yazi88 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:07 pm
IIRC, the bayonet showed up in Macross Plus only, I don't think any VF-11 used it in Macross 7, I could be wrong.
The stock VF-11C in the
Macross 7 series used an economized version of the gunpod that removed the bayonet as a cost saving move. It still had the great bloody spike on the shield for when things got up close and personal though.
That said, in
Macross 7 Plus, Ray Lovelock's old unit were shown using the older model of gunpod that had the bayonet... the hilariously named
"Pink Peckers". (No, I am not making that name up.)
yazi88 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:07 pm
VF-11 also had the optional Armored pack similar to the VF-1 and VF-0 which heavily increased its firepower at the cost of mobility. I also noticed that we have yet to see the heavy projectile gunpod outside the armored pack of the VF-11, later VFs opted for the beam gunpod beam adapter/heavy quantum grenade for more firepower on gunpods.
For a given value of "heavy", sure... I think the biggest problem with the GU-XS-06 gunpod the Full Armor VF-11 used was that it was so huge it was only suited for use in space.
The "New Standard" gunpods developed for the 4th Generation VFs were a lot more powerful than what the VF-11 was carrying, and the GU-17 that was developed for the VF-25 was so over-the-top that the VF-19EFs needed structural reinforcement just to wield one. (This is explicitly noted in
Macross the Ride.)
I'd also call the SSL-9B Dragunov 55mm railgun a fairly heavy gunpod... it's killier than anything seen to date except a heavy quantum beam gunpod with beam grenade mode on. Not rapid fire, mind, but still a gunpod nasty enough to perforate even the heaviest Vajra armor consistently.
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:39 am
Thanks for the response, Seto Kaiba.
At your service.
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:39 am
What mainly bothers me about the VF-5000 and VF-11 is that, aside from their gunpods, they have no other forward-firing ballistic or energy weapon in fighter mode.
It does seem a bit of an odd choice, but in that generation missiles seem to have been given much greater emphasis than guns. By all accounts, the VF-11's FAST packs were capable of Itano Circuses on a level the VF-19 and VF-22 were hard-pressed to match, and wouldn't be exceeded until the VF-25 came around.
The VF-5000 kind of gets a pass on that, since it was intended only for light duty "behind the lines", as it were. Against the Zentradi, if you don't stop them in space you have essentially lost the war already, so they were more for light patrol duty than anything. There's one piece of art in
This is Animation Special: Macross Plus that shows the VF-5000 with pylon-mounted beam weaponry. The reason the VF-5000s were sold off to the Zola Patrol is that they were suitably low-tech at the time not to pose a threat to the (New) UN Forces should things go south with the Zolans, and the Zolans themselves didn't really give a damn about having high-powered offensive capability, they wanted non-lethal, so the lack of forward-facing beam weaponry didn't put them off any.
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:39 am
What are the advantages of the VF-25 over the VF-19 and VF-22?
"Massively increased performance in almost every area" would be the shortest way to put it.
To get a bit more precise:
- Inertia Store Converter technology protects the cockpit and pilot from high g-forces by displacing inertial forces into super dimension space temporarily, addressing the chief implementation problem with the VF-19 and VF-22's performance exceeding the biological tolerances of the pilot.
- EXtender Gear cockpit interfaces combine the standard controls with electromyographic sensing, force feedback, and a super-miniaturized learning computer to improve control precision and give the pilot the feeling of "wearing" the variable fighter. It also functions as a movable seat to optimize the pilot's blood flow during maneuvering, an ejection seat, and post-ejection as a powered suit capable of flight, remote operation of the VF, and even limited cold sleep functions.
- Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines offer over 200% the output of the previous generation's thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines providing instantaneous acceleration in excess of 30G, while producing enough excess generator output to run the VF-25's energy conversion armor at low power around vital areas (cockpit, engines) even in fighter mode and to run the pinpoint barrier in GERWALK mode, both of which are impossible with previous-gen tech.
- A next-gen airframe and avionics control AI to integrate it all, the ARIEL II system, a refinement of the ARIEL system used on the VF-19 and VF-22. This facilitates the integrated systems design of the 5th Gen.
- Improved airframe strength thanks to new hypercarbon-carbon composite materials, and better energy conversion armor systems. The forearm shield incorporates the same ASWAG advanced energy conversion armor used on the VF-25's Armored Pack, which has the defensive ability of a cruiser-class ship.
- Significant increases in firepower. The GU-17A gunpod developed for the VF-25 is considerably more powerful than the GU-15 and GV-17L, so much so that VF-19s cannot wield it without first receiving some structural reinforcement. It was designed to pierce Vajra energy conversion armor. The VF-25 also has more pylons than almost any previous VF (a whopping 8 on the wings alone).
- A diverse array of FAST Pack systems to customize the VF for space operations and give it more missile firepower than any other VF to date.
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:44 am
When were the rollout years for the following: VF-9, VF-14, VA-3, VA-14, VB-6, Neo Glaug, and the Variable Glaug?
First flight of a trial-production VF-9A was in 2021, with mass production beginning in 2022.
First flight of the trial-production VF-14A was in 2027, with mass production beginning in 2028. The VA-14 favored by the Zentradi pilots in New UN Forces service entered mass production c.2030.
The VA-3's particulars are unknown, but it was developed in the 3rd Generation alongside the VB-6 so I'd expect it to be somewhere between 2028 and 2032. We know the VB-6 went into mass production in 2032.
The Variable Glaug's particulars are unknown. The original unit, developed by a Zentradi anti-government paramilitary faction, was presumably developed between 2014 and 2018 using the technology and data for the VF-4 the group stole from Neo York colony in 2014. The model encountered on Cristania in 2018 likely was a trial production unit. The (New) UN Spacy version was constructed sometime around 2022, which is when Moramia Jifon Jenius joined the Dancing Skulls special forces and started piloting one with a miclone cockpit.
The Neo Glaug's particulars are also mostly unknown, we know only that a combat-worthy prototype was in use in 2040 and that it was a rival program to the AIF-X-9 Ghost using similar AI technology.
There was a craft that could arguably be called either a manned conversion of the Neo Glaug or a Variable Glaug upgraded with Neo Glaug hardware in service in 2058 with the terrorist group FASCES, an offshoot of the Latence group that tried to overthrow the New UN Government in 2051 (
Macross VF-X2), which is effectively a 4th Gen-equivalent VF.
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:44 am
Do the Neo Glaug and Variable Glaug have model numbers / vehicle designations?
The Neo Glaug does not, to the best of my knowledge... though
Macross the Ride mistakenly put the designation for the Variable Glaug on it.
The original spec Variable Glaug intended for a giant Zentradi pilot is designated VBP-1 Variable Glaug by the New UN Forces. The version reproduced by the New UN Forces with a miclone-suitable VF cockpit is designated VA-110 Variable Glaug, in a nod to Project Constant Peg's designation for the captured MiG-21 units flown by the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron (YF-110).
hitokirigarou wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:44 am
Does the Neo Glaug have a battroid mode?
The unmanned model has no battroid mode, only fighter and GERWALK.