MS better suited for space combat: GM or Rick Dom?

[Paul McCartney Jr]

If you think about the long run, by Zeta, most of the suits had anti beam coating so solid ammo really came in handy there

[mcred23]

Unlike CE's Anti-Beam Coating, UC's Anti-Beam Coating is largely useless. It's only effective against near-miss shots or ones from odd angles, and it'll only stop two or three shots before the stuff is burned of the shield (Which is the only place they can easily apply it) and thats it. It does very little against direct shots, and MS carry shields and gain better armor types making machine guns even less effective than that...

[Gelgoog Jager]

About the stats, while I don't want to contradict Mahq, I have already pointed that the Rick Dom has 3 unmentioned thrusters on their foot-soles (not the one on the leg armor that the Dom also has). Here's a pic to show my point:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/ ... /DOM_4.jpg

I don't how much power each of them have, but based on the info on the Zaku and GM, thrusters on the feet are less powerful than the ones from the backpack, but in this case, there are two regular sized thrusters and a large one on each foot. So I came up with a few possibilities on the actual propulsion of the Rick Dom:

Here are some numbers to compare:

GM:
Weight: 58.8 tons
180° in 1.6s

Rocket thrusters (6 total):
2 x 24000 kg (on backpack)
4 x 1870 kg (2 on each foot)
Total: 55480 k
acc: 0.94 G

Rick Dom:
Weight: 78.6 tons
180° in 2.1s

Rocket thrusters:

Mahq (11 total):
2 x 22000 kg (on backpack)
9 x 1000 kg (3 on skirt armor, 3 on each leg armor)
Total: 53000 kg
acc: 0.67 G

Actual thrusters (17 total):

Possibility 1:
2 x 22000 kg (2 on back)
13 x 1000 kg (3 on skirt armor, 3 on each leg armor, 2 on each foot-sole)
2 x 2000 kg (1 on each foot-sole)
Total: 61000 kg
acc: 0.78 G

Possibility 2:
2 x 22000 kg (back)
15 x 1000 kg (3 on skirt armor, 3 on each leg armor, 3 on each foot-sole)
Total: 59000 k
acc: 0.75 G

Possibility 3:
4 x 22000 kg (2 on back, 2 on foot-sole)
13 x 1000 kg (3 on skirt armor, 3 on each leg armor, 2 on each foot-sole)
Total: 101000 kg
acc: 1.28 G

The real problem in my figures is once again knowing the actual power of each of these unmentioned thrusters, yet the first possibility is the one I would consider more plausible, but remember, these are only assumptions.

Any comments are welcome.

[Mwulf]

We've been through that before....

The thing is... the GM was designed for space combat, the Rick Dom was a mobile suit designed for land combat (Dom) and refitted for space (Rick-Dom). Each mobile suit is superiour at the arena it is designed for... a Dom will beat a GM in gravity, a GM will beat a Dom in space.

[Random Zaku Pilot]

I think feet thrusters work mostly on ground doms in or on gravity like earth or something to hover like it does.(well that what i always thought anyway) But Gelgoog Jäger do have a point with feet boosters about making the rick dom faster in space.

[Ryujin]

With regards to target acquisition, it's clearly much faster & easier to track a target with a pistol than with a much bulkier bazooka, especially at close ranges. Greater freedom of movement and less inertia to contend with.

[Paul McCartney Jr]

We're speaking 2 different languages here, is this a 1 on 1 fight or a group on group fight?

[mcred23]

The thing is... the GM was designed for space combat, the Rick Dom was a mobile suit designed for land combat (Dom) and refitted for space (Rick-Dom).

Actually, the RGM-79 was designed as a general purpose machine that could be used anywhere, much like Zeon's MS-06F could be used in Space or on Earth without much trouble, it's not specifcally a machine designed for space combat.

But you are right about the Rick Dom being a refitted land mobile suit. Of course, as we said before, at the time it was chosen by Zeon (Late July/Early August according to Mark's timeline), it was the right mobile suit. Of course, once Federation MS enter the sceen, things took a massive turn...

