Bluegazer79 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:59 am
Do the sources ever discuss how the leg thrusters work in the Neo Glaug/Variable Glaug? This has always been one of my favorite designs, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the logistics of hovering/limited flight when in Gerwalk/"Glaug" mode. Is plasma from the engines re-routed through the legs to the feet? Or, are they separate thrusters that use slush hydrogen?
Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of technical information available on the Variable Glaug.
As the turbine section of the main engines remains up on the back of the unit, I'd assume that the legs are operating using a sub-engine of some kind like the VF-22.
Bluegazer79 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:59 am
Also, do we have a sense of the power output on the large bore beam cannon?
For the same reasons as above, officially no.
It seems likely that, as a large and supposedly high-powered electron particle beam cannon, its output is probably several dozen megawatts.
Bluegazer79 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:59 am
Due to the relatively simple transformation mechanics of the Neo Glaug, with the central body/fuselage being fixed (just the arms, legs and engines move), it would seem like a reasonably "tanky"/durable design.
It's actually mentioned as being somewhat delicate. Apparently the transformation and its odd aerodynamics make it a difficult craft to handle and make its power distribution system a bit peaky.
Bluegazer79 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:59 am
I would have loved to see the Neo Glaug as the primary antagonist in the Macross Plus shows in lieu of the X-9, not just playing second fiddle to the X-9 in the video game.....
Well, for what it's worth, the Neo Glaug did have a manned variant that becomes a proper antagonist mecha in
Macross R and the novelization of
Macross Frontier. (Apparently quite a popular option for the Zentradi in the New UN Forces.)
False Prophet wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:43 am
You know, with how much the Protoculture had their noses in everything, and just how humanity is trying to trace back their steps, it would be fun for the next Macross to build on the ideas alluded to in Zero and Delta--having a cult that say only they know the full plan the Protoculture had in store for human, and is willing to take action to "correct" mankind. And then it turns out that not all the things they preached were wrong...
It's probably not an idea that would gain a lot of traction since many Zentradi believe Earth's culture is The Best Thing Ever and the declassification of records surrounding the Birdhuman incident combined with the many incidences of the Protoculture building reckless and self-destructive things that backfired on them and/or needed to be sealed and buried for the good of the galaxy would make any claim of the Protoculture's perfect plan a highly dubious one at best. Especially since events like the Varauta conflict were not suppressed and the declassified records from the Birdhuman incident were adapted into a popular movie.
False Prophet wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:43 am
Anyway, how would the landscape of VF design change if in the main timeline, engineers are able to iron out all the problems with power distribution while achieving the same level of power output of the VF-2? Would we see railguns being put on VF?
You'd probably have seen VFs with a lot less engine power to free up the plasma for generator output. The Valkyrie II only has around twice the main engine power of a VF-1 but more than three times the generator power available.
Then again, some defensive systems on main timeline VFs are just such massive energy hogs that it may still have taken ages to reach that point... energy conversion armor consumed the vast majority of the available generator output on the VFs of the first few generations. They were beaten by pinpoint barriers for most power-intensive system from the 4th Generation onwards.
That's not a paper, that's an excerpt from a magazine article published in R. Talsorian Games' long-defunct anime hobby magazine
V.Max.
The anime boom in the early 90's spawned a lot of relatively short-lived anime hobby magazines from publishers in the US and Canada. Most were iffy quality-wise and a lot of them used the same small group of authors so misinformation was rampant therein. The article contains quite a few inaccuracies, and is mostly plagiarized from Bandai's
B-Club magazine volume 79. Much of the information is wrong, with the author putting their own suppositions in where they could not find information. The VF-4 was designed as a transformable fighter from the start, like the VF-5000, and the VF-5 is a different aircraft and program entirely. The VF-1R is also known as the VF-1改 Attack Valkyrie, and it's about eighteen years older than the article claims. It also conflates the VF-2 and VF-2SS, which were introduced ten years apart.
False Prophet wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:43 am
Is it just me or does it feel like the VF from Macross II seem to have taken a cue from the arcade at the time? What I mean is that the VC-079, VF-1SS, Marduk VF, etc. look like they would fit in a shoot 'em up game, unlike the more fighter-like design of the YF-19 and YF-21.
Their designs are fairly typical for the time they were made... though
Macross II did result in at least two games in that genre, a side-scrolling arcade game based on the OVA itself and a PC Engine game
Macross 2036 that is a canonical prequel to the OVA and the only starring role of Max and Milia's oldest daughter Komilia.
False Prophet wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:43 am
...Now I want a game where you can control the Gigamesh. It is such a shame that the Zentrandi in the main timeline never got their hands on something that cool.
The Gigamesh was a playable mecha in Artdink's "Flight Action RPG"
Macross Ultimate Frontier for the PSP.
(Artdink is also the developer of
Macross 30 and the only
Macross Delta game I'm aware of,
Macross Delta Scramble[/u].)