Designing a mobile suit for Guerrilla warfare.

[Evex]

I was going through the gundam archives at gundam info, was watching there short video on the Den'an Gei when something caught my attention. The Den'an Gei was built specifically for the purpose of guerrilla warfare. This got me wondering how is it built for this type of combat, as by first glance at its armaments it seems standard fare. What other mobile suits could fit into the role of fighting in a guerrilla warfare type of situation ? How would one go about designing a suit for that role ?

[BrentD15]

I thought that was why we have the MS-18E Kaempfer.

[DougCos]

The Kampfer is a heavy assault mobile suit not a guerrilla warfare unit.

[BrentD15]

The Kampfer is a heavy assault mobile suit not a guerrilla warfare unit.

Oh, yeah.
But it can be transported behind enemy lines, assembled, wreak havoc, and get out.

[nacho-wan]

I would say that the Efreet Schneider is more guerrilla like that the Kampfer -it is lightweight and versatile for both heavy firepower (the bazooka) and melee the knives.

But the the ultimate guerrilla suit would be a Dom Tropen with a machine gun: its hover jets would allow quick relocations and the machine gun is ideal for hit and run operations.

[Ryujin]

Do keep in mind the logistics involved, especially with guerrilla warfare.

-- Ease of repair & maintenance in the field, with limited facilities that have to be concealable from enemy reconaissance. Also, level of compatibility with other vehicles, for retrofitting & such.
-- Availability of fuel & munitions, given a supply line that would have limited transport capacity due to various reasons.
-- Ease of training & operation (gotta have understudies when your main pilot's down because he ate the wrong mushrooms or forgot to wash his hands).
-- Size of the support crew (this would also include stuff like the guys driving the vehicles delivering the ammo, etc.).
-- Some other stuff that doesn't come to mind at the moment.

[Arsarcana]

Gundam Wing probably isn't a great example for a few reasons but it's about as close as we get for MS that were designed to operate behind enemy lines for prolonged periods. Even there, the most independent pilots like Wufei were still seen needing to buy/steal fuel and ammunition and acquire transportation. From that we can imagine that generic fuel supplies and ammunition would be an issue (ie, no exotic fuels, bullets of unique caliber or missiles that use tech nobody else can replicate) and in a more 'realistic' setting, ease of repair and operation would be factors since you'd need to fix the machine with equally sourceable parts, repair it with available armor materials and train potential alternate pilots. Also throw in the need for either the suit itself to be able to relocate quickly or access to some form of transport to get the suit where it needs to be without being detected. The last is more of an external factor but it does affect how big a suit designed for guerrilla warfare could be. A late-UC machine like the Den'an Gei is a lot easier to move around than, say, the Xamel.

[Malcadon]

I don't know, this suit seems mobile enough for guerrilla warfare.

Think about it, mobile suits are big and bulky, and you cant stay in one forever. A skilled crew of MS-Sappers, a commando teams in the hangers & quarters, or cute girl who could kill you in your sleep could do a lot more damage then a Psyco Gundam mobile suit armed with a hyper-nuke-zooka and a hairpin trigger!

Although, the idea of a mobile suit built for guerrilla warfare is interesting, because they are contradictory concepts. Mobile suits function like giant, walking tanks used for conventional battles. While guerrilla warfare is about using unconventional tactics to takeout a larger conventional force. A guerrilla mobile suit would have to be unconventional in design, and would likely be a scrapped-together piece of junk (to put it polity), using whatever parts and weapons scrounged off the battlefield, and armed to deliver quirk strikes while the enemy's guard is down, then a face-to-face standoff.

[Gelgoog Jager]

This talk about guerilla warfare reminded me of the introduction of Marie's pirates on the Ecole du Ciel manga. On one hand they use Rick Doms and a Gelgoog, which over the course of the story end up patched up with Zaku parts. On the other they seem very concerned about ammo usage and their leader even compalisn when they use a bazooka round instead of machineguns. Finally, the same action makes her comment that her underling just unloaded an expensive bazooka round into their spare parts, refering to the destroyed Federation MS. It seems that despite their differences, they could actually use the leftover parts from several GM II and Galbaldy Beta units they destroyed as spare parts for their OYW units. In the 0080 OVA, Bernie used the components of several RGM-79SP and RX-77D to repair his MS-06FZ, so it seems that it do is possible to use Federation components to repair Zeon MS.

