Ships and Combat Density of Minovksy Particles

[Underrated GM Custom]

I was reading over some old threads regarding combat density and it brought to mind a question. For the smaller ships such as the Salamis and Musai, can a single one spread out enough Minovsky particles for combat density, or does it require a squadron of ships.

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In the above thread Mark references Gundam Historica. Here's the relevant bit:

At the 20-minute mark, the particles have reached "combat density" out to a radius of 50 km, and the effect basically tapers off to nothing around 100 km. At the two hour mark, they're only at combat density out to a radius of 25 km. And at four hours, they're only at combat density right at the point of origin.

I know the White Base can reach combat density on its own, it is a rather large and impressive ship but I'm curious if there are any sources stating that smaller ships can do so on their own, or if multiple need to be present in order to reach the standard combat density at 50km.

From EB 1

With the successful development of the MS-05 Zaku I in U.C. 0074, the concept of maneuver warfare was born, and space vessels were designed specifically to carry mobile suits. The Musai-class light cruiser, which could carry five mobile suits, was the first space vessel created with this concept in mind. It used nuclear thermal rockets for its propulsion system, and three twin mega particle cannons as its main guns. It was also equipped with radar-nullifying Minovsky particle generators.

Based on this I would guess the Musai was specifically designed to be able to spread Minovsky to combat density by itself, whereas the Salamis and Magellan which predate it may not be as efficient at spreading M.Particles. However, there are three mobile armors that can spread M.Particles to combat density, the Adzam, Apsaras, and Big Zam; the Adzam is relatively small so I suppose the Salamis should be able to as well by itself.

Related question, do any sources indicate if ships stop scattering M.Particles after combat begins in order to conserve reactor power for propulsion and weapons, or are they constantly emitting them? Thanks!

[MythSearcher]

They probably can. Notice the Salamis, while with lots of different sizes(212, 228, 288m, I also kinda like how Origin's take of the 260-ish middle size while it probably isn't canon. It fits into my theory about different sized ships of the same class pretty well. Off topic so I will just say it is just taking a 288m class engine and sticking it to a 212/228m hull.) isn't much smaller or even is larger than the WB.
The Magellan is even bigger.
And notice we get the M warhead after OYW where they can just fire and spread M particles(but required certain approval because of the pollution they caused for jamming radio signals for everyone including civilians)
So spreading M particles don't really need big size ships.

However, we get sources saying EFSF got other ships. They have ships to scatter beam diffusion screens(basically much denser M particles or metal dust or both) before engagement to avoid being hit.(which costs them a lot of these ships in the battle of ABQ because the Zeon was prepared and fired missiles to take down these engineering ships.) So they don't really need to do all the job themselves.

And I'd say they just keep scattering because their M-I generators are basically just a source of M Particles. They may scatter less when not running at full power but very likely mostly running at full power in battle.

[Underrated GM Custom]

That all makes sense, thank you. I had a feeling they were always releasing M Particles but I didn't know if emitting enough for combat density required diverting power from something else. I'm assuming if a ship retreats they may cut power in some places to maximize power being sent to engines. Next time I rewatch MSG (TV) I'll keep an eye out to see if they mention combat density when there's only a single Salamis or Magellan. I'm all but positive we see a single Musai do so in the early episodes, but the description from EB1 does call out the Musai for having M Particle generators, I believe Gelgoog Jaeger pointed out those could be some of the holes shown on the Musai's hull.

[MythSearcher]

That all makes sense, thank you. I had a feeling they were always releasing M Particles but I didn't know if emitting enough for combat density required diverting power from something else. I'm assuming if a ship retreats they may cut power in some places to maximize power being sent to engines. Next time I rewatch MSG (TV) I'll keep an eye out to see if they mention combat density when there's only a single Salamis or Magellan. I'm all but positive we see a single Musai do so in the early episodes, but the description from EB1 does call out the Musai for having M Particle generators, I believe Gelgoog Jaeger pointed out those could be some of the holes shown on the Musai's hull.

