Emigrant Fleets Vessels Escorts

[VA-3 Invader]

I have a few questions about the escorts of the different ships that accompany the NMC ships, such as the ones seen in the Macross 7 fleet:

-First of all, Why doesn't the Mark Twain VII has an escort vessel? Is it too small in comparison to the other vesels to be assigned one or is there another reason?

-Before the next question, one quick doubt: is the Budokan Concert ship seen in the opening of Macross 7 Dynamite part of the Macross 7 fleet?

-While Mark Twain VII Resort ship operates without an escort vessel, the non-animated Heaven Cemetary ship supposedly has a Northampton class vessel docked to it. But what about the Budokan Concert ship? Does it have an escort vessel?

-If it does have an escort, what ship class does the it belong to?

-The escorts of the Three Star Factory ship and Sunnyflower Agricultural ship are a Northampton and a Guantánamo class ships respectively. Is there a reason why they don't have an Uraga class ship as an escort instead, just like the rest of emigration vessels?

-Is it possible for them to dock with an Uraga class ship instead if available or if a emergency required them to?

-Finally, would it be right to assume that by the late 2050's, these emigration vessels could also potentially dock with a Macross Quarter class vessel instead of their other more traditional escorts?

[Keith]

Looking at what happened to the 7, Frontier, and Galaxy fleets, I don't think it even matters...

[Mr March]

I'm speculating, but I always got the impression the Mark Twain VII was not one of the core support vessels of the Macross 7 fleet but more of a tag-along ship that could just as easily travel from one fleet to another entirely. That might explain why it doesn't have a permanently attached escourt vessel, but that's just guessing.

Wasn't the Budokan in orbit of a specific planet? I got the impression it was a rather fixed station as opposed to moving around with a fleet.

I think most of the vessels in Macross can dock with each other via ports and bridges but not in the same sense as two vessels completely combining with each other. It wouldn't be in the same way we see the escort ships "docking" with the Macross 7 fleet ships or the Macross 7/Macross Frontier/Macross Quarter "docking" with their City ships. That seems more elaborate and requires special design considerations for each ship involved.

That said, I don't see any reason why the Macross Quarter couldn't dock with any of the emigration ships. Though it seems the Macross Frontier fleet and Macross Galaxy fleet didn't have any such emigration vessels at all. Perhaps the accompanying emigration ships are no longer part of the Colony Fleets...or maybe just the really big fleets like the Macross Frontier fleet have all the services of the emigration ships built into their City and Island vessels.

[Kaldar5]

Perhaps the accompanying emigration ships are no longer part of the Colony Fleets...or maybe just the really big fleets like the Macross Frontier fleet have all the services of the emigration ships built into their City and Island vessels.

I would think so. It looked as though you could fit all of City 7's colony ship inside the just the dome of Frontier's Island 1 and still have room. City 7 seemed to be only standard living space and generic simple offices/store fronts with few truly specialized large buildings. Probably technology limited maximum colony ship construction size.

Formation inside the fleet could also be a concern for escorts. If a "social support" ship was near the center of the fleet, I doubt it would need escort. The escort ships would be at the fleet formation perimeter.

Ownership might also be a concern. If the Mark Twain VII entertainment was privately owned, I doubt it would get as much direct attention as what appeared to be a military research science ship like the Einstein.

Docking the Quarter? I think that would be as easy as docking any of the large escort or light secondary carriers. Just a size concern. It would be likely it could dock at any of the Frontier secondary island facilities if they specialized in ship production.

One thing I have been wondering is; does Frontier Island one slowly build extra Island ships over the years? Seems to be a good idea for expansion capability while underway for decades. And a standardized design for the Islands makes sense.

Looking at what happened to the 7, Frontier, and Galaxy fleets, I don't think it even matters...

Sounds like the OP is running some Macross RPG, and needs some background info and/or pondering that might not actually exist.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Kaldar5

[VA-3 Invader]

Thanks for the information. I went to check and it does seem that most of the ships that connect with an Uraga-class do have specialized docks for doing so.

Still, I do find weird that the Three Star Factory Ship and Sunnyflower Agricultural Ship were not designed to dock with other Uraga-class ships as their escorts like most of the rest of the fleets large vessels. In particular the Three Star ship should have been able to modify its dock to have one such ship connected.

At this point my best guess is that maybe these 2 ship class are commonly found in numbers higher than one per emigration fleets, in which case it would indeed be better for these to be able to dock with other more common ships such as the Guantanamo-class and Northampton-class ships.

