Super Macross Mecha Fun Time Discussion Thread!

[Seto Kaiba]

12 hours ago, twich said:

I think that by the animation during the movie, the Sv-303 is at least as big as the VF-31, but more than likely the same size as the VF-27.  While it would have less mass due to the lack of cockpit, life support, ICS for pilot, I would think that they would use that available space for extra fuel, since the SV-303 has 4 very powerful engines.  

Really, they should have more mass... the heaviest single component of any Valkyrie is the engine, and these have four instead of two.

Take, for instance, the VF-25 and VF-27.  Both are approximately the same size and both are derived from the YF-24 Evolution platform... but the VF-27 weighs 3,600kg more thanks in no small part to its adoption of two extra engines.  

 

11 hours ago, aurance said:

Why would they do B and C if the federal Vf-24 is so uber presumably without the inclusion of fold crystals?

10 hours ago, twich said:

This thought also crossed my mind, or more specifically what New Variable Fighter are they testing?

I know in the past, it has been proposed that the YF-29 as seen flown by Alto in the second Macross Frontier movie is about equal, performance wise, to the standard VF-24A used by Earth. Now with upgrades and block manufacturing changes, I wonder what the present Earth spec VF-24B or C model would look like? Or are we on the YF-36Monkeyfart Plus!  Guess we will have to wait for the next series. Delta came out in ‘16, which was around 4 years after the last Frontier movie. So, we only have a couple more years to wait then! Please Mr. Kawamori! Show us those designs!
Twich

22 minutes ago, aurance said:

Me too. I conjecture that the intent was that the YF-29 is suppose to look and be the uber fighter, but someone wrote a note about the VF-24 in a publication and on-screen intent and written fact don’t match up. This happens a lot, especially in Delta.

1 minute ago, snakerbot said:

IIRC, the YF-29 was the subject of some in-universe speculation that it was an attempt at matching or exceeding the performance of Earth's VF-24.

That said, yes, the reason Max got one was instead of a VF-24 is absolutely because they already had the CD model of it from the second Frontier movie and Bandai had the molds to make it already, and neither a new CG model or new toy was needed.

So... the remark we often come back to concerning the Earth/Central New UN Forces YF-24 Evolution and VF-24A and its performance relative to the YF-29 is the statement that the YF-29 was "developed in secret to exceed the YF-24".  

Now, we should note carefully that there are no official specs for Earth's YF-24 Evolution that was demonstrated to the New UN Forces in 2057 or the production VF-24 which would have entered service several years after the New UN Forces decided to adopt the YF-24 Evolution as the Next Main Fighter.  Under the New UN Government's laws governing newly developed technologies and restrictions on arms exports, Earth provided a redacted version of the final YF-24 Evolution specification to emigrant governments across the galaxy so that they could either fill in the gaps with their own locally-developed solutions or use it as a starting point to develop their own original 5th Generation Valkyries as happened with the VF-25, VF-27, YF-29, YF-30, and VF-31.  We can reasonably infer that the VF-24 is more advanced and powerful than any other production 5th Generation Valkyrie given that it's well-established Earth's technological prowess and resources far exceed that of any other planet or emigrant fleet.  This is further supported by the notion in Frontier materials that the most over-the-top, expensive, and impossible to mass-produce Valkyrie ever conceived was put together in an effort to exceed the YF-24.

Given that materials published for Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! describe the YF-29 as The Strongest Valkyrie (capital emphasis intended), we can reasonably surmise the Frontier fleet succeeded in its goal of developing the YF-29 as a variable fighter that exceeded the YF-24.  That performance came at a cost, though.  Master File confirms what we'd already concluded based on remarks in materials published for Macross Frontier: the Wings of Goodbye and Macross Delta's TV anime: the exceptional size and purity of the fold quartz that is required to build the YF-29's Fold Wave System makes it - and any other 6th Generation VF design - nearly impossible to produce. 

