Macross Delta: Why projectile weapons in an era where beam gunpods are common?

[cheemingwan1234]

Post Frontier shows like Macross Delta tend to have VFs like the Siegfried and Kairos and Draken III be armed with a beam gunpod and some projectile weapons like the railgun gunpod tonfas on the Kairos/Siegfried. Why is that so?

 

Would'nt  just arming them with DEWs and missiles just do since well, you simplify the logistics chain?

[Bolt]

Coolness factor has a lot to do with space lasers. Projectiles are cool too !

Edited Tuesday at 05:32 AM by Bolt

[camk4evr]

There's a number of reasons and there are others who are better at explaining them than I am but I'll do my best and hopefully someone will correct my mistakes.

1) anti beam coating exists in setting which reduce the effectiveness of beam weaponry

2)  cost effectiveness. Projectile weapons are the cheapest, and most energy efficient way to penetrate energy conversion armour. Presumably they are easier to maintain as well as their components are relatively cheaper than those of beam weaponry even if they wear out faster

3) versatility. It's a lot easier to change ammo types on a projectile weapon than a beam weaponry. With just a switch in clips/ammo belts you can have (or have a mix of):

- Armour piercing rounds

-anti-eca rounds

- tracer rounds

- paint ball

- dimension eater rounds

- crowd control rounds (if macronized zentraedi  are rioting

 

That's what I can think of at the top of my head

 

[Seto Kaiba]

36 minutes ago, cheemingwan1234 said:

Post Frontier shows like Macross Delta tend to have VFs like the Siegfried and Kairos and Draken III be armed with a beam gunpod and some projectile weapons like the railgun gunpod tonfas on the Kairos/Siegfried. Why is that so?

Wouldn't just arming them with DEWs and missiles just do since well, you simplify the logistics chain?

There are two main reasons, and a third is mentioned in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus...

First, laser and particle beam weapons lose some of their range, accuracy, and stopping power in atmospheric use due to the beam's interaction with atmospheric gases.  Laser beams suffer energy loss and scattering/defocusing as a result of a phenomenon called thermal blooming as they heat the air they pass through.  Particle beams also suffer some power loss due to the beam colliding with and ionizing atmospheric gases in the beam's path.  High-velocity hard rounds like the explosive armor-piercing shells used by (and against) VFs are a great deal less affected (particularly since, on impact, the secondary charge will have no power loss at all).

Second, laser and particle beam weapons are at a bit of a disadvantage right off the jump because modern VFs have adopted energy weapon-specific defenses in the form of an anti-beam weapon ablative armor coating.  This coating is designed to vaporize when struck by an energy weapon, fogging the path of the beam and robbing it of much of its power.  The coatings in use from the Frontier era onward are said to be able to reduce the effectiveness of a beam machine gun-grade weapon by 30%.  You can of course overpower this by the simple expedient of an excessively powerful beam weapon like the much larger and more powerful beam gunpod, but the explosive armor-piercing shells are totally unaffected by it.  

Third, Master File contends that a forearm-mounted weapon with high stopping power was considered desirable to minimize the amount of time the VF is nominally defenseless during or immediately after a transformation.  A high velocity railgun with explosive armor-piercing ammunition fit the bill nicely.

[Big s]

The true main reason is all because of BRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!!!