What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

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False Prophet
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What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

There are a quite a few number of demilitarized MS used in civilian jobs. I wonder what kind of works can these 18 m machines could do, beside construction in space? Wouldn't their size and weight be kind of a big hindrance? And how hard would it be to train a civilian MS pilot?

If I remember correctly, the Zaku Tank/Berge Guntank were used as recovery vehicles, which meant they could find civilian works too. And maybe underwater reconnaisance and rescue vehicles for some Zeon MA?
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PowerdGNFlag
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

There was this spread from AoZ Reboot, which repurposes old Titans machines into construction machines in the Republic of Zeon, though I can't say more than that.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

Weren't Mobile Suits developed from heavy colony construction equipment in the first place?

I doubt they're useful for much else besides colony maintenance.
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MythSearcher
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

Seto Kaiba wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:10 am Weren't Mobile Suits developed from heavy colony construction equipment in the first place?

I doubt they're useful for much else besides colony maintenance.
Basically.

I also don't see them being able to do anything too sophisticated.
They do not have motion capture as a means of control and thus are limited to a set list of skills the computer can handle automatically, so heavy lifting, turning valves/handles(as MSG first ep. Zaku opening the hatch), tightening/loosening bolts, etc.
Although I have not idea why anyone will want to use such a complicate piece of equipment over the much simpler SP-W03(base for Ball) and/or JMS, MMS.
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

MythSearcher wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:56 pm Basically.

I also don't see them being able to do anything too sophisticated.
They do not have motion capture as a means of control and thus are limited to a set list of skills the computer can handle automatically, so heavy lifting, turning valves/handles(as MSG first ep. Zaku opening the hatch), tightening/loosening bolts, etc.
Although I have not idea why anyone will want to use such a complicate piece of equipment over the much simpler SP-W03(base for Ball) and/or JMS, MMS.
I don't remember if they show any labour MS with Alaya-Vijnana System in IBO? Did they? And is there anything with Mobile Trace System but for labour MS in G Gundam?

And looking at the number of civilian Astray and Raysta that could fight in Cosmic Era, I am convinced that these labour MS are just a way for ORB and Junk Guild to circumvent international arms treaties--they sell "non-militarized" MS, and then it is up to their customers to buy weapons and rearmed these machines by themselves.
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MythSearcher
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

False Prophet wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:11 am I don't remember if they show any labour MS with Alaya-Vijnana System in IBO? Did they? And is there anything with Mobile Trace System but for labour MS in G Gundam?

And looking at the number of civilian Astray and Raysta that could fight in Cosmic Era, I am convinced that these labour MS are just a way for ORB and Junk Guild to circumvent international arms treaties--they sell "non-militarized" MS, and then it is up to their customers to buy weapons and rearmed these machines by themselves.
Don't recall.
The motion capture control doesn't need to be G Gundam level, but at least you need to have fingers and hands traced to do anything not pre-programmed.

In UC, that is exactly what Zeon sold them to be before OYW.
Granted, if the Nazis can call Panzer I and II as farming tractors, I guess calling a larger humanoid machine as an update to their previous smaller models is less far-fetched...

After OYW, it'd be hard to do so.
Since everyone and their little sisters are gathering anything they can find to build up their own military for the glory of Zeon.
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Arsarcana
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

We don't see any MS in IBO that were intended for labour-use and include the AV system (that I recall) but we know that some MS are meant primarily for construction work (the Spinner Rodi) and those can in theory be fitted with an AV interface and the very fact that the AV-equipped machines used by CGS/Tekkadan and others are called Mobile Workers and have demonstrated non-combat uses suggests that AV Mobile Suits meant for labour could exist and we just never see them.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

MythSearcher wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:56 pm Although I have not idea why anyone will want to use such a complicate piece of equipment over the much simpler SP-W03(base for Ball) and/or JMS, MMS.
Apart from greater operational versatility in the field, the one reason I could maybe see someone using Mobile Suits for heavy labor applications was if they were buying used Mobile Suits from military disposal sales (e.g. the Hobby HiZack) at a price point that made a used MS cheaper than a new worker pod or however many worker pods it takes to match a Mobile Suit in terms of productivity and versatility.

One thing I'm kinda surprised we've never seen is Mobile Suit-based sporting events along similar lines to Macross having VF air races and GERWALK/Battlepod foot races or Full Metal Panic! having mostly non-lethal gladiatorial games using aftermarket Arm Slaves. I mean, I suppose we actually have but that's confined to the Future Century and its Gundam Fight that was essentially just proxy warfare for dominance of the Earth Sphere... I'm talking about events with lower stakes, like professional sports.


