PMX-003 The O's armor

[Calubin_175]

Celebrating the announcement of its MG release, I started to research a little bit on the attributes of this mobile suit that intrigues me the most, its volume and armor.

Japanese wikipedia claims that though its armor durability was not depicted in the anime due it not taking any direct hits, the novel version enlightens this aspect a bit. In the the novel version, when the O took in the combined shots of the Qubeley's funnels and the Hyakushiki's rifle, while this exhausted both of the weapons of its opponents, this attack did not result in any hindrance of its movement ability, hence demonstrating amazing defensive capabilities.

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

At the very least, it is probably a mix of being very thick and (a lot of) anti-beam coating to buffer beam shots (given beams tend to easily seer through even thick armor normally).

[Brave Fencer Kirby]

People tend to act like beams cut through anything like a hot knife through butter, but that's not really true. We see beams making grazing hits, or being stopped by armor on a not-infrequent basis. Granted, it tends to happen to main characters more than mooks, but whether that's because main characters tend to be in up-armored supermecha or because mooks more or less exist to explode anyway is anyone's guess. The O, as far as I know, just has ridiculously thick armor. I'm not even sure if it has anti-beam coating (though if it does it's certainly not as thick as, say, Hyaku Shiki's). That's the extent of it's anti-beam-weaponry abilities.

[Geoxile]

IIRC THE-O or Asshimar blasted apart the shoulder armor of the Hyaku-Shiki. I don't recall which.

Other heavy armor MS survive beam shots all the same. ZZ tanks a beam cannon shot from the Jamru Fin to its freaking back pack, full of missiles and routing propellant.

[plutoniumhunter]

IIRC THE-O or Asshimar blasted apart the shoulder armor of the Hyaku-Shiki. I don't recall which.

Other heavy armor MS survive beam shots all the same. ZZ tanks a beam cannon shot from the Jamru Fin to its freaking back pack, full of missiles and routing propellant.

I believe it was a Hambrabi that blasted the Hyaku-Shiki's armor when Char covered for Kamille.

[Seraphic]

How well does The O's armor compare to battleship armor?? I mean, I remember beam rifles punching completely through battleships in the OYW. But then again, ships in those days may not have been designed to resist beam weaponry.

[AnimeMun]

How well does The O's armor compare to battleship armor?? I mean, I remember beam rifles punching completely through battleships in the OYW. But then again, ships in those days may not have been designed to resist beam weaponry.

I'd say The O's armor is as thick as it is due to a mix of Paptimus' egotism/narcissism/nihilism and his paranoia/arrogance/aura o' smug. So its probably twice as thick as battleship armor.

[halo1000]

If it can shrug off a beam attack from the Qubeley's funnels and Hyaku Shiki's beam rifle at the same time, I'd venture a guess that the armor doesn't have standard anti-beam coating, instead the entire block of armor on each section is made entirely from the anti-beam coating material. Since most suits by that time are fast and armed with beam weapons, standard armor becomes slightly redundant.

Plus, if the armor is made entirely from anti-beam material and not standard alloy, it would explain how the Zeta's nose section was able to piece the cockpit, since if it was just incredibly thick armor, the Zeta would have most likely bounced off.

[Dendrobium Stamen]

It's also worth considering that anti-beam coating seems to have been effectively non-existent in the OYW until its final month (the Gelgoog is the first production MS to use it on its shield, IIRC). Given that beams fizzle out over distance, and that it's unlikely either space fleet expected to be dealing with beam weapons firing at such short ranges, it's possible that ships in UC 0079 simply lacked that extra layer of protection, which was subsequently added to EFSF ships in the post-War era based on combat experience at Solomon and A Baoa Qu - notably Amuro blasting Zeon ships from (relatively) up close where the beam is most lethal.

Quite how The O stacks up I'm not sure - its sheer bulk must have an influence, but weight of armour alone doesn't seem to be a strong defence against mega-particles. Vast layers of anti-beam coating within the layers of armour, perhaps?

[halo1000]

I'd imagine velocity coupled with mass has something to do with it as well, despite The O's size, it's a very fast suit, and 0083's GP01Fb vs the Val Varo has shown how ineffectual beam shots can be on something travelling at high speed; I suppose a good metaphor would be "like firing a bb gun at a freight train".

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

Well, it wasn't really the speed velocity in terms of the Val Varo, but the distance, as said in 0083. Coupled with the Val Varo, like a majority of MA, having very thick armor (MAs being a small step below battleships themselves usually), then it's no surprise the standard beam rifle couldn't penetrate (deeply into) the armor. (You could still see it left small holes where they hit, but didn't do any noticeable damage, meaning it didn't penetrate very far.)

[DeltasTaii]

The reference point for The O is the Asshimar, which takes several direct beam rifle blows, to the extent that Kamille and Quattro give up on beam rifles and bust out shot bazookas to try and hit the exposed joints and cameras and knock it out of the sky.

The O is a further 16 tonnes heavier than the Asshimar empty, and twice the mass of the Zeta Gundam.

A Musai isn't exactly made of Gundarium.

[Genocide]

The O is a further 16 tonnes heavier than the Asshimar empty, and twice the mass of the Zeta Gundam.

Not to mention the Asshimar uses heavier, less durable titanium alloy for its armor.

[Zeonista]

IIRC The O has armor constructed from Gundarium Gamma, same as the Zeta and Double Zeta. Based on the weight differential, the burly profile of the MS, and the lighter armament of The O compared to the Zeta, and I'd say a lot of that discrepancy is armor plating. Add in all the verniers it is carrying, and getting a direct weapons hit to penetrate the armor becomes...difficult. This isn't surprising, since the design purpose of The O is to be a defender. It's intended to keep the villain's smug butt as safe as possible on the battlefield.