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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:04 pm 
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Lackey GM Pilot
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Concerning the Trafalgar class: I don't think it likely that these would be converted to carry mobile suits. As we've seen over the years, you can carry mobile suits just about anywhere - packed into Columbus transports, stuffed into the cargo holds of Magellans and Salamises, strapped to the outsides of ships - which simply isn't true of fighters. Unless you actually refitted a Trafalgar to provide full maintenance and support facilities for mobile suits, there's no advantage over stuffing the same number of mobile suits into a few Columbus transports, and you'd lose one of the few ships that can actually support and deploy space fighters.


Of course, space fighters aren't really effective against mobile suits, but I do see your point.

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Incidentally, if the Federation has 24 Antietam-class auxiliary carriers - these are Columbus transports refitted as fighter carriers, which can carry 25-30 Saberfish fighters each, according to the MSV books - plus 8 Trafalgar-class carriers, which Tomino's novels indicate can carry 60 fighters each, then the Federation's maximum carrier-based fighter strength would be about 1,200 fighters. That's kind of interesting.


12,000 snub fighters? Think about how many Death Stars that could take out!

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As for the Zaku Cannon, it's a machine of many mysteries.


Maybe thats why I like it so much.

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And finally, that 135mm anti-ship cannon probably isn't exclusive to the Zudah; all the Zudah's other weapons are stock Zaku equipment, after all. If you wanted to outfit a Zaku Cannon for space, and the cooling issues ruled out the use of beam weapons, and you solved the recoil problem by adding leg thrusters, then that 135mm cannon might be a fine weapon to install on its backpack. :-)


Yes, yes it would be a fine weapon. It reminds me of the Xamel a bit, since that cannon is going to take up a lot of space.

Wait a minute...I just had a bright idea.

A Zaku Cannon Space Type, with two standard cannons on its shoulders, wielding a 135mm cannon with its hands, complete with thrusters to solve the recoil problem.

(insert evil laugh here) :twisted:

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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:51 pm 
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Master of Mecha

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Agreed that space fighters aren't much against mobile suits, but recent publications (like the MG Ball kit manuals) have pointed out that they're pretty good for hit-and-run attacks against enemy warships. In the original series, we see Zeon's missile-laden Gattle fighters used in this role, too. Aside from the Core Booster and G-Armor, which have powerful long-range beam cannons, it seems like the best use of these fighters would be to ignore enemy mobile suits and charge straight at their ships.

In any case, the MSV books (especially the report on Operation Clarion, on the eve of A Baoa Qu) indicate that the Federation was still using space fighters as part of its main fleets at the end of the war. It's just we didn't see any of them on-screen. :-)


By the way, the notion that the Federation fleet could carry 1,200 space fighters sits nicely alongside the widely repeated claim that it had 1,200 Balls, and the report from the MSV books that the entire fleet had 600 mobile suits. (The actual phrasing is "600 carrier-based craft and RX mobile suits", and the MSV books use the latter term to include Balls as well, but if we're going with the standard estimate of 1,200 Balls then that's obviously not going to work.)

That gives us a total strength of 3,000 small craft, of which 20 percent are true mobile suits, 40 percent are Balls for support use, and 40 percent are space fighters for anti-ship attack. That's a nice round number, and one that exactly matches the breakdown of the White Base's units - one Gundam, two support mobile suits, and two fighters.

-- Mark


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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:36 pm 
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Lackey GM Pilot
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(especially the report on Operation Clarion, on the eve of A Baoa Qu)


Operation Clarion?

Dare I ask what happened in Operation Clarion?

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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:13 am 
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Scorpius7692 wrote:
Operation Clarion?

Dare I ask what happened in Operation Clarion?


It's a preemptive strike by Zeon's Chimera Corps (aka "The Ace Corps") on the Federation forces approaching A Baoa Qu. Of course, even two dozen aces with customized Gelgoogs couldn't take on an entire fleet, so it seems it was a hit-and-run diversion attack more than anything else. It was meant to delay the Federation and buy a little more time for Zeon to shore up its defenses just before the big battle.

It's an MSV thing, so even though it was presumably a rather brutal fight, it's never mentioned in the animation. It didn't really amount to much either. Gihren fires the Solar Ray not long after Clarion is said to have occurred, frying a good chunk of the forces the Corps was meant to stave off. The Corps probably didn't even need to launch the attack, but Zeon has always been bad about tripping over its rival chains of command.

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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:27 am 
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Master of Mecha

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Only half the Ace Corps actually participated in Operation Clarion. According to the MSV books, the Ace Corps deployed 12 Gelgoog Cannons and three Musai cruisers in a rear attack against the Tianem Fleet just before the Battle of A Baoa Qu. (Tianem was actually dead at this point, so presumably his fleet was now under new management, but the MSV writeup doesn't address this.)

On the Zeon side, two Gelgoog Cannons were shot down, three suffered medium damage, and one Musai was rendered inoperative. (So the Ace Corps presumably entered the Battle of A Baoa Qu below full strength.) The Federation side, meanwhile, lost two Salamis cruisers, one modified Columbus-class carrier, 14 mobile suits, and 22 Saberfish fighters. That's why I mentioned this engagement as evidence that the Federation was still using space fighters at this point in the war.

-- Mark


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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:39 am 
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Lackey GM Pilot
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OKay then. I was just wondering what Operation Clarion was because I had a rather paranoid idea that it might be something that could potentially derail my entire story, but it thankfully isn't.

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