Brave Fencer Kirby wrote:latenlazy wrote:Zeon insurgents have has ALWAYS had good technology.
Since when? As I pointed out, the Delaz Fleet was forced to abandon some of their cutting edge (as of the end of the war) technology due to maintenance concerns, and rely on things like the Dra-C (a kitbash of a Zaku and a space fighter) to shore up their numbers. The only "good technology" they have are the GP-02, which was hijacked, and the Neue Ziel, which was given to them by Axis. The Zeon remnant forces we see in Africa during ZZ have OYW-vintage machines not up to modern specs. Char's Neo Zeon has time to build up their forces through the sorts of sympathizers you mention, and Char's canny enough to leverage that, but even they only really have a bunch of Geara Dogas (a thoroughly average machine) and a handful of custom Newtype-use units (Sazabi and Alpha Azieru, plus some Jagd Dogas).
What strains credulity is that after getting the pulp beat out of them, failing in their primary goal, and losing their leader, Char's Neo Zeon turn around and not only replaces their losses from CCA, but actually get
upgraded models (Geara Zulus instead of Geara Dogas), plus get their hands on another half-dozen special Newtype machines (Kshatriya, Sinanju, Shamblo, Rozen Zulu, and the Neo Zeong -- okay, one short of half a dozen, but still more than they had during their heyday under Char). One would expect them to be
less capable militarily after getting handed as devastating a loss as they were during CCA, not
more so.
The Delaz fleet eventually got the Valvaro and the Neue Ziel. We can go through the list of Neo Zeon supermachines in Z and ZZ. I think we agree on what happened in CCA, but keep in mind that though we don't see them but the Axis forces are still around. If I'm remembering right, the Sleeves are a combination of Char's forces and other remnants of Neo Zeon in space. It also shouldn't be surprising that all the Char sympathizers would shift their money and resources to Full Frontal, which helps explain all the new newtype super machines. That and I'm sure Paulau had their own engineers and factories, plus the other potential facilities they may have access to floating in space. Add that together with the multitude of leftover mobile suits, spare parts from Haman's movement, what things they can scavenge from space leftover from all those battles, theft, and a negligent federation, and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to be able to assemble and build a handful of super weapons.
I think it's fair to expect the leftovers of Neo Zeon to be more diminished, but they CAN rebuild (and clearly have). After all, they had "The Second Coming of Chri...Char' to rally around. Even then though, it seems very clear to me that in Unicorn they are short on the numbers and manpower Char had access to, so in a sense they still are VERY diminished. Char had an entire army. The Sleeves, despite their few impressive machines, are a largely ragtag and barely organized insurgency. The Delaz Fleet probably had more military power than the Sleeves. If that's what you've become, focusing your resources on a handful of very powerful highly survivable machines that can take on entire task forces makes a whole lot of sense. It concentrates what little manpower you do have, gives you a tactical advantage, and helps you win battles, but you're never going to be able to win campaigns or hold territory.
It also makes sense that they could manage having these super machines from a cost and resource vantage. The Federation has thousands if not tens of thousands of soldiers to man with mobile suits. If the Federation had 100 times the buying power of the Sleeves, the Sleeves could still afford to spend 10 to 100 times more for their handful of super mechs.
Overall, I just don't think how impressive your handful of bling is is a good measure of your fighting strength. That bling makes you look beastly in individual engagements, but it hardly matters in grand strategy.
EDIT: If you saw me say Axis, I meant Paulau. Oops.
