Universal Century Technology
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This article deals with the technology from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries. Please do not view it as real world technology.
[edit] Real life History
These technologies first debuted in Gundam Century, written by fans at that time, later endorsed by Sunrise and Bandai, and some of the authors of the articles within Gundam Century became official editors and writers of Gundam mechanics. Later, following the trend of militaristic and technological interest in the community, Gundam Sentinel special edition included a section called imidam 0093(Innovative Mobile-suit Information Dictionary, Annual Series, intentionally using an m at the end to reference Gundam), subtitled Basic Knowledge of Gundam Mechanics. Written by mechanical designer Katoki Hajime, summarized both in and out of universe technologies of the Universal Century, sourcing from Gundam Century, Gun Sight, VF-1 Valkyrie, MS Graphical Guide 1~3, MSV Technical & History 1~3. Gundam Officials has collected these information and has presented them alone with plot history and character summaries in an encyclopedic form, and MS Encyclopedia 2003 has a short technical summary of these technologies in its first section before going into the lists of Mobile Weapons in different series, which earlier editions only have.
[edit] Real Life Impact
Although most can argue fictional technologies carry no real life impact, these technologies are referred to in almost all of the series of Universal Century. They became a normal reference of the serial story and attracted publishers to publish books on. These technological settings have also since then impacted a lot of Anime and Manga to have their own technological background to a certain degree. Although this could be viewed as following the Star Wars trend, nothing similar has started before the 1981 publishing of Gundam Century. Bandai(with its branch Sunrise) noticed the tradition and has hired writters to write articles for other Gundam series, too. [1] In the Cosmic Era timeline, one of the Authors of Gundam Century articles(while still a high school student at that time), Shigeru Morita, who had became a regular employee of Bandai, was assigned to write these kind of technological articles, possibly a method used by the company to attract Universal Century techno fans to watch the new series. [2]
[edit] Mobile Suit technology
These techonologies are the basic reasoning for the Universal Century having Mobile Suits as the main battle unit replacing space fighters.
[edit] AMBAC
Active Mass Balance Auto Control (AMBAC) is a fundamental technology that allows for thrusterless manoeuvring in the zero-G of space by mobile suits by means of precise movement control of their limbs in the Gundam universe as said in the Gundam Century and Gundam Officials. The AMBAC technology in conjunction with the fictional fusion reactor developed by the character Dr. Y.T. Minovsky made mobile suits feasible.
AMBAC works by leveraging Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion with regard to inertia to effect changes in direction. For example, if we place a person in a microgravity environment where friction is negligible (i.e. space), and ask him to place his left arm to his chest then swing it out to the side, the resulting inertia of the arm movement would result in the rest of his body turning the other direction in order to conserve angular momentum. Then when the motion of the arm stopped, the rotation of the body would also stop. The AMBAC system coordinates movements and micro-movements precisely, allowing a continuous balance and stability without expending reaction mass. For the most part, AMBAC is invisible to the naked eye, as the shifts are slight. AMBAC is by its nature limited to reorienting the unit about its center of mass, and is not a substitute for propulsion. The system is similar in principle to the momentum wheel system used in present day satellites, though obviously more complex. As the arms and legs of a mobile suit account for a significant portion of its total mass, the AMBAC system also allows the center of mass to shift outside of the body, thus providing a way to use the system to dodge incoming projectiles or other small objects. Mobile suits performing AMBAC motions would presumably move similarly to present-day astronauts performing Extra-vehicular activity: both typically having roughly similar body structure, their use of that mass to control their rotation would presumably be similar, even if calculated by different means.
Tail Binder/Wing Binder
Binders are technological instruments that provide extra control for the AMBAC systems. The idea is simple: "If four limbs can manoeuvre the unit better than none, why not equip them with 5 or more?" The resulting advancement is the tail binder. First equipped on MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki, the tail binder was originally used as part of the interface for the testing of the concept of transformable mobile units. The type installed on the Hyaku Shiki is not technologically advanced enough for it to be able to transform, however. The tail binder ultimately served as the fifth limb and demonstrated the usefulness of the concept. The unit performed well against more conventional mobile suits and showed superiority in manoeuvrebility. Anaheim Electronics had since then installed tail binders on most of the mobile suits of the same series under Project Zeta. A cousin to the tail binder is the wing binder, equipped on most transformable mobile suits with wave rider mode as wings. The system made use of the wings' mobility for the transformation during mobile suit mode as AMBAC limbs and further increasing the number of limbs for the AMBAC system.
[edit] Balancer
A standard piece of mobile suit technology, the Balancer, sometimes called Balance Controller or Auto-Balancer by different authors, is the device responsible for keeping a mobile suit upright. This device automatically adjusts to the terrain the mobile suit is walking along in. It is the device that enables the machine the ability to walk like a human being. The balancers are placed all across the body of the mobile suit's frame, with primary systems being located in the feet.
