WTF-1 Discsussion Thread

[Gubaba]

Of course, the Quarter's presumed lack of power(an assumption I share) is somewhat offset by the (rather absurd) degree of agility it exhibits. I think it could fly rings around ships the original Macross would plow right into(probably while someone shouted "Daedalus ATTACK!", but still...)

The Battle 7 doesn't really have an excuse. It's slow, underarmed, and underpowered. Which is a lousy combination.

That was my biggest disappointment with Macross 7. The New Macross class was a massive letdown.

...Not to mention that it took the Megaroad-01 only four years to disappear close the Galactic Center, but after seven years of traveling, the Macross 7 is still nowhere near the Center...

[Alastar]

So now if they are gonna bring back the SDF-01 design they are gonna have to treat it better than what happend to the Global. Or we might just get a massive recap of what happend 10-15 years ago.

And yes the New Macross class was a horrible idea....

The Quarter if better.....SDF-01 Macross Still rules.

[azrael]

Of course, the Quarter's presumed lack of power(an assumption I share) is somewhat offset by the (rather absurd) degree of agility it exhibits. I think it could fly rings around ships the original Macross would plow right into(probably while someone shouted "Daedalus ATTACK!", but still...)

The Battle 7 doesn't really have an excuse. It's slow, underarmed, and underpowered. Which is a lousy combination.

That was my biggest disappointment with Macross 7. The New Macross class was a massive letdown.

Bear in mind you are comparing a gunship (Macross-class and MQ) to a full-blown carrier (New Macross-class).

[Mr March]

The New Macross Class was like a fleet carrier. It's definitely designed as a command ship to be supported by a fleet of smaller vessels. It does have a big gun but the NMC is not a dedicated anti-ship vessel. In contrast, the SDF-1 Macross is a gunboat designed for intense anti-ship combat, just like the Supervision Army gunboat from which it was built. The Macross Quarter is like a combat frigate or combat cruiser with some carrier capabilities.

If the SDF-1 Macross was a VF-1 Valkyrie and the Macross Quarter were VF-25 Messiah, the New Macross Class would be a Destroid Monster or VB-6 Konig

I actually liked most of the UN Spacy ships in Macross 7. The designs were creative and I liked the stealth stylings. It was one of the only things Macross 7 got right, IMO.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Mr March

[Zinjo]

Well, right now the only other SA ship they've found was the one in the factory satellite episode.

That and... honestly, the Macross seemed a lot more useful than the Battle 7. HOW long did it take to charge the Battle 7's "rifle"? The lag after you decide to fire is a serious tactical hindrance. The original Macross can fire it's cannon almost on a moment's notice.

A lot depends on their roles. The Macross was the core of the Earth's defenses. The Oberth and ARMD platforms lasted a few minutes under Zentreadi barrage and had little to return fire with, if one excepts the reaction missiles they carried.

The Battle 7 was a fleet command carrier with several capable ships to carry out combat maneuvers. The NMC fleets were able to disperse the firepower over a larger area adding to the fleet commander's tactical options.

The biggest complaints I have about the NMC of 2047 was the apparent need to transform the ship to fire the SD Cannon. An awful lot of effort to do something the 1st Gen Macross Class ships could do in both Battleship and Attacker modes. To me it would make more sense to have that ability in all future ship designs. The Quarter suffers from the same problem as the NMC's thus far...

The New Macross Class was like a fleet carrier. It's definitely designed as a command ship to be supported by a fleet of smaller vessels. It does have a big gun but the NMC is not a dedicated anti-ship vessel. In contrast, the SDF-1 Macross is a gunboat designed for intense anti-ship combat, just like the Supervision Army gunboat from which it was built. The Macross Quarter is like a combat frigate or combat cruiser with some carrier capabilities.

If the SDF-1 Macross was a VF-1 Valkyrie and the Macross Quarter were VF-25 Messiah, the New Macross Class would be a Destroid Monster or VB-6 Konig

I actually liked most of the UN Spacy ships in Macross 7. The designs were creative and I liked the stealth stylings. It was one of the only things Macross 7 got right, IMO.

Actually I'd compare the SDF-1 to the Monster and the VF-22 to the NMC, in that the Macross had pure firepower-it was a battleship, whereas the NMC is indeed a carrier with most if it's power contained within the hull in terms of fighter squadrons, with the exception of the SD Cannon at it's core.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Zinjo

[Zinjo]

Might've been reassigned? A research fleet doesn't strike me as the prime candidate to recieve the latest in battle cruisers, but a Macross would make for an impressive flagship nontheless, I think.