So the described distinction between the Frontier fleet's YF-29[A], the NUNS's YF-29B, and the Master File-original YF-29C serves as a way to explain all the obstacles preventing a 6th Generation Valkyrie from entering production.  Fold quartz of the requisite size and purity to reproduce the YF-29's Fold Wave System at its full potential is so rare that it might as well not exist at all.  The YF-29B exists to establish that, while you CAN make a Fold Wave System with smaller and less pure fold quartz the requisite purity and size to achieve a reduced-capacity FWS is still so rare as to make even limited production all but impossible and the system's performance is lower.  The YF-29C essentially establishes that even the very finest synthetic alternative (fold carbon) humanity can produce in tiny batches is not equal to the task and that using it results in a FWS that can do barely 1% of what the full spec FWS can do.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, twich said:

I recall that while flipping through the book, it showed a VF-31 body with basically YF-29 wings and wingtip engines, of course, I could do no more than say Cool! As I don’t read Japanese.

The brief description provided indicates that it's a VF-31X test type that was produced using some YF-29 parts.  Only one unit manufactured.

 

10 hours ago, twich said:

it is a bit baffling to think that a Variable Fighter could have a 100/1 thrust to weight ratio. I cannot wait for your thoughts when you have had a chance to read through the book.

It's baffling to me too, which is why I'm kind of expecting the Sv-303's mass is somewhere around that of the YF-29, bringing that value down to 50 or so where it's on par with or slightly bettered by the VF-31AX.

 

35 minutes ago, Bolt said:

It's interesting to note that Max showed up in a YF-29, rather than a VF-24. Supposedly, he's flying the most rare, most performance enhanced VF(YF) currently in existence. I find it hard to believe the average VF-24 can out perform the YF-29. Of course we don't know anything about the VF-24, other than "it's a thing". Another interesting point about Max showing up in a YF-29, is that it is a known VF and we instantly recognize it. Also Bandai's gets to sell us more of those. Which may have had something to do with why Max shows up in a YF-29, rather than the unknown VF-24.

Kind of a waste, IMO... esp. since the writers of the film don't seem to have ever bothered to come up for a reason to justify why Private Citizen Maximilian Jenius who now works a dozy retirement gig for a second-tier PMC in a backwater star system would have access to The Strongest Valkyrie that is so high spec it's almost impossible to produce at all.

[aurance]

Makes sense. Things fall into place if we assume YF-29 did succeed in surpassing the -24.

[Seto Kaiba]

41 minutes ago, aurance said:

Makes sense. Things fall into place if we assume YF-29 did succeed in surpassing the -24.

It helps a bit that both Macross Delta and Master File are leaning heavily into the idea that the YF-29 and YF-30 were/are actually proof-of-concept designs for 6th Generation VFs that were built using parts diverted from production-intent 5th Generation VFs.  

The VF-24 is, in all likelihood, the most powerful production Valkyrie (5th Generation and overall) thanks to Earth's dominant position in the realms of politics and technology while the unviable super prototype YF-29 is The Strongest Valkyrie in absolute terms.

The YF-29 is to Valkyries what a Gundam is to regular Mobile Suits: a one-off super prototype far too expensive and impractical to ever be mass produced that nevertheless is so high spec it can utterly dominate the battlefield in small engagements through its overwhelming performance.

(In that sense, the VF-31 and Master File's YF-29C are essentially GMs... what you get when you scale the super prototype's performance and price back to a level where production is actually feasible.)

[pengbuzz]

19 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It helps a bit that both Macross Delta and Master File are leaning heavily into the idea that the YF-29 and YF-30 were/are actually proof-of-concept designs for 6th Generation VFs that were built using parts diverted from production-intent 5th Generation VFs.  

The VF-24 is, in all likelihood, the most powerful production Valkyrie (5th Generation and overall) thanks to Earth's dominant position in the realms of politics and technology while the unviable super prototype YF-29 is The Strongest Valkyrie in absolute terms.

The YF-29 is to Valkyries what a Gundam is to regular Mobile Suits: a one-off super prototype far too expensive and impractical to ever be mass produced that nevertheless is so high spec it can utterly dominate the battlefield in small engagements through its overwhelming performance.

(In that sense, the VF-31 and Master File's YF-29C are essentially GMs... what you get when you scale the super prototype's performance and price back to a level where production is actually feasible.)

*Imagining a match between a VF-24 and a YF-29, ala Epyion and Wing Zero*

[Bolt]

41 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

*Imagining a match between a VF-24 and a YF-29, ala Epyion and Wing Zero*

Comes down to the pilot's..Max vs Isamu 

[JB0]

29 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Comes down to the pilot's..Max vs Isamu 

I don't know who would win, aside from the audience.

