remember, "VF-19EF/A" was the new designation that Macross Chronicle assigned to the custom VF-19 that was used for Isamu's cameo in Macross Frontier's second movie. IIRC, it was originally known in the official art book as "VF-19 (SMS Ver.)" and in the novel as VF-19ADVANCE. I guess Chronicle's writers opted to make it a monkey model since Isamu couldn't exactly walk off with a New UN Forces main fleet grade VF-19.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    As with DYRL?, just because something first appears in the movie version of a story doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the broad strokes continuity that connects the various Macross stories to each other. You're confusing "doesn't appear" with "doesn't exist"... and also production history with in-universe chronology. This isn't exactly the first time they've added to an earlier Macross show's fighter's development history in a later Macross title. With titles chronologically on both sides of the Macross Frontier story arc clearly and explicitly indicating the YF-29 is in fact a thing (and, indeed, we wouldn't have the VF-31 if it wasn't) I see no reason to doubt its existence in the ongoing Macross universe. In all likelihood, the YF-29's relationship to the Macross Frontier TV series is no different than that of many DYRL? designs to the SDF Macross TV series... they exist, but many of them are representative of developments that occurred later or elsewhere. It's perfectly likely that the YF-29 existed on paper (in-universe) in the events of the Macross Frontier series and was simply not complete in time for the war's conclusion. ... so, besides the fact that Kawamori refuted the idea of the series and movies being separate universes, doesn't Macross the Ride being a prequel to the whole Macross Frontier arc kind of punch a gaping hole in your argument?
  11. Seto Kaiba
    How so? If we're talking about production/release dates, then we're golden because the references to the YF-29's data supposedly being used in development of the VF-27 come from works published months after Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa's theatrical release.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Of course, that doesn't include the occasional case where failures of research or simple typographical errors led to moon logic-level explanations for what would otherwise have been fairly straightforward trivia. A disproportionate number of those errors belong to VF-19 sheets for reasons unknown, like that transposition error in the VF-19F/S engine numbers that went uncaught to the point that a paragraph of physics-defying nonsense attempted to explain it away or how all the performance-related claims on the VF-19EF/A Excalibur ADVANCE's mechanic sheet fall apart when you realize the numbers literally don't add up.* Not really a black hole, per se... more like a focused fold effect rendered into beam form. * In the VF-19EF/A Excalibur ADVANCE's case there's no clear explanation for how they managed to get grade school-level arithmetic so badly wrong. Its engine thrust is cited as having increased 10%, but the number cited is only 5.68% greater (110% of 660 is 726 not 697.5). Likewise, its net thrust of 1,395kN is NOT more thrust han the VF-25's 3,240kN, even though the article claims it is.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    The VF-27's gun pod is a bit of a head-scratcher too. The official writeup consistently mentions that it was initially a regular beam cannon and was upgraded to heavy quantum beam spec for anti-Vajra use. When, exactly, this upgrade occurred is not clear, as when Brera mentions the Vajra's ability to adapt in the Macross Frontier TV series (before the Frontier fleet started to upgrade its weapons for anti-Vajra use) he describes it as a heavy quantum weapon. Once the gun pod was upgraded, yeah... it would work on the same principles. Whether it's a more powerful weapon than the heavy quantum beam rifles used by the YF-29, YF-30, and presumably VF-31 is not clear. Size alone is not a guarantee of an energy weapon's power. I would assume that it's comparably powerful to the YF-29's, though the YF-30 (and presumably the VF-31) are said to use a new-and-improved model.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Well, perhaps... but as the de jure leader of Walkure, I'd wager she and/or someone further up Delta Platoon's chain of command would still rip into Hayate (and likely Freyja as well) for not clearing their little night flight with command. After all, they were technically on a war footing and under a standby order at that point, so the scolding would probably have taken the form "good idea, terrible execution". Messer would've been vindicated for ripping into them like that, though he'd sustain a bit of a puncture to his inflated ego by having to hear that Hayate's idea was a good one.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    The YF-29's a bit of an odd bird when it comes to guns... The coaxial guns mounted on the monitor turret (head) are identified in official spec as ES-25A 25mm high-speed machine guns firing anti-Vajra MDE shells (the same weapon the VF-25's hip guns were upgraded to). No weapon is mentioned as being installed in the hip gun ports, though the port itself still clearly exists in the CG model. The back-mounted TW2-MDE/M25 micro-dimension eater beam cannon fires a stream of microsingularities made up of the superheavy quanta that can only be produced using fold quartz, which draw matter from the target into super dimension space on impact. The gun pod is a heavy quantum beam rifle that operates sort of like a half-arsed Macross Cannon. Instead of drawing heavy quanta into realspace and letting the gravity it produces cause it to fuse and focus the output of that reaction into a fusion plasma beam, the heavy quantum beam rifle stops halfway through the process and just fires a beam of that ultra-high-mass extradimensional matter at the enemy instead. Edit: Cannons on the arms? There aren't any. I know the bit you're talking about, but it's never been identified as a gun. Totally looks like it ought to be one though.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Which one?
