Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a big-time gamer. I love role-playing games, be them MMOs such as 'World of Warcraft' or 'Star Wars: The Old Republic,' single-player such as 'Dragon Age,' 'Fable,' 'Xenosaga,' or 'Enchanted Arms'; or traditional co-operative play 'pen and paper' tabletop games like 'Dungeons & Dragons,' 'Pathfinder,' and the the old fan-created 'Zoids' rpg game. I am also a writer, and have 'played' in a number of forum-based co-operative storytelling 'games' since I've been on the internet.
In the past few months, I've been trying to overhaul the Zoids rpg forum that I own and operate. Mainly, that means revamping everything from the ground up, including the characters I have created for it. One of those 'characters' is an 'improved' version of my all-time favorite, the Gungyalado. Of late, however, the character has become more of an exercise in flights of fancy, than a serious Zoid grounded in even in-universe technology.
Please bare with me. This is a flight of fanboy fancy, and the following musings may result in an overpowered creation that just may trump the Death Saurer from Chaotic Century...
General Concept[]
Take a Gungyalado, throw it in a Zoids Genesis-like era, and imagine what it would be like if it was created by the Sky People at their technological height. This would include, but not limited to:
- Improved Defenses
- Improved Armaments
- Improved Equipment
- Increased Battlefield Mobility
- Fuel Dependancy
- Fuel Consumption Based on Activity and Weapon Usage?
Concepts for Improved Defense[]
The base Gungyalado is equipped with what its techspecs calls 'Ice Armor.' From what I've been able to gather, 'Ice Armor' is a type of highly reflective armor plating, which redirects light-based ammunition (lasers beams) away from the armored area. The Gungyalado has this type of armor located on its neck, its arms, its legs, and on its tail; as you can imagine, in a war where light-based weapons are the accepted standard, the fact that the Zoid is vertually covered in this type of weapon can be rather intimidating.
Now, how does one improve upon armor that can reflect lasers? Do we make it to where it redirects particle-based and physical-based ammunition with magnetic fields, like the magnetic induction rods do in Chaotic Century and New Century / Zero? Reinforce it with an always-active, form-fitting E-Shield? Maybe forge it from Zoid Magnite, like with Steve Toros' Hover Cargo? Clad the Gungyalado is the Darkness Hell Armor of the Bio Tyranno? Or, do something... different?
Personally, I like going the way that Maethius went with their 'Gil Kaiserin' 'M.O.C.: use 'self-forging' armor. 'Self-forging' armor is as it sounds: armor that 'reforged' itself every time it is impacted, strengthening the impact area by reinforcing the armor's crystaline structure. In turn, this would mean that the Gungyalado's armor would only become stronger when it is struck by a physical round, a laser beam, or a particle beam. On the down side, the Gungyalado would be weak against bladed and bludgeoning weapons; in particular, the armor would be susceptable to edged physical weapons that vibrate, and weapons that rely on kinetic force (and possibly sound). The armor may or may not be susceptable to chemically corrosive weapons, or weapons that rely on electricity to deal damage.
Now that we have the armor type, how else can we improve the Gungyalado's defenses? Personally, I lean towards using the self-healing 'liquid metal' properties of the Diablo Tiger. If the Gungyalado's armor fails, and the Zoid is ever somehow damaged, the 'liquid metal' property would allow the Zoid to heal the damaged area - even regenerate lost limbs if given enough time. Of course, there would have to be a downside to this. In my thinking, if the armor was damaged it would heal back to its 'factory' state; any strengthening done to the armor prior to incuring damage would be lost, as the armor repairs itself back to it original 'pre-programmed' state.
Concepts for Improved Armaments[]
What immediately jumps to mind when you think of the Gungyalado's weapons? I'm betting the first thing that came to your mind was its big, purple Hyper Charged Particle Cannon . Don't worry; the Guny's HCPC is one of its most outstanding features, and figured heavily into its appearance in Battle Story. But that is not all the weapons it has.