[aurance]

37 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I don't know who would win, aside from the audience.

If this ever happened I would eat all my valkyries.

[Bolt]

Lol. Max has the benefit of a few decades more experience. But Dyson has a kinda crazy that's unpredictable and hard to beat..

[pengbuzz]

43 minutes ago, aurance said:

If this ever happened I would eat all my valkyries.

Please don't; I can't make enough repair parts if that happens!

[aurance]

41 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Please don't; I can't make enough repair parts if that happens!

I believe in you bud! 😝

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

*Imagining a match between a VF-24 and a YF-29, ala Epyion and Wing Zero*

The Epyon was a Gundam, though?

All in all, it seems likely that the VF-24 and YF-29 have probably squared off in simulated air combat at some point or another.  The NUNS VF-X Special Forces have been known to use the YF-29B, and in Master File it's been said that the Apollo Base Test Flight Center has a number of Earth-built YF-29s at its disposal for evaluation purposes.  It's likely the YF-29 was put through the same paces they put the YF-24 through, in simulated combat with previous-gen VFs and Ghosts.

[pengbuzz]

13 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Epyon was a Gundam, though?

The designation that seems to be used in both the wikis as well as the official materials (models included) was OZ-13MS Gundam Epyon. So unless I'[m horrifically mistaken (which I could be!), I'm pretty sure it's a Gundam.

13 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

All in all, it seems likely that the VF-24 and YF-29 have probably squared off in simulated air combat at some point or another.  The NUNS VF-X Special Forces have been known to use the YF-29B, and in Master File it's been said that the Apollo Base Test Flight Center has a number of Earth-built YF-29s at its disposal for evaluation purposes.  It's likely the YF-29 was put through the same paces they put the YF-24 through, in simulated combat with previous-gen VFs and Ghosts.

Gotcha.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Epyon was a Gundam, though?

Tallgeese and Wing Zero?

[Seto Kaiba]

So... lookin' at the Sv-303 Vivasvat section of the VF-31AX Master File, and the first couple pages are kind of inconsequential outside of the specs for the Sv-303.

It starts with a bit about the culture and history of the planet Windermere IV.  It's noted at length that Windermere IV is rich in fold quartz presumably created by the Protoculture, and that the native Windermereans have been actively mining fold quartz for use in jewelry for many centuries.  The Kingdom of the Wind's royal family is said to make fairly regular use of fold quartz jewelry in everyday life, while normal civilians tend to only wear them as decorations for bridal gowns at weddings and much of it is usually stored in the temple.  It's said in the text that the Windermereans have known for a very long time about fold quartz's power to amplify their songs via resonance, and that their artisans actively applied that in cutting them as gemstones to create resonant effects similar to those used in the Fold Wave System.  Prior to humanity injecting science into the proceedings, fold quartz was assumed to be magic and one of the royal family's most treasured heirlooms is an ancient heirloom sword supposedly wielded by the founder of the Aerial Knights to defeat a giant dragon without fighting it directly... making it Windermere IV's version of the Japanese Imperial family's heirloom sword kusanagi-no-tsurugi.  

On the following page it finally gets into the actual details about the Sv-303's development.

Master File's version of the Sv-303's development history - the only version we currently have - claims that the Sv-303's development actually began as a manned fighter program for the Kingdom of the Wind's Aerial Knights.  The Sv-300 program was commissioned by Chancellor Roid Brehm.  It was to be a manned variable fighter loosely based on the VF-24 and VF-27, though without the VF-27's BDI cybernetic interface and with performance roughly comparable to the VF-31.  The design would adopt improved versions of the Sv-262's own FF-2999/FC2 engines with boosted output and responsiveness as well as an improved Fold Reheat system called the Twin Quartz Drive that was developed by Windermere IV's Royal Aviation Factory.  It was believed that the Sv-300 would exceed the performance of the VF-31.  Shortly before the first Sv-300 prototype was to be delivered, the SV Works received a change in requirements from Roid Brehm via Epsilon Foundation rep. Sydney Hunt.  The new requirements radically changed the entire concept of the aircraft.  Instead of being the manned, multirole variable fighter originally called for, the new requirements demanded an unmanned variable fighter that could be remotely operated using newly developed bio-fold wave communications technology.  The SV Works tossed the existing Sv-300 plan and started over. 

