The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, Scream Man said:

Just out of curiosity, where are the sensor "eyes" on the YF-21? We see Guld do this zoom out test thing that makes it seem like one is somwhere on the tail, but icant see where that would be based on the toys/models i have. 

I know it has one in the centre of the nose, but i wasnt sure about the rest

"All over the place" would be the simplest answer.  The YF-21/VF-22 has composite optical sensors scattered across its airframe to provide 360 degree all-around awareness and enemy search functions.  Exactly how many and where they are are not stated, though the primary ones are located under the red-colored transparent panels in the aircraft's nose (one on top, one on bottom, and two on each side) with a rear-facing unit on the back of the head.  Given the angle, I'd assume the sensor Guld switched to to get the view he did was probably one of the sensors used for assisting in aiming the aircraft's built-in laser cannons, which are located at the base of the tail.

Variable Fighter Master File: VF-22 Sturmvogel II asserts that there are thirteen separate sets of LAPR-37 composite LADAR camera systems including the seven mentioned in the above paragraph, as well as ones on the sides of the engine nacelles, ones in the forearms for aiming asisstance for the laser cannons, and on the underside of the aircraft near its gunpod ports.

 

6 hours ago, Scream Man said:

Actually I thought of another (totally unrelated) question.

Why were the fold boosters for fighters single use for so long? What fuel did they burn to make jumps? Just electrical energy from a kind of battery, or did they have a fuel source as well? Obviously by Frontier there are re-usable fold drives in fighter size, but in 7 there weren't... or at least they could only jump twice? Or something? 

"Official setting" publications like Macross Chronicle or the old This is Animation books don't really offer any kind of detailed explanation for the limitations of the initial-type fold booster (FBF-1000A).  This is Animation Special: Macross Plus mentions it in passing in its article "Variable Fighter's Aero Report", but goes no deeper than attributing the unit's limitations to difficulties miniaturizing the technology.  Macross Chronicle also skirts the topic, sticking to just a general statement that the technology improved over time to the point that fold boosters had become capable of longer distances and multiple uses by the end of the 2050s.

IMO, the most likely explanations for the limitations of fold boosters would be tied to energy storage or the quality of their fold carbon.  The explanations of fold navigation going back to the original series usually identify energy storage as the main limiting factor for how far a ship can fold.  Macross Frontier and later titles have had a lot to say about how the purity, quality, and size of the fold carbon or fold quartz crystals used to produce fold waves or heavy quantum impacts the performance of those devices.  It's possible that part of the improvement is simply better-quality synthetic fold carbon in later fold boosters.

Variable Fighter Master File does briefly touch on the topic in several volumes.  Both the VF-19 and VF-22 volumes lean into the fold carbon angle.  They describe the FBF-1000A fold booster as being a very rough, very bare-bones fold system that uses a large quantity of relatively low quality fold carbon in the fold system core.  The description suggests that the fold booster's operation consumes/destroys the fold carbon in the core during operation and that that's the reason it's limited to a single fold jump of not more than 20 light years.  That distance is all the low-quality fold carbon in the core can provide.  The VF-22 book repeats the same information, and implies that later models of fold booster achieved reusability by turning the system core into a removable cartridge and equipping the booster with a magazine of multiple cores.

[Scream Man]

Cheers mate, much obliged.  

[Scream Man]

What provides forward thrust for Valkyrie type fighters in Gerwalk mode?
21s/22s, 27s and 29s have rear thrusters separate to the feet thrusters, but VF-1s etc have no rear facing engines with the legs down. 

[Master Dex]

3 hours ago, Scream Man said:

What provides forward thrust for Valkyrie type fighters in Gerwalk mode?
21s/22s, 27s and 29s have rear thrusters separate to the feet thrusters, but VF-1s etc have no rear facing engines with the legs down. 

This is how I know you never looked at the VF-1 from all angles. 

The backpack at the top has thrusters in it. The VF-1 relies on that and a mix of foot movement. 

This is more easily solved than some VF's like the 30/31 series.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, Scream Man said:

What provides forward thrust for Valkyrie type fighters in Gerwalk mode?
21s/22s, 27s and 29s have rear thrusters separate to the feet thrusters, but VF-1s etc have no rear facing engines with the legs down. 

On most models of VF, there's a dedicated cluster of rocket nozzles or high-thrust verniers that's used for forward thrust in GERWALK mode and often also supporting thrust in Battroid mode.  That cluster of nozzles usually ends up on the back of the Valkyrie pointing down in Battroid.

The VF-0, VF-1, VF-3000, and VF-5000 had a cluster of three liquid fuel rockets in their "backpack".  The VF-9 has a pair of high-thrust verniers directly under its stabilizers that it uses for that.  The VF-11 has two smaller nozzles on each shoulder, the VF-19 and VF-25 have a cluster of small nozzles that is exposed when the arms are deployed, and so on.

Variable Fighter Master File also offers the not-exactly-canon suggestion that some later model Valkyries like the VF-25 can reverse the function of the cooling system in the wing glove and use that as an ad hoc engine as well.