Seto Kaiba

I'll be poking at it a fair bit over the long weekend. I'm blown away by how much better this book is than the previous VF-31 book... or, really, anything else Macross Delta. WHERE WAS THIS LOVE WHEN THE SHOWS WERE BEING MADE?! In an indirect manner, since the upgrades that went into the VF-31AX Kairos Plus from the Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! movie were (in Master File's version) appropriated from the VF-31X parts that were in storage aboard the Macross Gigasion. From what I have read thus far - and this understanding may change as I translate more of the book - apart from the piecemeal application of the improved armor and other materials the key difference is the VF-31X has wingtip engines similar to the YF-29's. It was noted that, due to the difficulty of adjusting the airframe control AI, the Xaos crew omitted the extra engines in the upgrade process to get the job done faster. Unfortunately, we lack a critical factor to determine that... the stats provided lack the basic physical parameters like dimensions and weight. So we're missing a key piece of the whole equation... the mass in the thrust-to-weight ratio. ((2346kN*2)+(1970kN*2))/(? * 9.807m/s^2) If we were to plug in the masses of various 5th Gen Valkyries just for comparison's sake... this is a fighter with a T/W ratio potentially in excess of 100. With the VF-31J's mass it's 103. The Sv-262's mass would put it at 89.724. Even if we correct for the wrong output power on the FF-3003J/FC1, it's still almost 80! If we assume it weighs as much as the heaviest modern Valkyrie, it's just shy of 50 with the corrected-for engine output.

Yup. It's an Armored Pack... maximum overkill has been the rule for those since at least Macross 7. The VF-31's has more of an emphasis on guns than previous models, with the pair of 30mm rotary cannons and a beam gun turret similar to the YF-29's.

Dunno, Macross 30 ends with the whole timey-wimey mess getting straightened out. I honestly don't recall if the novel version says what happens to the new mecha given to the time displaced folks.

That's why I said it's probably a typo... the initial spec for the YF-29 had different engine outputs and a much heavier weight than the official spec that it eventually settled on. There've been a couple cases with Master File citing old/obsolete or just plain incorrect info by mistake... like the VF-19 engine outputs for the F/S type. The sticking point here would be that the 1,970kN listed is explicitly "maximum thrust in space" for the Sv-303. On the off chance it's not an error, then it'd almost certainly be the result of Dian Cecht's engineers tweaking the design of the FF-3003J/FC1 sub-engines the same way they did the FF-2999/FC2 main engines: increasing the maximum output to the point that it reduces the engine's operational lifespan.

As far as the contents of the Master File book go... this volume is the gift that unexpectedly keeps on giving in the weirdest places. Specs for the Kairos Plus and Vivasvat, explanations of their development, an actual explanation of 6th Generation VFs and why they aren't being mass produced...

It's a sucker bet they're going to do a DX of the Vivasvat. Whether the official spec will resemble the ones in the Master File is another matter... but there is 100% no way they're not going to do a toy and probably a kit or two of it after they let Bandai have so much say in the design of the VFs for the movie.

Yes, they're part of the Macross 30 story. That said, it wouldn't exactly be unfair to characterize Ozma's late-game upgrade from his Macross Frontier VF-25S to an original YF-29 as "for the sake of cool". It was pretty much an afterthought or a "throw it in". Isamu's, however, was important enough that it got its own cutscene where he receives it from a (mostly) Havamal-controlled Sharon Apple.

