External Weapons

External Weapons

Mobile suits always carry either a beam rifle and a light melee weapon or a single large weapon. In addition, suit pilots can carry secondary weapons and equipment. Generally, suits can carry one secondary weapon and two light secondary weapons or two pieces of pod mounted equipment. Mobile armors can only carry pod-mounted equipment.

Close Combat Weapons

Alpha Edge

Rather than a standard beam sabre, a mobile suit can employ an Alpha Edge, a sword or pole arm built of advanced composite alloys and exotic, high density matter. The Alpha Edge integrates various disruption and beam surfaces, and its weight allows it to smash through enemy beam weapons that attempt to parry, as well as cutting enemy armour.

Beam Knives

Smaller beam weapons, beam knives or beam daggers are usually thrown or used as a secondary weapon with a beam sabre or alpha edge. While the more advanced versions employ their own guidance system when thrown, turning them into virtual guided missiles, they are generally not used except by more eccentric pilots. Light

Shield

The shield functions much the same in modern mobile suit combat as it's ancient counterparts did in infantry warfare. The most common variant is a general purpose shield made from heavy armor plate covered with an ablative anti-beam coating. Generally, the shield can take only a few solid beam hits before becoming useless, but it is highly effective against melee weapons. The beam shield is a less common variant, which generates a field capable of deflecting beam weaponry and beam sabres for a time. The beam shield can regenerate with time and power supplied, but it is not designed to stop solid projectiles or solid weaponry such as the Alpha Edge. Light

Long Range Weapons

Bazooka

A venerable and widely used anti ship weapon, the use of a bazooka converts any mobile suit into an anti ship striker. The Bazooka has been in use since the dawn of mobile suits, and works in much the same was as an infantry rocket or ATGM launcher.

Modern Bazookas are considerably more advanced than their wartime or prewar equivalents, launching large hyper velocity rounds which employ HEAT, sabot or MAHEM warheads.

All modern bazookas are clip fed. A lighter, single-shot variant on the bazooka is the Panzerfaust, which is a light, relatively agile weapon that fires a stabilized but usually unguided warhead capable of destroying heavily armoured targets such as space or wet navy vessels, mobile gun platforms, while still being a threat to mobile suits and mobile armors Light

Linear Rifle

A very high rate of fire coil gun, the Linear Rifle was for a long time the mainstay of mobile suit, tank and infantry armament, up until the advent of energy fillers and reactors small and powerful enough to supply a beam rifle. Both sides of the Allies and SIA employed it on their suits during the last war.

Lower tech forces such as the White Rose Kingdom’s Royal Army still employ linear rifles today. While it is not part of official issue, many INTACT pilots like the linear rifle’s high rate of fire and light weight, and carry a carbine or submachine gun configuration version as a back up weapon, in case of anti beam smoke or in order to shoot at lightly armoured targets such as infantry, IFVs or old style pirate mobile suits. Light

A recent development of the linear rifle principle has been a chaingun variant, which uses heavier rounds delivered from a feed drum on the back of the suit. The recoil of the chaingun is immense, so counter acceleration must be applied from the suit's engines. The chaingun does not interfere with mobile suit power systems in the same way that a rapid fire beam rifle would, but the weigh of the ammo drum can make a suit more difficult to maneuver.

Rail Gun

More powerful but somewhat slower firing than a linear rifle, rail guns tend to launch larger, slightly faster projectiles than a linear gun. In the last war it was used as an alternate to the Bazooka as an anti-ship weapon.

More modern railguns are actually hybrids, employing a combination of electrochemical and electromagnetic forces to throw a round at truly massive speeds. The large versions have some advantages over beam cannons in terms of armour penetration, but tend to be too clumsy for anti mobile suit work, however both the Federation and LOS are experimenting with the use of hybrids for attacks against enemy mobile armours and ships.

Missile Pod

A straightforward box launcher for small rockets with limited seeking capabilities, the missile or rocket pod is used for barrage attacks on mobile suits and ground fire support. Missiles pods have a limited range, and do damage on the same scale as a beam rifle, but the rockets can be fired without making use of the suit's hands, and can be used to support melee or close ranged attacks. A number of pilots use the sudden launch of missile to distract an opposing pilot. POD

Smart Grenade Launcher

The only electromagnetic weapon that still remains in wide use, smart grenade launchers are used to deliver a wide variety of explosives at longer distances than even a mobile suit can throw.