[edit] Movable frame
According to Gundam Officials and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the movable frame is a new concept in mobile suit construction introduced after the One Year War as a result of the intervention of beam weapons. Before its intervention all mobile suits were based on a rudimentary internal frame, enclosed within an outer layer of sturdy armor. However the beam weapons were easily able to pierce this armor thus mobile suit designers started to reduce the suit’s armor to the bare minimum which finally led to the invention of the movable frame. This new concept incorporates all the mobile suit's vital mechanisms, thus increasing responsiveness, reliability, and energy efficiency as well as making it far more agile. The first suit to use this system was the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II and afterwards it became the standard in mobile suit construction.
[edit] Armour technology
[edit] Semi-transparent Coating
As described in the Gundam Officials and Mobile Suit Gundam the novel appendix, the Semi-transparent Coating (半透体コーティング) is originally used as the Laser medium, mirror and partial mirror of Laser weapons in the Universal Century timeline. It was also used before and early in the One Year War as an effective armour coating to defend against Laser weapons. However, due to massive use of Mega beam weapons and the necessity of developing an anti mega particle armour, this technology is no longer a basic requirement on mobile weapons. This technology served as the basis of the Beam resistance coating and Anti-Beam coating although the only common factor is the multiple layers. Semi-transparent coating protect the unit by having multiple layers all reflecting a certain wavelength of light and thus effectively reduces the energy of different Laser weapons. This technology is also used in the Colony Laser, Solar Ray, deployed by Zeon forces.
[edit] Beam Resistance Coating
According to Gundam Officials, in the later half of the One Year War, Zeon mobile suits receive heavy damage from Earth Federation Forces' mobile suits equipped with beam weaponry. The semi-transparent coating is not useful in countering anything other than laser, thus a new technology has to be developed. A technology similar to the later well known Anti-Beam Coating called Beam Resistance Coating(耐ビームコーテイング) was developed and became a standard after applying on the MS-07B3 Gouf Custom. This coating can absorb some of the energy from the mega particles and reduce the damage. It can also protect the unit from laser attacks by the same principle. However, it is not as effective as Anti-Beam coating and the armour will still be damaged if the beam weapon is fired in close range or have a high enough power. This coating is also applied on Mobile Suit shields.
[edit] Anti-beam coating
According to the Gundam Officials and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the anti-beam coating (short form: ABC) first come into testing on MSN-0100 Hyaku Shiki. The technology coats multiple layers of high specific heat capacity material on top of the armour and evaporates when in high temperature. It provides a type of sacrificial protection against any type of beam weapons. However, due to its nature of evaporating when defending against great heat, the coating can only defend a few hits on the same spot.
[edit] Anti-beam coating mantle
As described in the manga, Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam, and MS encyclopedia 2003, in UC0133, the ABC mantle is used to provide easily restored protection against beam weapon attacks. The idea is simple, the anti-beam coating is applied on a piece of cloth instead of the unit itself. The mantle could than be discarded once it loses all the ABC(thus the anti-beam effect). Although most units are equipped with Beam shields already, the ABC mantle provides stealth compared to the bright glowing beam shields which renders the units a visible target.
[edit] Minovsky Physics
- Distinguish from the real mathematical Minkowski space.
According to the Gundam Century, MS encyclopedia 2003 and Gundam Officials,tThe Minovsky Physics Society was formed in UC 0045 at the space colony Side 3. Their research was devoted to the development of a nuclear fusion reactor. By the year UC 0047, development of the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor began.
It was named after its fictional inventor, Dr. T.Y. Minovsky, this reactor was "radical" due to the fact that it was the first "clean" fusion reactor, emitting zero neutron radiation. The nuclear equation was:
(energy released: 18.35 MeV)
The reactant used a rare isotope of helium known as helium-3 (Ie- 2 protons and 1 neutron in the nucleus). Helium-3 is used to fuse with a deuterium atom (heavy hydrogen) to form the stable Helium-4 and a single proton. Since the proton is positively charged, it can easily be trapped within a magnetic field. The main practical problem with this reaction is that Helium-3 is extremely rare; there are little deposits on Earth, which were mainly found in Uranium mines, which are mostly depleted. The Gundam world's fusion reactors rely on a constant supply of helium imported from the outer solar system planet Jupiter, thus marking the beginning of the Jupiter Energy Fleet. The JEF would travel from Earth to Jupiter, which has a high level of helium-3, and then come back to Earth with the gas. It should be noted that in real physics, helium-3-deuterium fusion produces neutrons due to inevitable deuterium-deuterium reactions. Also, significant quantities of helium-3 were recently discovered on the moon, although there is certainly much more on Jupiter.
