Front Vents on Mobile Suits
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doghunter1
- Posts: 192
- Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:40 am
Front Vents on Mobile Suits
What are they for anyways? For example, in Universal Century, they're seen on the chests of the Project V equipment? If they're for exhaust that is needed to come out as a result of running on a fusion reactor, then how come the Zaku I, Zaku II, Gouf, Gogg, Acguy, Zock, Dom, nor Zeong have them, whereas the Gelgoog and Z'Gok do?
Re: Front Vents on Mobile Suits
Design preference, rule of cool, and possibly all you mention above play a factor in that... though I would say exhaust or something along those lines.
If I had to say, maybe the Zaku and Goufs, different mobile suits though they surely be, have a shared cooling system that differs from some of their Zeonic compatriots and the Gundam. I'm referencing those tubes that appear on their waists and helmets, though I am pretty sure there's another reason for them that has already been discussed, killed, beaten after death, and then buried by this forum before...
But then we have a few Zeon suits that differ, so who knows exactly. Maybe they experimented around with what kind of system to use, and in the case of the RX-78 that design suited it best? I know the Gundam has been shown moving awfully fast at max speed, so it could be it needs better cooling systems than earlier machines like the Zaku.
Of interesting note is that most Gryps era machines have the Gundam-style chest vents, most notably the Hi-Zack. Of course, the Hi-Zack retains the weird tubes...
Just my ignorant two cents.
If I had to say, maybe the Zaku and Goufs, different mobile suits though they surely be, have a shared cooling system that differs from some of their Zeonic compatriots and the Gundam. I'm referencing those tubes that appear on their waists and helmets, though I am pretty sure there's another reason for them that has already been discussed, killed, beaten after death, and then buried by this forum before...
But then we have a few Zeon suits that differ, so who knows exactly. Maybe they experimented around with what kind of system to use, and in the case of the RX-78 that design suited it best? I know the Gundam has been shown moving awfully fast at max speed, so it could be it needs better cooling systems than earlier machines like the Zaku.
Of interesting note is that most Gryps era machines have the Gundam-style chest vents, most notably the Hi-Zack. Of course, the Hi-Zack retains the weird tubes...
Just my ignorant two cents.
They don't know the power of a balanced vision.
Re: Front Vents on Mobile Suits
And then you have weird ones like the Zephyranthes Fb, where the "vents" aren't vents at all and it has thrusters in its torso instead
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
Re: Front Vents on Mobile Suits
Maybe someone else knows the real answer, but I'd imagine that they'd be for cooling rather than exhaust, kinda like a front grille on a car. Literally rule of cool
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Re: Front Vents on Mobile Suits
That only applies to suits operating in an atmosphere, since that sort of cooling works by forcing a constant supply of cooler air over the radiator while the vehicle is in motion. Even MS designed primarily to fight in space where there is no air-cooling can be seen with them (like the space-type GMs or the really ungainly EWAC variant of the Hizack) so if they're meant for cooling they can't be a critical design feature in suits that might never actually use them for that purpose.
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Gelgoog Jager
- Posts: 1640
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:09 pm
Re: Front Vents on Mobile Suits
Regarding Zeon MS, IIRC there are some mentions of Zeon ships requiring facilities for retrieval and cooling of MS after landing. The MS Igloo redesigns of the Musai and Chivvay both include what seem to be these retrieval hatches: in front of the bridge in case of the former and right behind the bridge for the Chivvay. Furthermore, it's further remarked that this retrieval slot of the Musai is not meant to count towards the ship's total MS capacity. Also, the Papua supposedly couldn't operate MS-06 units due to limitations in cooling capacity, being restricted to older MS-05 units:
When this system was employed, the mobile suit's body could heat up by hundreds of degrees during combat, and upon returning from battle it had to be cooled inside its mothership.
...
Papua: ... Because it had no mobile suit cooling systems, the only mobile suit it could support was the MS-05 Zaku.
http://www.ultimatemark.com/gundam/arch ... ntury.html
That same source has more info regarding the cooling systems of Zeon MS if you are interested. Back to EF MS, assuming that MS would normally require cooling in such fashion, the EF's fleet which is mostly made up of ships not meant to support MS would be in deep trouble in such regard. Maybe they simply decided to integrate the cooling systems into the MS themselves, rather than on the ships meant to support them?
On the other hand, at least some Zakus and related units, such as the MS-07 series, do seem to have vents on their "mouths" (the introductory scene of the TV where you can hear the sound of Zakus "breathing" as they approach Side 7). Also, IIRC the Gouf Custom's leg jet thrusters seemed to double as vents when it was lifting the part of the road in 08th MS.
All that being said, I'm actually inclined to think that most Zeon MS simply don't need vents: just look at the Gallus J, (2,840 kW) the Doven Wolf (5,250 kW), all more advanced MS with high output generators, yet they lack vents.
Let's look at it from another angle: the Z'gok's fan-based cooling system was developed as an alternative to the Gogg's water-based cooling system. Such cooling systems were necessary to allow these amphibious units to power up their early beam weapons, which upon lacking e-cap technology required direct feed from their generators for each shot. The problem with the Gogg's is that it made the unit quite large and dependent on being close to water bodies, both issues that the Z'gok's fan-based cooling system solved.
In the case of the Gelgoog, while it's easy to assume that it was introduced at a time when Zeon already had e-cap technology, such assumption is actually incorrect. As Mark has pointed out, the earliest Gelgoog weapons, such as the MS-14C's cannon backpack, the beam machine gun of the Gelgoog Jager or the long-barreled beam rifle used by the MS-14G (and sometimes also seen as the weapon of choice for Gato's Gelgoog), lacked e-cap technology and relied on direct generator feed for power.
