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sketchley

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  1. sketchley
    I've just looked through all four books in that doujinshi series, and the Environment Battleship doesn't appear. There are 4 versions of the Medium Sized Gun Destroyer in the publication. I've translated the text for the 'standard' version, and bits of the two UNS versions on my site* (I'm not bothering with the no-main gun 'standard' version for obvious reasons...). Only the first UNS version has any dates mentioned in its write-up (produced from 2010~2030, with 32 produced in total). The second UNS version doesn't have any dates or total numbers at all—perhaps it's the 2060 version mentioned on the Pixiv account? They are both apparently newly built for the UNS. The UNS modifed version of Buritai's ship appears in silhouette at the back of the Zentradi book (along with Macross II's Macross Cannon!) in an article titled 統合政府で計画または建造されたゼントラーディ軍系の艦艇 (Zentraedi military vessels planned or built by the Unified Government). It's description is brief, but the gist of it is: newly built ships, 1/10 the weight of the original version, uses standardized UNS equipment, improved firepower, mobility, etc., but has weaker armour (literally 'reduced bullet resistance'). * http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/Stats/Statistics/ZentraadiShips/MediumGunboat.php
  2. sketchley
    Hmmm... I don't recall seeing the Battleship Environment Ship conversion in those doujinshi. Maybe it was added for the Pixiv version? Nevertheless, I'll look through them again. If memory serves, the UN converted Nupetiet Vergnitzs does appear, but only in silhouette, only in passing, and its in one of the magazines dedicated to the UN Spacy.
  3. sketchley
    Nothing comes to mind about the Zentradi ships being unable to make longer trips. Perhaps that stems from a convolution of 'not being able to make comparatively longish individual space folds' and 'not being that fast when making a space fold' (the apparently speedest ship is the Varota High Speed Raiding Cruiser). It makes perfect sense that the surviving (captured) Zentradi ships would be used to secure routes, as well as play a role in escorting the emigrant fleets. One thing to keep in mind is that despite their size to us humans, the Zentradi ships aren't that large for the giant Zentradi. As you pointed out, it's only the largest that would work as Emigrant ships. Multiple Buritai's ships appeared in an escort fleet in Macross 7 (official). Battleships Of The Galaxy Book 3: Zentrādi Military Vessels doesn't elaborate on an emigrant ship version of that class. However, it does provide an alternative "Environment Ship" specification of the Landing Ship. I've translated that doujinshi's description here (not official): http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/Stats/Statistics/ZentraadiShips/LandingShip.php#Environment Even though it's not part of the official setting, it does raise the possibility that a refurbished Kirutora Keruēru could be used as the main ship in a smaller Emigrant Fleet.
  4. sketchley
    Yes. One of the more notable ones I know of is in Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back): the pilot of a snow speeder is 'cheated' (as written on the production drawings) to the left so that the over-the-shoulder camera sees more of the cockpit panels as well as outside the canopy. In other words, the actor was squeezed up against one side of the canopy to get the shot. It's highly likely that the same thing is happening with Airwolf, especially as they were produced around the same time.
  5. sketchley
    The mecha that appeared in the "Macross Chronicle Mechanic Other*" pages are a bit of a grey area. One gets the impression that they were included because that magazine had both access to the designs and wanted to be completionists when it came to Kawamori Shoji's and Kazutaka Miyatake's Macross related artwork. The Quadoran-Nona isn't the only thing to crop up from the Saturn/PS1 DYRL game: the Meltrandi Assault Plunder Ship and Zentradi Jamming Station also get a write-up: http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/MCRmechanic/Other06aHatchetAnnabellaLasiodora.php#reverse Those three vehicles make a bit of sense, because that game is essentially an embellishment of the TV series and movie. However, the page with the VF-X-7, Ghost Valkyrie, VF-X-11, VA-X-3, V-BR-2, and Stampede Valkyrie is much more confusing. None of them are apparently part of the official setting! 🤷‍♂️ http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/MCRmechanic/Other09Astampedvalkyrie.php * http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/MCRmechanic/MCRmechanic.php#Other
  6. sketchley
    If memory serves, it was when M+ and M7 were released. In short: they needed to pick a definitive timeline (as the 2 versions differ), and opted for "TV series story, movie designs". Digital Mission VF-X (and its successor VF-X2) are part of the official timeline—along with Macross M3 and Macross 30. As Macross 2036 and Macross Eternal Love Song are part of the Macross II timeline (if memory serves), if they were ever part of an 'official' timeline, they were moved to the alternative one when Macross II was first deemed to be in an alternative universe (which happened at the same time as the answer to 1 above).
  7. sketchley
    In short, they don't exist for the PPB. Regarding the Fold System itself, I am aware of 2 images, both from SDFM. One is the system inside the Factory Satellite (I can't find the images online), the other is the Fold System in the SDF-1 (note the person for scale): From the SDF-1 Macross link on: https://www.macross2.net/m3/sdfmacross/sdfmacross-index.html While the greebles are different, the overall shape of the Fold System is the same.