Well if indeed an SDF was assigned to every Megaroad Colony ship (possibly even attached much like the NMC colony ships are) then logic would conclude that the Megaroad 3 fleet had colonized a habitable world and thus over time the need for an SDF for defence was no longer required. If such a thing happend then an SDF battleship would be available for reassignment.

The belly's of such ships would make them suitable for a high risk research mission like the 117th because the lab could be located within the ship and be surrounded by a battleship should things get hot.

In the Global's case, clearly things got much hotter than anyone anticipated.

[Gubaba]

The biggest complaints I have about the NMC of 2047 was the apparent need to transform the ship to fire the SD Cannon. An awful lot of effort to do something the 1st Gen Macross Class ships could do in both Battleship and Attacker modes. To me it would make more sense to have that ability in all future ship designs. The Quarter suffers from the same problem as the NMC's thus far...

I still think they should've gone with the original idea during the planning stages of SDF M: that the Macross could ONLY fire the cannon in Storm Attacker mode and could ONLY use the engines in cruiser mode...

[Mr March]

Actually I'd compare the SDF-1 to the Monster and the VF-22 to the NMC, in that the Macross had pure firepower-it was a battleship, whereas the NMC is indeed a carrier with most if it's power contained within the hull in terms of fighter squadrons, with the exception of the SD Cannon at it's core.

Well, bully for you

[wolfx]

Agree, the original Macross is far more powerfull than Battle 7.

Quick comparison between the 3 Macross class ship:

SDF-1 Macross -> Macross Cannon, Destroids, EM and beam cannons, reaction missiles, PPB , VF squadrons

Battle-7 -> Macross Cannon, reaction missiles, PPB, VF squadrons.

Quarter -> Macross Cannon, Destroids, beam cannons, reaction missiles, PPB ,VF squadrons

So, my quess is SDF-1>Quarter>Battle-7

To be fair Mac7 has alot of stuff not animated and Battle 7 may have beam cannons and just not use them, just like the SDF-1. Unless you're taking from some official specs of course.

Of course, the Quarter's presumed lack of power(an assumption I share) is somewhat offset by the (rather absurd) degree of agility it exhibits. I think it could fly rings around ships the original Macross would plow right into(probably while someone shouted "Daedalus ATTACK!", but still...)

The Battle 7 doesn't really have an excuse. It's slow, underarmed, and underpowered. Which is a lousy combination.

That was my biggest disappointment with Macross 7. The New Macross class was a massive letdown.

What gives u guys the idea that Battle 7 is less powerful than the SDF-1? I remember it to have a wide firing arc just like the SDF-1 and assuming Macross 13 is the same class, it looks like it can pwn a fleet by itself too.

I still think they should've gone with the original idea during the planning stages of SDF M: that the Macross could ONLY fire the cannon in Storm Attacker mode and could ONLY use the engines in cruiser mode...

Like a terran siege tank in space?

[Zinjo]

I still think they should've gone with the original idea during the planning stages of SDF M: that the Macross could ONLY fire the cannon in Storm Attacker mode and could ONLY use the engines in cruiser mode...

They couldn't. How do you explain a ship that suddenly transforms without reason to fire it's SD Cannon when it wasn't designed to transform (as far as we understand) in the first place?

The attacker mode was an effective engineering "fly by the seat of their pants" solution to a very serious problem. It was so effective that it was incorporated into future Macross ship designs.

What we've learned in frontier is that to get the term Macross, the ship must transform and have an SD cannon. Such is the case with the Quarter, which is the smallest known Macross type ship in the universe in 2059.

[Xeros]

I read in another forum that the Megaroad-1 fleet was accompanied of at least 5 SDF-1 class ships, as part of a old idea of SK.

I don't buy it, but is plausible anyway

[wolfx]

The attacker mode was an effective engineering "fly by the seat of their pants" solution to a very serious problem. It was so effective that it was incorporated into future Macross ship designs.

And remember the "serious problem" was the disappearing fold drives. The problem shouldn't be in any of the future Macross ships which makes the point of transformation moot un less its for dexterity like the Quarter.

[Gubaba]

They couldn't. How do you explain a ship that suddenly transforms without reason to fire it's SD Cannon when it wasn't designed to transform (as far as we understand) in the first place?

The attacker mode was an effective engineering "fly by the seat of their pants" solution to a very serious problem. It was so effective that it was incorporated into future Macross ship designs.