The idea of the Mark Twain VII being a privately owned ship do provides a good potential explanation for its lack of an escort, especially considering that the Heaven Cemetary Ship does have an escort even though it is supposed to be a medium sized ship just like the Mark Twain.

Regarding the Heaven ship, was there any such ship among the Macross 7 fleet at some point?

-Was it supposedly never shown on-screen during Macross 7?

-Was it added after the Protodeviln War, possibly as a consequence of the large number of deaths during said conflict?

[Kaldar5]

Still, I do find weird that the Three Star Factory Ship and Sunnyflower Agricultural Ship were not designed to dock with other Uraga-class ships as their escorts like most of the rest of the fleets large vessels. In particular the Three Star ship should have been able to modify its dock to have one such ship connected.

It doesn't seem that odd that a farming or other dedicated civilian services ship wouldn't have facilities for large cap ship docking. It's not like they would actually service them, be the core of a fleet, or go off on their own.

If it's an industrial factory ship, dry dock, or military, yeah, they better have major docking facilities. They might have to do repair, refit, or have facilities to even build cap ships.

It wouldn't really make sense that the Three Star couldn't dock with and provide services to as large of a variety of ships as physically possible unless there is another larger facility available.

As far as the Mark Twain, I could imagine that one making rounds between neighboring fleets when possible if it was privately owned. If Las Vegas could pick up and visit other major cities, it totally would to cash in on new crowds once in awhile.

Regarding the Heaven ship, was there any such ship among the Macross 7 fleet at some point?

That was during Macross 7 Trash.

An entire mini colony-scale ship for a cemetary.... I just don't know about that. I can forvige Frontier somewhat since they have huge amounts of room, but the Mac 7 fleet?

Come on, suck it up. Have a nice ceremony... then space em, burn em, or bio-plant liquify em.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am talking about.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Kaldar5

[Lightning]

A thought: given the time between when they cranked out City 7 vs City 25(Frontier), perhaps enough got changed in the details or size that the other colony ships but the Islands are no longer needed?

[Kelsain]

The island of Frontier seem to be mostly empty of colonists, but mostly replicated ecosystems. I figure it's part of the bioplant system, which is fairly unique to that fleet.

Following are my suppositions:

They need all that room and vegetation to reprocess all the colony's resources. After Frontier found a suitable world, they could've been transplanted to another fleet. However, after the big battles with the Vajra in the later episodes, losing a lot of atmosphere and several islands, the system crashed. By the end of the series, f- it, use them as shields for Island1.

I could see older colony fleets adding ships of the island template if they needed more room. Like Macross 11 seemed to have, or if Macross 7 needed to accommodate the M5 colonists. Although, the M11 versions seemed to be smaller, like Acshio...

But when it comes to the ships of the M7 fleet, I imagine they're for fleet support (from boredom) and wouldd be better off heading elsewhere after a planet is settled.

Other thoughts:

Heaven class vessel is silly. Why have a domed ship for the dead?

Really, the whole glass dome thing is ridiculous. Considering the holo technology they have, why leave the dome up at all? In interstellar pace, the amount of light you'd get from outside is negligible. It's not like the people inside can really see out anyway, unless they're at the edge. Oh, that's right - you gotta make it easy for the bad guys to bust in. Nevermind, carry on...

[VA-3 Invader]

I guess my main issue with Sunnyflower and Three Star ships not having an Uraga class carrier as their escort is that I imagine that they are more indispensable for the fleet rather than a Riviera ship.

I suppose that the reason the Mark Twain VII has a number on its name is to indicate what fleet it belongs to when visiting another fleet.

The Heaven ship do sounds impractical to say the least, but I suppose it could also sort of serve as a religious center of sorts. Other than that, I can only imagine an odd scenario where it has been decided to freeze the bodies in order to store them until they reach a suitable planet, where they would bury them. I do think that Kaldar5's idea of just burning them or throwing them into space seems more efficient. The only most efficient course of action would be to process them into cookies to feed the poor :/

Regarding Frontier no longer needing the emigrant vessels, I do seem to recall that one of the islands seemed to be a farm of sorts, which would indeed indicate that at least some functions of the other ships now take place on the additional islands.

Regarding the glass windows of the emigrant vessels, the Three Star ships also have them and in fact are destroyed at least twice during M7, only to immediately activate bulkheads to close the hole. I do think they shouldn't have taken the DYRL approach instead: close the bulkheads once the battle begins instead of waiting for the windows to get blown off.

