imai files - SDCSC & mospeada sketches

[jedi078]

Seen a lot of the sketches elsewhere, but some I havn't seen before.

Page 66 supports the idea of the VR-052 having chest missile launchers. The six missile version makes more sense then the 18 missile version.

Page 73 shows that the condor pilot sits in the beak.

The mecha on page 74 was once thought to be a power armor unit.

Cool cyclone variants on pages 88 and 90.

All in all a good find.

[taalismn]

Oh wow....Thanks, RU! I've been looking for something like this for a while!
Great treasure you've found!

The great thing is...look at the recumbant transforming hovercycle, and you can see the possibilities of a MOSPEAD based along the lines of the Southern Cross hovercycle...

[jaymz]

Oh hell YEAH I'll be stating some of these babies up. Anyoepoint this at Kevin et al? I would imagine that HG would have material similar to his as well.............Space optimized Cyclones, Grond optimized Alphas......oh my this is SWEET.

[Beatmeclever]

Oh hell YEAH I'll be stating some of these babies up. Anyoepoint this at Kevin et al? I would imagine that HG would have material similar to his as well.............Space optimized Cyclones, Grond optimized Alphas......oh my this is SWEET.

The Robotechnician is a good place to post those stats so we can all see them. At least until HG and PB work out the issues they have about original and fan-created Robotech stuff.

[Snake Eyes]

pgs 88-90 looked like new Cyclone types..........very cool art

[jaymz]

pgs 88-90 looked like new Cyclone types..........very cool art

Aparently one is a space optimized one that transforms into an astro bike and the other one transforms into a hovercycle....some very nice stuff throughout

[Chris0013]

More toys to play with....either colonial, Anti-UN, or intermediary designs.

Thanks for bringing to our attention.

[Snake Eyes]

pgs 88-90 looked like new Cyclone types..........very cool art

Aparently one is a space optimized one that transforms into an astro bike and the other one transforms into a hovercycle....some very nice stuff throughout

Very cool

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

Anyone see the notes on page 99 notice this:

The Legioss is the successor to the Condor Armo-Fighter that was used during the first drop operation

I'd love to hear Tommy Yune's excuse this time.

[taalismn]

Love the idea of a mass-production non-transformable Cyclone armor...
And even though they're ink-blobs, the prototype Colonial fleets could have promise for Pioneer Fleet ships....The big arse flying laser cannon? Strip a defunct Zentraedi ship down to its main weapon and modify it...

Even the preliminary sketches for the Southern Cross armors have promise....Can you imagine what might happen if wholly Ethnic Chinese or Japanese colonies decided to start producing their own body armors to better reflect their cultural heritage?(Already running with an idea based on that and hope to post it soon.. ).

[glitterboy2098]

Anyone see the notes on page 99 notice this:

The Legioss is the successor to the Condor Armo-Fighter that was used during the first drop operation

I'd love to hear Tommy Yune's excuse this time.

how about pg 50?

Envelope M2 includes sketches that introduce a variety of non-transforming robots to fill specific
combat support roles (reminiscent of another show that featured transforming jet fighters fighting aliens).

followed quickly by pg51, which shows the condor alongside some of those non-transforming mecha?

73?

Human side armo-soldier.
Type 99.

or 83?

Mecha dropping from orbit, coming
through the clouds, parachute open
and gunning the engines.

M3-14
Early Condor firing all missiles.
6/7/83

page 85

M3-16
Early Condor and other non-transforming mecha on battlefield.

the visual evidence in these preproduction sketches indicate the condor was being developed as a non-transforming bot by the art department.


also, did anyone notice that on pg59 you have a "boxer" non-transforming mecha mounted on the early TREAD platform? it looks like some of these battloid types could access the same accessory's as the legioss..which could explain the condor as well. battloid mode only..but able to be mounted on a TREAD booster for use as a fighter.

[jaymz]

the visual evidence in these preproduction sketches indicate the condor was being developed as a non-transforming bot by the art department.


also, did anyone notice that on pg59 you have a "boxer" non-transforming mecha mounted on the early TREAD platform? it looks like some of these battloid types could access the same accessory's as the legioss..which could explain the condor as well. battloid mode only..but able to be mounted on a TREAD booster for use as a fighter.