According the the information we have, the Gungyalado is equipped with the following:
- x1 Hyper Charged particle Cannon (Mounted Directly Onto Its GU-02 Pulse Cannon )
- x1 GU-02 Pulse Gun (Back Mounted; Recolored, of Course)
- x1 3-Barrel Shock Cannon (Pelvis Mounted)
- x1 'God Tail' (Tail Mounted)
- x2 'Gale Wing' (Wing Mounted)
- x1 Flamethrower (Mouth Mounted)
Now, how can we make these weapons 'better,' and how can we increase the Gungyalado's offensive capabilities?
We don't want to get rid of its HCPC. Why get rid of the very thing that makes the Gungyalado one of the most feared Zoids on the battlefield. I say we increase its power by adding a gravitational spin to it. Instead of just firing a stream of hyper-velocity, highly energy atomic particles, why not somehow collapse those atomic particles into quasi atomic super-novae-turned-singularities? Not only would this cause the particle to impact with a thermal and kinetic force, but the atomic particles would detonate on impact then implode, sucking atom-sized chunks of the target into these short-lived molecular black hole. Of course, the use of this 'Grav-HCPC' would require the Gungyalado to lock itself down before firing, would generate a massive amount of heat, and could not be used all that frequently, but since when were charged particle canons ever fried consecutively and on the move (the Seismosaurus not included.)
The GU-02 Pulse Gun I am iffy on. It is one of the iconic weapons of the Gungyalado. From what I have gathered, it is an extremely powerful weapon. Not only is it fire thousands of 'rounds' of pulsed laser beams per minute when at full power, but it can switch between a firing solid beams to burn through a target, or a looser 'spray' to cover a wider area. With that said, I am fond of switching it's ability over to what I call a 'beam needler.' As a 'beam needler', the cannon would fire 'stasis shards' in place of lasers. These 'stasis shards' are fletchette-like, self-contained monomolecular energy blades, which are generated by an E-Shield-like system and projected like standard particle beams and physical rounds. While they would be able to slice through a wide array of targets like a hot knife through butter, the fletchettes would only have a limited range and short life duration, as they would simply 'evaporate' after a set period of time unless more energy is fed into them.
There is no sense in removing the 3-Shot Shock Cannon. I would simply state that it can rorate upwards, as to allow a forward firing arc and not straight down, whenever the Gungyalado is in a running posture.
The Gungyalado's so called 'God Tail' would remain untouched. While not apprently useful, the drill the tips the Zoid's tail can be a deadly weapon in close-range combat if employed correctly; just don't use it while in mid-air, less the Zoid starts spinning, too! The only thing I would change is its name, as I would convert it into more technical sounding jargon, such as 'High Speed Anti-Zoid 'God Tail' Magnezer Impact Drill.'
I'm not sure what 'Gale Wing' is supposed to be. Are the wings able to generate gale-force winds via their magnesser system? Are wings' leading edges able to cut through other Zoids, such as the Storm Sworder's Wing Swords? Personally, I like to think it is the latter, but that's just the fanboy in me. However, if I were redesigning the Guny, I'd exclude the 'Gale Wing' as a weapon, make it a type of booster system, and move on (which I kind of am.)
Where would a dragon be without its breath? Very few Zoids employ purely thermic weapons, and even fewer are able to defend against such weapons. A flamethrow is a good choise of the Gungyalado . Yet, I feel there could be a few changes. Mainly, I would borrow from the Brastle Tiger the ability to absorb heat, then channel that energy into its flamethrower. I would also establish this ability as the 'prototype' technology that the Brastle Tiger's thermic abilities are developed from...
Beyond these 'standard' armaments, I would add several additional weapons. Firstly, the Gungyalado's model has what looks to be a 6-short missile pod molded into its lower back; I would add this to its arsenal. I would also add a 'Strike Laser Claw' system to its claws, and outfit its mouth with an 'Electron Bite Fang' System.
To Be Continued...[]
This post is getting too long, even for me. Look for more fanboy godmoding in future blog posts.
Krowfeather (talk) 18:27, September 2, 2016 (UTC)