What we've learned in frontier is that to get the term Macross, the ship must transform and have an SD cannon. Such is the case with the Quarter, which is the smallest known Macross type ship in the universe in 2059.

Well...obviously, they abandoned that idea...but I think it could've worked. Storm Attacker Construction could link the main cannon to the energy source but disconnect the engines from the power...and vice-versa.

By the way...the Macross never regained its ability to fire the cannon in cruiser mode, did it? At least, I don't think we ever saw it happen after episode 1...

[dreamweaver13]

I read in another forum that the Megaroad-1 fleet was accompanied of at least 5 SDF-1 class ships, as part of a old idea of SK.

I don't buy it, but is plausible anyway

that would suck if it's true, coz it just means 5 ships made from my most beloved battleship design disappeared along with the megaroad 1. as if losing Hikaru/Misa/Minmei weren't enough!

[Xeros]

That's why I don't buy it

[Gubaba]

I read in another forum that the Megaroad-1 fleet was accompanied of at least 5 SDF-1 class ships, as part of a old idea of SK.

I don't buy it, but is plausible anyway

I don't really buy it either. We've seen the Megaroad launch in FB2012, Mac7, AND MacF, and IIRC, there were no "First Generation Macross Ships" accompanying them...unless they just happened to be off-camera (always a possibility, I guess...).

[dreamweaver13]

I don't really buy it either. We've seen the Megaroad launch in FB2012, Mac7, AND MacF, and IIRC, there were no "First Generation Macross Ships" accompanying them...unless they just happened to be off-camera (always a possibility, I guess...).

on the other hand, if those 5 1st-gen types came back from whatever place they disappeared to, armed with a combattler V-type "combine" technology....

[dreamweaver13]

ok, just a random thought that just popped out....

i think the story of the 117th Research Fleet with the Macross 4-Global is itself worthy of its own anime series. not just a flashback in macross frontier. i mean, you presumably have an established macross character (Mao Nome), you have an SDF-1 designed battleship, a research-focused fleet (which would give a fresh perspective as opposed to another colonization fleet), and an encounter with a brand new spacefaring intelligent species. i would take this over macross 7 anyday.

[Xeros]

yeah, but the end of that series is quite bad

[Gubaba]

on the other hand, if those 5 1st-gen types came back from whatever place they disappeared to, armed with a combattler V-type "combine" technology....

You're making me drool.

Stop it.

[JB0]

The problem with the New Macross not being the big guns is... Battle 7 is the ship that stepped up when they needed the big guns.

They didn't have a dedicated gunship to blast the super-bulldog, they had to rely on Fire Bomber to immobolize it while the Battle 7 charged up.

I still think they should've gone with the original idea during the planning stages of SDF M: that the Macross could ONLY fire the cannon in Storm Attacker mode and could ONLY use the engines in cruiser mode...

They DID hint at that, with comments by the zentradi of how travelling in attacker mode limited their speed(acceleration actually, I assume).

And it IS shown using secondary thrusters on it's back to accelerate through space instead of it's primary "leg" engines.

So they may've gone with it, and just decided that the reduced travel time wasn't worth the constant disruption of civilian life.

Especially since it makes sense from both a travel perspective AND a passenger comfort perspective to use the leg engines, so thrust is oriented perpendicular to the floor instead of parallel to it. Keeps down being down instead of off at an angle(unless they used an elaborate set of secondary gravity generators, or *shudder* INERTIAL DAMPERS to counteract the effects of thrust).

What gives u guys the idea that Battle 7 is less powerful than the SDF-1? I remember it to have a wide firing arc just like the SDF-1 and assuming Macross 13 is the same class, it looks like it can pwn a fleet by itself too.

I'm referring mainly to the absurd amount of time it takes to charge and fire it's main cannon. All the power in the world doesn't mean a thing if you can't hit a target.

[Gubaba]

They DID hint at that, with comments by the zentradi of how travelling in attacker mode limited their speed(acceleration actually, I assume).

And it IS shown using secondary thrusters on it's back to accelerate through space instead of it's primary "leg" engines.

So they may've gone with it, and just decided that the reduced travel time wasn't worth the constant disruption of civilian life.

But...but...the destruction-of-the-town scenes are some of the best ones in the the original show! If you ask me, they should've transformed in every episode!

"So you like your new Made-on-Macross car, huh? Enjoy watching it fly out an open airlock along with some bits of rubble and a few trees! And watch the Artland building get smashed while you're at it!"

