Ground MS

[DAG101]

Okay, about the Ground Gundam, GM, Zaku, and EZ-8, not the why (it makes perfect sense to have MS with features specifiv to ground combat) but the when. they never appear in the First Gundam storyline, yet are the only things (pretty much) in 8th MS Team

[RGM-79G GM Command]

They were not in it because they had not been created when the original show was made, 08th MS Team adds them to the canon later thats all.

[Phantomexe87]

Well, also, in story, we really just see a bird's (pegasus) view of the One Year War, plus, most were off fighting far away from the White Base's route, like the deep jungles of Southeast Asia, or the North Africa deserts.

[Hyakushiki]

As far as I understand it the RX ground types were only deployed to the Kojima battalion in Southeast Asia. The GM ground type in particular preceded the mass production type but was considered too costly for wide deployment. Ultimately, these units were made in limited numbers and were all destroyed in a rather short period of time.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

As far as I understand it the RX ground types were only deployed to the Kojima battalion in Southeast Asia. Ultimately, these units were made in limited numbers and were all destroyed in a rather short period of time.

No they were not only given to the Kojima Battalion, only twelve of the Ground Gundams and only twelve Ground GMs, and not all of the units of either were destroyed, well not during the OYW anyway.

[mcred23]

As far as I understand it the RX ground types were only deployed to the Kojima battalion in Southeast Asia.

That is incorrect. Kojima Battalion did get a rather large chunk of the RX-79[G]'s (A minimum of 12, but given how they were losing them, I'd think they got a few more than that), but hardly all of them. At least three more end up as the Blue Destiny units and the unknown number of the rest were deployed largely at random around Earth (About 20 were built total, we don't know an exact number). The Ez-8 is a unique custom rebuilt RX-79[G] done by the Kojima Battalion mechanics due to a lack of spare parts later on in the war, and since it was unique, you'd never see it outside of South-East Asia (Or without Shiro Amada).

The RGM-79[G]'s were limited pre-production units and only about 50 were built. Some ended up with Kojima (Again, a minimum of 12 but probably a few more), some went to Europe and the rest got tossed around at random like the RX-79[G] units. As Hyakushiki mentioned, these units were very costly and they could only be used on Earth, which is why they were never built in larger numbers.

For an in-universe reason why neither of these show up in MSG, it's because White Base never went through an area they were in use.

As for the Zaku, it has various ground-use versions. However, in spite of that, the space-use MS-06F was still used on Earth quite a bit (Or so it seems), and even then, most of the ground use versions are almost totally identical to the basic MS-06F. Because of that, unless you can see certain specific details of the Zaku II in question (An open cockpit being a big one), there is no way to tell apart some of them.

[Kuruni]

Isn't few RX-79[G] are at Odessa? It just that camera never pan to them in MSG .

[EZero8]

Well, one is confirmed in Odessa, the one Matt Healy piloted in LWC IIRC.

[mcred23]

Odds are, there were probably a few other RX-79[G] units in Europe that may have been used, but I doubt they were at Odessa. Only 30 Federation MS were even part of that operation, and I believe they were mostly RGM-79 "A-types" (And only 15 MS went into combat during the attack, doing basically nothing for the Federation).

[blaze101]

Odds are, there were probably a few other RX-79[G] units in Europe that may have been used, but I doubt they were at Odessa. Only 30 Federation MS were even part of that operation, and I believe they were mostly RGM-79 "A-types" (And only 15 MS went into combat during the attack, doing basically nothing for the Federation).

So wait...is the RGM-79 "A-type" the infamous GM early type I've heard so much of? Also, if it is, did it use the beam spray gun or the 100mm machinegun?

[RGM-79 GM]

IIRC the A-types were in Gundam Side Story(I think they are A-types cause they look like the B-type but are ground only) and going by that they had the option of a 100mm machine gun or a rocket launcher(you can unlock the beamspray gun but only by beating the game is just a bonus for beating the game). I know it isn't canon though. Either way though on the ground most GMs used machine guns because the beam weapons were somewhat rare at the time.

[J-Lead]

To be honest, if an official number of MS is stated by any source, (even official ones,) I always take it with a grain of salt. There are examples of a few Zeon ace pilots with kill records that, when added together, surpass the number of GM's actually produced (though that may have been retconned to flow more smoothly with canon , I haven't payed attention lately.) When it comes down to it, the amount of mobile suits produced are just stated numbers recognized by Bandai on paper - numbers which they defy sometimes themselves.

[RGM-79 GM]

The kill counts(IIRC) include everything and not just MS. So it is destroyed MS, Mobile Pods, tanks, fighters, ships, MAs, and probably enemy viechles like trucks all added together for both the Zeon and the Federation.

EDIT: I'm a ninja. ^_^

[Cardi Doorl]

There are examples of a few Zeon ace pilots with kill records that, when added together, surpass the number of GM's actually produced...

It's been said, time and time again, why that's the case. It's largely because those OYW kill counts aren't just mobile suits - they include fighters, tanks, Balls, and all that support stuff. A lot of them already had high kill counts well before the Feds rolled out production mobile suits.

There are other reasons for bloated kill counts, like the fact that they could the inaccurate in-universe, but I won't get into that since the above explanation is pretty much the main reason they have enormous numbers.

EDIT: Ninja'd, for the most part

[Phantomexe87]

Well if the Zeon with their limited resources were able to pour out thousands of Zaku IIs and roughly a thousand Zaku Is, and hundred odd Gelgoogs in a matter of weeks, I'm sure the Federation with its vastly more numerous factories, can make way more GMs than the original number in a matter of months. A few thousand GMs means beans for the Federation with all their industry.

[mcred23]

Much to reply too!