  8. sketchley
    I think there's a bit of 'lost in translation' (E→J) and 'wasei eigo' (Japanese English) that makes the naming confusing for us native English speakers. Macross Chronicle* explained the roles of each type of Variable craft somewhat. VA and VB are: It also doesn't help that the only example of a VB we've seen is the VB-6... * http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/MCRtechnology/01aVariableFighter.php
  9. sketchley
    It's possible. Kawamori-san has always said that contact was lost—what amounts to the original cast having their happy ending and having ridden into the sunset. The specifics (and time) where unknown until that mail-in gift card. As for Macross timelines: they tend to get rewritten a lot, and tailored to the latest Macross series. Hearing those names brings back a lot of memories! LOL
  10. sketchley
    Was it this item*? http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/OTother/MinmeiLastMessage.php While it specifically states Minmei's last message was sent "July 7, 2016", I think it's fairly safe to say that the Megaroad-01 didn't disappear that very same day. * The mail-in gift was created for a 1997 Sega Saturn / 1999 PS1 game. It's unknown if a non-Japanese publisher (e.g. Animerica) would have known about it.
  11. sketchley
    Yes, something along those lines. However, "Fold" probably isn't used in the same way as it came to be used in Macross Frontier. And yes, Speaker Pods didn't exist until Macross 7. 3 large Fins on each outboard engine pod → single fin on enlarged gun under fuselage → finished design (2 stubby fins on each outboard engine pod) There are only the two rough design iterations in the "Macross Shoji Kawamori Designer's Notes" book. The two iterations in Fighter, and then the two iterations in Battroid. Given that the fin moves to the large (beam?) gun pod, it lends credence that it's a cooling fin. A radome like greeble appears on the finished design, which suggests that the fins in the 1st image may be pulling double duty (radar-like sensor and cooling fin).
  12. sketchley
    It's possible. Kawamori-san also seems to have a thing for halo-like forms projecting off the back of his mecha (not only in Macross, but a lot of other series). So, those things may have just been a design itch that he just had to scratch.
  13. sketchley
    This particular greeble only appears on this rough draft. I suspect that they are either additional sensor antenna (radar arrays) and/or some type of cooling system. As Kawamori-san was very conscious of the power generation requirements for the Armour Pack and their related cooling systems—and has incorporated cooling mechanisms in other VFs released in the same period—I'm tempted to say that those fins are more likely giant heat sinks. Nevertheless, Kawamori-san has a history of adding extraneous fin greebles to change the silhouette, and I think that's all that they are at this point of the design process (as they did't appear in subsequent iterative designs, I suspect he didn't have a plausible explanation for them, as well!)
  14. sketchley
    It's unclear what they are. I pulled out my copy of the book and there aren't any descriptive notes. However, they are present on ALL variations Kawamore-san drew. Therefore, they are either a) something the client asked for, or b) a design greeble that Kawamori-san was obsessing about. The later makes a lot of sense, as Kawamori-san is very picky about differentiating the silhouette between various designs (Valkyries and otherwise). So, I suspect they are something added to give it a different silhouette. What are they? I haven't seen the game it appears in, so I can only guess, but either antenna, or some kind of light (to help the player spot it on the game screen).
  15. sketchley
    Text descriptions (Japanese) 1st picture: Minmei Fold Projector 2nd picture: 3D (illegible) projector [left], Minmei Fold... [right - text cut off] 3rd picture: Minmei Projector From what we've seen in various Macross shows, these appear to be 3D holographic projectors for the 'Minmei Attack'.
  16. sketchley
    In researching my earlier post, I came across this description on Wikipedia that may help others grasp the unique circumstances that are colouring Kawamori's depiction of the internet, Galaxy Network, and so on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Japan The most relevant to existing Macross series (and perhaps the next Macross series) is about the circumstances and problems unique to Japan: The middle and last paragraphs tie directly into my earlier points about trunk-line bandwidth limitations (many local 'small scale' providers licensing certain percentages of the overall bandwidth, etc.), and about the local caching of data (if the Emigrant Fleet is akin to multiple local connections each with huge bandwidth, but the trunk network itself has limited capacity and 'internal router' bandwidth problems).
  17. sketchley
    Fixed. You also seem to be approaching this from the perspective that MF is the be-all and end-all of Macross. This is at odds with what Kawamori-san himself has said: each Macross series is an in-universe dramatization of historical events. Also note that I based my earlier post on what was depicted in MF, M+, and so on. "Seems" being the operative word there. In short: we don't know. There's that "we" again. You're also speculating that it is based off of current (as in early 2020) capabilities. I'm approaching it from the perspective of "what was the state of things when XYZ series was released?"—which is what was informing Kawamori-san when he was producing the shows and deciding how to describe future technology to his audience. For example the addition of cell phones and smart phones in Haruhiko Mikomoto's SDFM, but the lack of them in the original TV series simply because that technology existed (in palm-size) in 2009 but not in 1982. Therefore, "we" think that this topic should be approached from the perspective of 'what were the communication capabilities in Japan in 1994 and 2007*?' * when M7 (when the Galaxy Network is first mentioned) and MF were being produced.
