 BUSTER GUNDAM
Craft: Earth Alliance GAT-X103 Buster Gundam
Type: prototype long-distance artillery mobile suit
Scale: Starfighter
Dimensions:
-Height: 18.86m
-Mass: 84.2 metric tons
Skill: Mecha Piloting (OR Walker Operations and/or Starfighter/Aircraft Piloting)
Crew: 1
Cargo Capacity: 10 kilograms (or less)
Consumables: 1 week (survival pack)
Cost: N/A
Hyperdrive: N/A
Nav Computer: Yes (short-ranged, carrier-based)
Maneuverability: 3D
Speed:
-Space: 7
-Atmosphere: 350; 1,000kmh ("jumps" only)
-Ground (Walking): 55; 160kmh
Hull: 5D+1 (PS armor, see below)
-Strength: 4D
-Armor: 1D+1
Shields: N/A
Sensors:
Passive: 25/0D
Scan: 50/1D
Search: 75/2D
Focus: 3/4D
WEAPONS
350mm Gun Launcher
Location: stored on back right, hand-held when used
Fire Arc: "turret" (aimed with arms)
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Mecha Gunnery (OR Starship/Aircraft Gunnery)
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 40-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage: 7D
Ammo: 50 rounds, connected to battery (see below)
Rate of Fire: 1 round per attack
94mm High-Energy Beam Rifle
Location: stored on back left, hand-held when used
Fire Arc: "turret" (aimed with arms)
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Mecha Gunnery (OR Starship/Aircraft Gunnery)
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 30-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage: 7D
Ammo: connected to battery (see below)
Rate of Fire: 1beam per attack
2 220mm 6-Barrel Missile Pods
Location: mounted on shoulders
Fire Arc: front
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Missile Weapons
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1/3/7, 7 per round, max range 70
Atmosphere Range: 50-100/300/700, 700m per round, max range 7km
Damage: 7D
Ammo: 3missiles per barrel (18 per pod; 36 missiles total)
Rate of Fire: 1 missile per attack; OR volleyfire up to 12 missiles
WEAPONS (Combining 350mm Gun Launcher and 94mm High-Energy Rifle)
Hyper Impulse Long-Range Sniper Rifle (94mm High-Energy Beam Rifle in front of 350mm Gun Launcher)
Location: Combined Weapon
Fire Arc: front
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Mecha Gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-6/25/50
Atmosphere Range: 50-600/2.5/5km
Damage: 8D
Ammo: connected to battery (see below)
Rate of Fire: 1 beam per attack
Anti-Armor Shotgun (350mm Gun Launcher in front of 94mm High-Energy Beam Rifle)
Location: Combined Weapon
Fire Arc: front fire arc
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Mecha Gunnery (OR Starship/Aircraft Gunnery)
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 10-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage: 8D/6D/4D (depends on range)
Ammo: connected to battery +2 power drain (see below)
Rate of Fire: 1 scatter blast per attack
DESCRIPTION:
With the outbreak of war, the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation begins a secret project to develop mobile suits to counter ZAFT's mass-produced ZGMF-1017 GINN as well as operate free of interference from the N-Jammers. The GAT-X103 Buster Gundam is one of five initial prototype mobile suits that the Alliance develops secretly with the Orb Union. As an artillery mobile suit, the Buster Gundam's main armament consists of a 350mm gun launcher and a 94mm high-energy rifle. These two weapons can be used independently or both interchangeably combined to form two powerful long-range weapons. The Buster Gundam is also equipped with two 6-barrel missile pod launchers on its shoulders. Like the other prototype Gundams, the Buster Gundam is equipped with the new Phase Shift (PS) armor technology. When in Phase Shift mode, the Buster Gundam is nearly impervious to attacks from shell-firing artillery or melee weapons. However, use of Phase Shift for extended periods of time is a massive drain on the energy battery. Later on, the Alliance introduces the GAT/A-01E2 Buster Dagger, a simplified mass production version of the Buster Gundam.