[domtropen]

1 on 1 fight with normal grunt pilots: GM is likely to win if it can quickly get close to strike with beam saber or BSG before Rickdom can pull out its heat saber. Rickdom can survive if it can repel initial attack and keep distance and run away rather than trying to duel with GM. If it can be kept as gunfight it would be hard to say who will win since at distance either MS can play with their advantages to explore others' disadvantages, with Rickdom keep zooming around and GM doing quick dodge and countershot or dash in when opportunity arises.

[Mwulf]

And, of course, there's the fact that most GM pilots were rookies while Dom pilots likely had several months of combat experience in mobile suits....

[RGM-79 GM]

Actually by the time the GM was in production(mostly at A Boua Qu) most of the Zeon pilots were either rushed through their training or had minimal experiance. Now there were more experianced Zeon MS pilots(most of them never fought MS though) then Fed pilots but on average they were about the same with rushed training and minimal experiance.

[Mwulf]

Er... what about Solomon and Jaburo?

And didn't the 08th MS team retcon the Feddie MS development timeline to have GMs and Gundam[G]s appearing earlier?

[RGM-79 GM]

At Jaburo more Zeon pilots than Fed pilot had experiance but most of the pilots on both sides had very little experiance fighting in a MS. At Solomon same thing. More Zeon pilots than Fed pilots had experiance but most of the pilots were still rookies. Most of Zeon's experianced pilots were killed earlier in the war.

The Ground GM, E-type GM, and Ground Gundam were made before the RGM-79 GM. The RGM-79 GM didn't show up in 08th MS team.

[Paul McCartney Jr]

The GMs won at Solomon because they were able to put many more GMs out that Zeon could their suits. Girhen says its something like 1-30 which isnt a high prospect.

[mcred23]

The GMs won at Solomon because they were able to put many more GMs out that Zeon could their suits. Girhen says its something like 1-30 which isnt a high prospect.

That isn't right. I've heard that the Federation may have had a numerical edge, but it wasn't even a 2-to-1 advantage, let alone 30-to-1.

Besides, lets not forget the GM was better than any Zeon mobile suit at Solomon (Which only had Rick Dom and Zaku II units).

[Paul McCartney Jr]

The GMs won at Solomon because they were able to put many more GMs out that Zeon could their suits. Girhen says its something like 1-30 which isnt a high prospect.

That isn't right. I've heard that the Federation may have had a numerical edge, but it wasn't even a 2-to-1 advantage, let alone 30-to-1.

Besides, lets not forget the GM was better than any Zeon mobile suit at Solomon (Which only had Rick Dom and Zaku II units).

I feel compelled to laugh because you just ended the arguement with that post.

[RGM-79 GM]

Don't forget that he was probably including the RB-79 Balls. I mean that is the same as saying if Zeon had 100 MS the Feds would have 3000 MS at that one battle alone not to mention all the GMs everywhere else in space and on earth. That and Zeon had been mass-producing MS for years while the Feds only had been for a few months.

[mcred23]

I feel compelled to laugh because you just ended the arguement with that post.

We've been saying since the start the GM is the overall better machine.

Don't forget that he was probably including the RB-79 Balls. I mean that is the same as saying if Zeon had 100 MS the Feds would have 3000 MS at that one battle alone not to mention all the GMs everywhere else in space and on earth.

Still, I doubt even adding RB-79's into the count would bring it even close to that high (Particularly seeing how only about 1200 Ball's were built). Plus, this kind leads to that whole Can-O-Worm of how many GM's were built (What with all the conflicting and/or vauge numbers and information we have out there).

[RGM-79 GM]

Yeah thats true.

[Paul McCartney Jr]

This all comes down to a matter of taste and abilities; each suit has a strong point and a weak point. GMs do have the advantage that they won their war but thats also (partially) due to there being more of them.