[edit] The Minovsky Particle
According to the official guide of Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam Century and Gundam Officials, the Minovsky Physics Society, while working on the reactor, encounter a strange electromagnetic wave effect in UC 0065 within the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor that could not be explained by conventional physics. Within the next few years, they identify the cause: a new elementary particle generated by the helium-3 reaction on the inner wall of the reactor, which was named the Minovsky particle or "M" particle. The Minovsky particle has near-zero rest mass - though, like any particle, its mass increases to reflect its potential or kinetic energy - and can carry either a positive or negative electrical charge. When scattered in open space or in the air, the repulsive forces between charged Minovsky particles cause them to spontaneously align into a regular cubic lattice structure called an I-field. An I-Field lattice will slowly expand and scatter into space, however, this will take approximately 29 days before the region can retain normal electromagnetic communication again.
However, the main use of the "M" particle came into combat and communication. When the Minovsky particle is spread in large amount in the open air or in open space, the particle disrupt low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves and radio waves. The "M" particle also interferes with the operations of electronic circuitry and destroys unprotected ones due to their high electrical charge which act like a continuous Electromagnetic Pulse on metal objects. Because of the way Minovsky particles react with those particle types of radiations, radar systems and long-range wireless communication systems became useless, infra-red signals are defracted and decreases accuracy and visible light is fogged. This became known as the "Minovsky Effect".
The disruption of electromagnetic radiation is due to the small lattice of the I-Field creates fringes that long wave length waves cannot penetrate, and diffracts wave lengths that have similar distance with the fringes. This Diffraction and Polarization process disrupts the electromagnetic waves. Notice in real life there is a similar experimental particle that could do the same thing in few thousandth of a second, which is still not practical but proves the theory to be correct. A second utility of the I-field (and Minovsky particles in general) is the repulsion of charged plasma and chargeless Mega particles from an I-field surface, which was of use both in power generation and armament technology. If controlled, the particles can form fringes of different widths and further interfere with electromagnetic waves of shorter wave lengths. This provides the basis for the miniaturizing of fusion reactors installed in Mobile Suits since a controlled I-Field can block the infra-red waves and therefore high temperature from the thermonuclear reaction and reduces the need of coolant and such for the fusion reactors. Without such a field a pilot would be boiled alive in a few nanoseconds and the suit to burst into superheated gasses, thus explaining many of the series' casualties when the reactor of a mobile suit is pierced with a beam weapon powerful enough to disperse this I-Field.
The only counter measure to the "M" particle in the series was to install bulky and expensive shielding on all electronic equipment, but only to counteract the effect it had on electronic circuitry. While this could be done for space ships and naval ships, this ruled out the use of precision guided weapons, such as guided missiles. Due to this, the military use of Minovsky particles ushers in a new era of close-range combat. This is the primary reason for the birth of the Zeon close-combat weapon: the mobile suit.
[edit] Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor
According to the timeline deduced by the Gundam Officials, in UC 0071, Zeon researchers created the Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactor. Instead of the conventional magnetic field, this improved version of the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor used an I-field to confine and compress the reactor fuel, triggering a fusion reaction. The Minovsky particles produced as a byproduct of the helium-3 fusion reaction are thus recycled to keep that reaction going. The Minovsky particles that form the I-field lattice also help catalyze the fusion reaction, in a process similar to the muon-catalyzed fusion investigated by real-world scientists during the 1950s. This super-efficient design is only a fifth as large as an equivalently powerful Minovsky-Ionesco reactor, for this reason it was adopted for use on mobile suits as the standard power plant.
w:ja:ミノフスキー物理学#ミノフスキー・イヨネスコ型熱核反応炉
[edit] The Mega Particle
The fictional weaponry of the Universal Century as described by Gundam Century, Gundam Officials and MS encyclopedia are as follow, due to the repulsive forces between positive and negative Minovsky particles, large amounts of energy are required to compress an I-field lattice. If enough energy is applied, and the I-field is sufficiently compressed, the Minovsky particles ultimately fuse into massive electrically neutral mega particles. The energy used to create the mega particles is expressed as both mass and velocity. No longer subject to the electrical forces that maintain the I-field lattice, the particles burst out of the electro-magnetic field used to compress them. The weapon requires a second I-field forming a barrel shape to prevent the mega particle from destroying the weapon that fires it. This stream of heavy fast-moving particles, unlike a conventional charged-particle beam, cannot be deflected with magnetic fields. In UC 0070, Zeon researchers exploit this phenomenon to create the fearsome mega particle cannon.
The new weapons derived from Minovsky physics are referred to by the generic term "beam weapons." There are two distinct varieties of beam weapon - one that uses regular Minovsky particles, and another that employs the Mega particles formed by fusing positive and negative Minovsky particles.
[edit] Minovsky-theory Applied Weapon System
The following technologies are quoted from Gundam Century, Gundam Officials and MS encyclopedia.
[edit] Mega Particle Cannon
The ubiquitous mega particle cannon - variously referred to as the beam cannon, mega beam gun, or mega beam cannon - is the standard armament of the Gundam world's warships and mobile armours. This weapon fires a focused beam of massive, high-velocity mega particles, which cannot be deflected by magnetic fields and tears through any conventional armor material. The output power of the Mega Particle Cannon is 4 times greater than conventional Laser weapons at that time and is considered to be more efficient due to most units having semi-transparent coatings on top of their armour which renders Laser weapons virtually useless.