On January 25, C.E. 71, the Buster Gundam is stolen by ZAFT pilot Dearka Elsman during ZAFT's assault on the neutral colony Heliopolis. Following the escape of the Earth Alliance battleship Archangel, Dearka and his Buster Gundam continue to harass the Archangel's crew during the later period of the war. In one battle near the Orb Union, the Buster Gundam is seriously damaged, forcing Dearka to surrender. He is captured by the Archangel and is held captive until the Archangel defects from the Earth Alliance to the Orb forces. When the Earth Alliance attacks Orb, Dearka reclaims the Buster Gundam and fights alongside the Archangel to defend Miriallia Haw. In the last battle of the war on September 26, C.E. 71, the Buster Gundam is heavily damaged while fighting Rau Le Creuset's ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam. Later, a second unit piloted by Shams Couza is upgraded to the GAT-X103AP Verde Buster.
GUNDAM OS
When activating the mobile suit, the operating system on the screen reads:
General
Unilateral
Neuro-Link
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
COMBAT ABILITIES
Designed as a heavy weapons assault mobile suit, the Buster's armament consists solely of long range weapons, including a gun launcher, a high-energy rifle and two missile pods. One weakness of the suit lies in its complete lack of any close combat weaponry. This fact is later corrected with the mass production model, the GAT/A-01E2 Buster Dagger.
Like the other X100 series G prototypes (GAT-X102 Duel and GAT-X105 Strike), the Buster is based on an agile, non-transforming frame system (it is in fact based mostly on an application of the Duel's frame).
ARMAMENT
-Gun launcher/High-energy rifle
The main armament of the Buster are a 350mm gun launcher and a 94mm high-energy rifle. Both weapons are mounted on the back of the suit when not used but are otherwise hand-carried. Each weapon can be used independently but if necessary, they both can be combined to form two different long-range beam weapons.
-Missile launchers
Besides the two energy weapons, the Buster is equipped with two 220mm 6-barrel missile pods, one in each shoulder, allowing the suit to fire a rain of missiles upon enemies.
HISTORY
The Buster is one of the prototype mobile suits developed by the Earth Alliance during the Bloody Valentine War under G Project, to counter ZAFTs own mass production mobile suits. Together with the four other machines the Buster is stored secretly on the Orb Union controlled independent colony Heliopolis.
Buster was stolen by ZAFT pilot Dearka Elsman on Cosmic Era January 25, 71, and was used by him throughout the rest of the war. Dearka frequently dueled with TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero/FX-550 Skygrasper pilot Mu La Flaga, neither pilot able to gain a competitive advantage over the other, La Flaga's greater experience and skill balanced by Elsman's raw reflexes and superior machine. Elsman was shot down and captured, his mobile suit severely damaged, by the crew of the Archangel in June 71, spent approximately a month in Archangel's brig and subsequently joined the Clyne Faction to bring about the end of the Bloody Valentine War. On the last day of the war, Dearka's mobile suit was severely damaged by the ZGMF-X13A Providence.
The Earth Alliance later developed two new versions of the Buster: one of them was the mass produced GAT/A-01E2 Buster Dagger, which combined the frame of a GAT-01A1 105 Dagger with the Buster's weaponry. The other suit was another Buster unit upgraded into the GAT-X103AP Verde Buster, which features more and advanced weaponry compared to the original suit.
Although not really based upon the Buster, the artillery support paradigm which the suit was designed around would be developed into a heavy long-range mobile suit, the GAT-X131 Calamity.
GAME NOTES
*Operating System: When the Gundams were hijacked by ZAFT, the OS was minimal and incomplete, just enough to get it to move (1D Maneuverability, 0D Fire Control to all weapons). The pilots of the Creuset Team took their four machines directly back to their baseship while a battle erupted between ZAFT GINNs and the Earth Alliance space forces. At the baseship, all data in the G-Units was downloaded, while they quickly programmed an OS into their computers that worked and would make them combat-ready.