Certainly woudl make them a helluva lot more useful if useable in space as support units when attached to a tread/tlead

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

how about pg 50?

Envelope M2 includes sketches that introduce a variety of non-transforming robots to fill specific combat support roles (reminiscent of another show that featured transforming jet fighters fighting aliens).

followed quickly by pg51, which shows the condor alongside some of those non-transforming mecha?

73?

Human side armo-soldier.
Type 99.

or 83?

Mecha dropping from orbit, coming
through the clouds, parachute open
and gunning the engines.

M3-14
Early Condor firing all missiles.
6/7/83

page 85

M3-16
Early Condor and other non-transforming mecha on battlefield.

the visual evidence in these preproduction sketches indicate the condor was being developed as a non-transforming bot by the art department.

No, all those instances are the Jackal, NOT the Condor. You can tell the difference between the two by the fact the nose, legs and shoulders are different.

Condor & Jackal

Jackal

Condor

You can even tell the difference in where the pilot is seated in the Condor (in an armoured cockpit between the shoulders in Battloid) and the driver in the Jackal (in the 'nose' itself). The Condor is fully transformable as it has WINGS (as you can see in the matte painting in The Secret Route) where the Jackal does not (as seen, just barely, in The Invid Invasion). They are two totally different mecha and the Jackal more fits the Palladium writeup on the Condor as presented in The Shadow Chronicles RPG.

[taalismn]

Against my better judgement of 'Don't get involved in Condor debates', I'll opine that since the few times we see the Condor in flight, it is in battloid mode and apparently descending paratrooper style(though evidence of a chute isn't clear even in the development art....that looks more like it's Itano'ing its missile stores) the stowed wings could be carapace shielding(protecting the upper arms from behind), or help airflow in descents...

My personal opinion? The idea of a transformable Condor is intriguing, but until actual preproduction art appears showing a fully transformed mode, I find the take that it was a line of variable frame development that didn't pan out as expected and was instead salvaged as a Battloid weapons system to be more interesting...I mean, look at the various aircraft programs in real life that started out trying to meet one set of specifications and wound up being re-tasked to something else...The scrapped Missileer carrier aircraft concept and the F-111 'Multi-Service Fighter' that ended up as simply a tactical bomber, while many of its design features went on to see service in the superior Tomcat(which did the Missileer better by being a superior weapons platform)...or the original prototypes for the F-18, originally meant to be a low-cost 'light' fighter that 'morphed instead into the heavier Hornet...
The Condor isn't diminished any by the fact that it never properly fledges, IMHO, and it gives some insight as to how the UEEF(or the original MOSPEADA colonial military services) procured new hardware and developed ideas to operational stage.

[ZINO]

Someone has found some Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross & MOSPEADA pre-production sketches. I don't know if this is newly discovered stuff or stuff that's been out there for quite a while.

http://sites.google.com/site/imaifiles/

I LOVE THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DhAkael]

Against my better judgement of 'Don't get involved in Condor debates', I'll opine that since the few times we see the Condor in flight, it is in battloid mode and apparently descending paratrooper style(though evidence of a chute isn't clear even in the development art....that looks more like it's Itano'ing its missile stores) the stowed wings could be carapace shielding(protecting the upper arms from behind), or help airflow in descents...

My personal opinion? The idea of a transformable Condor is intriguing, but until actual preproduction art appears showing a fully transformed mode, I find the take that it was a line of variable frame development that didn't pan out as expected and was instead salvaged as a Battloid weapons system to be more interesting...I mean, look at the various aircraft programs in real life that started out trying to meet one set of specifications and wound up being re-tasked to something else...The scrapped Missileer carrier aircraft concept and the F-111 'Multi-Service Fighter' that ended up as simply a tactical bomber, while many of its design features went on to see service in the superior Tomcat(which did the Missileer better by being a superior weapons platform)...or the original prototypes for the F-18, originally meant to be a low-cost 'light' fighter that 'morphed instead into the heavier Hornet...
The Condor isn't diminished any by the fact that it never properly fledges, IMHO, and it gives some insight as to how the UEEF(or the original MOSPEADA colonial military services) procured new hardware and developed ideas to operational stage.