[dreamweaver13]

I'm referring mainly to the absurd amount of time it takes to charge and fire it's main cannon. All the power in the world doesn't mean a thing if you can't hit a target.

just wondering... could it be possible that the delay in the charging could be more attributable to a less-efficient bridge crew and staff, then the capabilities of the mac7? let's face it, max is better as a pilot, and his birdge bunnies can't seem to keep their eyes on the monitors since he has to remind them all the time. and i remember an instance where they couldn't fire the cannon yet because of a misstep by one of the bunnies, which max didn't catch in time.

Edited July 8, 2008 by dreamweaver13

[wolfx]

ok, just a random thought that just popped out....

i think the story of the 117th Research Fleet with the Macross 4-Global is itself worthy of its own anime series. not just a flashback in macross frontier. i mean, you presumably have an established macross character (Mao Nome), you have an SDF-1 designed battleship, a research-focused fleet (which would give a fresh perspective as opposed to another colonization fleet), and an encounter with a brand new spacefaring intelligent species. i would take this over macross 7 anyday.

Screw that. I say make an anime series of the Megaroad-1. But Kawamori isn't gonna give us that.

[wolfx]

The problem with the New Macross not being the big guns is... Battle 7 is the ship that stepped up when they needed the big guns.

They didn't have a dedicated gunship to blast the super-bulldog, they had to rely on Fire Bomber to immobolize it while the Battle 7 charged up.

I think the SDF-1 would face the same problem if they were against said Super dimensional bulldog.

They DID hint at that, with comments by the zentradi of how travelling in attacker mode limited their speed(acceleration actually, I assume).

And it IS shown using secondary thrusters on it's back to accelerate through space instead of it's primary "leg" engines.

So they may've gone with it, and just decided that the reduced travel time wasn't worth the constant disruption of civilian life.

Especially since it makes sense from both a travel perspective AND a passenger comfort perspective to use the leg engines, so thrust is oriented perpendicular to the floor instead of parallel to it. Keeps down being down instead of off at an angle(unless they used an elaborate set of secondary gravity generators, or *shudder* INERTIAL DAMPERS to counteract the effects of thrust).

I'm referring mainly to the absurd amount of time it takes to charge and fire it's main cannon. All the power in the world doesn't mean a thing if you can't hit a target.

I thought it didn't matter where's up and down in space....so its kinda moot. Just orientate towards the direction you need to be and use the leg engines. Don't even need to transform. Unless of course no power is being fed to the legs in Storm Attacker mode.

[JB0]

just wondering... could it be possible that the delay in the charging could be more attributable to a less-efficient bridge crew and staff, then the capabilities of the mac7? let's face it, max is better as a pilot, and his birdge bunnies can't seem to keep their eyes on the monitors since he has to remind them all the time. and i remember an instance where they couldn't fire the cannon yet because of a misstep by one of the bunnies, which max didn't catch in time.

True... the bunnies WERE all hot and bothered by their captain.

I think the SDF-1 would face the same problem if they were against said Super dimensional bulldog.

The original Macross had a much faster-charging cannon, by all appearances.

The Battle 7 also had issues with capital-ship engagements.

I accept dreamweaver's justification until such time as I feel compelled to redownload and rewatch Macross 7. Which probably won't be for a long time.

I thought it didn't matter where's up and down in space....so its kinda moot. Just orientate towards the direction you need to be and use the leg engines. Don't even need to transform. Unless of course no power is being fed to the legs in Storm Attacker mode.

Right. Well, sort of.

Up and down DO exist once you A. fire up some gravity generators, or B. start accelerating.

Once you light the engines, they start pushing everything directly attached to them forward. Everything INSIDE the ship, in a 0G environment, will "fall" towards the engines due to inertia. If you accelerate at 1G, you can walk on the floors just like at home. Or the walls, depending on how you look at it. Stop accelerating, and you start floating again. Slow down, and you fall towards the roof, making really big rooms a Bad Idea.

If you add gravity generators, things get more complicated. As I understand things, the SDF-1 is laid out with floors parallel to the thrust axis in both modes(we know for a FACT that the bridge is. And we know that the bulk of Megaroad and modern-era colony ships are laid out in this manner, due to the massive windows domes making everything visible from outside).

So the gravity generators are defining down. And when the ship accelerates, it creates a pull due to inertia in a SIDEWAYS direction, relative to the artificial gravity.

