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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    The information in that scan is contradictory, as noted before... and it's not official setting material either, which is also problematic. Mind you, the Armored Pack's chief advantage isn't so much the NUMBER of missiles it carries as it is the types of armament it carries (the Super Pack doesn't have those high-initial velocity anti-armor rockets and anti-warship beam guns) and the extra armor it adds to the fighter, which is the same ultra-tough next-gen armor as the VF-25's antiprojectile shield, allegedly giving it defensive ability approaching that of a battleship (which we have to take seriously, since we see the VF-25 Armored Pack tank a hit from the same guns that were popping frigates earlier). The Super Pack's armaments are suited to dogfighting... the Armored Pack's weapons offer more options, particularly for anti-ship work.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    That's from Macross 30.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    No, the VF-171 has not been depicted with a beam adapter like Gamlin's VF-17 so often used... though that doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible if it's using a later variant of the same gunpod. No clue what the bore of the GU-14B is, though my gut reaction guess would be 30mm.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    By all accounts, the energy consumption of a pinpoint barrier system is pretty ridiculous... there's a little inconsistency between sources, but they agree that the system on the YF/VF-19 consumes more than half (60-70%) of the VF's generator output. Mind you, for what you get, that seems like a bargain. We've seen that a pinpoint-barrier equipped VF can smash its way through a ship's internal bulkheads, stop direct hits from the New Standard gun pods of the first AVF generation, protect the (relatively) delicate mechanisms of a VF's hands from breaking when pilots resort to fisticuffs, and on the VF-25 they're even shown to be able to blunt most of the impact of an anti-capital ship beam cannon...
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Nope, it's still a perfectly viable passively-stealthy airframe... but that passive stealth is degraded somewhat by hanging bombs and missiles off the wings, etc., which the active stealth system compensates for. The ISC is not supposed to actually be all that large... it fits inside the nose of the VF-25 with everything else in there. The catch I'm thinking of is that various sources (Macross Chronicle, Great Mechanics.DX, etc.) have mentioned that certain airframes simply are not compatible with the ISC. No context is given to explain what the compatibility issue is, but the VF-0 Custom "Zeak" isn't listed as having one in Macross the Ride and the VF-171 is said to be flat-out incompatible. (Curiously, the VF-19 IS compatible...) I'd have thought the existing lasers would be more than sufficient for anti-missile duty, and since AVFs have anti-beam coatings, I can't imagine who such a large, diffuse laser weapon would be useful against... We know that the quantum beam cannons can be made fairly small... the only question is "is there enough juice to power it?". We know a third engine could conceivably power one full size one... so two cut-down ones might not be that big a stretch. The quantum beam gun pods that the VF-27, YF-29, and YF-30 use appear to have the same basic setup... their default mode is a "beam machinegun" type rapid fire weapon, and they have a heavier "beam grenade" mode which just seems to fire a much bigger blast. (Admittedly, in Macross 30, beam grenade mode was replaced by a sort of beam sniper mode for consistency across the other VFs, who all somehow got the SSL-9B Dragunov as their alt gunpod. Actually, I think it probably had a lot more to do with the same thing they were having SMS's Chelsea Scarlett and the NUNS special forces "Round Table" do... test hardware for the VF-25 under field conditions. The official word from Macross Chronicle and Great Mechanics.DX is that pinpoint barrier systems produce a focused distortion of space-time... the gist being that it's essentially warping space to create a region matter and energy can't pass through. sketchley would probably know more about this than me, since he's done some work on Variable Fighter Master File: VF-19 Excalibur. Yeah, it shows 8... the VF-171 is said to have two optional gun pods, one is MC-17C and the other is GU-14B, IINM. I think the 8-barrel version is probably the latter.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    More or less... we don't know if it uses the same ARIEL avionics package as the VF-19, and its engines are actually an improved (detuned) version of the VF-17's, but it's got the important bits like the 3rd Generation active stealth package, the pinpoint barrier system, fold booster capability, etc. The EX variant actually used the same engines as a VF-19 (FF-2550F). In a way, the Nightmare Plus actually has a few advantages over the higher-spec VF-19 in that it can be adapted to do pretty much anything. They're using the same generation active stealth tech as the production VF-19. Yeah, Kawamori did a few pieces with not-official-setting material in Character Model, the better known one is VF-Experiment and the VFERR thing gets overlooked a lot. The VFERR article was written as a sort of post-Operation Iconoclasm retrospective of the VF-0 Phoenix and captured SV-51s, and had a couple odd things like an AI-guided cruise missile with micro-missile launchers. I wasn't able to find any either, so it may be that the site's author just doesn't care about sourcing... especially in a series as loosey-goosey about continuity as Macross. In all honesty, I'm not certain that the VF-0 design is compatible with ISC or that it could withstand the strain of a THIRD FF-3001 engine... though the VF-0 Custom already had AVF-grade high-output laser weapons. It used the same model on the VF-25.