So wait...is the RGM-79 "A-type" the infamous GM early type I've heard so much of? Also, if it is, did it use the beam spray gun or the 100mm machinegun?

Yeah. It is 100% visually identical to the basic RGM-79 (The so-called "B-type"), with the only changes being internal. 42 of these machines were built and deployed, mostly before Odessa.

Weapon-wise, the Federation at this time seemed to issue out mainly the [G]-type weapons, so the 100mm machinegun would be it's most commonly used weapon. Once the later 90mm and beam spray guns were standardized and the basic GM entered production, those were probably used.

IIRC the A-types were in Gundam Side Story(I think they are A-types cause they look like the B-type but are ground only)

Actually, I think they were originally mentioned in one of the old Gundam reference books (I want to say one of the MSV ones, but I'm unsure if thats right) back in the 80's but details about them (Such as the number built) are often mixed up with the RGM-79[G] (The two are fairly similar).

There are examples of a few Zeon ace pilots with kill records that, when added together, surpass the number of GM's actually produced...

It's been said, time and time again, why that's the case. It's largely because those OYW kill counts aren't just mobile suits - they include fighters, tanks, Balls, and all that support stuff. A lot of them already had high kill counts well before the Feds rolled out production mobile suits.

There are other reasons for bloated kill counts, like the fact that they could the inaccurate in-universe, but I won't get into that since the above explanation is pretty much the main reason they have enormous numbers.

Yeah. Anytime you see a kill listing for a OYW pilot (IIRC, it goes for both the Zeon aces and the higher-scoring Federation ones) their kill total is a mix of MS, fighters, tanks and other craft, leading to the overly high kill counts that we think of when you mention a name like Johnny Ridden.

Well if the Zeon with their limited resources were able to pour out thousands of Zaku IIs and roughly a thousand Zaku Is, and hundred odd Gelgoogs in a matter of weeks, I'm sure the Federation with its vastly more numerous factories, can make way more GMs than the original number in a matter of months. A few thousand GMs means beans for the Federation with all their industry.

They had limited resources, but they weren't that bad. Also, keep in mind that the Zaku II entered production in UC 0077, and when Zeon captured big Federation bases like California, they put their MS into production there too, which is why the Zaku was built in such massive numbers.

And for all their industry, the Federation didn't build thousands of GM's. They may have built a single thousand if you add up every GM built during the war. Maybe a total of 1,200, putting the number of GM's similar to the number of Balls built, but I think that number is a tad too high for the GM (On further thought, a thousand total does sound about right for GM production, as it would cover the few hundred each of the -79 and -79C, and then all the other variants that were built in large numbers).

[Phantomexe87]

That's seems a rather low estimate, especially given how varied the GM was, from the oceans, jungle, in the arctic, the deserts, to space, to all the colonies (like those at Side 6). And of course, they must have been making them around the clock, like Solomon and Pezun (though we don't have any details on the latter, though there must have been quite a fight) must have taken a got chunk of that number, and then, Gihren with his Solar Ray took another chunk off of that, and they still seem to number in the many hundreds at A Bao Qu, not even counting the ones still on Earth, and defending the Sides, like those odd dozen at Libot, which is just a single colony in neutral territory, imagine how many colonies in Federation territory would have.

[mcred23]

The thing is, it's long since been stated that there weren't thousands of GM's built during the war.

I've yet to find the exact place where it was stated, but IIRC, the Federation only had 600 mobile suits that took part in the space offensive (Solomon and A Baoa Qu), and that would be far and above most of their MS forces in space. Earth I think would have slightly less MS, since all of the Luna II-produced units and a good chunk of the Jaburo stuff went into space....

EDIT: This isn't where I remember it from, but the numbers are mentioned here.

And of course, they must have been making them around the clock, like Solomon and Pezun (though we don't have any details on the latter, though there must have been quite a fight) must have taken a got chunk of that number, and then, Gihren with his Solar Ray took another chunk off of that, and they still seem to number in the many hundreds at A Bao Qu,

Well, Solomon and A Baoa Qu get a combined total of 600. Pezun has next to zero details on it's battle, and I'm not even sure there was one. For all we know, it was just a minor affair...

not even counting the ones still on Earth

Which I would think would be either equal or less than the number in space, as the Federation and Zeon had heavily shifted their focus to space and the Federation had many more MS being sent there.

and defending the Sides

Not really. Sides 1, 2, and 4 were largely wiped out, and Side 5 was totally gone. There weren't that many colonies left and AFAIK, the Federation really didn't do a whole lot to defend them. And by the time they had MS in any real numbers, the threat to the colonies was a lot less, so I doubt you'd have any major numbers of GM's there.

like those odd dozen at Libot, which is just a single colony in neutral territory, imagine how many colonies in Federation territory would have.

Libot is a special case. In addition to being a highly secrect testing base, they're also backing the Side 6 government and trying to sway them to join with the Federation (Something that, when they were deployed, wasn't exactly clear). Combine that with the fact there simply weren't very many other colonies, the amount of GM's in them wouldn't be very great...

[Phantomexe87]

I'm assuming that estimate was made back when we just had MSG, with just the GMs, a few guncannons and a Gundam at those battles. Now, it's quite a different story. That number is by all likeliness an estimate made before all the new side stories, and OVAs. I recall reading the number 555 somewhere, though again, that was in all likeliness the number used for MSG, prior to all the inflation. Course, I may very well be off, but after watching how many they offed in MS Igloo, just that one, test team, I really doubt the number.

[mcred23]

Read through that link I provided. The 600 claim comes from an older source but can easily work out (That thread is only from August).

Like it or not, there simply weren't thousands of GM's built.