External Weapons

External 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Panzerfaust

Also called an RPG, or buzz bomb the Panzerfaust used by mobile suits is a light, relatively agile weapon that fires a stabilised but usually unguided warhead capable of destroying heavily armoured targets such as space or wet navy vessels, mobile gun platforms or mobile armours.

The warhead is smaller than a bazooka, but generally the same kind of technology. Guided rounds do exist, but unguided is more usual. Some varieties are clip fed.

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 antiship 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.

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.