To create the mega particles, a cannon-toting vehicle must first gather Minovsky particles from the vehicle's fusion reactor. The Minovsky particles are collected in a device called an energy condenser, where they are compressed in a high-density I-field until they fuse into mega particles. The performance of the mega particle cannon is thus limited by the reactor's ability to produce Minovsky particles.
Though it quickly became the standard armament of space warships, the mega particle cannon's high energy requirements and the sheer bulk of the energy condenser at first precluded its use in mobile suits. Consequently, the Principality of Zeon's MS-05 Zaku I and MS-06 Zaku II were armed with conventional projectile and missile weapons, rather than beam weapons. As a reference, a Musai Class Light Cruiser's on-board generator requires 15 minutes to compress each shot of mega particle cannon. This was not practical for the mobile suits' smaller reactors to compress mega particles by themselves in combat, since it will take unreasonable amount of time to do so.
[edit] M-Warhead
Due to the effect of the Minovsky particles of interferring with low frequency electro-magnetic waves, it is used in combat as a form of warhead on rocket propelled missiles. The M-Warhead will spread Minovsky particles in the battle field and prevent all known wireless communication and enemy detection methods except visible light.
The M-Warhead technology was used extensively in the One Year War but after the war, a treaty (or treaties) was signed to stop the mass dispersal of the Minovsky particle because the dense Minovsky particle areas became a major disaster for civilians and to the economy. The M-Warhead became like the Nuclear warhead and was banned from the battlefield. However, most warships were still equipped with M-Warheads and the captains can use the warheads whenever they get the permission from higher ranked superiors, and Minovsky particle scattering Mobile Suits were still widely used.
[edit] Minovsky Craft System
Since it is made up of charged particles, the I-field is unable to penetrate metal, water, the Earth's surface, or other electrically conductive materials and can be shaped simply by trapping it in an electromagnetic field. Thus, at low altitudes it is possible to generate an I-field cushion between the underside of a vessel and the ground, yielding a gravity-countering buoyancy. This principle is used in the creation of the Minovsky Craft System, which allowed a spaceship or heavy ground vehicle to "fly" on Earth. The Principality of Zeon was slow to make use of this principle and the only units equipped with Minovsky Craft systems during the One Year War were the MAX-03 Adzam and the three prototype Apsalus Mobile Armors.However, the Earth Federation was quick to adopt the system on its Pegasus-Class Assault Carriers. This allowed the Pegasus-Class to enter and exit earth's atmosphere and to fly while inside the atmosphere.
This system could not be miniaturized to fit on a Mobile suit until UC 0100. The first MS equipping such a device is RX-104FF Penelope from Hathaway's Flash, RX-105 Ξ Gundam which appeared in the same series also equipped the device.
After the period, most high end models such as F-91, V Gundam, V2 Gundam, etc. have installed the device.
[edit] Beam Rifle
In order to work around the mega particle cannon's energy demands, the Earth Federal Forces (with the help of Dr. Minovsky, who had left Zeon and joined the EF) develop the E-cap (a contraction of "energy capacitor"). This device stores Minovsky particles in a high-energy compressed state, so that only a small amount of additional energy is required to trigger their fusion into mega particles. The E-cap is charged by energy condensers at the mobile suit's home base or carrier ship, and then functions like a battery until its supply of particles is exhausted, at which point the weapon becomes useless. During the One Year War the Federal Forces perfected the E-cap and used it to create a miniaturized mega particle cannon called a beam rifle, with which their first prototype mobile suits are equipped.
The limited capacity of the E-cap proved to be a significant shortcoming. The RX-78 Gundam, for example, could only fire 16 shots from its beam rifle before exhausting the E-cap's supply. Shortly after the end of the war, the beam rifle was further refined to use a removable E-cap module called an E-pac. A mobile suit equipped with spare E-packs could then swap them during a battle to replenish its beam rifle's particle supply.
Zeon's One Year War beam weapon research was greatly delayed after Dr. Minovsky's defection, and was only able to use large mobile armour to carry the mega particle cannon. Though the MSM-03, MSM-04, MSM-07 and MSM-10 had mega particle cannons installed, it was not until the development of the MS-14 Gelgoog could the E-cap technology be installed on any mobile suit of Zeon.