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    The VF-171 is an AVF, yes... it has the key hallmarks of the AVF generation (fold booster compatibility, pinpoint barrier, etc.). Couple corrections... There's no "e" in "UN SPACY". The UN isn't "Unity Nations", it's just "Unity" (or "Unified", or "Unification") Government/Forces/etc. I tend to prefer the latter, though "Unified" is, I think, the closest literal translation of the term. Development of the VF-171 began before the governmental and military reorganization, due to difficulties and various complications involving the adoption (and export) of the VF-19 and/or VF-22. Er... I'm pretty sure that's an unofficial Macross design from Character Model magazine, circa 2004. I believe it was part of an article called "Macross Zero VFERR" (short for "Variable Fighter Experimental Requirements Review". EDIT: Yeah, Macross Chronicle puts it in the same category as the Schneegans and Schneeblume.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Yes, in Macross Plus, Isamu is definitely a soldier in the UN Forces. We see his bio in both versions of Macross Plus, which marks him out as a First Lieutenant in the UN Forces and a perpetual troublemaker (his record has a LOT of disciplinary actions on it). The Macross Plus OVA opens on Isamu's last battle as a frontline soldier in the UN Spacy, before he's informed that he's going to be transferred to the New Edwards Test Flight Center because of his record of insubordination, reckless flying, etc. Isamu's involvement in Project Super Nova is as a military-supplied test pilot... Guld, on the other hand, is a civilian on the General Galaxy payroll. Per Macross Chronicle's mechanic sheet for Isamu's VF-19ADVANCE [VF-19EF/A], Isamu left the New UN Forces in 2059 because he'd been promoted and he wasn't at all thrilled with the the additional "Desk job" work he'd landed as a result. He wanted to fly, and SMS was apparently willing to accommodate him.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    21 June 1987.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    They're not using inert gas... they're using plasma bled off the thermonuclear reaction as propellant in a MHD plasma ion engine, so if one really wanted to aggressively pick nits, it's actually an impulse engine ala Star Trek in space. 's supposed to be coming out of the high-thrust verniers on the outside of the engine intakes. (There's actually an error in that .gif diagram, the other two high-thrust verniers are on the wingtips... the blister on the nose is the FLIR sensors.) Pulsed output could easily be used for simulating "throttling down" for VTOL landing using the verniers.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Would it cheer you any if I told you the limited/trial production New UN Forces version of the YF-29 slapped a bayonet on the quantum beam gun pod?
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Not really, no... the progressive knives in Neon Genesis Evangelion weren't energy-shielded, they were just high-frequency blades. If you wanted to draw a parallel (and I don't advise it) it'd probably be to Full Metal Panic!'s monomolecular cutters, which Sousuke and others enhance with the lambda driver, which (in most ways) is kind of a force-field system. There's no official word on it directly associated with the VF-27 or YF-30, AFAIK... though in light of the twin-engine YF-27-5 having an external dedicated energy module with its own reaction power system to power and counterbalance the gun pod*, and knowing that a dimension weapon is a fairly energy-intensive thing, the logical conclusion would be that the heavy quantum beam gun pods on the YF/VF-27, YF-29, and YF-30 (and probably the MDE beam gun on the VF-171EX) are powered externally by the fighter's engines. It would explain why the YF/VF-27 needed four engines. * See Macross the Ride Part 6, YF-27-5 Shaher Femail
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Well, the physical shield is not necessarily a stipulation of the advanced variable fighter generations... but almost all of them have it, and the few that don't have a dedicated armor shield (YF-30, VF-171) tend to use their stabilizer as a shield. The pinpoint barrier IS, on the other hand, a distinguishing feature of the advanced variable fighter generations (so much so it's specifically called out on the VF family tree in Chronicle). The combat knife is only present on a few AVF designs... pretty much exclusively the ones intended to fight the Vajra. Most lack it, and don't seem to actually need it when they can just resort to pinpoint barrier-supported fisticuffs if things get up close and personal. I always thought the knife was kind of silly, since VFs are generally involved in high speed aerial combat, which is not at all conducive to stabbing or slashing with a knife. Giant robots with KaBARs worked much better in Full Metal Panic!, where everyone was confined to footslogging (except that <CENSORED> Leonard Testarossa, the godmodding <CENSORED>) and many fights ended up at arm's length or closer. Of course, the AS's in that series had only the one close combat blade, and the others they threw were actually shaped charges.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Maybe, then again maybe not... after all, the girls were even asking out Exsedol in Fleet of the Strongest Women, and at that point he was old enough to be their grandfather and looked like broccoli.