I'll be amazed to see him get out of this conundrum....
The question here you have to ask is: Yes, Minovski particles would
be very damaging to the sensor capabilities of the VF fighters, but if the
pilot had extensive training in battroid mode (say, combating enemy Powered
aromor suits..) he/she would not need to adapt much, already being used to
line of sight targeting with weapons. Then again (as I hope to deal with),
what if there are other ways around Minovski particles?
The pilot would be able to function, but he'd be limited to his weak
laser and the ammo in his gattling gun. Plus all their doctrine and
training has got to be based on a radar illuminated battlefield.
Question (since part of my research deals with Minovski particles):
Heat seekers? I mean, from what I can gather, Minovsky particles render all
radar based signals dead. This does not however mask heat signatures such as
a Gundam's booster jets/pack. Also, what about laser guiding? I would assume
that if you can fire laser weaponry, you can possibly adapt a system to do
line of sight laser guiding (yes, in a fray this would be complete suicide,
but it is a valid way out.)
While I am unsure about Minovski particles effects on IR, (And I am
highly suspicious of the claim they interfere with IR; but I guess if you
are going to be able to screw with part of the spectrum, there's no reason
you can't screw around with the rest of it. Which make me wonder why they
can not screw around with visual wave-lenghts.) I *know* they have no
effect on lasar guided systems. And use of such a targeting system is not as
suicidal as some would make it out to be, either. It is just much more
difficult to use.
And with the proper set up, you need not limit yourself to line of sight
laser guided systems. The US military uses a number of such systems. I
am sure that in the intervening years, the technology has been developed a
bit more.
Hmm...Yeah, I have to give credit. Newtypes make things really difficult. I
think, though, that it almost balances out with manouverability. Take the VF-17D
Nightmare Valkyrie. This thing has a 5 to 1 thrust/weight ratio. It moves
like a motherfucker. Or just look at some of the things the YF-21 was able
to do (the missile dodging exercise in ep 1 of Plus). You take these things
into consideration, and all in all it's a fairly level playing field.
Granted the
Macross pilots will have to do some adjusting, but it's not that bad.
I think that the New Types will be the biggest asset that the Gundam
people have. (And numbers; the Macross people seem to be outnumbered by
a bit.) However, I do not think the melee weapons will be much of an
asset. The best melee weapon available is a big gun; while the New Type
is waving his sword or axe around looking impressive, the Valkyrie will
just blow it away.
I also have a questions. Can a Mobile Suit emit Minovski particles, or
does it require a larger ship? How large a field is generated?