All in all, the information is mostly as expected. Designed by the SV Works and manufactured by the Epsilon Foundation subsidiary Dian Cecht. Its physical particulars are listed as unknown. The control system is as we saw in the film, a Sharon Apple-derived autonomous advanced quantum AI computer. Interestingly, it's noted as having a separate/onboard airframe control computer setup... two Brunhilde II-type airframe control AIs. Presumably that means it's using ARIEL II or the semi-official ARIEL III, since Brunhilde was the model of ARIEL II system used in the YF-25, VF-25, and YF-30, and probably others. The main engine is a modification of the FF-2999/FC2 Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engine used by the Sv-262 Draken III with an estimated maximum thrust of 2,346kN (+20% output improvement) resulting from a specification change made by Dian Cecht to improve thrust and engine responsiveness. It's noted that this change reduces engine life. The sub-engine is a modification of the FF-3003J/FC1 Stage II thermonuclear reaction ramjet/turbine composite engine. Poss. a typo, listed thrust is 1,970kN (+34% improvement). It's noted to have a "Twin Quartz Drive" (a derivative or other name for a Fold Reheat) based on the (Windermere IV) Royal Aviation Factory design with improved operating time compared to the Sv-262's. It's noted to lack an active stealth system altogether. Its "Mirage Package Composite Armor" combines the functions of energy conversion armor and a fold wave transmission and reception antenna that also provides the fighter with high (passive) stealth performance. (Acts as fold wave-absorbent material, I guess?) Well, if you don't care about the lifespan of the parts... the Sv-303 spec in Master File claims that engine life has decreased as a result of improving the output. Overtuning an engine is the machine equivalent of "Cast from Hit Points"... as long as you're not worried about reducing its lifespan and increasing its maintenance requirements, you can generally exceed the rated output by a good amount before it stops being an engine and starts being a smoke machine or a rapidly-expanding collection of shrapnel. Quite a bit, it would seem. We know that the Macross Frontier fleet was required by law to make disclosures of the YF-29's design, specifications, and new technologies to the New UN Government. That does appear to have happened promptly too, since the first appearance of a New UN Spacy-use YF-29 was in 2060, barely a year after the events of Macross Frontier. In Macross 30, 815th Independent Squadron "Havamal" of the NUNS VF-X Special Forces had used its clout on the remote planet of Uroboros to produce several YF-29s for its ace pilots. That was where the YF-29B Perceval came from, as well as the YF-29s for Ozma and Isamu. It would not have been possible to build the YF-30 without the aforementioned disclosures, since the YF-30's Fold Dimensional Resonance system is derived from the YF-29's Fold Wave System. Likewise, Xaos Valkyrie Works's VF-31 Siegfried customs incorporate technology from the YF-29 in the form of their economized/simplified Fold Wave System which was later improved on the VF-31AX Kairos Plus. Then, of course, there's Master File's not-exactly-official take in which the YF-29 is public knowledge as of the 2060s and there were apparently not only several attempts to make a mass production-ready version (see the above about the YF-29B and YF-29C), the failure of those attempts spawned the program (VF-31X) that would ultimately originate the parts that went into the VF-31AX during their improvised repair/upgrade. Indeed. It's indicated earlier in the book that the New UN Government's attempts to develop a viable 6th Generation Main VF have effectively hit a wall due to the requirement for ultra-high purity fold quartz. As of 2085 in Master File's version of history, humanity still has not discovered a way to produce artificial fold quartz. 5th Generation VFs can get by using the fold quartz found in former Vajra nests and Protoculture ruins, and the quality of humanity's synthetic fold carbon continues to improve, but without a reliable way to obtain ultra-high purity large fold quartz there is no way to proceed with mass production of any 6th Generation VF design. This newest Master File attempts to connect the Siegfried and the Master File original "VF-31X" to the search for a way to produce 6th Generation performance using less, and less pure, fold quartz. It apparently did not work, but bless 'em for trying. They don't say, but the way it's phrased it sounds like it's one-of-a-kind and effectively impossible to replicate.

Some other interesting revelations from the VF-31AX Master File concerning the YF-29 Durandal. It alleges the existence of three separate and mutually exclusive YF-29 specifications: YF-29A - The Macross Frontier fleet's YF-29 seen in Macross Frontier: the Wings of Farewell. This version is the original YF-29 specification and has the highest performance of the three due to the fleet having acquired fold quartz of the highest purity during the Vajra conflict by harvesting Vajra carcasses. Only one unit is believed to exist, that being the YF-29 No.1 prototype (Alto's YF-29 from the movie) which was repaired after being damaged in the conflict. YF-29B - Believed to be a copy of the YF-29A Durandal produced on/by Earth. Codenamed "Perceval". With no reports that Earth ever recovered any fold quartz approaching the size and quality of that recovered by the Macross Frontier fleet, it is believed to have inferior performance to the YF-29A. Note: Macross Chronicle refers to the YF-29B's produced on Uroboros as "a state-of-the-art aircraft that improves upon the YF-29 Durendal", implying better performance not worse. YF-29C - An attempt to develop a mass production-worthy YF-29 by Earth(?) which attempted to address the production roadblock of fold quartz scarcity through the use of fold carbon of the very highest purity and quality. Despite using the very best technology to synthesize fold carbon and the assistance of a scouted jeweler to handpick fold carbon experimentally produced for it, the fold wave generation performance is only 1% of what the YF-29A can achieve. Operated under the jurisdiction of Apollo Base test flight center on Luna. Master File declines to explain how, precisely, Max got ahold of a YF-29. It alleges that Lady M scouted him specifically to liaise with the New UN Forces, and remarks that his YF-29 corresponds to the YF-29B type.

