ShadowLogan wrote:I agree near human-scale infantry operations are a recent receiver of Rail Gun tech, but the intermediate scale between starships (SDF-1/Tri-star) and human-scale (Cyc/SB-PAs) has not been touched (in human inventory) formally allowing for them to exist at this scale.
Apart from their demonstrable absence, you mean? I'd class the Silverback much closer to the Alpha and its kin than to a Cyclone. Development of a viable, mecha-scale railgun didn't get anywhere until the mid-2040s, according to what RTSC material shows us.
Prelude's Vince Grant makes something of a meal of humanity's technological know-how lagging behind the other races of the galaxy, so it wouldn't be surprising if humanity were unable to duplicate alien railgun tech in the years following the 1st and 2nd RWs.
ShadowLogan wrote:Given that Railgun tech likely was in development before the Vistor crashed in '99, the tech itself should be more mature.
We really can't/shouldn't make that assumption, since all available evidence points to
Robotech's universe being much different from our own in terms of history and technical progression.
ShadowLogan wrote:It only needs a compact man-portable power source for infantry use (larger mecha should be easier to do, though not as easy as starships).
That's assuming that mecha made by humans generate enough power to make railguns a viable alternative to conventional guns and/or the low-output beam weaponry that's common in RT. If the OSM is any indicator (and it ALWAYS is, based on SOP for RT material), the mecha of
Robotech operate on a much lower power output than their counterparts from the
Macross universe. We're talking something on a similar scale to
Gundam, with megawatt-scale output instead of
Macross's multi-gigawatt outputs. (The Alpha's generator output would be, based on available data, roughly 3.05MW peak output, vs. the
Macross VF-1's stated 1,300MW, or the VF-2SS's 3,900MW.)
With the mecha of preceding sagas using conventional nuclear fusion, and the Alpha's protoculture power plant generating only about 3 megawatts, it's entirely likely that the massive amount of energy needed to make anti-mecha railguns a thing simply wasn't available until the widespread application of protoculture power systems on infantry mecha (late 2030s).
In any event, it's not just a continuity issue introducing something like a Defender EX or Giant Monster to a
Sentinels era
Robotech setting... it's a question of performance. The state-of-the-art railgun available in 2044 is not really an overwhelmingly powerful weapon. It's basically got the performance of an anti-materiel rifle, but the rate of fire of a light machine gun. The railguns used on the
Macross II destroids are in a whole other league... lobbing much larger shells out at 7 times the speed. We're talking a difference in power requirements and destructive potential that's off by orders of magnitude.
Gryphon wrote:I actually don't use any railguns on anything smaller than the SDF-1 and the Tristar. All other references to such weapons are changed to being energy weapons instead.
Except for the Silverback and Super Cyclone, the weapons identified as mecha-scale railguns are all actually energy weapons anyway... the Glaug's, for instance, are just smaller-bore versions of the impact cannons situated directly above what the RPG asserts are railguns.
Gryphon wrote:I don't buy that the weapon Lunk used was a railgun, anymore than I can accept the sudden appearance of a Rifts like burst fire railgun on the Super Cyclone and Silverback.
In context, the Silverback and Super Cyclone railguns aren't all that impressive... they're only about twice the power of a Cold War-era Russian 14.5mm machine gun. Not surprising they'd need to be carried by a powered exoskeleton (the guns were made into an AA platform because they were too heavy for regular infantry), but not that intimidating nonetheless.
Thus far, what I've done for upgrades to the destroids from the first space war in my
Macross Frontier game is: (apart from the blanket modernization of onboard power plants, armor materials, etc.)
Directly implemented the ADR-04-Mk.XV S-Defender from
Macross the Ride, which replaces the old 78mm twin-linked anti-aircraft guns with a pair of modern 35mm rotary cannons using the latest HEACA ammunition, and builds in the latest actuator technologies and fire control AI. It also gains about 60 micro-missiles in four launchers added to the gun mounts.
Replaced the HWR-00 line with the VB-6 König Monster (EX-Gear upgrade specification).
Upgraded the Tomahawk's main armament into two configurations... one sporting a pair of high-output beam machine guns, the other supporting a pair of modified 58mm rotary cannons ala the old Mk.IVc. The gun clusters, we left as-is, but fitted with the latest ammunition and a higher-powered pulse laser. The searchlight got axed in favor of a second missile mount.
We tossed the Phalanx entirely, since its role is more or less dominated by the Mk.XV S-Defender, though we included some converted Cheyenne II's with long-range missile packs in place of their gun arms as a long-range offensive option.
All in all, we made them faster on their feet, more accurate in shooting, and a lot more heavily armed.