[Chris0013]

Against my better judgement of 'Don't get involved in Condor debates', I'll opine that since the few times we see the Condor in flight, it is in battloid mode and apparently descending paratrooper style(though evidence of a chute isn't clear even in the development art....that looks more like it's Itano'ing its missile stores) the stowed wings could be carapace shielding(protecting the upper arms from behind), or help airflow in descents...

My personal opinion? The idea of a transformable Condor is intriguing, but until actual preproduction art appears showing a fully transformed mode, I find the take that it was a line of variable frame development that didn't pan out as expected and was instead salvaged as a Battloid weapons system to be more interesting...I mean, look at the various aircraft programs in real life that started out trying to meet one set of specifications and wound up being re-tasked to something else...The scrapped Missileer carrier aircraft concept and the F-111 'Multi-Service Fighter' that ended up as simply a tactical bomber, while many of its design features went on to see service in the superior Tomcat(which did the Missileer better by being a superior weapons platform)...or the original prototypes for the F-18, originally meant to be a low-cost 'light' fighter that 'morphed instead into the heavier Hornet...
The Condor isn't diminished any by the fact that it never properly fledges, IMHO, and it gives some insight as to how the UEEF(or the original MOSPEADA colonial military services) procured new hardware and developed ideas to operational stage.

+2 on that...the Condor could easily be an air mobile battloid only mecha....of the thrusters could only be for "paratrooper" type operations....only enough power to slow descent to a safe speed.

[Arnie100]

Oh lord, some awesome stuff there!

[Alpha 11]

Like the pictures. Good find.

[Arnie100]

I wonder if any of these will be in the Marines book, hmmm...

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

I wonder if any of these will be in the Marines book, hmmm...

If the Jackal doesn't appear in the Marine book, it SHOULD appear in The New Generation one. Its one of those 'look away and you miss it' type moments, but it does appear in Robotech so should be fair game.

[jaymz]

Like the pictures. Good find.

I've ordered one of the books listed in the further reading section, MOSPEADA complete art works (a 2009 publication, if you can believe it), from an import site. It's all in Japanese, but it's mostly big pictures - at least that's what the product description reads. I think it's all recap stuff though.

Get back to us with its awesomeness if you can

[taalismn]

Agreed...we need awesomeness...there is no such thing as too much awesomeness....Awesomeness overkill is not a concept I subscribe to nor believe in...When I die, I hope it is by awesomeness.

[jaymz]

Agreed...we need awesomeness...there is no such thing as too much awesomeness....Awesomeness overkill is not a concept I subscribe to nor believe in...When I die, I hope it is by awesomeness.

No it'll be by that funny rash you got

Awesomeness is good. Aesomeness is NEVER bad. Long live AWESOMENESS!!

[taalismn]

[


No it'll be by that funny rash you got

!!

Funny rash? WHAT funny ras-AAGGGHHHH!!! NANITE INFESTATION! GREY GO-(*blurp*scrubble*bubble*splosh*)

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

Funny rash? WHAT funny ras-AAGGGHHHH!!! NANITE INFESTATION! GREY GO-(*blurp*scrubble*bubble*splosh*)

*regards the burbling puddle of indeterminate grey slop*

Poor taalismn, we hardly knew ye. But hey, look on the brightside. At least no one can come along and defile your corpse now!

[Gamer]

How he got some of the new acme bio mass to elephant enema conversion nanites on him we'll never know, but as they say waste not, want not, now where's Simba

[taalismn]

How he got some of the new acme bio mass to elephant enema conversion nanites on him we'll never know, but as they say waste not, want not, now where's Simba

TEIPMAI(Taalismn Emulation Imprint, Post-Mortem, Artificial Intelligence): "I was about to say, Rabid, that you spoke too soon...There's always somebody who finds a way to defile a corpse, however it is ...processed...From the urban myth tale of the family who receives a packet of 'American Spice' that they happily devour with their meals, until the fateful day they receive a message informing them of the arrival of their American relative's cremated ashes...to, it turns out, pachyderm scat-conversion nanites.
In conclusion...I hate you all."

