Prime

A VF would be lousy at replacing a tank. (That's what destroids are for.) I'm sort of using the tank as an example of "generic military vehicle" I'm saying that the Valks are much more versatile and manouverable than a tank, while still sporting excellent armour (like going through bridges and buildings without a hinderence), and fairly substantial firepower. Fair enough...yet another example of its versatility. This is what I am talking about! Exactly. Not only that, but they outmanouver missiles and things of that sort. So I suspect a man-portable antitank weapon wouldn't be much of a threat. I think it is probably a little difficult to ascertain the Valk abilities when it is under the "control" of a completely newbie pilot. Isn't that kind of like saying that a car won't drive straight after watching it driven by a 4 year old? I mean, somone who knows what they are doing might be able to stand up to a tank shell, especially with the Valk's impressive armour.

I'm rather enjoying Macross Zero, although I can see where some of the complaints are coming from. Personally, I love the animation overall, especially the mechanical stuff. The Valkyries, in particular look great. In can see the controversy in this style, but I like it. As SuperOstrich said, that open scene with the Macross really did it for me. The story as a whole hasn't really drawn me in as much as some of the others. Certain aspects I enjoy, like the combat (of course) and the research about the protoculture. The stuff dealing with the island natives I don't find particularly interesting (althoug some of the legend stuff is kind of neat). If find myself skipping these parts most of the time. This also goes for some of the mystical aspects as well. I could never really buy into that stuff. I think this is one of the reasons I don't enjoy Macross 7 (not to start that debate again). That being said, I find that sort of thing much more "believable" in Zero than 7. I also like the music quite a bit actually, although I don't think it is on par with Plus. I feel it serves its purpose in providing mood, but not much else. In the end, I guess I enjoy what is there, but I wish the story focused more on the aspects of Macross that interest me personally. I'd be keen to know more about the war bewteen the UN and Anti-UN, the development of the mecha, the research into the protoculure, and less of the island natives (although I recognize how some of that ties in)

By far the most important reason

Damn it!

This is what I think as well. In the beginning, the Valks were designed with a more or less specific purpose in mind, which was to deal with giant aliens. They performed this task well, and in the process their general usefulness was discovered, if not already known. Not only are they effective fighter planes in the traditional sense, but they can also perform in ground combat, urban warfare, and so on. They are probably just as effective as traditional tanks, as well as being much more versatile and manouverable. Even without an emminent Zentran threat, it is not difficult to see the overall usefullness of Valkyries. So even in Mac Plus and 7 eras, I think the transformable Valkyries is just as relavent and effective as their Space War 1 counterparts.

I suppose that he must have gotten somewhere, since he seems to assume to some extent that they will get together. IIRC, when she is leaving for Earth he says he will meet her there, not to mention that he comes right out and says he wants to be with her. To me that seams to suggest that they "hooked up" to some degree. So even though he might not have "got laid", there must have been enough to give him the impression that she was interested. Myung! You tease!

If it is semi-transformable, which I doubt, perhaps this was an early experiment with destroids. In the end, they probably decided that there wasn't much of an advantage in this ability, and went with the non-transformables that we know and love. Getting rid of the transformation systems would leave more room for weapons, armour, etc. But again, they probably aren't transformable at all

Do you know how these brain problems were caused, or what "trouble" they had?

Even though the Zentradi hadn't been in many battles for many years, they still have had millenia to refine how to train and prepare for war. Since it is all they have been bred for, the downtime wouldn't really have gone to other non-warfare activities. Surely they have had enough time to develop a system to keep a certain level of preparedness. Simple rustiness shouldn't account for losing pilot vs. pilot battles to a species that had at most a few decades to develop space/mecha tactics and training. Even if their system of reproducing, training, and performing in combat may not have been perfect, it obviously was good enough to become the dominate warring species in the universe. Up to the time they came across humans, was a lot of their success due to superior technology, or was it the soldiers that made the difference?

I'd like to see a story about 2040 and onwards. Perhaps about the current conflict between UN Spacy and the Anti-UN.

I was under the impression that it was necessary for Guld to take the suppresion drugs in order to (but not exclusively for) interface with the YF-21. The brain control system could only interpret commands from a "calm and stable" brain, and not one that had such wild thoughts that guld would/did have. I pictured the brain interface to require certain specific thought "commands" to function properly, as opposed to it trying to interpret every thought. This would require the pilot to be calm and to provide the machine with specific thoughts that it could interpret and implement (like the thoughts of moving hands and feet to manipulate the control surfaces). When Guld flew off the handle, his brain was no longer providing the proper commands to the YF-21. It has been a while since I watched it, so I could be way off. Would something like the above make sense?

Where are the numbers on how Zero has been doing? I haven't heard anything either way, but I did wonder how it is being received...

I hadn't heard of that problem. I don't have too many ROMs (about 20 I guess), and I haven't had problems. IIRC my version is pretty new though.

Thanks, I'll have to check that out. What do you dislike so much about MAME32? I don't use MAME that much these days, so I haven't put in any effort to find something better.

Damn, those are beautiful!!

Macross Plus all the way for me. I do like what I have heard so far for Macross Zero though...

It would be nice if it would give you all the bandwidth that was available, and then as other people connect it would transfer some to them.

The latter MAME emulator will give the game sound. There is only one Macross Plus ROM. The sound just hadn't been emulated until recently. And I suggest getting MAME32, with has a much nicer windows GUI. The original MAME is just uses the DOS command line. Although it works the same, for those who are less computer inclined, MAME32 can be easier to configure.

I gave it a go recently and watch about the first 5 or 6 episodes. Some of th stuff I liked (hey, it's Macross!), but Basara and his song was too much for me. But for those who like it, enjoy! But for me, I'll stick to the original, Mac+, and Zero

I'm pretty sure that this is not the case...To bad though.

IIRC it is a problem with the actual game, not just the emulator. However, I have an ePSXe memcard file that has a saved game after you finish it. This allows you to go through and play all the missions using any of the fighters, and on certain missions you can use the armoured battroids (VF-1 and VF-11). If anyone wants it I can probably send it to them.

Sorry about that Real life is making things go a little ssslloooowwweerrr than I want. But it will be done eventually. I've put in too much effort to let it die!

Sorry, I've only tried it on easy and regular. I guess I just want to pretend that I'm a good pilot

Glad I could help

I was able to get VF-X2 of one of the servers at one point, but that was a while ago. I use the ePSXe emulator, and it works great IIRC you can get that emulator off the servers as well. Keep in mind that you need plug-ins for your respective hardware, but they came with the emulator zip. You may have to ask around about the iMacross servers, as I'm not sure about their current state of affairs. If you get everything downloaded but can seem to get things working, let me know and I will help where I can