It should noted that E-Cap technology appears outside of UC continuity in MS-Saga.
w:ja:ビームライフル (ガンダムシリーズ)#宇宙世紀におけるビームライフル
[edit] Beam Spray Gun
Since the beam rifle was a relatively expensive weapon to produce owing to the need for a long converging I-Field to direct the mega particles, a shorter ranged version, the Beam spray gun was created. The name came from the more divergent beam resulting from the shorter barrel. Although the effective range is less than the beam rifle, it is still capable of penetrating the armor of the MS-09/MS-09R - said to be the most heavily armored unit throughout the One Year War. In the novelization of the series, at short ranges the GM's beam spray gun was more powerful than even the Gundam's beam rifle.
w:ja:ビームライフル (ガンダムシリーズ)#ビームスプレーガン
[edit] Beam Smart Gun
According to Gundam Sentinel Special Edition, the Beam smart gun is designed to be the most powerful Mobile suit beam weapon; at 56MW output it is only beaten by the 79.8MW Hyper Mega Cannon of the FAZZ. However, its strength comes from accuracy and rapid fire and not just the high power output. The Beam Smart gun has another advantage over the Hyper Mega Cannon. The particle deflecting system at the muzzle can bent the output beam by up to 20 degrees. Since the velocity of Mega particles is said to be close to the speed of light it is nigh impossible to dodge a beam weapon output once it is fired. In the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, Char Aznable said that the way to avoid a beam rifle is to avoid it being pointed at you. As such, a gun that does not need to be pointed directly at the target is more dangerous. The Beam Smart Gun fitted to the S Gundam is essentially the same as the Z Plus Beam Smart Gun. However, the Ex-S Gundam had 2 reflector incoms mounted on its knees in order to direct the beam fired by the beam smart gun. The Beam smart gun is able to rapid fire at high power briefly. The Beam Smart Gun has two energy intakes that can be linked to the movable frame hard point of the Mobile Suit. A single connection can power the gun at 12MW+ , two connections are needed to give the 56MW output power, but at the cost of less manoeuvrability.
The Beam Smart Gun only appears in Gundam Sentinel equipping the MSA-0011 S Gundam, and its variants as well as a shield mounted version as the primary weapon of MSZ-006C1 Zeta Plus C1. However, according to Gundam Wars III and Gundam Fix Figuation series, the gun can also be used by the MSZ-006C1[Bst] Zeta Plus booster type "Humming Bird". (Thus the unit will be mounting two Beam Smart Guns at the same time, by mounting the Beam Smart Gun from the S Gundam on the shield Beam Smart gun of the "Humming Bird".)
[edit] Optional parts
Although not specifically mentioned in the story, the beam smart gun is designed to take various optional parts. The base design consist of only the gun itself, with one main grip and one sub grip (with folded cover on the left of the gun).
- Sensor unit
- The small sensor unit is attached on the right side of the gun. In the original line art from the Gundam Sentinel Special Edition, it is specified that this is not an ordinary scope and is not looked through; the visual data is transmitted electronically. This was later adopted by other books including Gundam Officials and MS Encyclopedia for other Mobile Suit hand weapons. This unit is the basic optional part of the beam smart gun and is normally attached unless unnecessary for battle. However, according to Gundam Sentinel, no record shows it was ever detached from the gun. For identification from the Disk Radar, it is usually depicted as "Normal Sensor" in the books.
Disk Radar
- This device is set parallel to the sensor unit and can perform a wide area scan. The main function of it is to provide specific location of multiple enemies on the field. It is said to be more useful when the S Gundam is piloted by three pilots with one being the weapon control person.
- Cyro-system
- This system adds extra cooling devices to the barrel. This allows extended period of rapid firing of 56MW beams without over-heating the gun. It was introduced as a combination of the Plan 303E system in order to give the unit more fire power. However, also mentioned in the Sentinel line-art is, the downside of this system is the deadweight and high cost.
- Variants
- MSZ-006C1 type shield mount beam smart gun (often shortened to just Zplus smart gun)
[edit] Beam Saber
The name "beam saber" is somewhat of a misnomer as, unlike other weapons with the word beam, the beam saber does not use mega particles. Instead, it emits high-energy Minovsky particles to form a blade-shaped I-field (via manipulation of electromagnetic fields), and then fills this I-field shell with superheated Minovsky particle plasma to produce a effective cutting blade. The Minovsky particles are stored by E-cap in the hilt of the Beam Saber, which is recharged from the Mobile Suit's reactor when the saber is returned to its socket. Once activated, beam sabers do not rely on the mobile suit's reactor and can be thrown or discarded as decoys (as demonstrated in Gundam 0083). The termination of the I-field along a solid contact surface allows the plasma to eat away at the offending material until the I-field reestablishes itself, allowing the weapon to "cut" through almost any target. Likewise, as the beam saber's I-field enclosure repels plasma, it not only keeps the blade's plasma in but also keeps plasma from another blade out allowing one beam saber to be used to block another. Since the containing fields can be formed into a variety of simple shapes, it is trivial to create exotic variants like the beam tomahawk, naginata, scythe, axe, mace, etc.