There's a brief passing mention of a Sv-301 that was apparently a manned fighter very similar to the VF-31 that also used a Twin Quartz Drive and a Sv-302 (not described).  

Roid's new plan called for a specialized, high-performance unmanned variable fighter that would maximize its performance at the expense of literally everything else.  Designated as Sv-303, the new design retained much of the YF-24 Evolution's transformation and basic structure but reintroduced the VF-27's BDI cybernetic interface and tied it into the bio-fold wave communications system developed by Windermere IV so that it could be remotely operated by the Quantum AI computer of the Siren Delta System.  To reduce the burden on the Siren Delta System, a new "black box" fully autonomous air combat AI bearing a curious resemblance to the one used on the X-9 Ghost Bird was also installed.  The fact that the Sv-303 was an unmanned fighter was kept secret during development.

By combining semi-autonomous remote operation by a central AI and lagless faster-than-light communications using fold quartz-amplified bio-fold waves, the result was a remotely commanded unmanned fighter that could fight independently or seamlessly coordinate huge numbers of aircraft in real time using the lagless bio-fold data link across an area that's measured in light years.  

 

More to follow in a bit.

[Bolt]

19 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Designated as Sv-303, the new design retained much of the YF-24 Evolution's transformation and basic structure

Transformation? I'm assuming that any basis off the YF-24 would be redacted information..

[Seto Kaiba]

3 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Transformation? I'm assuming that any basis off the YF-24 would be redacted information..

Remember, that's the same info the VF-25, VF-27, YF-29, et. al. are based on.

[Bolt]

16 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Remember, that's the same info the VF-25, VF-27, YF-29, et. al. are based on.

Understood. But weren't the specs of the YF-24 redacted for all of those.? Including the 303.?  I forget, but wasn't the VF-27 more based on "leaked" specs.?

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, Bolt said:

Understood. But weren't the specs of the YF-24 redacted for all of those.? Including the 303.?  I forget, but wasn't the VF-27 more based on "leaked" specs.?

Yeah, but the basic transformation of the YF-24 wasn't one of the redacted bits.  Structurally, it looks to be almost a VF-25 with a delta wing.  Presumably the Sv-303 was also based on those redacted specs.

The VF-27 was based primarily upon the redacted YF-24 Evolution specs but was completed using leaked development data from the Frontier fleet's YF-29 program.

[Bolt]

Gotcha 👍🏼

[twich]

So, here are some pictures of VF-31(Variations) from the new Master File for the VF-31AX

now the top one looks like a VF-31 with YF-29 wings and wingtip engines, which Seto says was the idea for the VF-31X 6th gen prototype. But the bottom picture is even more interesting to me, looks like they are adding the mid-wing engine configuration of a VF-4/VF-14 or VF-27. I hope the Seto or someone is able to translate what that is all about!

Twich

[snakerbot]

13 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

the new design retained much of the YF-24 Evolution's transformation and basic structure

*Looks at SV-303*

*Looks at YF-24*

*Looks back at SV-303*

...Uh... Master File writers... are you sure about that?

[TG Remix]

5 hours ago, snakerbot said:

*Looks at SV-303*

*Looks at YF-24*

*Looks back at SV-303*

...Uh... Master File writers... are you sure about that?

To be perfectly fair we're supposed to believe the Feios Valkyrie (from the VF-X game series) came from the VF-11 prototype in 2030 despite looking closer to the VAB-2/FBz-99G.

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, twich said:

now the top one looks like a VF-31 with YF-29 wings and wingtip engines, which Seto says was the idea for the VF-31X 6th gen prototype. But the bottom picture is even more interesting to me, looks like they are adding the mid-wing engine configuration of a VF-4/VF-14 or VF-27. I hope the Seto or someone is able to translate what that is all about!

The VF-31AW in the first image is a one-off test aircraft built to evaluate the VF-31X's proposed four engine configuration, which simply replaced the outer wing with the YF-29's.

The VF-31X4 in the second image is an artist's impression/conception of, and informal/unofficial name for, the latest VF-31X development type assumed to correspond to the VF-31X's final and intended design from the development planning phase.  (As in, the writers of the book in-universe are presenting their impression of what the final form of the VF-31X would look like, presumably based on the remarks earlier in the book about the design intent being for a four-engine VF and that the second set of engines were omitted when adapting the Delta Flight Siegfrieds into the AX type.)