So apparent gravity becomes a diagonal direction, unless you activate some other system to "correct" for inertia or keep your acceleration low to minimize the effect it has on the passengers.

It's really a lousy way to design a spaceship, honestly. But it's the standard layout for TV/movie ships.

There's also the possibility of structural stress in attacker mode. The "legs" don't look like they're attached as securely in attacker mode. There may be excessive stress on the "hips" that prevents using the main engines in that configuration.

[mikeszekely]

IIRC, the shots of the Megaroad-01 departing Earth included a Nupetiet-Vergnitzs. After the near-extinction of humanity, colonization was obviously a priority, and it would have made sense to divert resources to that task by taking the nearly-complete SDF-02 and retrofitting it for colonization to the Megaroad design we're familiar with. The Megaroad-01 had Zentraedi ships, including the aforementioned Nupetiet-Vergnitzs, for protection.

But the fact still remains that there was the intention to build more SDF's ala the Macross. With the factory satellite in place industry almost certainly picked up, and the amount of captured Zentraedi ships was finite; sooner or later, colony fleets (to say nothing of planetary defense fleets for the Earth and any newly established colony worlds) would eventually have to be stocked with newly manufactured ships. We're shown what those ships looked like in 2045 and in 2059 (and a very brief glimpse in 2040), but there's still the gap between 2012 and 2040 to consider.

In a nutshell, do I think that every Megaroad fleet had a Macross? Probably not. But it's apparent now that the government of post-Space War 1 carried out the plans of the pre-Space War 1's government to build more Macross-class vessels, and it's not unreasonable to think that they were used in some Megaroad missions. It's also not unreasonable to think that it had uses outside of colony missions.

EDIT: Here's the real question... why is the Global transformed? The New Macross-clas seems to transform so that it can aim its Macross cannon without moving the entire ship. The Quarter seems to transform because it fights like a VF. But the original Macross wasn't supposed to transform (so it's unlikely that the SDF-02 would have). It only did to fire its Macross cannon, and only because it was missing parts that presumably a new ship wouldn't be missing. Without those parts missing, the SDF-02 (and the Global, I'd assume) would be able to fire its Macross cannon without transforming.

Edited July 8, 2008 by mikeszekely

[wolfx]

Up and down DO exist once you A. fire up some gravity generators, or B. start accelerating.

Without being too overly technical....i'll take the easy route of sci-fi...gravity generators and inertia cancellers. The Macross definately has them as during transformation, the GGs were turned off. And because of GGs, up and down SHOULDN'T matter since gravity is always directed in one orientation pre or post transformation. Going by the shape of cruiser mode and storm attacker mode, there are some parts that change orientation after the transformation so i'm assuming in Storm Attacker mode, there are different orientations of up and down in the ship.

That said, there shouldn't be a need to re-transform just to use the main leg engines. The ship just has to tilt towards its heading and thrust towards it.

I'm also assuming the leg thrusters work in Storm Attacker mode otherwise how else it is able to reach escape velocity from earth's gravity?

[JB0]

Without being too overly technical....i'll take the easy route of sci-fi...gravity generators and inertia cancellers.

I HATE inertial damping, precisely BECAUSE it's the easy way out. It's an epidemic excuse that isn't even remotely plausable and removes consideration for the design to do anything other than look good.

And inertia damping automatically means you aren't being overly technical. It's the standard Trek solution to a problem: throw technobabble at it.

I assume it doesn't exist until it's stated to exist. As of right now, it's not stated to exist in Macross(much to Guld's disappointment, as it would've saved his life).

The Macross definately has them as during transformation, the GGs were turned off.

And that people can operate normally in it at all times. If it didn't have artificial gravity, the bridge crew would've drifted away when they defolded into deep space.

There's also the catapults on the Prometheus.

And combat on the ship's "skin". Destroids could have magnetic feet, but EVERYTHING sticks when it lands.

And because of GGs, up and down SHOULDN'T matter since gravity is always directed in one orientation pre or post transformation. Going by the shape of cruiser mode and storm attacker mode, there are some parts that change orientation after the transformation so i'm assuming in Storm Attacker mode, there are different orientations of up and down in the ship.

I get the impression that the decks are always parallel to the ground when it lands.

Artificial gravity is easy if you're stationary. It gets a lot more complicated if you're moving.

You could put gravity generators on the walls in line with the thrust axis, so you could create a counter-pull. But that's complicated. And messy if something malfunctions.