The power output of the beam sabers used in the One Year War (rated at 380 kW) has been called into question due to certain events during the One Year War. When Amuro Ray, pilot of the RX-78 Gundam, was fighting one of Zeon's aces, Ramba Ral, he used his beam saber to cut into Ral's suit and expose the pilot. By all accounts, Ral should have been immolated by the sheer heat emitted by the weapon (particularly since his cockpit armor was still malleable immediately thereafter), yet he survived unscathed. Either his normal suit had higher heat resistance and air conditioning than the mobile suit, or the beam saber's I-Field prevented the plasma from touching the human.
[edit] I-field Barrier
Another application of the I-field is the I-field Barrier. This generates a dense I-field in the space surrounding the barrier generator, which can deflect the beam weapons derived from Minovsky physics due to the interaction force (presumably a fifth basic force) between the mega particles and the Minovsky particles. However, this barrier has no effect against lasers or against physical attacks such as missiles, and within the barrier's radius beam weapons do not function with their usual lethality. Most I-field applications of this type were used on Mobile Armours developed by both the Zeon and the Federation.
This technology was first utilized in the One Year War, and installed on the massive Principality of Zeon mobile armour MA-08 Big Zam. The I-field technology would later be utilized in other mobile armours, most notably the Delaz Fleet mobile armour AMA-X2 Neue Ziel and the Earth Federation's RX-78GP03 Gundam Dendrobium mobile armour. This technology would also be used in the powerful MSA-0011 S Gundam's cockpit area. The first Mobile suit that have a fully-covering I-Field is the Crossbone Gundam X-3, which featured an I-Field generator on each hand. Despite the deflection power of the I-Field, it usually over-heats easily. The MA-08 Big Zam could only operate its I-Field for no longer than 20 minutes and each generator of Crossbone Gundam X-3 could operate for no longer than 115 seconds, with 120 seconds of cool-down time each (thus having a 10-second gap between two cool down sequences and being vulnerable within that period).
It was not until UC 0153 when the V2 Gundam, with its Assault Unit's Mega Beam Shield, could a mobile suit have an unlimited-use barrier. A more powerful defence system (the Beam shield) fell into common use, and the I-Field Barrier became obsolete.
Newtypes were known to have the ability to attract Minovsky particles. (Seen in the penultimate Episode of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam when the Zeta Gundam is covered in a redish-pink barrier that also increases the size of its Beam Saber.) These situations formed a barrier like an I-Field barrier and a Minovsky Craft effect which defracts all beam and physical weapons with the dense Minovsky particle area around the vessel.
[edit] Funnels and Bits
Towards the end of the One Year War and beyond, there was much research into developing remote weapons that are designed to exploit the heightened senses of a Newtype pilot. Funnels and bits are the culmination of that research.
Funnels are essentially remote controlled drones that are designed to be controlled by a Newtype pilot. It is equipped with a small beam cannon, and an energy store to propel the funnel when it is operating. A Newtype pilot is able to control these funnels with great precision, allowing him to remotely attack an enemy from all directions, making a funnel-equipped mobile suit extremely deadly. When the funnels are not in use, they are attached to hardpoints in a mobile suit to recharge. All Zeon funnel equipped units have the ability to recharge funnels but the Earth Federation Forces is very slow in adopting the technology. The first funnel equipped unit, RX-93 ν Gundam's Fin Funnel cannot be refueled once the propellent is used up, but they have their own mini generator onboard and can keep on firing. Only the later model RX-93-ν-2 Hi-ν Gundam has such an ability to refuel and reused. Whether the RX-94 ν Gundam Mass production type has such ability is unknown.
Bits are essentially similar to funnels, except that they have their own power supply, and do not need recharging, unlike their funnel counterparts. Bits do not always have the ability to fire beam weapons, the reflector bits on Psyco Gundam Mk-II is used to direct the beam fired by the main body towards the enemy.
Although early funnels can indeed resemble funnels, they can have a variety of shapes. Fin like funnels can also be seen.
The most unusual funnel is perhaps the ones equipped on V2 Assault's mega beam shield. They do not fire any lethal weaponry but is instead used to form an I-Field barrier.
w:ja:ビット (機動戦士ガンダム)、w:ja:ファンネル
[edit] Incoms
Incom is a type of weapon developed by Federation Murasame Research Institute for MS intended for normal (i.e. Oldtypes) pilots. It is similar to bit and funnel operated by psycomm system. It is equipped on number of MS following MRX-011 Mass Production Type Psyco Gundam.
It is a wired controlled beam weapon platform, remotely controlled by Quasi-psycommu or Psycommu system. It can execute the apparent all range attack like bits and funnels, but is inferior in attack range and complexity of maneuvers.
Incom is similar to wired controlled mega particle beam canon on MAN-03 Braw-Bro in One Year War, on Braw-Bro it was controlled by brain wave (as oppose to computer.)