[twich]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The VF-31AW in the first image is a one-off test aircraft built to evaluate the VF-31X's proposed four engine configuration, which simply replaced the outer wing with the YF-29's.

The VF-31X4 in the second image is an artist's impression/conception of, and informal/unofficial name for, the latest VF-31X development type assumed to correspond to the VF-31X's final and intended design from the development planning phase.  (As in, the writers of the book in-universe are presenting their impression of what the final form of the VF-31X would look like, presumably based on the remarks earlier in the book about the design intent being for a four-engine VF and that the second set of engines were omitted when adapting the Delta Flight Siegfrieds into the AX type.)

I think that the design( VF-31AW) with the YF-29 Wings and Wing-tip engines seems to me to be more aesthetically pleasing to look at, but the second design (VF-31X4) seems like it would be very backpack heavy.  Those nacelles look to be as long as the legs of the VF-31.  Does that design call for all 4 thermonuclear reaction burst turbines to have the same thrust (1715kN)?  I know that you said that it was an artist interpretation of what the proposed design would be, but it seems an odd choice, where we have other 4 engine VF's that do not have the oversized mid-wing engine nacelle's.  I am curious as to what the thought was behind that, there must be some sort of benefit.......

Twich 

[Bolt]

20 minutes ago, twich said:

  I am curious as to what the thought was behind that, there must be some sort of benefit.......

What if , eye candy.🤷

[Seto Kaiba]

5 minutes ago, twich said:

Does that design call for all 4 thermonuclear reaction burst turbines to have the same thrust (1715kN)?

In the parts I have read thus far, they don't say.

It is simply noted that the other two engines were omitted when the VF-31X conversion/upgrade parts the Macross Gigasion was carrying were hastily adapted to repair Delta Flight's badly damaged VF-31 Siegfrieds after the retreat from Windermere IV.

 

5 minutes ago, twich said:

I know that you said that it was an artist interpretation of what the proposed design would be, but it seems an odd choice, where we have other 4 engine VF's that do not have the oversized mid-wing engine nacelle's.  I am curious as to what the thought was behind that, there must be some sort of benefit.......

Not a clue.  If I were to guess wildly based on nothing but vague intuition, I'd assume it was so that the VF-31X could accommodate the same FF-3001/FC3 engines mounted inside of the legs in the wing mounts.

 

 

I do appreciate the beautiful irony of Master File's development history for the Sv-303.  Windermere IV put a tremendous amount of time, effort, resources, and energy into betraying their former allies in the New UN Government and developing weapons to conquer their territory only for their new ally to betray them and for them to wind up conquered by a new enemy with designs on their territory using the weapon that was meant to be their trump card.  It couldn't have happened to a nicer pack of xenophobic arseholes.

[twich]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

In the parts I have read thus far, they don't say.

It is simply noted that the other two engines were omitted when the VF-31X conversion/upgrade parts the Macross Gigasion was carrying were hastily adapted to repair Delta Flight's badly damaged VF-31 Siegfrieds after the retreat from Windermere IV.

 

Not a clue.  If I were to guess wildly based on nothing but vague intuition, I'd assume it was so that the VF-31X could accommodate the same FF-3001/FC3 engines mounted inside of the legs in the wing mounts.

 

 

I do appreciate the beautiful irony of Master File's development history for the Sv-303.  Windermere IV put a tremendous amount of time, effort, resources, and energy into betraying their former allies in the New UN Government and developing weapons to conquer their territory only for their new ally to betray them and for them to wind up conquered by a new enemy with designs on their territory using the weapon that was meant to be their trump card.  It couldn't have happened to a nicer pack of xenophobic arseholes.

I also find it interesting that Windermere IV came up with such innovative valkyrie designs.  The concept of the Sv-300 being developed by them, in house seems like they learned from making the Sv-262 such a short range interceptor and decided to design themselves a true multirole fighter with some dazzling specs.  The fact that the Windemerens(sp?) have enhanced physical abilities above those of normal humans reminds me of the VF-27 being designed for cyborg pilots only.

Those crazy nacelles on the VF-31X4 could, along with the FF-3001/FC3 probably accommodate more micro missile launchers along with some beam cannons, ala the VF-27.  Seeing the trend, and yes, I know that the Master File is not "official", has me really looking forward to what the next hero and villain Variable Fighters will be for the next series or OVA.

