Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

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RGM-79 GM
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Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

In episode 4 of Unicorn I couldn't help but notice that several remnant MS seemed atleast somewhat resistant to beam weapons. The Capule blocked a Nemo's beam saber with it's hand as did the Juaggu. With a GM III's beam javelin then seeming to be slowed by the Juaggu's arm when it cut it off. Later the Byarlant custom's beams were in some cases literally deflecting off of Zee Zulus, the Z'Gok, and Zogok. Now with the Byarlant I could see it as having weaker beams for a higher rate of fire but not even MS armored in Gundarium could block beam sabers. Is it possible that they coated their MS in ABC or is there another possible explanation? No other regular MS in Unicorn seem able to resist beams like them that I've seen.
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domtropen
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

That is interesting especially on the Zee Zulu, since Geara Zulu in space seems to be shot and cut with ease by beam weapons. Z'gok and Gog in OYW does get destroyed by a single beam shot by Gundam and corebooster [and in Gog's case from top of head straight through the bottom].
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

I guess my questions would be:

1) Do beam weapons have varying strengths? and

2) Can heavy armour resist beams at all?

If yes, then what we're probably seeing is the heavier armour of older machines (the 'Goks) and the stronger beam weapons of newer space-based machines (with the Geara Zulus) at work. That still doesn't entirely explain the Zee Zulus, which are newer machines and thus likely have lighter armour, but since they're new they're also the more likely to have ABC coatings and whatnot.
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

Yes beams do vary in strength and yes heavy armor does help but that was only the case with the The-O IIRC. Which had Gundarium armor and lots of it. Much more than Z'Goks and Zogoks had. Weaker beams in the OYW also worked on them AFAIK.
US Army Infantryman's creed wrote:In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous; Armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country's trust. Always I fight on: through the foe, to the objective, to triumph over all. If necessary, I fight to my death
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Gelgoog Jager
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

Regarding the battle at Torrington, I had the impression that the Z'gok and Zogok do were taking damage, judging by the heat marks left on their armor, while the Zee Zulu's armor endured the same barrage without getting such damage.

Assuming both the Z'gok and Zogok didn't had their armor materials upgraded, they would both still be using super high tensile steel. The Zee Zulu on te other hand would be supposed to have a Titanium/Ceramic Composite Alloy, which I seem to recall was said to be able to endure damage from beam weapons better.

Before explaining the odd case of the Juaggu, let me address the other amphibious:

Zaku Mariner: quickly destroyed by a short barrage. Armor material is supposed to be a titanium/gundarium composite alloy.

Capule: Said to have a bolstered Gundarium alloy armor, its claws seem quite capable of handling a beam saber, at least for a while, but the suit itself seems to go down quickly after another short barrage. However, the Byarlant Custom seems to use the unit that it just destroyed as a shield against the Zogok boomerang cutters and there's no visible marks left from the Byarlant's shots. My guess is that the Capile might have been hit in one of its missile launchers, rather than on its armor, causing internal explosions and that caused it to go down quickly, yet it's armor was so sturdy that externally it didn't seem to have suffered significant damage.

Finally, let's go back to the Juaggu. Now, I can think of at least a couple of reasons for which it could have simply been applied anti-beam coating on its arms: 1- either to prevent the arms from being heavily damaged in case the Juagg was forced to fire it's beam weapons with its arms still in front of it, or 2- to provide additional defense against EF MS, making up for the lack of melee weapons. Both options would justify why the Juaggu had additional anti-beam protection while the Z'gok and Zogok don't. By the way, it may be a safe assumption to consider that the OYW version of the Juaggu also used Super High Tensile Steel armor.

Anyway, considering these examples, it seems that Titanium Ceramic Composite does provides the better endurance against beam weapons.
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

Armor does work sometimes, even with MP MS. :P For an attack to properly penetrate armor, it has to directly strike the armored surface at a favorable angle of penetration. An off-center or grazing hit is unlikely to penetrate armor and cause any significant damage at all, regardless of the power of the attacking weapon. Just blazing away at a MS with a beam gun or thrusting at one with a beam saber/spear is not guaranteeing an explosion. It takes a calculated shot or strike-or a good lucky one-to hit the right location at the right angle to pierce through the armor and strike a vital location.

More a more recent example, the movie Fury shows the titular Sherman tank being struck at least twice by anti-tank solid rounds which hit on the outside edge of the tank's front plate. There are some impressive sparks and sounds, but the tank itself loses no combat capability.
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MythSearcher
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

Zeon started replacing laser defence with beam resistive coating after MS-07-B3, it is not as magically varying as the Hyakushiki Anti Beam Coating, but will at least reduce some level of damage.