False Prophet wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:11 am I don't remember if they show any labour MS with Alaya-Vijnana System in IBO? Did they? And is there anything with Mobile Trace System but for labour MS in G Gundam?
Nope... the only labor-use Mobile Suits we see in Post Disaster are the conventional post-Calamity computerized units used in the Dort colonies, based on the Rodi frame. By all accounts there weren't much different from the combat-use Rodi frame units... just the weapons they had smuggled in had been sabotaged and didn't work.


Arsarcana wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 2:12 am We don't see any MS in IBO that were intended for labour-use and include the AV system (that I recall) but we know that some MS are meant primarily for construction work (the Spinner Rodi) and those can in theory be fitted with an AV interface and the very fact that the AV-equipped machines used by CGS/Tekkadan and others are called Mobile Workers and have demonstrated non-combat uses suggests that AV Mobile Suits meant for labour could exist and we just never see them.
The biggest problem there is that the AV system is so hard to install (in the pilot) that there's no benefit to having an AV system MS in PD 323 or later unless you intend to go to war with it.
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MythSearcher
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

Seto Kaiba wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:14 pm Apart from greater operational versatility in the field, the one reason I could maybe see someone using Mobile Suits for heavy labor applications was if they were buying used Mobile Suits from military disposal sales (e.g. the Hobby HiZack) at a price point that made a used MS cheaper than a new worker pod or however many worker pods it takes to match a Mobile Suit in terms of productivity and versatility.
Then we should also see a market flooded with used RB-79s.
Another strange thing about using all those used MS is that they seems to be producing parts for them indefinitely.
IRL at a certain point, production lines must have switched to producing newer parts for newer MS, and thus leaving the older MS more expensive to maintain.

In UC this should come pretty soon, they are having new models way too fast, the main production lines must be switching to new models every decade or so.(at least in early UC)
Hobby-wise, where you can invest money in it without really caring for a monetary return is fine, but for economical reasons? sounds kinda absurd.
One thing I'm kinda surprised we've never seen is Mobile Suit-based sporting events along similar lines to Macross having VF air races and GERWALK/Battlepod foot races or Full Metal Panic! having mostly non-lethal gladiatorial games using aftermarket Arm Slaves. I mean, I suppose we actually have but that's confined to the Future Century and its Gundam Fight that was essentially just proxy warfare for dominance of the Earth Sphere... I'm talking about events with lower stakes, like professional sports.
I guess it is because they have MMS/JMS contests in UC? (I don't remember if it is JMS or MMS, Karmille is a player)
Once you have a major sports, and most people watch that, other sports might not be able to pick up as quickly.
Like soccer in the US or American football in other parts of the world.
The majority of JMS/MMS contest may come from its easy maintenance and obtainable parts. If Karmille isn't that much more special, and if Anaheim Journal is correct, these are much easier to handle than full sized MS.
False Prophet
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

MythSearcher wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:02 pm I guess it is because they have MMS/JMS contests in UC? (I don't remember if it is JMS or MMS, Karmille is a player)
Once you have a major sports, and most people watch that, other sports might not be able to pick up as quickly.
Like soccer in the US or American football in other parts of the world.
The majority of JMS/MMS contest may come from its easy maintenance and obtainable parts. If Karmille isn't that much more special, and if Anaheim Journal is correct, these are much easier to handle than full sized MS.
If I am not mistaken, Io and his two friends in Thunderbolt won some kind of similar contest to Kamille, too; and since it was before 0079 I guess they competed with space pods or something similar.

That remind me, when was the last time Balls were deployed on the frontline, and when was they decommissioned? I suppose that it was not that difficult to de-militarized a Ball back into a space pod and then use them for the post-war reconstruction.
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MythSearcher
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

False Prophet wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:23 am If I am not mistaken, Io and his two friends in Thunderbolt won some kind of similar contest to Kamille, too; and since it was before 0079 I guess they competed with space pods or something similar.

That remind me, when was the last time Balls were deployed on the frontline, and when was they decommissioned? I suppose that it was not that difficult to de-militarized a Ball back into a space pod and then use them for the post-war reconstruction.
Well, Anaheim Journal had a short entry for the contest, they had roughly humanoids doing some sort or race where they can tackle/attack each other. That is in 0099 though.