Twich 

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, twich said:

I also find it interesting that Windermere IV came up with such innovative valkyrie designs.

For the record, the Kingdom of the Wind didn't develop the weapons its Aerial Knights use.

Their ships, their Valkyries, and presumably the rest of their military hardware is all purchased from the Epsilon Foundation's many subsidiary corporations.  A lot of their ships seem to be build-under-license versions of General Galaxy warship designs (modified reuses of the Dulfim and Kaitos classes).  All of the Sv-# Valkyries were/are developed by the design lab called SV Works* and manufactured by an Epsilon Foundation subsidiary company called Dian Cecht.  

Official materials had previously suggested that the Kingdom of the Wind (and more specifically, its royal family) had provided essential materials (read: "fold quartz") to support Dian Cecht's manufacture of the Sv-262 for their forces.  Master File seems to be suggesting that the Royal Aviation Factory on Windermere IV was more involved than previously believed, and that some of the more exotic systems used in the Sv-262 and Sv-303 were developed locally by Windermere IV's Royal Aviation Factory and then provided to Dian Cecht and the SV Works for inclusion in the final design.  That list seems to be limited entirely to systems based on Roid's research into fold quartz resonance effects like the fold reheat system used on the Sv-262 and the Sv-303's twin quartz drive and bio-fold wave communications system.

 

10 hours ago, twich said:

The concept of the Sv-300 being developed by them, in house seems like they learned from making the Sv-262 such a short range interceptor and decided to design themselves a true multirole fighter with some dazzling specs.  The fact that the Windemerens(sp?) have enhanced physical abilities above those of normal humans reminds me of the VF-27 being designed for cyborg pilots only.

As explained above, Windermere IV didn't develop any of their VFs... but they did provide requirements to the team that developed them.

The Sv-300 seems to have been a fairly traditional 5th Generation VF that simply aimed to exceed the performance of the Brisingr Alliance's next main fighter.  Somewhere along the way, Chancellor Roid Brehm seems to have decided that an unmanned fighter operated by bio-fold wave remote control was a better way to counter the numerical superiority of the New UN Forces.  (It may have been motivated by Prince Heinz's failing health.)

 

 

* Established within General Galaxy by one of its cofounders that worked on the SV-51 program before defecting to the UN Government, and apparently later either spun off and sold to the Epsilon Foundation or operated as a joint venture with them as Epsilon's Dian Cecht seems to be responsible for manufacturing the SV Works designs.

[Seto Kaiba]

Lookin' at more Sv-303...

The airframe overview reiterates a few points previously expressed or otherwise obvious... like that the unmanned Sv-303 lacks any pilot safety systems, EX-Gear, and ISC.  Curiously, it's also described as having done away with a lot of other operational safety features like IFF, conventional communications systems, and conventional sensors.  All of the omitted systems make the Sv-303 extremely lightweight as a fighter.  The space vacated by these systems has either been used to reduce the size of the aircraft or repurposed as fuel storage.

The so-called "Mirage Package" system seems to border on a "does-anything" system in this description.  Not only does it function as the Sv-303's energy conversion armor and a bio-fold wave transmitter/receiver/amplifier distributed across the entire surface of the airframe that allows it to be controlled remotely by the biological fold waves broadcast by the Siren Delta System, it also:

• Allows the entire surface of the aircraft to serve as a multidimensional sensor system.
• Functions as a point-to-point communications system allowing Sv-303s to communicate with each other.
• Produces an active stealth effect by phase shifting it slightly from normal space using amplified fold waves, making it difficult to detect with radar and laser detection systems.
• Illuminates the surface of the aircraft.

The weirdly multifunctional nature of the Mirage Package is noted to come with a significant drawback.  In operation, the Sv-303 is constantly emitting fold waves.  The same fold wave energy that conceals it from radar and laser/LIDAR systems makes it paradoxically high visibility to anyone looking with fold wave sensors.  The only reason this is not considered to be significantly disadvantageous is that aircraft-mounted fold wave sensors were relatively rare at the time it was developed.

