Thanks for the insight and translations Mark. I'm enjoying this new info greatly.toysdream wrote:Here's an addendum on Gundam 00's weight/mass changing effect. (The kit manuals seem to use both terms, despite the big difference in meaning.) There are a couple of passages in the kit manuals that give us a hint how this might work.
First, from the description of the GN Hammer in the Astraea Type F kit manual:
And from the Avalanche Exia Dash kit manual, a description of its High Mobility Mode:The sphere has a GN Condenser inside it, and using the particles' mass regulation function, the impact can be increased when it hits.
Ah, I think that may explain it! It's not that the GN drive, or the particles it emits, actually change the mass of other objects. Rather, when you have a bunch of stored GN particles, you can change their mass. Since this effect can be used to cancel out some of the weight of a heavy machine like the Virtue, it suggests that GN particles can actually be manipulated to have a negative mass. That's a bit crazy, but then again GN particles seem to be basically magic.The parts on the shoulders, the knees, and the ends of the legs are deployed far from the center of gravity. This mode increases the performance of AMBAC, which is an attitude control function based on movements of mass, by changing the mass of the particles stored within [these parts]. This is particularly effective during melee combat in space, making precise high-speed movements possible without consuming particles.
This also suggests that you need to have a supply of GN particles stored inside the object whose mass you want to adjust. The bigger the condenser, presumably, the bigger an effect you can produce.
-- Mark
I'm slightly confused, does that mean they simply generate a negative mass effect then? If I'm getting this right. That would mean that it can reduce weight of objects like we see in Virtue and Dynames Torpedo manual and do mobility related stuff like described in the Exia Avalanche ' manual.
The MG Exia manual also sort of talks about the weight manipulation thing, except it talks about it in regards to base Exia's purple cables and how Exia uses it in combination with AMBAC to achieve superior mobility compared to the other three Gundams. I thought it was weird to put in weight manipulation effect there, especially as it wouldn't be effective in space but if its manipulating the particles mass for posture, then it would make more sense.
Wouldn't this also explain why GNMS in general do not have much thrusters all over the limbs though? They may not need them for posture control as much. They usually have at least one though somewhere, minus the Bits that is. This is unlike the Fangs of the series, which do have visible thrusters.
I wonder whether this negative mass effect may explain some of their relatively omnidirectional movements without any obvious thrusters? For example, they seem to be able to brake fairly easily in space without any obvious thruster effects. Suits like the Tieren Space Type gets relatively complex propellant showcases (though I think it's missing in the Space Enacts/Flags/Realdos/Hellions). Even some if the more conventional spacecraft in the show gets a counter thrust animation when braking. Examples I can think from the top of my head include one small craft that did this near the beginning of the movie and another large carrier that did this in Season 2-Episode 1.
The only time I remember a GNMS getting one was somewhere in Season 2-Episode 1, where we see a slight GN thruster effect acting towards the front of a GN-XIII as it was braking. It was from a part that we usually do not associate known thrusters with but the effect was there for that one instance.
I'm trying to figure out the Bits movements such as Qan(T)'s Sword Bits and Cherudim/Zabanya's Shield Bits, all of which lacks the normal visible thrusters and their colorful effects. I'm thinking the GN Particles ability to manipulate mass might have something to do with it, but taking the Mass Effect Series' use of the phenomenon of thruster-less movements, I recall you actually need to exhibit a "positive" mass effect for the craft to "fall into" rather than a "negative" one.
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EDIT
In regards to what I mentioned earlier about the Gundams to have been noted to "float" instead of flying in atmosphere according to the 300 Years Later book, I can think of how that might work based in whether the GN Particles manipulate weight or mass.
If its weight manipulation, it would be like if the particles were to nullify gravity's effect on the MS completely. This should make it seem like if the Gundam was floating similar to a zero-G environment.
If its mass manipulation, I figured that it works by changing the Gundams' density as its mass is changed. The basic formula for density is mass/volume and under this line of thought the Gundam's have the ability to reduce their own mass. When the mass IE the numerator of the formula is reduced, the density would drop as a result of that manipulation since the volume of the suit remaisn constant, When the density is lower than air, the suit should naturally float.
Whether its gravity or density change, both of these would be for in-atmospheric occasions only of course. Wouldn't be related to their other alternative form of movement; whatever it is.
