The Best Way to Launch a Mechanized Assault

[RGM-79 GM]

Made up my own numbers and forces.

12 Zaku IIs each with one machine gun, one extra drum, one heathawk, and one cracker and 60 infantry with assault rifles, two grenades, four extra magazines, and one knife.

VS.

60 Infantry fortty in baracks, 10 outside main gate, five in cave southwest of the base, and five to the east of the base, twenty tanks ten inside and ten outside infront of base forming a half circle facing forward to aim down, three large cannons, one to the west can fire in this radius (, one south can fire in this radius U, and one east can fire in this radius ), eight .50 cal MGs four at main gate, two on the east of the base, and two on the front of the base. Six fighters also three on patrol and three in hangers.

I'd have the twelve Zakus line up side by side with 20ft between each one and begin moving up the west side of the mountain as fast as they can safely go as they need to go slower than normal to make sure they don't fall. They are in a line to spread out enemy fire instead of it all being in one spot and allow all my Zakus to shoot back. Infantry split into two 30 man groups. One goes up behind the Zakus and the other goes up the east side to blow a hole in the wall and get in the base.

The three patrolling fighters report the Zeon forces advance and the Feds prepare for combat. Ten tanks and two large cannons begin to fire on the Zakus as they go up. The Zakus do fire back but concentrate on going up. Three Zakus are lost, six are damaged, one critically damaged, and two with no damage. Between five through eleven rounds fired at each Zaku and as the Zakus run the risk of falling with a careless movement they can't dodge very effectivly.

Four Fed tanks are destroyed, one damaged, and one cannon is destroyed. Leaving one cannon, six tanks, and three fighters vs. nine Zakus. While the Zakus climb and fight the ground targets the three fighters attack three of the six damaged Zakus, two missiles for each Zaku, and take out two as well as destorying the right arm of the other. The ground forces are distracting the Zakus and the Zakus are mostly trying to get up the mountain so they aren't able to fight effectivly. They also can't dodge well since they could fall down the mountain and they are traveling slowly up the mountain to help prevent them from falling. The other three fighters prepare for launch.

As the Zakus advance the infantry move up behind them. When they get within range the thirty man group comes under fire from four .50 cal MGs each one firing 40 rounds/min. Five .50 cal rounds at each man every one minute and four hundred rounds every ten minutes. In two minutes the infantry take heavy losses with most being dead and some being in critical condition. The relativly unharmed ones help the ones in critical condition and are about to head down the mountain when they come under fire from the Fed infantry in the cave and are nearly wiped out in the combined attack of the .50 cal MGs and the Fed infantry and are forced to retreat.

The Zakus get 70m from the base losing one more on the way up and all have some damage as the other Fed fighters launch. Two tanks are left, and the three new fightersand the ten tanks in the base, which begin to move out of the base, along with the west large cannon. They all fire on the Zakus destroying or disabling the rest of them under the combined attack.

The other infantry get up the hill but were detected by the gunners and took some losses(9) before taking out the guns. They were able to blow a hole in the side of the base but are forced to fight the forty Fed infantry still in the base as well as the 10 infantry that were at the main gate but were sent to support the other forty infantry-men. The Zeon infantry are outnumbered and know they may also have to deal with tanks so they surrender.

That is how I think it would go. IMO the Zeon wouldn't have much of a chance without air support and tanks. The fact that all Zeon forces are grounded means they all are forced to climb up the mountain so the infantry would get tired and the Zakus would slow down due to the risk of falling while the Feds could just sit there shelling the Zeon all day.

[WhiteWingDemon]

"Your Just gonna have to trust me" Qoute Pacha from Emeror's New Groove

That attitude will make your men and machines very much dead really quick. The EFF could have twice as many GMs in the base as your MS force that you might not know about and could easily end up taking out at least 1/3 of your force before you even knew what was going on.

I wasn't aware that the Feds had GM's three months into the war...

[RGM-79 GM]

"Your Just gonna have to trust me" Qoute Pacha from Emeror's New Groove

That attitude will make your men and machines very much dead really quick. The EFF could have twice as many GMs in the base as your MS force that you might not know about and could easily end up taking out at least 1/3 of your force before you even knew what was going on.

I wasn't aware that the Feds had GM's three months into the war...

He probably just made a mistake or maybe he just didn't see when it was taking place. I know stuff like that has happened to me and some of my friends.

[bjgray1]

I would lay seige cut off the enemys supply lines and force them to come out of there defenses where they are more vulnerable the good thing about seige warfare is if you cut of there supply lines you can strve them of resources while building up more of your own. I would then execute hannibals game plan from cannae.

[RGM-79 GM]

The Feds could just use aircraft to get supplies and they could come in from a area the Zeon guys couldn't attack and could also be well above the Zeon's soldier's range and as the Zeon have no aircraft here destroying Fed aircraft would be a challenge.

[mcred23]

Not to mention that the Federation would almost certainly have superior numbers, so they could break a seige with their numbers of tanks and infantry (Not to mention what effect the EFAF might have, or if the terrain would even allow Zeon to fully close of the base).

[domtropen]

Someone called for Recon?

Just kidding. Seriously, an invading Zeon force is going to match the EAF defenders type- for- type, e.g. fighters with fighters and tanks with tanks, except for the Zakus which have no EAF equivalents at the time. What really matters is the quality and number of troops, not just the types. For example, Zeon tanks and fighters may be more suited for colony combat, meaning that EAF Fly Mantas and Type 61s would tear them apart. EAF forces also greatly outnumber Zeon forces, for all the technological gap.

Maybe not if the number of fighter aircraft of both sides are equal. According to Gundam Century translation by Mr. Mark:

http://ultimatemark.com/gundam/archive/ ... ntury.html

the majority of the fed's fighter aircrafts suffer from reliance on radar and missiles that are nullified by Minovsky particles and are at most just on par with Zeon's Dopps. However the fed does have much more aircrafts than Zeon.

Magella tank seems to be pretty much a failure apart from its main cannon though [unless the driver is very good like in 08th MS team].

[mcred23]

Excpet that newer sources have changed that. IIRC, it's become that it was the EFAF who held up the Zeon forces on Earth the most. Keep in mind that a good deal of the information in that source is clearly outdated (IE, the GM beginning production in June 0080). MSV, from 1983, notes that Zeon's air power was inferior and that the EFAF was "superior in both quality and quantity".

And as for the Dopp being as good as Federation fighters, that comes from a source from 1981. The TIN Cod and Saberfish didn't exsist till 1983, in the previously mentioned MSV.

[domtropen]

From Mahq test version of Tin Cod was rolled out in UC 0062, so it is one of the pre-Minovsky era design aircraft too, and nothing is known about about its performance apart from being light and have good maneuverability [which Dopp has too despite the weird design]. IIRC from Zeta both Tin Cod and Saberfish doesn't seem to be exceptional in performance compared to more recent Dopp and Jet Corebooster shown in 08th MS Team. And of course the missile carried by both Tin Cod and Saberfish may not be of much use if it is the older radar-guide ones.

In the translation Dopp is said to be still prone to frequent crash and have not enough range for large battlefield, and I guess stuff like Fly Manta and Saberfish should have much more range and time in the air than Dopp, and not crash as often. Maybe the quality part has to do with other parts of overall performance and durability that is not necessarily dogfight or ground attack performance?