In essence these weapons would be similar to the beam bazooka often associated with the Rick Dom, which also has its own generator. It seems that a MS with high generator output can supplement the weapon's own generator in order to increase the fire rate of said weapons (supposedly the MS-09RS has once such powerful generator for such purpose, which would be the difference to regular MS-09R units). Perhaps we can assume that the same holds true for the Gelgoog.
Also, the Gelgoog was supposed to operate on Earth and there are even claims that its forearm attachments were supposed to be jet thrusters for atmospheric flight. Following this train of thought, the general purpose MS-17 (MS-17A) Galbaldy Alpha also has similar vents and forearm thrusters, while the space bound MS-17B (RMS-117) Galbaldy Beta seems to lack them. This makes it sound like chest vents are indeed a feature meant for MS that operate on Earth.
The other side of the coin are advanced units without vents, such as the MS-18E, a unit that has a more powerful generator than a Gelgoog, but doesn't rely on beam weapons (save for its last resort beam sabers), and the MS-11, which supposedly was intended to operate an e-cap based beam rifle (this very weapon seems to be the base model for the Hizack's e-cap based beam rifle). In the absence of the later weapon, the MS-11 operates a ballistic bullpup gun. And of course there's the huge Zeong (with legs it's over 35 meters tall) that operates multiple beam weapons.
Finally, any discussion about cooling systems in UC can't end without mentioning the Big Zam, whose inadequate cooling system would only allow it to operate for 20 min before overheating. The unit did seemed to have vents below the mono-eye rail, and I would like to assume that the fins on top of it also served for dissipating heat, similarly to the radiator fins of ships from the UC 0090's.
When this system was employed, the mobile suit's body could heat up by hundreds of degrees during combat, and upon returning from battle it had to be cooled inside its mothership.
...
Papua: ... Because it had no mobile suit cooling systems, the only mobile suit it could support was the MS-05 Zaku.
http://www.ultimatemark.com/gundam/arch ... ntury.html
That same source has more info regarding the cooling systems of Zeon MS if you are interested. Back to EF MS, assuming that MS would normally require cooling in such fashion, the EF's fleet which is mostly made up of ships not meant to support MS would be in deep trouble in such regard. Maybe they simply decided to integrate the cooling systems into the MS themselves, rather than on the ships meant to support them?
On the other hand, at least some Zakus and related units, such as the MS-07 series, do seem to have vents on their "mouths" (the introductory scene of the TV where you can hear the sound of Zakus "breathing" as they approach Side 7). Also, IIRC the Gouf Custom's leg jet thrusters seemed to double as vents when it was lifting the part of the road in 08th MS.
All that being said, I'm actually inclined to think that most Zeon MS simply don't need vents: just look at the Gallus J, (2,840 kW) the Doven Wolf (5,250 kW), all more advanced MS with high output generators, yet they lack vents.
Let's look at it from another angle: the Z'gok's fan-based cooling system was developed as an alternative to the Gogg's water-based cooling system. Such cooling systems were necessary to allow these amphibious units to power up their early beam weapons, which upon lacking e-cap technology required direct feed from their generators for each shot. The problem with the Gogg's is that it made the unit quite large and dependent on being close to water bodies, both issues that the Z'gok's fan-based cooling system solved.
In the case of the Gelgoog, while it's easy to assume that it was introduced at a time when Zeon already had e-cap technology, such assumption is actually incorrect. As Mark has pointed out, the earliest Gelgoog weapons, such as the MS-14C's cannon backpack, the beam machine gun of the Gelgoog Jager or the long-barreled beam rifle used by the MS-14G (and sometimes also seen as the weapon of choice for Gato's Gelgoog), lacked e-cap technology and relied on direct generator feed for power.
In essence these weapons would be similar to the beam bazooka often associated with the Rick Dom, which also has its own generator. It seems that a MS with high generator output can supplement the weapon's own generator in order to increase the fire rate of said weapons (supposedly the MS-09RS has once such powerful generator for such purpose, which would be the difference to regular MS-09R units). Perhaps we can assume that the same holds true for the Gelgoog.
Also, the Gelgoog was supposed to operate on Earth and there are even claims that its forearm attachments were supposed to be jet thrusters for atmospheric flight. Following this train of thought, the general purpose MS-17 (MS-17A) Galbaldy Alpha also has similar vents and forearm thrusters, while the space bound MS-17B (RMS-117) Galbaldy Beta seems to lack them. This makes it sound like chest vents are indeed a feature meant for MS that operate on Earth.
The other side of the coin are advanced units without vents, such as the MS-18E, a unit that has a more powerful generator than a Gelgoog, but doesn't rely on beam weapons (save for its last resort beam sabers), and the MS-11, which supposedly was intended to operate an e-cap based beam rifle (this very weapon seems to be the base model for the Hizack's e-cap based beam rifle). In the absence of the later weapon, the MS-11 operates a ballistic bullpup gun. And of course there's the huge Zeong (with legs it's over 35 meters tall) that operates multiple beam weapons.
Finally, any discussion about cooling systems in UC can't end without mentioning the Big Zam, whose inadequate cooling system would only allow it to operate for 20 min before overheating. The unit did seemed to have vents below the mono-eye rail, and I would like to assume that the fins on top of it also served for dissipating heat, similarly to the radiator fins of ships from the UC 0090's.