monster wrote:Its sole existence, hidden or not, was a violation of the treaty.
monster wrote:By the time Kira used it in Destiny, the treaty was no longer in effect. Or did you forget Girty Lue and the nuclear missiles?
Just because the Earth Alliance decided to violate it to continue their attempts to destroy ZAFT, it doesn't mean it's suddenly invalidated, or that Kira is justified in having for two years prior a weapon of mass destruction hidden in a basement. That's not how the law works. "Everybody else's doing it" and/or "I violate the law because my actiona are righteous" are not excuses.
monster wrote:It wouldn't make any sense given the resources available to Lacus and Cagalli and the time they had to repair it.
Again, the treaty: that's reason enough to get rid of the Freedom. Or, at the very least, its nuclear powerplant. And the resources you speak of are only mentioned in the later episodes of
Destiny, when we learn that Lacus has the capacity to build better MS than either side in the war: two super Gundams, plus the D.O.M.s.
Also, you're looking at things from a very in-universe point of view. When you put it in the perspective of the narrative, an older, weaker machine is more interesting than a shiny super model. See, for instance,
the fight against Leatherback in Pacific Rim: the older Gipsy Danger saves the day when the newer Striker Eureka is put out of action.
monster wrote:Sting's skill is part of the point as the pilot is part of the reason why a machine would dominate.
The simplest evidence of Kira's skill as a pilot is to see him actually piloting his mobile suits. Those moves aren't done automatically by the machines.
Do we know that for certain? Kira's reprogramming of the Strike while fighting Waltfeld in the desert, together with Kira was the one putting together a Natural OS for Orb's M1s, are evidence that computers are far more important in the CE's mobile suits than any pilot input/talent.
In regards to the Extended, they're always depicted to be mentally deranged both inside and outside the cockpit, making them very unstable pilots: aces one day, trounced by grunts the next one. The Earth Alliance only uses them because people like Djibril are driven by their insane hatred of Coordinators, making them (in their eyes) a worthy means to an end.