That said, there shouldn't be a need to re-transform just to use the main leg engines. The ship just has to tilt towards its heading and thrust towards it.

Ignoring stress placed on the ship by the thrusters, sure. If the attacker mounting is less sturdy than the cruiser mounting, there could be big problems.

...

Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong... Macross City could be built along a different axis than the bridge.

If they built it across the thrust axis originally, as would make sense for space travel... then when it's swung around for the transformation, it winds up parallel to the main thrust axis.

Makes landing a pain in the rear, though. Same issues I was describing for thrust earlier. Only now instead of your thrust axis plus gravity axis, you're dealing with your gravity axis plus the planet's gravity axis.

I'm also assuming the leg thrusters work in Storm Attacker mode otherwise how else it is able to reach escape velocity from earth's gravity?

Antigravs? Certainly, their effectiveness will deminish as you get farther away from Earth, but that also decreases the amount of real thrust you need. Get far enough away that your secondary thrusters can send you flying, and you're good to go.

[Duke Togo]

I read in another forum that the Megaroad-1 fleet was accompanied of at least 5 SDF-1 class ships, as part of a old idea of SK.

I would stop reading that forum.

[ChronoReverse]

I HATE inertial damping, precisely BECAUSE it's the easy way out. It's an epidemic excuse that isn't even remotely plausable and removes consideration for the design to do anything other than look good.

And inertia damping automatically means you aren't being overly technical. It's the standard Trek solution to a problem: throw technobabble at it.

Unfortunately they're already in Macross from the very beginning. The moment you have "gravity generators" you automatically have a form of inertial dampeners.

[Zinjo]

IIRC, the shots of the Megaroad-01 departing Earth included a Nupetiet-Vergnitzs. After the near-extinction of humanity, colonization was obviously a priority, and it would have made sense to divert resources to that task by taking the nearly-complete SDF-02 and retrofitting it for colonization to the Megaroad design we're familiar with. The Megaroad-01 had Zentraedi ships, including the aforementioned Nupetiet-Vergnitzs, for protection.

But the fact still remains that there was the intention to build more SDF's ala the Macross. With the factory satellite in place industry almost certainly picked up, and the amount of captured Zentraedi ships was finite; sooner or later, colony fleets (to say nothing of planetary defense fleets for the Earth and any newly established colony worlds) would eventually have to be stocked with newly manufactured ships. We're shown what those ships looked like in 2045 and in 2059 (and a very brief glimpse in 2040), but there's still the gap between 2012 and 2040 to consider.

In a nutshell, do I think that every Megaroad fleet had a Macross? Probably not. But it's apparent now that the government of post-Space War 1 carried out the plans of the pre-Space War 1's government to build more Macross-class vessels, and it's not unreasonable to think that they were used in some Megaroad missions. It's also not unreasonable to think that it had uses outside of colony missions.

EDIT: Here's the real question... why is the Global transformed? The New Macross-clas seems to transform so that it can aim its Macross cannon without moving the entire ship. The Quarter seems to transform because it fights like a VF. But the original Macross wasn't supposed to transform (so it's unlikely that the SDF-02 would have). It only did to fire its Macross cannon, and only because it was missing parts that presumably a new ship wouldn't be missing. Without those parts missing, the SDF-02 (and the Global, I'd assume) would be able to fire its Macross cannon without transforming.

I would guess that any Megaroad with a battleship would be designated "Blah Blah-SDF-XX", thus possibly indicating it was accompanied or had attached to it (ala Mac 7) an SDF type battleship.

We've only ever seen the Megaroad 01, so we really don't know if these ships were built bigger or differently from the first. The Megaroad's refit was also limited to the design of the Megalord's superstructure, similar to how the Macross was to the ASS-1.

Unless a new show is produced that shows a 2nd Generation Megaroad colony ship, we'll never know if anything did change or not.

In the new Macross Chronicles scans, I noticed the first time the Megaroad's name was ever published without the SDF-2 class code following or preceeding it. It may mean nothing, but it was notable.

I expect the reason why the Global was transformed was because it takes up less of a footprint (no pun intended) on the landscape and it also makes it much easier to launch VFs from a horizontal position on the ARMDs rather than their vertical cruiser position.

[JB0]

Unfortunately they're already in Macross from the very beginning. The moment you have "gravity generators" you automatically have a form of inertial dampeners.

Ummm... there's an incredibly large body of evidence that suggests gravity does NOT cancel out inertia.

You'll need to elaborate.