[Kaldar5]

I suppose that the reason the Mark Twain VII has a number on its name is

to indicate what fleet it belongs to when visiting another fleet.

Could be a series of entertainment ships too, or the seventh ship to have the name Mark Twain, ect ect. The obsessive excessive use of 7 in Macross 7.... you never know.

I do think that Kaldar5's idea of just burning them or throwing them

into space seems more efficient. The only most efficient course of

action would be to process them into cookies to feed the poor :/

Regarding Frontier no longer needing the emigrant vessels, I do seem to

recall that one of the islands seemed to be a farm of sorts, which would

indeed indicate that at least some functions of the other ships now

take place on the additional islands.

Muhahaha! Just making the point that an entire original design of a ship just for that seems odd for a colony with limited resources.

Frontier having a standardized design, and likely Island 1 pooping them out from a factory over the years to meet the needs of a growing population seems well thought out.

Not ragging on Mac 7, it would make sense that they came up with a better system later in 2059 while the earlier Mac 7 relys on out of fleet production facilities to produce "rag-tag" mismatched support ships.

Regarding Frontier no longer needing the emigrant vessels, I do seem to

recall that one of the islands seemed to be a farm of sorts, which would

indeed indicate that at least some functions of the other ships now

take place on the additional islands.

Right, Island 3 had the Formo mall and an agricultural area. (gotta wonder if it's a tribute to Exsedol Folmo, or if he designed it himself so he could do some deculcha shopping)

I could be wrong, but we never seem to see a much of a vegetable area, only livestock. The Chinese chef talks about valuable real pork, and we see Cow/Hippos that are at the very least used for dairy products they are seen on the labels of later.

Maybe the bio-plant liquid is good at "generating" vegetables, but people can still tell the difference between real and fake meat and milk?

This is something I wish they would go into. You have tubes that can make a person around 10 times bigger, using a bio liquid.

What happens when you put food inside? And could this tech be used to generate food out of nothing but the liquid with other specialized fabrication machinery?

Seems like it. Also would make sense for the Island with the most Zentran sized people and facilities for them to freely resize to also deal with this, both caring for large animals and vegetable "creation".... But I'm getting a bit far with the conjecture now.

They do reference the SMS solider Gilliam being "recycled" (they put it in a much nicer poetic way at his funeral) when his body is put into the bio tanks.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Kaldar5

[Zinjo]

The island of Frontier seem to be mostly empty of colonists, but mostly replicated ecosystems. I figure it's part of the bioplant system, which is fairly unique to that fleet.

Following are my suppositions:

They need all that room and vegetation to reprocess all the colony's resources. After Frontier found a suitable world, they could've been transplanted to another fleet. However, after the big battles with the Vajra in the later episodes, losing a lot of atmosphere and several islands, the system crashed. By the end of the series, f- it, use them as shields for Island1.

I could see older colony fleets adding ships of the island template if they needed more room. Like Macross 11 seemed to have, or if Macross 7 needed to accommodate the M5 colonists. Although, the M11 versions seemed to be smaller, like Acshio...

But when it comes to the ships of the M7 fleet, I imagine they're for fleet support (from boredom) and wouldd be better off heading elsewhere after a planet is settled.

Other thoughts:

Heaven class vessel is silly. Why have a domed ship for the dead?

Really, the whole glass dome thing is ridiculous. Considering the holo technology they have, why leave the dome up at all? In interstellar pace, the amount of light you'd get from outside is negligible. It's not like the people inside can really see out anyway, unless they're at the edge. Oh, that's right - you gotta make it easy for the bad guys to bust in. Nevermind, carry on...

Actually it makes perfect sense to me. All these "Bio-Domes" will make up the initial colony when they find a suitable planet or if they need to land on a planet that requires some terra forming. The domes are not for space and could indeed be closed until arrival if necessary, but clear domes are to let sunlight in when the ships finally land.

Keep in mind they would be landing on an uninhabited world with all sorts of unknown dangers and the population may have to spend months or even years inside the domes until the world is sufficiently mapped and the wildlife and ecosystem determined safe for outside settlement.

I have to agree that the exclusion of the cemetary ship was a smart one. Even teeny boppers would wonder why build a ship to bury bodies when they can be buried at space?

I think the Quarter would be much harder to dock than many might assume. The aft section really isn't designed to dock with anything, like the other carrier ships do. I don't see it as part of it's design specifications. At best it would require a specialized collar to mate with a larger ship like the M7 escort ships.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Zinjo