Suddenly thought of this. Were the EFSF ships even designed to have the capability to scatter M particles?
yes, they generate a lot of it, but the EFSF never had the idea of using it as a radar jammer because they are the ones who benefited from radar and radio wave communicatios and have advantage without jamming.
Since their tactics did not involve scattering M particles, maybe their ships weren't designed to do it.
Yeah, maybe some guys rolling buckets of M particles to an air gate and tossing it out works, but that'd look really stupid XD
I guess they have to release the produced M particles out sooner or later so they probably still have some kind of hatch to release them, but I seriously think that that hatch might lead to the main thrusters(thermo nuclear rockets basically has this big openning from the fusion reactor to the thrusters) and they just blow whatever particles they collected out.

[Deacon Blues]

That all makes sense, thank you. I had a feeling they were always releasing M Particles but I didn't know if emitting enough for combat density required diverting power from something else. I'm assuming if a ship retreats they may cut power in some places to maximize power being sent to engines. Next time I rewatch MSG (TV) I'll keep an eye out to see if they mention combat density when there's only a single Salamis or Magellan. I'm all but positive we see a single Musai do so in the early episodes, but the description from EB1 does call out the Musai for having M Particle generators, I believe Gelgoog Jaeger pointed out those could be some of the holes shown on the Musai's hull.

For what it's worth, one of the original blueprints for the Musai that came out back in 1981 does indicate that it has emission nozzles. You can see it here.

[Underrated GM Custom]

For what it's worth, one of the original blueprints for the Musai that came out back in 1981 does indicate that it has emission nozzles. You can see it here.

I haven't seen that internal blueprint before, fascinating stuff. Thanks Deacon!

Suddenly thought of this. Were the EFSF ships even designed to have the capability to scatter M particles?
yes, they generate a lot of it, but the EFSF never had the idea of using it as a radar jammer because they are the ones who benefited from radar and radio wave communicatios and have advantage without jamming.
Since their tactics did not involve scattering M particles, maybe their ships weren't designed to do it.
Yeah, maybe some guys rolling buckets of M particles to an air gate and tossing it out works, but that'd look really stupid XD
I guess they have to release the produced M particles out sooner or later so they probably still have some kind of hatch to release them, but I seriously think that that hatch might lead to the main thrusters(thermo nuclear rockets basically has this big openning from the fusion reactor to the thrusters) and they just blow whatever particles they collected out.

Yeah I think the Federation had the capability of spreading M Particles but I don't think they considered it offensively; instead Zeon pioneered the use of it since it provides 'concealment' I suppose for their new weapon, mobile suits. From the blueprint Deacon showed the Musai was likely the first ship designed with scattering M particles in mind. With M particles making radar tracking all but null and void and diminishing the accuracy of MPC its a rather powerful tactic for letting MS get in close. Had the Federation developed beam weapons on their fighter craft earlier they might have adopted a different tactic.

I think the Federation still has a use for it though, since a high density of M particles does allow them to hide fleet movements. Isn't that how the Tianem fleet snuck up on Solomon?

[MythSearcher]

Yeah I think the Federation had the capability of spreading M Particles but I don't think they considered it offensively; instead Zeon pioneered the use of it since it provides 'concealment' I suppose for their new weapon, mobile suits. From the blueprint Deacon showed the Musai was likely the first ship designed with scattering M particles in mind. With M particles making radar tracking all but null and void and diminishing the accuracy of MPC its a rather powerful tactic for letting MS get in close. Had the Federation developed beam weapons on their fighter craft earlier they might have adopted a different tactic.

I think the Federation still has a use for it though, since a high density of M particles does allow them to hide fleet movements. Isn't that how the Tianem fleet snuck up on Solomon?

Yes, but that is after the start of OYW and the Winson plan, meaning they have time to learn from their mistakes and modify the ships.
I was talking about whether they considered having that ability when the ships were designed and lay down back in the late 60's and early 70's.