  18. sketchley
    There's a bit of artistic licence going on in the Macross shows—heck, all SF shows—as the reality of space travel is rather boring and we are being shown what is effectively a highlight reel. At work today I was thinking about this: what are the costs (energy, etc.) involved in maintaining a constant connection on the Galaxy Network? Such as we know that multiple relay satellites are used, and that there is a significant energy/material cost when an Emigrant Fleet undertakes a (long range) space fold. Do those relay satellites have the power resources and/or capabilities to continuously open multiple (micro) space folds in multiple directions? Or are they more like repeater stations that only 'dial' the next relay satellite after 'receiving' a data transmission? I'm sure they would have protocols in place for high priority (ie military emergency) communication, but in so doing, how much would that impact, reduce or otherwise delay the non-high priority (e.g. civilian) communication? Then there's the physical network itself. From what we can glean, it is more akin to a series of cell phone towers rather than an all-powerful network that covers the entire galaxy. Therefore, just like a cell phone network, would there be areas where the signal drops out, or is otherwise very poor? ... and that's not even taking Fold Faults into consideration! (Would they be akin to a tree falling on a telephone line during a windstorm?) I also came to the same conclusion as JBO: it just makes much more sense to send regular updates and cache things locally.
  19. sketchley
    I'm approaching it more from the perspective of 'what was available when Kawamori-san made his comments' coupled with how long it takes for the material to come after you ask for it—as in, it takes milliseconds to display a request when I select a link in MW, but that's planet wide. Even with using Fold Communication relays, it will take significantly longer for the request to go down the network, and a response to come back. To clarify, what I'm getting at is a "speed" limit rather than a "volume" limit.
  20. sketchley
    It's not so much "TV network" as it is "internet network". In one article, Kawamori-san stated that the setting for Macross F (and so on) is like "the great age of exploration with Internet". It's not clear what version of the internet he's referring to, but I'd hazard a guess that it's somewhere between dial-up (40-56 kb/s) and broadband (1~25 Mb/s). Definitely not fibre-optic class (250~1,000 Mb/s).
  21. sketchley
    Expanding on that a bit: at a certain point the top speed (in an atmosphere) is limited not by engine output, but aerodynamic shape and the melting point of the materials used in the airframe. The most vivid example is in Macross Plus when Guld disengages the limiter, and his VF is literally melting around him because he's flying so fast.
  22. sketchley
    Expanding on that point: the ramjets would not work at all unless the VF-4 was travelling at high speed in an atmosphere. At the speeds required (apparently they're most efficient at Mach 3 and work up to Mach 6), the turbines wouldn't be used at all*. * At high mach speeds with the VF-1, they closed the air intakes and turn the turbines into what amounts to a rocket motor. While it is unclear if the VF-4 has the same capabilities, it defeats the purpose of the ram jets: to use the atmosphere as much as possible to conserve fuel. That "rocket mode" of the turbine engines uses propellant in lieu of atmosphere, consuming fuel at as high a rate—or higher—than in space. So, without any published specifics, I'd hazard a guess that the ramjets produce an equivalent (or somewhat greater) amount of thrust as the turbines, but they do it much more efficiently at high speeds.
  23. sketchley
    A decade or so ago, there was a pilot on a Discovery show that said something along the lines of: modern air combat is firing missiles at beyond visual range and then bravely retreating. Due to that, I don't think that the ground-to-air/air-to-ground combat will disappear from these kinds of movies. For starters, seeing ground scenery rushing by not only gives the viewer a sense of how the jets are spatially moving, it's also a lot more exiting than planes looping in blue sky! Nevertheless, I agree with your sentiments about more air to air combat—the writers just have to come up with a good reason to send the ace pilot(s) into aerial combat after finishing air combat school!
  24. sketchley
    I wouldn't write off your story right away. Pluto is definitely a viable place to build... something. There is frozen water on the surface (literally mountains made of ice), and in the real world places with water ice are where we are most likely going to explore and build (permanent) settlements on first. In short, water also provides air (oxygen) and fuel (hydrogen). As the fuel thirsty VF-1 (and other Valkyries) apparently rely on 'hydrogen slush' for fuel, it makes perfect sense to build at least a mining outpost/refinery on Pluto. I understand that you are being a bit facetious, but it makes perfect sense to have some kind of orbital platform to facilitate the transfer of fuel to cargo ships. So, a McDonald's orbiting Pluto isn't completely out of the question—though, shouldn't it be 'Humburger Popo'*? 😋 * where Hikaru and Minmei went on their date in DYRL
  25. sketchley
    I meant more that "cryo-sleep is a thing in SDF-1" rather than the other part (in that we first see cryo-sleep depicted in Macross Plus). Anyhow, I've been pouring over my SDFM books, and scanned what few pictures there are on South Ataria Island after the space fold. Keep in mind that they are all immediately after the fold: ① What was transported and its state immediately after arrival (note the dispersal direction arrows in the lower right of the bottom right image): ② One of South Ataria's emergency shelters floating in space: ③ A pair of mystery objects floating in space from the same episode. While the second one looks like some type of tug or rescue boat, the first one could be a fuel tank from the airport (based on the 'JP-7') or even some kind of satellite. The text that accompanied the images is equally baffling: 'stuff floating in space':
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