There are a few variants, a Reflector/Refractor Incom is a device for bending beam rifle or beam gun's beam to different direction in order to increase the chance of hitting. For example, MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam is equipped with 2 reflector incoms that is used for its 56MW Beam Smart Gun and 1 Incom mounted on the head that can fire normal mega beam. Gundam Mk-V is another test unit that can use Incom. The technology of Quasi-psycommu and incom was transferred from Murasame Research Institute to Augusta Research Institute for development of Gundam Mk-V.
This technology is utilized in the battlefield in UC0088 by a group of Federation officers of training corp stationed at asteroid Penzun that revolted against the Federation under the name of New Decides (Gundam Sentinel) Other than being the standard equipment of S Gundam belonging to the Task Force Alpha charged with suppression of Penzun rebellion, it is also present on Gundam Mk-V delivered to the hands of New Decides. Two Gundams equipped with Incom crossed swords at moon city Aries signified the coming chaos of the time.
One Gundam Mk-V unit was transferred to New Decides. Another was transferred to Neo Zeon that was later developed into Doven Wolf used in the first Neo Zeon conflict.
[edit] FF-Field (Fin Funnel Field)
The energy shielding technology of the RX-93 Nu Gundam, sometimes called a fin-funnel field, was not a proper I-Field Barrier, but an early precursor to the beam shield. The mechanism of the device is releasing the Minovsky particles in the reactor of the fin funnels and trapping them temporarily in the electro-magnetic field generated by the funnels which is used for the shaping of the I-Field barrel.
A similar defence system was used earlier by Haman in Gundam ZZ to block the 50MW High Mega Cannon of the ZZ Gundam by holding up the hand of her mobile suit Qubeley in front to release the Minovsky particles and electro-magnetic field from the beam gun/beam saber hybrid mounted in the arm of the MS. However, no proper name was given to this courageous yet almost suicidal action.
[edit] Beam Shield
The first defensive application of beam saber technology was the beam barrier projected by the RX-93 Nu Gundam's fin funnels. This barrier creates a tetrahedral shell around the mobile suit, with a fin funnel at each vertex and planes of energy akin to beam saber blades forming the surfaces of the shell. Unlike the classic I-field barrier, this beam barrier not only deflects beam attacks, but could also deflect (or destroy) physical attacks and missiles as well (acting as both a Minovsky Craft system and beam-blade simultaneously). It could, however, be collapsed by a sufficiently powerful attack. This so-called Fin Funnel Field (or FF Field for short) could not be used as a weapon due to the limits on the funnels and the I-fields involved.
By about UC 0120, the decreased size and increased power output of modern mobile suits made it possible to use a simplified version of this barrier (the beam shield) on all mobile suits. A beam shield is composed of a simple plane of plasma, radiating from a central generator unit, which can be used like a physical shield to deflect enemy attacks. Since the edges of the beam shield are as deadly as a beam saber blade (because they are simply beam sabers formed like a shield), the mobile suit's computer automatically deactivates sections of the shield that would otherwise lop off the mobile suit's own limbs. Though it was limited to a single direction - and, like its beam barrier ancestor, could be collapsed by a powerful attack - the beam shield's lower energy requirements and effectiveness against every type of weapon made it a perfectly satisfactory alternative to the I-field barrier. By about UC 0150, even some warships are equipped with beam shields, notably the Joan D'arc from Victory Gundam and the Mother Vanguard from Crossbone Gundam (manga).
However, a relatively low energy beam weapon is developed to counter this technology. The VSBR (Variable Speed Beam Rifle) was developed and equipped on F-90V type (VSBR type) F-91, and later the Victory 2 Assault unit, to make the beam rifle output power adjustable in a form capable of penetrating a beam shield.
After Victory Gundam, the Beam Shield is minimized in both size and number due to unknown reasons but still equipped in some mobile suits in G-Saviour.
[edit] VSBR
Variable Speed Beam Rifle
By UC 0120, even the weakest mass-production Mobile weapons were mostly equipped with a beam shield impenetrable to common MS weapons. This forced developers to either design mobile suits for close-range encounters, or to develop much more powerful weapons. However, both options were very expensive, and the latter too energy-intensive to be feasible. Eventually, the VSBR was developed to be able to switch between two fire modes.
1) high penetration mode
2) high damage mode
The first mode emits a faster beam of Mega particles capable of penetrating a beam shield. However, the damage dealt to the target is significantly lowered due to its high penetration power. The second mode is like a classic beam rifle: the mega particles have less velocity and, while less penetrating, lose their energy inside the target, reverting back to Minovsky particles and destroying the target from within.
The VSBR was still a relatively expensive technology and was hardly mass-produced. Only high-end models like the Crossbone Gundam X-3, F-90 V type, F-91 and V2 Assault unit, and only one mass-produced unit (the mass-production F-91 in Crossbone Gundam), could equip such a weapon.
The only method of stopping a VSBR attack is by a strong I-Field. However, miniaturized I-Field generators capable of installation on an MS were still expensive units, and thus still not common by UC 0120.
[edit] G.B.R.D.