At least in UC we have some examples of MS that fit the requirements mentioned by Ryujin:
-Regarding ease of maintenance, the Zaku types seem to be the ideal machine that fits such description.
-All UC MS use the same fuel, Helium 3. On the other hand, during the OYW both Zeon and the Federation used 90mm machinegun ammo, and the Federation's adoption of Zeon MS most have led to their adoption of 120mm machineguns as well.
-I would like to assume that the Zaku also fits this criteria, but actually I'm not sure. Zeon's UMP might better fit thiscriteria though, since at least the cockpits and controls among different types of MS would be as similar as possible.
-Size of the support crew: hard to say, there are many times where it almost seems that the pilot of the MS is in charge of all the maintenance the MS require.
-A guerilla tactic would probably involve hit-and-run tactics, which does make me think that assault MS do fit that criteria by unleashing a large amount of firepower and then pulling back quickly (Kampfer, Zssa, etc.). On earth the Dom types are probably the machines best suited for such tactics.

[Evex]

Well the kampfer is a viable suit despite it being noted as a fuel hog. This is mostly because as was stated before it can be taken apart and put together in the field. That would at least account for an easier time with maintenance, since it was meant to be put together by everyday soldiers. Another unit that comes to mind is the Saviour Gundam for two reasons. The first is it was designed as a hit and run suit, and the second being it takes care of its own travel since its transformable. The problem is that transformable mobile sutis are much harder to repair.

Looking at the Frame Astray manga I remember a group of guerrillas using the Rayasta which was a civilian made mobile suit. This means the various junior mobile suits, in the universal century, could be used as guerrilla warfare, since they be easy to repair, transport, and train pilots for. Another option would be something like the Victory Gundam, where its parts can be repaired and replaced by swapping out components.

Gelgoog Jager also bring up a valid point in that guerrilla's would constantly be looking to salvage parts, and ammunition. This could lead to the cannibalizing of units who can no longer be repaired. It also leads to another thing in that guerrilla's would also try to capture newer mobile suit in tact, since it would be easier to repair newer mobile suits.

[KVLTIST]

The inherent size of MS makes them kinda hard to hide and conceal, in Igloo you see that tanks and man-carried missiles can destroy most first generation MS, so ease of repair seems to the key.

In ZZ, IIRC the Zeon remnants used the Dowadge and Desert Zaku, and they had been performing Guerilla war operations for almost a decade with those machines- most likely due to the fact that those machine's desert-proofing kept the needed maintenance of wear and tear down to a minimum.

[DougCos]

during the OYW both Zeon and the Federation used 90mm machinegun ammo

Just because the diameter of the shells were the same does not mean the ammunition will be interchangeable. But your second point is good though, with the Federation adoption of lots of Zeon technology, supplies would be fairly common for Zeon suits being used by guerrillas.

As for the specifications of a good guerrilla mobile suit:
1)Small size: you want to be able to easily conceal your mobile suit an the smaller it is the easier it will be.
2)Low weight: Weight should be minimized since that will increase its mobility which is important as the corner stone of guerrilla tactics is hit and run. This goes along with the small size. To help accomplish this most of the armor should be stripped from the suit since if the suit gets into protracted combat, the operation has already failed.
3)Simple design: simple, rugged design is important since all repairs will be field repairs and the only spare parts will be scavenged parts. The design needs to be easy to maintain and repair.
4)High fuel efficiency: Since supplies will be scarce, it is important that the mobile suit not waste fuel
5)Powerful, long range weaponry: first strike capability is important since the guerrilla suit needs to hit the enemy and disappear. Beam weaponry is better suited for such a role, especially if the mobile suit can charge the weapon from its own generator.

[Compass]

The problem with mobile suits is that they are inherently hard to maintain. If anything, it would have to be a downscaled mobile armor or something, sacrificing durability for increased mobility in rugged terrain. Legs themselves seem to be problematic in this type of warfare if they move too slow. I could see mini-Guntanks being effective.

