Energy Conversion Armor (ECA), some gathered trivia

[Seto Kaiba]

Technically, that makes anti-optical armor canon...sort of. HOWEVER, nothing was ever written of this in any official trivia until the Macross Chronicle (at least as far as I know).

Well... this pushes the date of the first explicit mention in an unambiguously official Macross source back a decade or so, yeah. I think we've actually talked about this before, a couple years back, when I was looking for other mentions of anti-beam coatings outside of the Macross Frontier mecha.

[GuardianGrey]

I can see your point JBO.

Though, if all the hardware is a 100+ times stronger & a laser is amped up 250+ times, one would think that it would be still doing some damage.

The airborne laser system of the NKC-135A was tested on drone units, though they were never specified. Logically for that timeframe, either the Lockheed QF-104 &/or Ryan-Teledyne BQM-34C were most likely used (for more information about the BQM-34C, read about it in the Real World Technology References of Macross Variable Aircraft or Google it).

Now, back on track and topic.

UNS capital ships are said to have ECA, so do Zentradi ships also have said?

Do the Zentradi warriors also have ECA for their mecha units, or were they considered fodder to the point where it was deemed not worth it?

Edited May 13, 2015 by GuardianGrey

[Seto Kaiba]

UNS capital ships are said to have ECA, so do Zentradi ships also have said?

I haven't found anything that states (or suggests) that Zentradi warships employ energy conversion armor.

Though it's worth noting that only a few human-built ships are explicitly identified as using the stuff too... and that's mainly the ones which are meant to wade into the areas of the heaviest fighting (transformable warships) and the more sophisticated vessels used by the Varauta forces (which nevertheless appear to only be partially covered). Cost is almost certainly a factor, given what's been said about how prohibitively expensive the heavier forms of ECA are.

Do the Zentradi warriors also have ECA for their mecha units, or were they considered fodder to the point where it was deemed not worth it?

It certainly seems that way, yes.

The wording on the Technology Sheet for gun pods (Tech 03A) implies that Zentradi mobile weapons do incorporate energy conversion armor... and there's a bit said about how the VF-0 and so on had their armaments developed with the expectation of having to fight a foe with energy conversion armor comparable to that which was employed by the UN Forces. (Anti-ECA shells are mentioned in the VF-1's assortment of shell options for the GU-11 in Master File as well.)

[JB0]

I can see your point JBO.

Though, if all the hardware is a 100+ times stronger & a laser is amped up 250+ times, one would think that it would be still doing some damage.

I want to emphasize I used hundred-fold as an example for illustrative purposes. I've got no idea what the actual difference is.

[azrael]

The wording on the Technology Sheet for gun pods (Tech 03A) implies that Zentradi mobile weapons do incorporate energy conversion armor... and there's a bit said about how the VF-0 and so on had their armaments developed with the expectation of having to fight a foe with energy conversion armor comparable to that which was employed by the UN Forces. (Anti-ECA shells are mentioned in the VF-1's assortment of shell options for the GU-11 in Master File as well.)

As I mentioned, when VF weapons have either enough kinetic energy to penetrate armored targets or are specifically designed for use against armored targets (anti-armor munitions), then having ECA makes little difference. The caveat is using anti-aircraft munitions against capital ships. Even if your anti-aircraft bullets/energy weapons can penetrate ECA, the amount of firepower needed to bring down a capital ship with ECA will far exceed what a aircraft can dish out under normal circumstances (a VF-27/YF-29/YF-30's gunpod has the firepower but it requires a tremendous amount of energy to do so and can only do so as fast as it can charge a shot). If a aircraft did strafing runs, yes it could bring down a ship, but that would take time.

[Seto Kaiba]

As I mentioned, when VF weapons have either enough kinetic energy to penetrate armored targets or are specifically designed for use against armored targets (anti-armor munitions), then having ECA makes little difference.

Well, yes... to a point.

Not all armor or armor-piercing ammunition is created equal, after all. Nor is all armor of uniform thickness or defensive capability... even across a single fighter. The level of firepower that can take down a light AFV will not necessarily be enough to hurt a main battle tank. Or, to point to examples in-series, ammo which would have been enough to seriously mess up an enemy VF will not necessarily be equal to the task of taking down an enemy whose armor is better than what the NUNS uses... as the Frontier fleet found out to its peril in Macross Frontier.

[Mr March]

I think Macross does a fairly good job illustrating the various strengths of the mecha armor or firepower of the various guns, even if we never get definitive statistics on the subject. I mean, does anyone think a Reguld Battle Pod is as powerful defensively as a Queadluun-Rau? Does anyone think that a standard 30mm gun pod on a VF-11 Thunderbolt is anywhere near as powerful as the GU-XS-06 Gun Pod for the VF-11C APS-11 Protect Armor? Nothing in the trivia objectively states the various power levels, but we're all given the impression through the anime that the Q-Rau is a heavily armored beast and the GU-XS-06 is a capital ship shredder. I think that should be enough for most fans to get the idea.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Mr March

[GuardianGrey]

A part of a debate about what the color of unfinished ECA looks like that was in the

Do you prefer TV or DYRL paint scheme?

I believe that it needed to also be posted here due to the ECA content.

That maybe true, though is there any reference/trivia of what the default/natural color of ECA is?

Based on Master File and the scenes of the YF-21's paint burning off in Plus, to be a sort of medium grey color... either a warm grey (6% yellow) or a cool grey (6% blue), that seems to vary scene-to-scene and image-to-image. It's highly probable that there is no one uniform color or shade in which energy conversion armor is found in its unpainted form, since that would vary based on the composite materials used in the armor's construction.

Edited June 13, 2015 by GuardianGrey

[RedWolf]

http://www.monkeybacon.host-ed.me/MCRworldguide/24bVajra.php

Vajra And Fold Crystals
In addition to Zero Time Fold Communication, the Vajra's possession of Fold Quartz is evident from the Carrier Vajra, centred on the Bishop and Knight Classes, performing space folds that disregard Fold Faults. However, Fold Quartz isn't used for all of the Vajra's characteristic abilities, which are said to be bio-firearms, Space Folds, and propulsion by gravity control.
The Vajra synthesize Fold Crystals with the help of intestinal bacterium (the Vajra Bacterium). However, the material that the typical Vajra synthesize, what is called Fold Carbon or Fold Coal, doesn't oscillate with Zero Time Fold Waves. That material is the same as the central parts of a typical Space Fold Device, and is able to attain enough output for such things as the use of beam armaments and Energy Conversion Armour, or common Space Fold Navigation.

Which brings to question if Fold Carbon is a vital component of ECA.

Edited June 15, 2015 by RedWolf

[Seto Kaiba]

http://www.monkeybacon.host-ed.me/MCRworldguide/24bVajra.php

Which brings to question if Fold Carbon is a vital component of ECA.

Macross Chronicle sort of beats around the bush about how exactly the Vajra get their energy... but between the series' mention of a "fold reactor" in the Vajra's Knight-class ship and the Queen Frontier's "fold quartz dimensional energy conversion" power source, that tidbit sounds like the Vajra are using the fold carbon they naturally produce to extract energy from super dimension space to run the energy-intensive technorganic traits like gravity control flight, their energy conversion armor, beam weapons, etc.

What makes energy conversion armor work is supposedly electromagnetic pulses...

Edited June 16, 2015 by Seto Kaiba