Generative Beam Rifle Device
A special variant of Beam Rifle installed on Mobile Suits is the GBRD equipped on RX-99 Neo Gundam. The concept was long developed. This variant contains a separate energy generator installed just for the Beam rifle. G.B.R.D also have the V.S.B.R. ability to switch firing mode.
w:ja:ビームライフル (ガンダムシリーズ)#G-B.R.D
[edit] Minovsky Drive
The latest of all Minovsky technologies, the Minovsky Drive was introduced on mobile suits in UC 0153. Development started in November, UC 0152 and terminated in early 0153. The only unit equipped with the device, the V2 Gundam, entered combat in April.
However, later intelligence indicated that the first unit equipped with a Minovsky drive is Mother Vanguard and its sister ship in Crossbone Gundam. Making use of the beam shield installed on the ship, the ship can be propelled by a mechanism similar to Minovsky drive.
The device emits a vast amount of Minovsky particles as a propulsion reaction. Although it may appear that the technology violates Newton's Second Law of Motion, the physics is very similar to that of a photon drive, because Minovsky particles have near-zero rest mass.
The Minovsky Drive is by far the most powerful drive unit in the UC timeline. It is capable of a maximum acceleration of 20G (196.2 m/s^2) in the V2 Gundam. According to the MS encyclopedia, the V Gundam novel and 1/60 HG model manual, it can, theoretically, accelerate up to a speed close to the speed of light. The external manifestation of the Minovsky Drive are two large Minovsky particle plasma flames, "Wings of Light" or "Light wings" (Hikari no tsubasa), projecting approximately 1 km out from the drive. The beam wings have a similar destructive effect as a beam sabre.
A more advanced version is found in the novelized version equipped on the MS called Second V.
[edit] Newtypes and related technology
The word Newtype first came into being when Zeon Zum Deikun, the fictional character, founder of the space colony-based Principality of Zeon, created his philosophy: mankind was destined to leave the Earth for space, where they would evolve into a new stage of evolution, called the Newtype.
As Newtypes began to grow in numbers during and following the One Year War, the Psycommu (Psychic Communicator) system was invented, which allowed these Newtypes to control remote weapons known as bits and funnels, and even mobile suits, through thought alone. A Psycommu is a device connected directly into the user's thoughts, through which the user can manipulate it by using his/her mind. The name derives from psychic and communicator.
The Psycoframe is a later technology that builds the brainwave-to-machine code translator known as Psycommu into the atom-level of the metal frame of a Mobile Suit. This allows a Newtype pilot to control the mobile suit as if it were his/her own body.
Other Newtype technologies are the Bio-Sensor system, the Quasi-psycommu system, the Neo-psycommu system, the Bio-computer, the EXAM System and the Angel Halo fortress.
[edit] References
- Gundam Century, Minori, 22nd Sep, 1981.
- Gundam Century Renewal Version, ISBN / 4-87777-028-3, Kisousha, 15th Mar, 2000.
- MS Encyclopedia, ISBN / 4-89189-336-2, Bandai, 10th Feb, 1988.
- New MS Encyclopedia, ISBN / 4-89189-050-9, Bandai, 1st Oct, 1988.
- New MS Encyclopedia Ver. 3.0, ISBN / 4-89189-225-0, Bandai, 30th Jun, 1991.
- MS Encyclopedia 98, ISBN / 4-07-308519-0, Mediaworks, 15th May, 1998.
- MS Encyclopedia 2003, ISBN / 4-84-022339-4, Mediaworks, Mar, 2003.
- Gundam Sentinel special edition(with Gundam Wars III), ASIN: 4499205301, 大日本絵画(Dai Nippon Kaiga Co. Ltd.), Sept, 1989. (May, 2006, 11th edition)
- Perfect Grade, Master Grade, High Grade Model Instruction Manual, Bandai.
[edit] External links
- http://www.mahq.net/ has the line art of the weapons for most of the Mobile Suits.
| Universal Century |
|---|
| Anime |
| MS IGLOO | Mobile Suit Gundam | The 08th MS Team | 0080: War in the Pocket | 0083: Stardust Memory | Zeta Gundam | Gundam ZZ | Char's Counterattack | Gundam F91 | Victory Gundam | G-Saviour |
| Events |
| Pre-One Year War | One Year War | Post-One Year War | Operation Stardust | Gryps Conflict | Neo-Zeon Movements | Late U.C. |
| Topics |
| Comprehensive Episode Listing | List of Characters | Locations | Mobile Suit Variations | Mobile Suits | Nations and Factions | Newtypes and related technology | Superweapons | Technology | Warships and Spacecraft |
| Books |
| The Blue Destiny | Gundam Sentinel | Double-Fake | Gundam Unicorn | Hathaway's Flash | Crossbone Gundam | Gaia Gear |
| Alternate Timelines |
| Future Century | After Colony | After War | Turn A Gundam | SD Gundam | Cosmic Era |