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Huh. So it does... though the way it's presented makes it sound like they're talking about gravity control and inertia capacitor tech like they're the same thing. I'm going to check that against the source it claims to be from (Macross Chronicle Tech sheet 01P). I shall return, armed with a definitive answer. From other Macross Chronicle sheets, the IVCS and ISC are the same basic technology but at two different levels of advancement (or capability). The Q-Rhea spec has it mentioned the improved IVCS is good for about 18G maximum, while the fold quartz-based ISC is good for 27.5G. Yeah... if you've still got your 1E Chronicle copy, check the old Macross Zero UN Mechanic sheet 04A against 2E's. The old one was QF-2001 Ghost / QF-2200D Ghost, while the new one is QF-2200D-A Ghost / QF-2200D-B Ghost. The D-A is the fighter variant that we saw as a stand-alone aircraft, the D-B is the recon variant that was modified into a booster for the VF-0.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    I'm pretty sure there's a good diagram of the VF-22's engine vents in the VF-22 Master File... I'll see about posting it a pic tonight. As far as VTOL goes... don't underestimate the power of those little rockets. The big ones in the VF-1's backpack are good for at least 8,000kgf apiece, so I'd imagine the verniers have a fair amount of grunt to them as well. Particularly since they're designed specifically to confer high maneuverability in space. That's what the old Sky Angels book says... 20kg warhead equiv. to 200kg TNT on the AMM-1A, and it's not a reaction warhead. (The exact nature of the OTM thermonuclear reaction is a wee bit vague, but the only time I've seen any mention of anything like annihilation mentioned in connection with them is in the old VF Aero Report in This is Animation Special: Macross Plus. Reaction weapons are described in Macross Chronicle as being essentially a gravitationally-triggered pure fusion warhead, so they don't produce residual radiation.) It's from the Sky Angels book, bottom half of page 41.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Apparently I have failed you... but the official answer as to how the VF-22 does VTOL in GERWALK mode is that there are two banks of pivoting under-fuselage slits that act as the main nozzles for hovering, which would appear to refer to that expansion joint sketchley was talking about earlier.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    The first VF equipped with an inertia capacitor system was the YF-21, which used the same model (inertia vector control system) on the Queadluun-Rau. The Inertia Store Converter technology used on the Macross Frontier VFs was first developed for the YF-24, and completed for the YF-24 Evolution prototype. If the New UN Forces adopted the VF-24 the way Master File seems to suggest, that would probably be the first fighter with ISC. Otherwise, chronologically speaking, it would probably be the VF-27, which was ahead of the VF-25 in its production schedule. Great Mechanics.DX 9 mentions that the ISC technology IS compatible with certain first-gen AVFs like the VF-19 though, but things moved forward with a new AVF generation for a variety of reasons. Yeah, it appears that Macross Chronicle has overturned that particular designation, and now it's QF-2200D-A, while the old QF-2200D is now QF-2200D-B. Theoretically, I suppose any QF-4000/AIF-7S could be upgraded with the same autonomous AI combat package that was present in Luca's three Ghosts (Simon, John, and Peter). As far as Macross Chronicle has indicated*, the modification was an "informal" off-the-books arrangement, doubtless because that technology was prohibited by the New UN Forces, and only present on Luca's three Ghosts. * See Macross Frontier mechanic sheet SMS 05A "RVF-25 Messiah" and Glossary 09A "Kim Saintlaurent" to "Queadluun-Rau". ... the Compendium says nothing of the sort. The Queadluun-Rau with its inertia vector control system were introduced near the end of the Stellar Republic's dissolution conflict, it's the only pre-human airframe mentioned to possess the technology. Nor does it say anything like this... the inertia vector control system in the YF-21 and VF-22 is explicitly said to be an improved and revised version of the Queadluun-Rau's. 'bout that... that designation was correct as of Chronicle's first edition, but changed in the second to both being QF-2200.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    I think Max might find common cause with Ciaphas Cain, who once said "I've only got room for one lethally dangerous woman in my life". Does a man really want to take his chances with angering a woman who was/is one of the few ace pilots able to make him sweat? Y'know, I don't know if we've ever been told the exact reason they split up temporarily. Max's Macross 7 character sheet in Macross Chronicle has a "Related Matter" report that indicates their relationship deteriorated after Milia became mayor. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they were at odds a lot over matters of military vs. civilian administration.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    The Battle-7's bridge bunnies started and spread a lot of rumors... remember when they started gossiping because they thought Mylene was Max's date? I doubt Max was interested... if he was, they wouldn't spend so much time obsessing over him for being so distant and alone and so on (which finally reached its climax in the Macross 7 PLUS episode "Macross 7 Bridge"). The man raised eight daughters, after all, I doubt he's interested in younger women.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Nah... that episode of Macross 7 PLUS makes it pretty clear that they're just doing it for a bait-and-switch laugh. Throughout the Macross 7 series (lampshaded heavily in that PLUS episode) Milia basically treats Michael as a self-propelled massage machine that occasionally runs errands. I doubt he's her type. As far as the Max cheating rumors, are you referring to that underlying plot thread in Macross 7 Trash where the main character is rumored to be (but isn't) his illegitimate son?