Another mentioned drawback of the Sv-303's design is that the excessive power of its four engines and the support needs of its six attendant "Charya" mini-Ghosts means it can only carry enough fuel for about 20-25 minutes of combat maneuvers against an enemy aircraft with similar performance.  It's noted that it has the ability to refuel and recharge the mini-Ghosts from its own generators and fuel tanks, though this reduces its operating time accordingly.  

The control AI system is stored where the cockpit would have otherwise been.  It lacks a canopy because the Mirage Package functions as an integrated multidimensional sensor, but when in Battroid mode a fold wave focusing array sensor stored in the cockpit area unfolds as a "mono-eye" that can be used for precision scanning.

To conceal its true nature as an unmanned aircraft, the Sv-303 was outfitted with a dummy cockpit for part of the manufacturing process.  The cockpit block would later be removed and replaced with the quantum AI system.  The main quantum AI system is supported by a pair of Brunhilde II airframe control AI systems, an improved version of the Brunhilde+ on the Sv-262, which performs the normal airframe control AI functions (with the quantum AI as a "pilot") and also coordinates the operation of the Charya mini-Ghosts.

The two main engines are reiterated to be the same FF-2999 series engine as the one planned for adoption on the Sv-300 (an improved version of the Sv-262's engine), performance boosted by the twin quartz drive system.  The two sub engines are noted to be the same as the YF-29's auxiliary engine (meaning the 1,970kN is almost certainly incorrect since the correct figure s 1,470kN).  The transformation can deploy the engines in an X-shape, and the main engine can rotate 360 degrees, dramatically improving maneuverability in space.  The wing area is small, to the point that they can be thought of more as a support frame for the engines and a place to hang weapons.  The engines themselves have been reinforced to better withstand the increased output, but the additional strain on the engines imposed by constant operation of the twin quartz drive for combat maneuvers means the operational lifespan of the engines is only a few sorties.  As such, the engines were designed to be quickly removed and replaced.

 

Armaments-wise, the Sv-303 is also a rather bizarre aircraft.  It has no internal missile bays or micro-missile launchers to speak of.  Just a pair of 25mm beam machine guns on the sides of its nose and a build-under-license version of the YF-29's TW2-MDE/M25 MDE twin beam cannon mounted dorsally.  It has four underwing pylon stations for high-speed small reaction missiles (variable yields of between 25Kt and 100Kt) and a General Galaxy-designed 35mm beam gunpod outfitted with Mirage Package armor by Dian Cecht.  The mini-Ghosts it supports (six in total) function as support beam guns and micro-missile launchers when docked, being armed with two small micro-missile launchers (each holding six micro-missiles) and a 30mm beam cannon.  The mini-Ghosts have no reaction engine of their own, and are powered by a high-energy capacitor recharged off the Sv-303's generators and can be refueled by tapping into the Sv-303's internal fuel stores.  The Sv-303 can control up to twelve mini-Ghosts at a time, and can take over control of mini-Ghosts from destroyed Sv-303s to keep them in the fight.  Communication between the mini-Ghosts and Sv-303 is carried out via fold waves.  They have energy conversion armor, which can be externally powered by the Sv-303 when docked.   Because the mini-Ghosts have no independent generator and run on a capacitor only, their operating time is very limited (assumed 5-6 minutes).  Its reaction weapons are noted to be low powered ones with less stopping power than the VF-1's RMS-1, but compensate by being very small and difficult to intercept.

[Seto Kaiba]

In terms of its combat record, Master File had the following to say:

The SV Works and Dian Cecht completed the Sv-303 shortly before the final battle of the war between the Kingdom of the Wind and the Brisingr Alliance.  When they nevertheless got a request to manufacture and deliver 5 Sv-303s, 3 spares, maintenance parts, replacement engines, and 50 mini-Ghosts after the death of their client and his government's decision to pursue peace negotiations, Dian Cecht's corporate leadership became suspicious of the order and launched an inquiry into the legitimacy of the request.  After receiving instruction to proceed as directed by the Epsilon Foundation, they proceeded with trial production and were informed by the Epsilon Foundation messenger who came to retrieve the aircraft that a plan to mass produce the Sv-303 had been formulated.

These trial production Sv-303s were taken by Sydney Hunt and handed over to the anti-government organization Heimdall along with the cell samples from the Star Singer.