I have to admit, Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus came as a pleasant surprise. It's not just far and away the best publication to come out for Absolute Live!!!!!!, it's a strong contender for the best/highest quality Macross Delta publication overall. The book for the regular VF-31 was pretty uninspired stuff, but the VF-31AX book has some seriously interesting material in it. Not the best Master File book ever, but it is a surprisingly strong entry in the series esp. considering how weak the Absolute Live!!!!!! movie was. Not only does it have proper specs for the VF-31AX and Sv-303, it's got an actually-sane explanation for where those upgrades came from, why they were introduced when they were, a look at the roadblocks in 6th Generation VF development, some very interesting diagrams (including a great diagram showing how the arms are stored in Fighter mode. They even manage to justify the existence of some of the goofy Master File-original variants from the previous book while they're at it. Looking forward to the weekend when I can dive into it in more depth. 🙂

Hard to say, but my guess would be "No". "Bob" had quite the fall from grace. His father was annoyed enough to ban him from dueling after he lost two duels and the title of Holder to Suletta Mercury at the start of the series, and then cut him off entirely once he violated that ban by stealing a Darilbalde and wrecking it dueling "Elan Ceres". He was kicked out of the dorms, lost access to his family's money, and his father was planning to pull him out of Asticassia and put him to work in a lesser capacity at Jeturk Heavy Machinery. I'd assume that the current Jeturk heir is probably his half-brother Lauda, unless there is some undisclosed concern regarding Lauda's parentage that would prevent him from inheriting (he has a different surname, so he may be the child of a mistress) or some provision exists to prevent Guel from inheriting Jeturk Heavy Machinery due to the circumstances in which Vim perished. Me too, TBH... they've spent too much time building up GUND-ARM Inc. as an important part of the plot and it's run entirely out of the Earth House dormitory at Asticassia. There's little opportunity for them to NOT go back to the school format unless they want to completely abandon all of that.

While we have only ever actually seen the VF-4 with the beam cannon mount and the "lightweight" configuration in which the entire arm is removed, it is mentioned in a number of sources that it is possible to install other equipment in those areas. It's not said how easy it is to make that exchange, but it's been suggested/indicated that the cannon with the hard rounds was more popular with the rarer atmospheric-use variants of the VF-4.

It's pretty typical for Master File, TBH. Each volume is presented as an in-universe civilian mass market publication about the development history, technology, and operational history of a specific model of VF. As such, all of them are dated well after the events of the Macross series that first introduced them so that there's not only history to talk about but a reasonable period in which some records of their development and operation could be made public. For example, the first VF-1 Valkyrie Master File bears an in-universe publication date of 2020. The second is dated 2030. The third is dated 2047. The VF-0 book's dated 2040 after a VF-0 was reconstructed from wreckage found at Edwards AFB to commemorate the Unification Wars. The VF-19 book's dated 2050, after the events of Plus and 7 and the VF-22 book's dated 2063. The VF-25 book's dated 2065, so there are a few years of operating history after it was formally adopted by the military. And so on and so forth.

