Weapons of the ZOCU War
OMF-04 Peltast Mobile Suit
For the worlds of the ZOCU organization, the Breakdown offered an opportunity to seize their national destinies. Unfortunately with the effective termination of significant core world contact, the ZOCU Worlds were forced into nearly total self-reliance. Armed with limited weapons and with no source for replacement or reinforcement it was almost inevitable that civilian vehicles would be pressed into service. Among these were orbital transfer vehicles and manipulation vehicles, the ancestors of modern combat frames. Not terribly efficient, they nonetheless served as stopgaps until ZOCU military industry matured. Out of the 'second' generation of ZOCU weapons, the OMF-04 Peltast was the first frame to be designed and built from conception forward as a combat craft.
Originally produced by Londenium Metals for the local militia, the arrival of the Peltast into service did not come too soon as less than six months after the first companies achieved operational status, the ZOCU world of Vrijheid was attacked by forces of the Magnates. The organized clone-soldiers of the Magnates swiftly overwhelmed Vrijheid's militia and a rushed relief force from several ZOCU worlds was organized. At the lead were Londenium's Peltasts which led the landing operation in December 2165 and subsequent counterattacks. This and smaller brushfire wars gave the ZOCU Peltast pilots and tacticians solid experience that they put to good use in the '80s.
While rugged and relatively simple to produce, the Peltast was already starting to show its limitations by the early '80s. Its early design was beginning to hold it back and the design austerity that had allowed it to be produced all across the ZOCU worlds was being superseeded by almost two decades of technological and industrial improvements. Furthermore, despite the successes scored by Peltast teams in the early 80s, recontact and the looming spectre of conflict with the industrially and technologically powerful core worlds pointed towards the need for replacements. These were to be the OMF-06 Hoplite and the OMF-07 Legionnaire.
The wartime record of the Peltast ultimately spanned more than two decades from the Magnate Wars of the 60s to the ZOCU war of the 80s. Designed as an all-environment craft it saw most of its battles on land, with the majority of its space combat time occurring near the end of its service period. For most of this time the standard load was a Londenium Metals Mk-11 railgun or locally-built derivative, with the more expensive PG-47 particle rifle only seeing broad service in the 80s on units assigned to orbital ops. Despite its age, it performed adequately against the EU's aging space fighters and ground vehicles, though PACT aerospace craft proved to be difficult opponents for the relatively underpowered craft.
The introduction of the Hoplite pushed the Peltast into second-line formations as fast the newer frames could be produced. Today, surviving Peltasts have been relegated to home guard forces or sold/provided to third-world Expanse states, making them a reasonably common sight in smaller militaries.
OMF-04 Peltast Combat Frame
Origin: Londenium
Primary Operator: ZOCU
Date Of Introduction: 2165
Role: General Role Combat Frame
Control System: Linear Frame
Height: 16.9 meters
Weight: 84.5 tons (standard combat loadout)
Powerplant: Forced Fusion Reactor
Main Thrusters: 7
Apogee Motors: 16
Fixed Armament: 1x Mk3 Plasma Lance (hand-carried in use)
Additional Armament: 1x Kojima-Saitama Collective Technologies PG-47 Particle Rifle (hand-carried in use), 4x 'Hammerhead' Medium
Missiles
Defensive Systems: Laminate Armor
OMF-06 Hoplite Mobile Suit
Early skirmishing on and around Asakura, Ophen and New Mercia between 2181 and 2183 demonstrated the creeping strategic inferiority of the Peltasts that had been ZOCU's backbone for fifteen years. While well-suited for their original role, it was clear that in the case of all-out war - which had already begun on New Mercia - the unsophisticated '60s design would not suffice. Plans for a Peltast replacement were duly accelerated and the introduction of the Hoplite to battle in 2185 was instrumental in several ZOCU victories in space. Indeed, if it were not for the heroic efforts of the 16th ZOCU Mobile Volunteer Battalion in getting the full design schematics and prototypes out of Asakuran space in the face of stiff PACT resistance it is quite possible that the EU's attack on the Londenium orbital yards four months later would have been successful, crippling half of ZOCU's entire starship production ability.
By the end of 2185, virtually all production lines had been turned to the Hoplite family and between 2185 and the armistice of 2189, approximately 90% of all ZOCU combat frames were Hoplite variants. The Alpha model was the definative production model and saw both production and fighting on all fronts. Other common variants include the Beta superiority/ace model with enhanced apogee motors and tweaked control systems for better aerospace performance and the Gamma 'shell' model which was clad in advanced armor composites, seeing use in both antishipping strikes and ground actions.
OMF-06A Hoplite Alpha Mass Production Model
Origin: Asakura
Primary Operator: ZOCU
Date Of Introduction: 2185
Role: General Role Combat Frame
Control System: Linear Frame
Height: 16 meters
Weight: 70 tons (standard combat loadout)
Powerplant: 2x Forced Fusion Reactors
Main Thrusters: 4
Apogee Motors: 14
Fixed Armament: Kojima R-10 Pulse Laser Array (head mounted), 2x Mk6 Plasma Lances (hand-carried in use)
Additional Armament: 1x Kojima-Saitama Collective Technologies PG-47 Particle Rifle (hand-carried in use), 4x 'Hammerhead' Medium Missiles
Defensive Systems: Laminate Armor
OMF-07 Legionnaire Mobile Suit
OMF-07 Legionnaire Combat Frame
Origin: Londenium
Primary Operator: ZOCU
Date Of Introduction: 2187
Role: Assault Combat Frame
Control System: Linear Frame
Height: 16.9 meters
Weight: 104.8 tons (standard combat loadout)
Powerplant: 2x Forced Fusion Reactors
Main Thrusters: 4
Apogee Motors: 12
Fixed Armament: Kojima R-10 Pulse Laser Array (head mounted), 1x Mk6 Plasma Lances (hand-carried in use)
Additional Armament: 1x LDS-2 Assault Cannon, 1x Kojima-Saitama Collective Technologies PG-59 Particle Carbine, 2x 'Sledge' Heavy Missiles
Defensive Systems: Depleted Uranium Armor, Flash Shield