[jaymz]

[taalismn]

Fortunately, the same technology that allowed Hollywood to clone dinosaurs from mosquito gut-contents has been applied, in my case, to rebuild me...If you don't buy that, well, it's Robotechnology...I'm like Zor, only without the angst issues.
Though, to plug the holes left by the deteriorated state of my DNA, they had to substitute related DNA..Again, in my case, orangutan DNA.
Since I'm already a Librarian, though, it makes little difference.
Actually an improvement.

Ook.

[Gamer]

So your saying we can expect even more poo flinging.

[taalismn]

Only from the OTHER side of the bars.

[Gamer]

[taalismn]

I am apparently cursed with Flower-of-Life induced powers of prophecy....I'm having a day like I hinted at above...
Rabid, if I could use a Jackal or a Condor loaded for missile-massacre? At this point courting flaming hot death by plasma disc or claw and at least having the CHANCE and LICENSE to shoot back under rules of engagement is preferable to being guilt-tripped by a patron intent on making your life a living hell.

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

I'm also waiting for someone's writeup of the E-104 Ghost Falcon Drone I shall name him.... Laaaaazerbeak

I would think it should replace the RAT-1 Pegasus recce drone (robo horse...uh, ok...but dont make it a flying robo-horse).

[taalismn]

I'm also waiting for someone's writeup of the E-104 Ghost Falcon Drone I shall name him.... Laaaaazerbeak

I would think it should replace the RAT-1 Pegasus recce drone (robo horse...uh, ok...but dont make it a flying robo-horse).

Had an NPC who was a Robotech cyborg cobbled together from a RAT-1. Her brain support pod went where the recce-pod went, and they grafted on a set of old VF manipulator arms onto the front. Because her(the NPC's) last name was D'Armand, one of my players started calling her 'Fess'.

[taalismn]

So skimming through some of the Southern Cross stuff, am I the only one thinking that the original concept with all the armours was some sort of feudal Shogun thing? As in the different forces (ATAC, TASC, REP etc) were actually factions?

It's pretty obvious. Of course, they're still factious, but it's now interservice rivalry...barroom brawls, poker tournaments, the Tactical Corps/Sea Squad football games, and the GMP getting snubbed from all social events and getting even by digging up dirt on everybody else.

[Drakenred®™©]

I love how you can figure out how the designes evolved

Heh now I know whathappend to the rumored Transformable mothership, they ran out of time with the guy who was drawing it!

and one small nitpick, page 80.. .. .. they sent three bloody batalions plus a platoon plus whatever from the other colonlies. . . YIKES

hmm

10 cruisers and 40 Garfish destroyers + 160 Horizont + 200 treads (see page 53, for a moment I was debating on if thoes were suposed to be the drop version Armo/Tlead or the 15 man troop shuttle)

I find the numbers a bit odd it would seem that they only had 4 of the pairs on the cruisers(the other 160 would be mated to the horizonts

[Drakenred®™©]

not stating them out just some observations

M101 looks like its way to bulky to be a usuable combat mecha, it was probably a heavy enginering space waldo that was converted to the M105 but then it could also be the "Iron mechanic armored stormman"

M1-14 looks like it was built to fullfill my need for speed!

hmm the transformable legios head realy makes my head hurt trying to figure out how they managed to get from the walking power suit to the hover bike

the "hood" seems to have "evolved" into the M3-01 "Daniel"

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

::Does a little thread Necromancy::

Oogaa-booga-allakazam!

Anyway, it didn't occur to me until recently skimming the designs that the non-transformable MOSPEADA sketch bears a little resemblance to the Strike Force Micronian Powered Armour. Not that I think Palladium saw those sketches years ago (though anything is possible, I suppose). Apparently Wayne Breaux had the same idea as Kakinuma/Aramaki had all those years ago. The idea of a non-transformable exoskeletal powered armour for the UEF that utilizes CVR-3 would be good I think. Should be able to interface with any of the Cyclone forearm weapons systems.

Something else I noticed is how startlingly similar the new CBR-5 from Shadow Chronicles is to the old RDF armour from Strike Force.

[jaymz]

::Does a little thread Necromancy::

Oogaa-booga-allakazam!