So... on a skim of Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus, here are some points of interest/ Also, WTF... this book is actually... good? Like, there's actual effort on display here. Where the hell was effort like this in making the actual film? Its in-universe publication date is in late 2085, with a foreword dated July 2085. The book's Development History section broadly aligns with official material and identifies the Surya Aerospace VF-31 Kairos and Xaos Valkyrie Works VF-31 custom "Siegfried" as 5th Generation, rather than 6th Generation. It echoes the Blu-ray extra features from the Macross Delta TV anime in semi-formally classifying the VF-31 Siegfried custom as 5.5th Generation. Shinsei Industry and LAI's YF-29 Durandal and YF-30 Chronos are presented as the only true 6th Generation Valkyries available. It's noted that this is a bit of a technicality, since neither design can be approved for mass-production due to the scarcity of the essential ultra-high purity fold quartz that remains beyond humanity's ability to synthesize. As in the previous VF-31 Master File, the VF-31S is presented as though it were an alternate low-volume production version of the VF-31 rather than as the unique ace custom aircraft it was in Macross Delta. The VF-31AX is still presented as an ad hoc field repair, but an alternate explanation of where the improvements came from is presented. Rather than being a combination of Kairos and Siegfried parts, the upgrade components are said to have been prototype hardware diverted from an experimental 6th Generation Valkyrie program that spun off from the VF-31 Siegfried and carried the informal designation VF-31X at that early phase in its development. It was apparently an attempt to make an economical and mass-production viable 6th Generation VF. It's said that the New UN Forces ordered 24 YF-29s for testing after the events of Macross Frontier, but the scarcity of adequate fold quartz made production so slow that only a few aircraft could be completed per year and the military gave up in disgust. As to where they got the parts, the Macross Gigasion was carrying the prototype X parts when it arrived on Windermere IV and due to the emergency opted to use the X parts to perform field repairs to the badly-damaged VF-31 Siegfrieds of Delta Flight. It's mentioned that the Kairos Plus in the movie partially adopted the X-type's armor and wing structure, but omitted other features like a third and fourth engine. Apparently the remodeling of the four VF-31 Siegfrieds into the Kairos Plus using the X-type parts was so rushed and so poorly done that the Fold Wave Systems suffered an unrecoverable failure after the battle and the aircraft had to essentially be dismantled. A member of the VF-31X development team aboard the Gigasion apparently requested that it be called "Kairos Plus"to prevent the Defense Department from associating it with the VF-31X and that this request is the reason it is incorrectly believed to be based on the VF-31A. Dr. Gadget M. Chiba published a paper on Unified Fold Field Theory in 2051. The new Multipurpose Container unit in the AX type has a large beam gunpod and a small laser cannon meant for rear-facing defense. The bulk of the pack's body is a huge energy capacitor ensuring an independent power supply for both weapons while mounted. The railguns were upgraded to 30mm. The new gunpod is designated LU-22A. There's mention that it's a multipurpose housing meant to accept either a beam weapon or hard round-firing railgun, since its manufacturer faced complaints that the LU-18 beam gunpod used by the VF-31A faced attenuation problems in atmospheric service. They also describe the ammunition used as a kind of explosive battery that produces a huge amount of energy via the detonation of an electrolyte using a high explosive, which generates the power for the railgun. (Apparently this has the downside that the gas byproducts of the detonation are incredibly caustic and require ventilation measures. The model of Ghost used by Xaos in the film is named "Effigia", from the Greek for "Ghost". In official terms, it's probably still right. In the Master File's description, it's a Siegfried that's gotten some materials upgrades and compensated for lower quality fold quartz with quantity.

It's interesting that the main engines are still noticeably worse than the Siegfried's... the performance difference is mainly in the mass reduction.

Yeah, Star Trek: Picard seems to prompt that reaction from a lot of fans. There was a news post on Reddit the other day where Patrick Stewart expressed willingness/interest in doing additional seasons of Picard beyond its third-and-final season and almost all of the nearly one-thousand replies were folks hoping it would not come to pass. IMO, it's rather amusing and illustrative that the top streaming series on Paramount+ in 2022 was Halo rather than any of the five NuTrek shows that released new seasons in 2022. It narrowly edged out 1883 and Yellowstone to seize the top spot. After reviewing a number of viewership metrics trackers, NuTrek seems to struggle to chart at all. The only one of the NuTrek titles to break into the top 10 most-watched shows on Paramount+ in 2022 was Discovery season four, and only because it aired over the New Year's break. Picard peaked at 12th. It's also still the second-worst rated Star Trek series on review aggregators (ahead of only Discovery) and third-worst title in the franchise overall.

So, in a lull between meetings I flipped thru to the final version of this page and it's almost exactly the same: The page title now reads "VF-31AX/X Kairos Plus" The mass has been revised downward to 7,342kg (-908kg) The ISC buffer has been revised upwards to 30.0G (+2.0G) The main engine thrust has been revised upwards to 1,715kN/ea (+70kN/ea) So, how this compares to the VF-31A Kairos and VF-31 Siegfried... The Siegfried's T/W ratio is 44.854 and the Kairos's T/W ratio is 40.664. The mass reduction played the most significant role here, bringing the Kairos Plus's base T/W to 47.637, a bit higher than the Siegfried's despite having a significantly less powerful engine. The ISC is comparable to the YF-29's, though not as good as the current frontrunner in the Sv-262 at 30.5G. Skimming to see if I can find the spec for the FWS.

Also, my copies of the VF-31AX Master File rolled in today. Gonna review those after work. One thing I did note is that the specs in the preview image are NOT the same as the ones in the final book.

An excellent question we don't have a completely clear answer for. It's known that Earth had some issues replicating the alien overtechnology and that may have played a role in its design. It's mentioned in Macross: Perfect Memory that the SDF-2 was originally designed for long-range, long-term solo operations. The extra size may have been necessary to include the concessions to longer-term operations.