  22. Seto Kaiba
    "Illegal" would be a more accurate word... the technology was banned back then, and is still pretty much verboten. You mean the QF-2200D-A Ghost, which was only ever cited as being a capable dogfighter against Anti-Unification Alliance MiGs, not against the SV-51. There are allusions to stability issues with AI even on later models like the QF-3000E, and the only way that the UN Forces were able to achieve a Ghost that didn't need a human holding its hand was with illegal (and dangerous) technology that promptly blew up in their faces. In Macross, semi-autonomous drones seem to be rather less capable than a flesh-and-blood pilot in a VF, though they get used because they have the great virtue of being a LOT cheaper and easier to replace. They can be dangerous, yeah, but Macross is also conveniently a setting where most enemies against which drones would be used are not the kind of foes that could easily be confused for friendlies (and the ethical problems are pretty minimal). Especially since pre-ISC Advanced Variable Fighters have an acknowledged problem with pushing the limits of human g-force tolerances... resulting in loss of control, smash-ups, etc. Macross isn't shy about hiding it easier... doesn't Jan Neumann mention in Plus that the control issues on the YF-19 earned two test pilots posthumous promotions and sent two more to "take the health plan for a spin"? (To say nothing of the times Isamu is shown crashing the simulator.)
  23. Seto Kaiba
    They don't name medals after pilots who suck, after all...
  24. Seto Kaiba
    In reality, you need a lot more power than most fighters have to go supersonic... in Macross, most VFs can get supersonic at the drop of a hat thanks to rather excessive amounts of engine power. Pilots do sometimes go supersonic during dogfights, but it's usually shown to be a move to evade a missile attack, lose a pursuer, or gain some much-needed breathing room. As we saw with Guld in Plus, you do NOT want to try aggressive sustained dogfighting at supersonic speeds... Ah, that's also incorrect. The Ghost "X-9" had fully autonomous, fluid operation thanks to (illegal) bio-neural processing technology, but that technology was left out of the production model (QF-4000/AIF-7S) used by the New UN Forces because of the fallout of the Sharon Apple incident surrounding the prototype. Macross Galaxy's AIF-9V and Luca Angeloni's three Ghosts did have the autonomous operation capability, but that was an "off-the-books" modification for the reason above... Also, there are no inertia canceling systems in Macross... the inertia store converter (ISC) is an inertia capacitor, which displaces g-forces and returns them to the airframe in a controlled fashion, essentially "smoothing the peaks" of the g-forces on the airframe. They were pushed ahead in development because the Vajra became a threat, the Ghost isn't described as being that much of a factor.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Strictly speaking, the UN Government didn't bank on only one model... the VF-0 Phoenix was not a production aircraft, it was a developmental/proof-of-concept aircraft to prove that the variable system was viable and test technologies that would be incorporated into production programs. Adapting OTM for combat use with aircraft was done first with conventional fighters (the F-14A++ and F203), then the VF-0, then the VF-X-1 and -2 prototypes. Circa Macross Zero, the VF-1 was headed into mass production and the VF-0 was being used for training purposes. Ultimately, the requirements for energy conversion armor mean that a single-engine VF is probably impractical at best, because defensive systems consume a large portion of the VF's energy output. (Something like 90%, IIRC.)
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