RB-79's decommission date is sadly, unknown.
They are not supposed to be in the frontlines even in 0083, as they were only deployed for setting up the Solar System II. I guess they still have their cannons as a self defense mechanism but weren't really for any offensive operations.
For post war reconstruction, the simplest modification would be removing the cannon. You may or may not even need to cover the hole.
Even during the war, we get something like the RB-79G
https://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/crisis/rb-79g.htm
So I guess that cannon base may be some kind of universal adapter and you can plug your own manipulator into it.
I guess if you want it to be more fuel efficient, you can also strip down its armour. The original SP-W03 pod is obviously much smaller than the RB-79 because you can see the operator inside.(Which I guess is completely a bug because of the manipulators isn't much larger in scale)
False Prophet
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

MythSearcher wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:36 am RB-79's decommission date is sadly, unknown.
They are not supposed to be in the frontlines even in 0083, as they were only deployed for setting up the Solar System II. I guess they still have their cannons as a self defense mechanism but weren't really for any offensive operations.
For post war reconstruction, the simplest modification would be removing the cannon. You may or may not even need to cover the hole.
Even during the war, we get something like the RB-79G
https://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/crisis/rb-79g.htm
So I guess that cannon base may be some kind of universal adapter and you can plug your own manipulator into it.
I guess if you want it to be more fuel efficient, you can also strip down its armour. The original SP-W03 pod is obviously much smaller than the RB-79 because you can see the operator inside.(Which I guess is completely a bug because of the manipulators isn't much larger in scale)
I distinctively remember a scene in 0083 which Gato in his GP02 tried to sneak on the Federation fleet, but was discovered by an autonomous gun-satellite (a shame that I couldn't recall such a device appeared anywhere else). So they probably wouldn't use Balls as early warning & defense system.

And when was the first time the Petite Mobile Suit from ZZ was sold? It seems like a much more reasonable Ball.
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MythSearcher
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

False Prophet wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:42 am I distinctively remember a scene in 0083 which Gato in his GP02 tried to sneak on the Federation fleet, but was discovered by an autonomous gun-satellite (a shame that I couldn't recall such a device appeared anywhere else). So they probably wouldn't use Balls as early warning & defense system.

And when was the first time the Petite Mobile Suit from ZZ was sold? It seems like a much more reasonable Ball.
The 0083 scene only worked because they didn't spread M particles to sneak up on the Feddies.
If they scatter M particles, the Federation Forces will know something is wrong.
So they still need to have some manned EWAC units to be able to react to enemies that will scatter M Particles.
I do recall fan art/plamodel replacing the cannon with a radome disc like the E-3.

I have no idea why the autonomous satellite didn't have ANY communication with the main fleet though.


That is probably just one of the commercial models?
Zeta's JMS is likely another: https://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/z/juniorms.htm
The Med from CCA is also of similar use.
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

MS Racing is also referenced in Gundam Age (Woolf is stated to be a racer prior to joining the unit). Later Asemu and his friends join a mobile suit construction team for high school students.

As for the Worker MS maybe they were responsible for the heavy lifting in the colony construction. a suit that big would make it easier to move heavy metal panels. Also they could be used in mining operations(Seed Destiny shows Mobile Suit sized mining drills).

It also seems strange that security use MS aren't more of a thing. In 0080 Libot uses small units because they are a neutral colony and its the early days of MS use. However in Victory Gundam Macedonia uses the small Gwigysy unit to augment their private military. this seems odd as by then the use of bigger MS is security would make more sense(At least the Heavygun was MS size even if it was older).
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John-Luck Pickerd
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

Alot of things, MS are pretty flexible after all.

But thing is, whatever the ms can do, a Ball or Mistral pod or the debris leaning shuttle from Origin can do just as well, if not better. After all, those machines are dedicated for labour work, while a MS (despite developed based on those) are the result of militarization.

So how I see it is that people don't usually use MS for labour since they are propellant intensive (military grade thrusters), stupid heavy (heavy armour), and expensive (high performance parts). Unless they don't have anything else and there are plenty of MS salvage around. But there should be definitely a niche market for old surplus MS, not unlike today's surplus military vehicle, so MS in civilian hands would not be for labour work, but for collectors and people that want to pilot a MS for fun.
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

What make it fun is the very existence of Cattle. The bloody thing is actually older than any mobile weapon.
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Deathzealot
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Re: What kind of labour work could an 18m MS do?

Didn't Char use a Ground Version of the MW-01 Mobile Worker in Origin? It had a front dozer blade and treads didn't it?
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