Not as such, no. Prior to the end of the First Space War, the hull that would become the Megaroad-01 was being constructed from scratch on the moon as a second (larger) Macross-class ship. Construction was halted during the war and the ship was never completed according to its original plan, instead being reworked into the first Megaroad-class long distance emigrant ship. Every Megaroad-class ship we've seen in official materials so far has looked essentially identical to Megaroad-01. (Miyatake's original design for the SDF-2 would have been used in the epilogue to the original series had it not been cut due to runtime concerns. It was replaced by the familiar Megaroad-01 design when the epilogue was animated as an OVA years later in Flash Back 2012.) The New UN Government did also build twelve new Macross-class ships based on the postwar repair design of the SDF-1 Macross, which were used to scout ahead of emigrant fleets before being retired or seconded to exploratory duty like the SDFN-04 General Bruno J. Global and SDFN-08 General Vrlitwhai Kridanik. AFAIK, the only time a ship named Megaroad has actually been depicted as a Macross-class ship in a story was the PC game Macross VO and its WInXP port Macross VOXP, which were not an official setting story.

Well... yes and no. There is an old truism that no two ships of the same class are ever truly identical. Ships develop their own individual quirks during construction as a matter of course, as well as thanks to many minor refinements and improvements made in the course of producing multiple ships of the same type. SDF-02 Megaroad-01 was the first ship of her class and unique in the sense that, of all her sister ships, only she was manufactured by converting a pre-existing partially-completed Macross-class spaceframe from a battleship into an emigrant ship. All of the later examples of the class were made from scratch as emigrant ships and differ from each other in little ways, but share the same general design. The New UN Government built many Megaroad-class ships in the 2010s and 2020s. The highest sequentially-numbered one mentioned is SDF-26 Megaroad-25, which were destroyed in an explosion at the factory satellite dock where they were being built. However there are also several unnumbered ones that have appeared like the Odin II in the Macross Frontier short story "Kabuki Warbird" and the Odin IV in the dating sim Macross: True Love Song. With the first emigrant fleet to use a New Macross-class emigrant ship being the 31st long-distance fleet, there may be 30 or more Megaroad-class ships sharing that same design. Yeah, high g-forces are nothing to sneeze at... and Valkyries are, if anything, more inclined to violent acceleration and turning g-forces than a conventional aircraft. Admittedly, their heads should NOT be snapping around like that with the neck supports in the flight suits. No pilot wants whiplash.

Might do for a dartboard once they're done dragging their respective beloved characters through the mud.

There were some minor delays in delivery of the books to the sellers, and a fair number of buyers I've spoken to have reported the same experience I'm having with shipment issues in the leg of transit between the seller and the airport. My copies show as hung up on a shipment exception in Sennan-shi, for instance.

Well, yes. As I noted, the Uraga-class escort battle carrier and Battle-class supercarrier were made to operate both in space and planetside. The few times we've seen space carriers try to operate in atmosphere they've been stuck hovering over the planet's surface, and the ones we've seen launching fighters had to us some fairly odd setups for catapults like the centrifugal catapult of the Valhalla III in Macross Digital Mission VF-X2 or the strange right-angle catapults of the Algenicus in Macross M3 which launches fighters perpendicular to the ship's interior decks. The later Macrosses use linear catapults for mostly normal catapult launches from their support warships, but the only time I think we've seen a dedicated space warship do a regular catapult launch is the Gefion in Macross 30... that being a light carrier variant of the Northampton-class with two single fighter catapult decks.

Definitely not. The ARMD-class are dedicated space carriers. They were never intended to operate in a planet's atmosphere and, in fact, were originally developed as space stations meant to occupy geostationary orbits over Earth and at the Lagrange points to serve as floating docks for light warships and bases for fighter squadrons in Earth's space-based planetary defenses. The "floating stand" space station concept was hastily reworked to incorporate them into the Macross's defensive systems as space aircraft carriers. (In the oldest versions of the lore, that adaptation occurred only after plans for a much larger (800m-class) space carrier were scrapped.) The Macross itself wasn't really intended to operate planetside either, it was meant for long-term operations in space. That it could land doesn't necessarily mean it was meant to... and it took a fair amount of damage doing it. Similarly, the Guantanamo-class that replaced the ARMD-class and ARMD II-class was a dedicated space warship not intended for planetside use. It could hover over a planet's surface using gravity control but it was by no means intended to do so or capable of landing properly. Of the later designs, only the Uraga-class and Battle-class were truly intended for use in planetary surface environments. On the Guantanamo-class Advanced ARMD, the deck would be canted at a 45 degree angle or thereabouts in atmosphere, making a conventional catapult launch basically impossible.