Grenades come with a variety of load outs, but are generally used for engaging soft targets such as bunkers, infantry or power suits. For this reason most electromagnetic grenade launchers are armed with high explosive multi purpose warheads, thermobarics or plasma bombs.

Smart grenade launchers allow both guidance to the grenade and specialist fusing for airburst, delay or the like. They can also be used to disperse proximity mines.

Sniper Beam rifle

A longer ranged harder hitting but slower firing version of a standard beam rifle, the Sniper beam rifle is employed widely by federation designated marksman and sniper suits to engage targets beyond normal beam weapon range, as well as knocking out heavier targets with precision strikes.

Remote Weapons

Anti-Bit Mines

The natural counterpart to bits, the anti-bit mine is a specialized proximity mine that homes in on the control links for bits. The mines have integrated IFF systems to avoid removing friendly bits. While systems installed into a mobile suit are the most effective, a rack of mines can certainly even the odds against a bit-wielding opponent attacking any target. POD

Bits (Semi-Auto)

Automated attack drones, whether called bits, funnels, fangs or dolls were employed extensively during the last war by both sides. However, with the end of the war and the peace time draw down in forces they were found to be often too costly to be worth the effort, usually requiring either an Aleph using pilot or expensive control system.

Semi autonomous bits are the current solution to this problem, they require occasional updates (usually delivered by laser link) from the launching craft, and are otherwise able to work mostly independently. While Semi-Autos are more clumsy than either AI or Aleph bits, they are still useful, and an aleph enabled pilot can take direct control over them with the proper codes.

Bits are actually one area in which the LOS excels, using the experience from their Raptor mobile dolls as a basis, LOS high command plans to deploy ships, mobile suits and mobile dolls with their own bit systems by the end of the year. POD

Drone Pod

Drones, UAVs and RVs have been employed since the 20th century on the old AD calendar, so it’s no real surprise they’re still being used in TS32. Mobile suit carried scout drones tend to be small and fairly low endurance. Due to a drone’s vulnerability, they tend to include a large variety of stealth features for protection. Drone pods tend to launch them in small salvos in the hope that at least one will survive to report in. POD

Proximity Mines

With modern sensor technology, the proximity mine is a far less brutal weapon than the land mines of old. Everyone from modern infantry to mobile suits carries their own versions, usually shaped rather like grenades but hidden behind a mirage field. A proximity mine is dropped or thrown into an area and then explodes when it detects an enemy in a preset kill radius. Depending on the grenade, the warhead may differ, some varieties even launch submunitions at the target rather than attempting to catch it in a blast.

Some moral concerns about littering the battlefields with bombs do remain, so most forces set their proximity mines to either explode or disarm after a certain period. POD

Support Equipment

ECM Pod
A miniature version of the Scarlet Curtain ECM system, ECM pods are designed to protect only the mobile suit with them rather than an entire formation. They are rarely used by Federation units, who tend to have their own dedicated ECM planes, but are widely employed by LOS and other forces, especially on their electronic attack units. POD

IVD (Inflatable Visual Decoy) Pod

IVD are something of a misnomer as they in fact not only simulate a unit’s visual but also heat and radar signature. The idea is a quick inflating bag in the same shape as the mobile suit, with additional fidelity provided by the same technology that goes into Mirage fields.

This form of decoy proved surprisingly effective during the last war, especially when combined with heavy jamming. Some forms of decoys also include proximity mines to trap an unwary enemy who blunders past them. POD

Jump Boosters

A short-range jump drive designed to fit on a mobile suit frame with an internal capacitor system, jump boosters give a mobile suit tactical mobility and the ability to perform raids far from a carrier. Additionally, the energy supplies of the jump pack can be used to recharge a depleted energy system in an emergency. These are much less efficient and much expensive compared to ship drives. POD

MALD (Micro air launched decoy) pod

An old style decoy unit, MALDs are usually used to spoof long ranged missiles, stand off beams and other units that relay on radar or thermal imaging to lock on a target. They are far less effective in close when up against mobile suit sensors, and lose some of their effectiveness in space. MALD pods are however, much smaller than IVD Pods, and hold many more decoys. POD