One year war era UC mod ideas: Step 1, models. there is a UC homeworld mod, but I don't know if they could be rigged right for EAW. if they were, these models would go great in empire at war because the low poly counts allow for excessively large battles like in the early to mid OYW. The existence of a campaign map as well as land and space battles really makes EAW the better base to build a gundam mod, as well as the fact that this universe has never seen an RTS title. what we cannot take we will make ourselves. luckily for us gundam originally had no budget so if one of us could model and rig it would not take too long. especially since the number of units is rather small compared to larger projects.
we will also need to play with projectiles. luckily enough this would just require lengthening beams and picking up the autocannon effects from the Battlestar galactica mod, all assets taken with the creator's permission and crediting of course.
Step 2: Create a GC map using tools made available by the thrawns revenge dudes. (2.5 thank thrawns revenge dudes)
The map will be made using the sites of major battles (Odessa, the droppoints), primary manufacturing regions (like The clusters of Zeon, lunar cities, Jaburo, and California base), and of course major cities which will be the primary supplier of population points and capital.
The backdrop for the map will be the earth and moon, with 'planets" being locations important to the war. We will use a map that allows for most of the continents to be displayed, as earth will make up the majority of this GC. Outside of the earth the colonies and asteroid bases will be placed in their proximate locations. The colonies and moon will reside mostly on the south of the map, with a realistic earths axis being impossible to accomplish. The colonies will not have land to fight on with the sole exception of Zeon, as they need this for structures. Also While Zeon doesn't mind gassing and blowing apart colonies, The Federation would rather use force to take the Principality from power without murdering hundreds of millions.
Actual ground maps are easy to come by. The Star Trek Alliance mod has a load of terrestrial and desert maps that would suit our needs quite well. a space map with an earth backdrop likely exists, and will be the standard for battles fought over earth. however we can add things like debris fields and wreckage to different maps to spruce things up.
We have our stage, now for the props.
Cities and colonies will start out with structures and stations that give massive increases to pop cap and income, while some colonies will also start out with shipyards. this is representative of humanity's 12 odd billion at the start of the war. If you know the UC, you know how this goes. while mines can be quickly built, and factories after a significant investment with a medium amount of time, Civilian populations can not be replaced. Lose a city, and you have lost a significant portion of your popcap. For good. This is a good representation of the mass slaughter and manpower shortages that defined the One Year war.
Ships are constructed in land factories as well as shipyards, such as Anaheim on the moon, Jaburo, Belfast, and in north america . Space and deep earth mining as well as robotics have made producing even battleships much faster, so a constant flow of new warships is obtainable so long as the production sites and manpower exist. However setting up new factories takes time. Factories are split by what they produce, suitably by Conventional (infantry, tanks, planes), Spaceship, Mobile Suit, and finally Heavy (air carriers, land battleships, Mobile Tanks)
Star fortresses like luna 2, Solomon, and A Baoa Qu posses significant reinforcements on top of their massive fire power in order to allow both sides the time to tech up in order to overcome these strongholds. Think Super star destroyers from Thrawn's revenge only stationary with a constant stream of warships and MS. A Baoa Qu itself will have land to fight on and build factories, as well as having its 3 Defensive Fields that must be crushed to begin the assault on side 3's clusters.
Props are set up, now for the plot.
The "GC" begins with Earth controlling near everything except for Zeon, Solomon, Abaoa Qu, and Granada on the moon. Zeon however is the most populous of the space colonies, and massive amounts of industry. most of its population is also fanatically loyal, so they also get more pop cap per city. They are still dwarfed by the federation in population and income. The federation also has a secret facility at side seven, which is literally orbiting on the opposite side of the planet where they can begin teching up. meanwhile the zeon have their own research facilities safely kept in their homeland, which is protected by two star fortresses on one side and what will become the wreckage of two colony clusters on the other. The zekes however cannot survive without reducing the Feddy numbers, and will need to begin engaging the colonies as soon as possible. Further Zeon can build at a captured colony cluster a colony drop,which is effectively a multiple kilometer long slab of metal and ingame a single use deathstar (with the animation disabled) that can devastate a region should they get in orbit of it. A lifetime build limit should be 5 considerng what Iffish did to earth. They could also attempt to destroy the federation facility, which would stunt their technology growth. Rather than have nine months of conventional warfare before the tech race began, it will begin at the start. The Tech centers cannot be replaced quickly, so investing in an emergency one at say Jaburo would likely be helpful. Falling behind in tech is very bad for both sides, especially when the federation can begin churning out GMs.
Now for the Actors. The UC has been returned to and modified extensively by both its original creators and those who have come after, so even limiting our war from the seven second warning the Zeon gave the Feds before attacking until the peace treaties signed a long and bloody year later still leaves us with loads of units and characters to make. In true Gundam theme if a hero dies, it stays dead. Granted some will be able to respawn because they are the complement unit, such as Amuro. presumably after speedy repairs and an ass beating by captain Bright. Both sides have a wide selection at the start, with specialized and advanced craft coming in later.
Combat will rely on seeing your opponent first. while accuracy will be bad even at medium ranges, many ships have so many guns that when firing en masse they probably will hit something. While the Pegasus classes will have traditional cannons, the primary weapons in naval combat are Beam Cannons, Missiles, and AA guns. I do not think hardpoints should be used, considering how powerful these weapons are.
Beam cannons are found on nearly every ship, with most feddie ships coated in the damn things. they are slow to fire, but hit very hard, downing lighter ships in a couple of hits. The conventional cannons aboard the Pegasus Classes have a higher reload rate at the cost of power.
Missiles are no longer guided due to minovsky interference. they are also slow to reload, and constant movement renders them unlikely to hit. they also do not hit nearly as hard, but as many ships were built under the belief that battles would be fought with missiles at extreme distances, most ships will have tons of them. they have extremely long range as unlike beams they don't dissipate, making them effective in opening barrages against stationary targets.
AA guns are a variety of high rate of fire automatic weapons used to deter fighters with a hail of lead. most federation ships were believed to be too strong for a fighter to damage them, and so are armed with 20mm twin guns, which are barely effective to MS. however pity the pilot who gets within range of several banks worth of guns as they get needled to death. Zeon warships that mount them use larger caliber weapons, which does make them effective against both MS and fighters. however the warships that mount them are quite few, as the navy did not believe the federation's fighters could get past their mighty MS.
Finally a late tech federation ship is armed with guns especially designed to kill MS, however these ships are few in number.
Shields do not exist in large quantities in gundam. Beam dispersion and beam resistant weapons will be represented by shields on a few machines, but they will still take damage from missiles, deck guns, and machine gun fire.
Battles are decided by tactics and manuevering, rather than use of tanking ships like in regular FOC. Even the mightiest Zeon heavy carriers wil fall to a single barrage from a fleet.
Lines of fire must be carefully considered, and most ships should stick in tight formation to maximize potential damage against enterprising MS.