The armour does little help by itself, at least starting from the mid-0080s that is the main reason of Hyakushiki removing its leg armours.

Also, if you have guts, blocking beams with a beam cannon's I-Field is at least theoretically possible. :P
(You need high level of NT negative time reflexes though)
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Gelgoog Jager
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

MythSearcher wrote:Zeon started replacing laser defence with beam resistive coating after MS-07-B3, it is not as magically varying as the Hyakushiki Anti Beam Coating, but will at least reduce some level of damage.
So far we had only heard about beam coating being used on Gelgoog's shields during the OYW. I don't know if we might be talking of the same anti-beam coating though (or if it is even applied on the MS themselves rather than just the shields).

Using the MS-07B-3 as reference also makes more difficult figuring when could the anti-beam coating have been first implemented. Originally the MS-07B-3 had first been spotted by early December (Norris unit), though now MS Igloo 2 places a unit at Odessa by early November. I guess the later timing works well for allowing the Gelgoog series and most Zeon MAs (Bigro & Val Varo) to implement the anti-beam coating.

Back to the original question and assuming you are right, I suppose it's possible that since the MSM-04G & MSM-08 are not ready by the time of the assault on Jaburo, they are among the last MSM units to be completed, and therefore they do could have anti-beam coating. The Z'gok on the other hand was supposedly first deployed on August, but I guess the S-type which is said to have replaced the standard MSM-07 do might have been deployed sometime later. If we assume that Char's unit was the first or at least one of the first MSM-07S units, their first deployment could have been by late November, which would more or less fit the timing for including it among the units with anti-beam coating.
MythSearcher wrote:The armour does little help by itself, at least starting from the mid-0080s that is the main reason of Hyakushiki removing its leg armours.
However the Hyaku Shiki is more of an exception rather than the rule: most Gryps era MS have rather heavy armor, with most MS not even using handheld shields. Then we also have the opposite side of the spectrum in the form of The O, which supposedly had so much armor that it could withstand beam attacks to some degree.
MythSearcher wrote:Also, if you have guts, blocking beams with a beam cannon's I-Field is at least theoretically possible. :P
(You need high level of NT negative time reflexes though)
I'm guessing you meant beam sabers here? I'm more curious on whether the Gelgoog's high speed spinning of the beam naginata can actually work as a crude beam shield, which I should be a feat that regular pilots should also be capable of.
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MythSearcher
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Re: Zeon Remnant beam resistance.

Gelgoog Jager wrote: So far we had only heard about beam coating being used on Gelgoog's shields during the OYW. I don't know if we might be talking of the same anti-beam coating though (or if it is even applied on the MS themselves rather than just the shields).

Using the MS-07B-3 as reference also makes more difficult figuring when could the anti-beam coating have been first implemented. Originally the MS-07B-3 had first been spotted by early December (Norris unit), though now MS Igloo 2 places a unit at Odessa by early November. I guess the later timing works well for allowing the Gelgoog series and most Zeon MAs (Bigro & Val Varo) to implement the anti-beam coating.
Okay, I must say that I got this source from a rather reliable Chinese Gundam website, I did not bother to check then, but I cannot find it in official sources(checked Gundam Officials, MG and HG model manuals and ver.1.5). I do can find Gelgoog's shields mention in The Encyclopedia of Gundam Ver. 1.5 though.
However the Hyaku Shiki is more of an exception rather than the rule: most Gryps era MS have rather heavy armor, with most MS not even using handheld shields. Then we also have the opposite side of the spectrum in the form of The O, which supposedly had so much armor that it could withstand beam attacks to some degree.
Well, if beam resistive coating can only protect you from a far away shot at a shallow angle, you can't really do much.
Beam rifles, even early ones like the RX-78-2 one, can still puncture a light Cruiser's armour with relative ease.
I'm guessing you meant beam sabers here? I'm more curious on whether the Gelgoog's high speed spinning of the beam naginata can actually work as a crude beam shield, which I should be a feat that regular pilots should also be capable of.
I meant the beam rifles and cannons.
As long as your beam weapon's output is not a lot lower than the incoming beam's, the I-Field inside the barrel and compression chamber should be able to withstand that beam.(and possibly pressing it back out of the barrel.)
Of course the beam sabres work much better than that, beam shields are shield shaped beam sabres.
The naginata actually works. The official say about the really bent beam sabre in RX-78-2 scene in the eye catch(pulling the beam sabre from the back pack while swinging and turning on the beam) is the I-Field holding in the beam takes that shape when it is being turned on, so the beam naginata actually forms a thin beam layer instead of just having a spinning beam rod occasionally protecting the Gelgoog.
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