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Well, yes... and that would tend to point the finger squarely at Macross-1, being the only fleet ever positively identified as using a New Macross-class without a shell. Mind you, there's not a ton of possible alternatives for this one. Macross Chronicle indicates that it was only the earliest of the New Macross-class ships that didn't have the defensive shell, and we know the ships in the Macross-5 fleet had them... which means it has to be a pre-Macross-5 ship. We know that it can't be Macross-3 or Macross-4, as those established the colonies on Eden 3 and Sephira respectively. That leaves Macross-1 or Macross-2.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    To do that, it'd have to be a dimension weapon beyond anything covered by the current definition of the term... as it stands, that term covers super dimension energy cannons and dimension eater weaponry. Neither of those would produce something like a fold fault, let alone one capable of isolating a planetary system. I'd suspect there's some ancient Protoculture technology on the planet that is creating the fault.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    From the description given by Captain Johnson and Major Molders, it seems like Windermere may be in the same "kind of inaccessible" straits as Uroboros... he did say it was surrounded by fold faults. (One has to wonder if the fold faults are there by accident or design... to keep others out, or to keep something the Protoculture left on the planet in...)
  20. Seto Kaiba
    On the VF-1 and VF-1, that was probably necessary to ensure they could fight for the maximum amount of time without needing to withdraw for refueling. In the case of the VF-25, it's likely more about the additional armor and weaponry. If you take Master File's stance on the SPS-25S/MF25 Super Pack at face value the advantage is pretty straightforward... when equipped with the Super Pack, the VF-25 can carry almost 20% more weaponry in the pack itself than it could if it had deployed with micro-missile pods on all eight pylons AND the outer two pylons on each wing remain free. That is a LOT of ordinance... over 200 micro-missiles! (All that and it's got extra fuel tanks, boosters, and more powerful verniers...)
  21. Seto Kaiba
    My suspicion, based on the early YF-29 concept art in Shoji Kawamori: The Viewpoint of the Visionary Creator, would be that it was probably not part of plans for the Macross Frontier television series. It's clearly drawn on top of a completed, polished VF-25 design printed off a computer... with the new wings, engines, and tail design roughed in in pencil. (Similarly, with the Macross Quarter, I suspect the others were an idea they had while they were brainstorming the 2nd movie. When they launch the Quarter for the first time in the TV series, they make it sound like the ship was still experimental... and the writeup in Macross Chronicle makes it sound like the ship, like the VF-25's it carries, are merely on loan to SMS for field testing.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    So... I have a question (or a solicitation for recommendations, really). Long story made short, I've come down with the utterly mad idea of putting a few Valkyries on display in my office to add a personal touch. My goal is to have one example of each generation's designated main variable fighter... but I'm a relative newcomer to the toy collecting hobby. I need someone in the know to give me a recommendation for a VF-1 and a VF-11 that won't break the bank (no Arcadias, lovely though they are) and looks slick in fighter mode. Transformation and so on are a non-issue, though I'd prefer something close to 1/60 scale.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    The fuel in the tanks (slush hydrogen) is there to feed the compact thermonuclear reactor in the engine... it's the plasma that the reaction produces that becomes the propellant in space flight. The heavy quanta (matter which exists in both dimensions, but has impossibly vast mass that resides principally in super dimension space) produced by the engine's fold carbon coil is maintained by a Gravity Inertia Control system and is used both to initiate the fusion reaction via compression and for containment of the reactant and the plasma the reaction creates. Heavy quanta is nasty stuff, mind... properly excited with a fold resonance effect, all of its mass can drop into realspace and its own gravity will trigger it to rapidly fuse with itself in a fairly violent manner. That's how dimension beam weapons (SD energy cannons, converging energy cannons, they have a bunch of different names) work. Dimension Eaters simply use a kind of the stuff that has even greater mass, so instead of fusing its mass causes it to drop right back into the super dimension (taking anything inside its gravitational field with it).
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Well, it's got guns, it's probably got a countermeasure dispenser somewhere, and we know it has at least six internal micro-missile launchers... seems like that covers all those.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Hrm... that's a good point, both Gigile (the "bulldog guy") and Gavil (the one obsessed with "beauty of") really seem to repeatedly take it on the chin from Diamond Force, so I guess that IS an example of them operating as designed.
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