Anyway, it didn't occur to me until recently skimming the designs that the non-transformable MOSPEADA sketch bears a little resemblance to the Strike Force Micronian Powered Armour. Not that I think Palladium saw those sketches years ago (though anything is possible, I suppose). Apparently Wayne Breaux had the same idea as Kakinuma/Aramaki had all those years ago. The idea of a non-transformable exoskeletal powered armour for the UEF that utilizes CVR-3 would be good I think. Should be able to interface with any of the Cyclone forearm weapons systems.

Something else I noticed is how startlingly similar the new CBR-5 from Shadow Chronicles is to the old RDF armour from Strike Force.

Actually, oddly enough I went that route as soon as I go tmy hands on the Imai files. Left the Micronian as it was essentially then used some of the images to stat out the Micronian Mk II, III and IV.

I never noticed th resemblance of the CBR with the RDF armour though. Nice catch

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

Actually, oddly enough I went that route as soon as I go tmy hands on the Imai files. Left the Micronian as it was essentially then used some of the images to stat out the Micronian Mk II, III and IV.

Actually, after thinking about it, I went ahead and used the non-transformable MOSPEADA to replace the Micronian Powered Armour for my Alternate Robotech (the helmet on the MPA is an SDF Macross design after all). I call it the Grimnir Jump Armour and think it would be more common than the Cyclone, but not common enough to replace the standard Infantry dogface in body armour.

I also used the 2x3 pop-up grenade launchers for the VR-052F Battler (called it the GR-104 Heavy Grenade Launcher System) to outfit the basic Battler, since the GR-97 isn't enough in my opinion. Of course, I have the EP-40 used mostly by VR-041 Grenadiers (which I make the basic Infantry/Anti-Armor Cyclone).

[jaymz]

Actually, oddly enough I went that route as soon as I go tmy hands on the Imai files. Left the Micronian as it was essentially then used some of the images to stat out the Micronian Mk II, III and IV.

Actually, after thinking about it, I went ahead and used the non-transformable MOSPEADA to replace the Micronian Powered Armour for my Alternate Robotech (the helmet on the MPA is an SDF Macross design after all). I call it the Grimnir Jump Armour and think it would be more common than the Cyclone, but not common enough to replace the standard Infantry dogface in body armour.

I also used the 2x3 pop-up grenade launchers for the VR-052F Battler (called it the GR-104 Heavy Grenade Launcher System) to outfit the basic Battler, since the GR-97 isn't enough in my opinion. Of course, I have the EP-40 used mostly by VR-041 Grenadiers (which I make the basic Infantry/Anti-Armor Cyclone).

I used those images too. Made them a chest system for the -053 and -054 Cyclones Basically a variation of the -052 obviously. I decided the -052 was meant to be an emergency unit thus not chest launcher. Mind you I also dropped the MDC on teh -50 series to not that much more than the -040 series so.....

[jaymz]

Actually, oddly enough I went that route as soon as I go tmy hands on the Imai files. Left the Micronian as it was essentially then used some of the images to stat out the Micronian Mk II, III and IV.

Actually, after thinking about it, I went ahead and used the non-transformable MOSPEADA to replace the Micronian Powered Armour for my Alternate Robotech (the helmet on the MPA is an SDF Macross design after all). I call it the Grimnir Jump Armour and think it would be more common than the Cyclone, but not common enough to replace the standard Infantry dogface in body armour.

I also used the 2x3 pop-up grenade launchers for the VR-052F Battler (called it the GR-104 Heavy Grenade Launcher System) to outfit the basic Battler, since the GR-97 isn't enough in my opinion. Of course, I have the EP-40 used mostly by VR-041 Grenadiers (which I make the basic Infantry/Anti-Armor Cyclone).

I used those images too. Made them a chest system for the -053 and -054 Cyclones Basically a variation of the -052 obviously. I decided the -052 was meant to be an emergency unit thus not chest launcher. Mind you I also dropped the MDC on teh -50 series to not that much more than the -040 series so.....

EDIT - Also I did my own stats for hte -055 and my own stats for hte -057.....I need to come up with an -056 at some point maybe....either way, I redid the Tornado as a protoype (whichit essentially was) along with teh original micronian and a second cyclone protype based on some of hte Imai images again along with 3 prototype, limited production pre CVR-3 armours too.