Heimdall proceeded to construct the Siren Delta System by cloning the genetic material obtained by Sydney Hunt.  The cloned Star Singer cells were used to generate the Siren Delta System's biological fold waves, while amplification, tuning, and processing of the fold waves produced by the cloned cells was carried out by the Sharon Apple-derived quantum AI system.  The Siren Delta System's basic personality was modeled on Walkure's Mikumo Guynemer using data recorded by Roid Brehm after her capture during the war.  The system's fold wave output was exceptionally powerful, and it was capable of erecting a dimensional fault barrier large enough to protect a Battle-class Macross.  By studying the bio-fold wave patterns and behavior of Walkure's members, the Siren Delta System created independent pseudo-personalities "Yami Q Ray" which would operate five Sv-303s and fight against the five members of Delta Flight.

There's also a brief section that attempts to explain Star Singers.  They're described therein as artificial life forms that were able (created to) connect to the Vajra's intergalactic zero time fold wave network.  Since they were designed from the genetic level up to incorporate the Vajra factor, it's possible for star singers to convert thoughts into fold waves directly.  It's hypothesized that this may have been done in an attempt to communicate with the Vajra in a way the Vajra would understand.  The book assumes that, since the Frontier fleet's population were attacked, that the Protoculture either failed or aborted their attempt to communicate.  It goes on to remark that later analysis revealed the genes of singers and singing priestesses like Lynn Minmay and Sara Nome bore some similarities to the Vajra factor used in star singers.  

 

... and that's basically the end of it, except for a few marginal notes near the picture of the Sv-303 battroid that reiterate points from earlier, with the only new noteworthy item being that the "Charya" mini-Ghost being similar to the Sv-262's Lilldraken.

[JB0]

37 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

• Produces an active stealth effect by phase shifting it slightly from normal space using amplified fold waves, making it difficult to detect with radar and laser detection systems.
• Illuminates the surface of the aircraft.

I'd love to see the sales pitch there.

"Hey, boss! This new system makes us virtually invisible to radar and lidar. It's almost a perfect stealth system..."
"But?"
"It makes the fighter glow in the dark like a giant lightbulb? No one uses visual sensors, right?"

[Seto Kaiba]

35 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I'd love to see the sales pitch there.

"Everyone knows RGB lighting effects make your PC faster... so we added RGB effects to our new unmanned Valkyrie to make it faster."

"Oh, that explains the massive invoice from Corsair."

[Bolt]

Wow. These 303's and mini ghosts don't have much operation time. Pretty much fold in and deploy at point blank range..

[Seto Kaiba]

30 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Wow. These 303's and mini ghosts don't have much operation time. Pretty much fold in and deploy at point blank range..

Normally when Macross publications talk about a Valkyrie's operating time in space what they're referring to is the amount of time the main engines can deliver maximum thrust.

Without any Option Packs, the VF-1 Valkyrie's maximum operating time in space was somewhere between 6 and 10 minutes with the Super Pack's conformal tanks extending that to approximately 30 minutes.

The Sv-303 Vivasvat's got twice as many engines delivering almost 18 times (17.7x) the thrust of the VF-1's engines, and without any supplemental hardware to speak of it can manage 20-25 minutes of operation above its normal maximum output while the twin quartz drive has the engines running in overdrive and it's fighting something with comparable mobility to its own.  Against anything less than a YF-29, YF-30, VF-31AX, or VF-31 Siegfried, it'd probably have a significantly longer operating time.

[pengbuzz]

On 1/18/2023 at 12:32 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Normally when Macross publications talk about a Valkyrie's operating time in space what they're referring to is the amount of time the main engines can deliver maximum thrust.

Without any Option Packs, the VF-1 Valkyrie's maximum operating time in space was somewhere between 6 and 10 minutes with the Super Pack's conformal tanks extending that to approximately 30 minutes.

The Sv-303 Vivasvat's got twice as many engines delivering almost 18 times (17.7x) the thrust of the VF-1's engines, and without any supplemental hardware to speak of it can manage 20-25 minutes of operation above its normal maximum output while the twin quartz drive has the engines running in overdrive and it's fighting something with comparable mobility to its own.  Against anything less than a YF-29, YF-30, VF-31AX, or VF-31 Siegfried, it'd probably have a significantly longer operating time.

Right; the VF-1 was intended to operate in-atmosphere IIRC, where it could draw reactants from the air. That must have made most battles in SDFM pretty short!

On the note of operating time: I wonder how Gundam manages it?