[JEFFPIATT]

the advantage the zakus have was the fact that of all zeons ms units the Zaku series had the longest production run and could be easly repaired and operated. these facts led to the Hi-zack being built by the EFF the zaku II units they used for training and top gun agressor units were just so easy to keep running they had AE build an modernized zaku type to cheaply fill out there ms forces and suplement the Refit GM II units and the titans went and put new GM II units in to production to give to any one who refused to use an zeon style suit.

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

In terms of being light and fast, the GM Light Armor comes to mind too.

[YokozunaBulldozer]

Desert color scheme Dom in the middle of a sandstorm-blowing desert seems ok to me.

[Antares]

I suppose the key factor is whether we're talking about guerrilla war in space or on Earth, because those are two very different stages. Most of the points mentioned by Ryujin and Gelgoog Jager still apply, of course.

In space, you don't have that much of a risk with size, since one would expect the guerrilla force operating from a ship or several. In this case tech compatibility and ability to salvage and repair is more important from the perspective of mobile suits. In this scenario, a guerrilla mobile suit force is more viable, because space itself makes camouflage unnecessary except in close encounters, and one can expect there to be resources to raid or loot that can be more directly adopted into use. A design concept based on adaptability and generic parts would be most useful, I think.

On Earth, I can only see a world of hurt coming the way of a guerrilla force operating MS, unless they form a massive resistance movement that fights toe-to-toe with the established regime. In that case we can assume more or less secured resources exist to keep more than one suit up against an enemy who does not have expansive remote striking abilities.

Simply put, and as it has been exhaustively pointed out, the sheer maintenance of an MS could stretch the resources of any guerrilla operation to its limits. Fuel, ammo, not to mention the necessity of keeping out of sight (on Earth). Maybe an MS could be used as a final ace in the hole, but sending it out routinely would only endanger it. In fact, it would be more likely for a guerrilla force to develop anti-MS equipment to take out the opponent's nasty, expensive toys. Why meet tank to tank, when you can waste the opponents tank with an anti-tank missile with the fraction of the cost and maintenance needs?

[Malcadon]

Well, if you're dyslexic, this model would be perfect.

[Anonymoose]

As far as size is concerned inside a colony or on Earth wouldn't something the size of a smaller Mobile Worker or Junior/Petit Mobile Suit or Draken-E be a good for guerilla tactics? Even if they couldn't do squat against the Kampfer (they did only have riot control weapons, to be fair), I could imagine a small group of really determined (or insane) Draken pilots with panzer fausts speed-taped to their machines taking on a 4-man patrol of GMs or Zakus and then trying to GTFO as soon as they expended their weapons. Logically, more basic robots like those should be far more numerous and likely less regulated than true military-grade mobile suits, and thus cheap and easy to come by. Also, remember how easily Hathaway was able to smuggle his Med aboard the Ra Cailum? Once you get to the Crossbone Vanguard era and beyond, there's all those mobile suits which are far smaller than the average mass-produced suit from the Showa series but still able to kick butt in a conventional fight, and they're ridiculously fast to boot, but you can't smuggle those right into the hold of an (enemy) warship without anyone noticing.

On the subject of repairs, in Unicorn one of the NeoZeon mechanics remarked that because Anaheim played both sides after the OYW a ton parts were completely interchangeable between Zeon's machines and the Feddies', which explains monstrosities like the Zeta Zaku.

[Zeonista]

In the lower gravities of space, a Junior MS of some kind that can heft a light-recoil weapon such as a beam pistol, 60mm machine gun, or Clay bazooka could work very nicely. Granted, even with a soup-ed up chassis power plant and suspension they couldn't mount enough armor to stop a breeze, but that's not the point. The point is to get something that can be easily transported, used, explained away off the battlefield, and can carry a MS weapon. In that respect, the Junior MS is the winner in space/colony guerrilla fighting. (Regular MS become available once you can get AE to become a sponsor and are ready for the big time. )

On earth, the Guerrillas would have to fall back on using regular-size MS if they wanted to use any. In that respect, the guerrilla's friend is any MP MS that can be depended upon to have a good supply of spare parts and spare ammo, and is forgiving of non-expert pilots at the controls. That does indicate a wide-open field, but the available qualifying MS might be different in any given UC period. Some AU stories might have a wider range of MS available for the would-be guerrilla or mecha-terrorist.
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