[jedi078]

EDIT - Also I did my own stats for hte -055 and my own stats for hte -057.....I need to come up with an -056 at some point maybe....either way, I redid the Tornado as a protoype (whichit essentially was) along with teh original micronian and a second cyclone protype based on some of hte Imai images again along with 3 prototype, limited production pre CVR-3 armours too.

You don't have to use ever number..... some could be failed prototypes.

Also you might be interested in the following extra fluff text I use for Cyclone model numbering/designations.

The UEEF went with series numbers and block designations to differentiate between cyclone types. The tens digit denotes the series number. The numbers -020 denote the first infantry combat models, the numbers -030 denotes a Lt Cyclone, the numbers -040 denotes an cyclone intended for heavy infantry use which replaced the -020 series, and the numbers -050 denotes the “catch all” model for pilot survival, general labor, engineering and heavy weapons platforms. The ones digit denotes the block model. For example in the anime, Lancer had a “Block 1” VR-40, that is designated the VR-41. The letter designation denotes which interchangeable armament package the cyclone has. For instance Lancer was using a VR-041H model denoting the use of CADS-1. A single letter denotes single armament package while two letters denote a separate package attached to each arm shield, the first letter is for the right arm and the second letter is for the left arm. Some of the armament packages are loaded on the right shoulder hard point of the cyclone; in this case there will be three letters with the last designating what is mounted on the shoulder.

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

[jaymz]

EDIT - Also I did my own stats for hte -055 and my own stats for hte -057.....I need to come up with an -056 at some point maybe....either way, I redid the Tornado as a protoype (whichit essentially was) along with teh original micronian and a second cyclone protype based on some of hte Imai images again along with 3 prototype, limited production pre CVR-3 armours too.

You don't have to use ever number..... some could be failed prototypes.

Also you might be interested in the following extra fluff text I use for Cyclone model numbering/designations.

The UEEF went with series numbers and block designations to differentiate between cyclone types. The tens digit denotes the series number. The numbers -020 denote the first infantry combat models, the numbers -030 denotes a Lt Cyclone, the numbers -040 denotes an cyclone intended for heavy infantry use which replaced the -020 series, and the numbers -050 denotes the “catch all” model for pilot survival, general labor, engineering and heavy weapons platforms. The ones digit denotes the block model. For example in the anime, Lancer had a “Block 1” VR-40, that is designated the VR-41. The letter designation denotes which interchangeable armament package the cyclone has. For instance Lancer was using a VR-041H model denoting the use of CADS-1. A single letter denotes single armament package while two letters denote a separate package attached to each arm shield, the first letter is for the right arm and the second letter is for the left arm. Some of the armament packages are loaded on the right shoulder hard point of the cyclone; in this case there will be three letters with the last designating what is mounted on the shoulder.

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

Interesting. I may have to take a look at implmenting that or at least a variation on teh idea for sure...

[ESalter]

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

How is it absurd?

[jedi078]

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

How is it absurd?

Why would you not field VR-041's with GR-97 forearm launchers as your main front line infantry combat unit? You’d defiantly get a bigger bang for your buck, and your infantrymen would have the firepower needed to storm Invid hives.

Oh and before you answer: "The RPG and/or RT.com says the VR-042 model was too expensive to be mass produced." Well this is the absurd idea I am talking about.

[jaymz]

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

How is it absurd?

Why would you not field VR-041's with GR-97 forearm launchers as your main front line infantry combat unit? You’d defiantly get a bigger bang for your buck, and your infantrymen would have the firepower needed to storm Invid hives.

Oh and before you answer: "The RPG and/or RT.com says the VR-042 model was too expensive to be mass produced." Well this is the absurd idea I am talking about.

Gotta side with Jedi on this one. Seriously, why was it tooexpensive? Because it incorporated a chest launcher? Uh, ok we'll go cheap and let infantry die because they dont have enough ammo/firepower to survive

[ESalter]

As you can see I have thrown aside the absurd idea that the VR-052 is the standard infantry model.

How is it absurd?

Why would you not field VR-041's with GR-97 forearm launchers as your main front line infantry combat unit?

Because type 52s have better sensors and better armor? Because GR-103s are dangerous? Because type 41s lack fairing hardpoints?

You’d defiantly get a bigger bang for your buck, and your infantrymen would have the firepower needed to storm Invid hives.

What evidence do you have of this?