The result of this are the stats as they are now, with the same rules as the "Natural Pilots" from all of ZAFTs other mobile suits (all Maneuverability and Fire Control Dice are 1D and all Difficulties are one level higher to Natural pilots until a proper operating system is installed, then they may pilot the machine as normal). However, when the Gundams first landed on Earth, they had to update their OS again for "contact pressure" for whenever they jumped on land and moved around (1D Maneuverability in Atmosphere/on Ground), and "heat convection" for when they used beam weaponry in high-temperature environments (ranged beam weaponry is at half or third of full range). Kira Yamato did this for the Strike Gundam on the fly, always in the middle of combat, while the Creuset Team eventually had these updates made as they persued the Archangel across Earth.
If a Gundam (or any other Gundam SEED mobile suit, for that matter) is ever aquired with this lack in it's Operating System, then a Very Difficult Computer Program/Repair skill check must be made to adjust the Gundam's systems to these situations (Heroic Difficulty if in the middle of battle!!!).
*Phase Shift (PS) Armor: This is the defensive system that makes the Gundams so fearful in combat and impervious to ballistics and explosive weapons. When activated, take the number in front of the Hull Dice and subtract this every round from the Gundam's battery points, along with the number from any Damage Dice that hit the Gundam (see "Ultracompact Energy Battery" below).
Another way to do this (if players/GMs wish to do so) is to not subtract the entire Hull Dice number from the Battery (5), subtract "1" instead, but still subtract the full Damage Dice number of any attacks that hit the Gundam.
PS Armor makes the unit impervious to weapon types such as ballistics (machine guns of every type, bullet type weaponry), explosives (such as missiles and grenades, BUT, not Proton Torpedoes if you happen to be using them for some reason), and all physical attacks (such as mecha mel?e weapons like the GINN Sword).
PS Armor does NOT protect against energy/beam weapons at all (though if it had a strong enough power supply such as a Death Star scale nuclear reactor, energy/beam weapons would then become harmless).
PS armor also protects against atmospheric reentry and keeps the Gundam from burning up and being destroyed.
*Ultracompact Energy Battery: In the Gundam SEED setting, nuclear power has been rendered near useless by use of Neutron Jammers (N-Jammers). ZAFT attempted to prevent the use of nuclear weapons after the "Bloody Valentine" incident, where Junius Seven of the PLANTs was destroyed by a nuclear attack by Naturals. Using N-Jammers extensively with their ships, as well as deploying them all over the Earth deep underground, use of nuclear reactors is all but impossible until the development of the Neutron Jammer Cancelers. Therefor, most technological devices use alternate means of power sources. Most mobile suits and mobile armors use ultracompact energy batteries. While their operation time may be limited, most of these vehicles still have plenty of time to complete their sortie missions before having to return to base.
To represent this, take a mobile suit/mobile armor/ship's Hull Dice and multiply the number by a hundred (100), adding 25 per pip (525 for the Buster Gundam). This is the Battery's power. Decrease by one point per round of combat while the mobile vehicle is active after launch. Any energy weapons directly connected to the battery drain it by a number equal to the Damage Dice they inflict, per use (such as beam rifles, beam cannons or beam sabers, etc.). Any special equipment that shield or help the mobile vehicle (such as energy shields, Phase Shift armor or Mirage Colloid) deplete the battery by a number equal to it's Hull Dice. Any other variants will list any differences in their entries.
*Missile Volleys: Many animated series with mecha tend to show missile launching weapons fire massive volleys of projectiles at different enemies, and Gundam SEED is no different. Also, most large-scale missile weapons of the modern era do this as well. Star Wars RPG has no rules for this, using every missile as a one-shot per missile item (unless fire-linked) that deals major damage if it hits.
If a weapon says it can do "missile volleys" or "volleyfire", then it can fire several missiles (or other applicable weapon) at a target for a better chance of destroying it. To represent this, decide how many missiles you want to fire, then roll to attack. Every extra missile added to the first adds a +1 pip to attack. If they hit, roll damage for every individual missile. The idea is that multiple attacks would have a better chance of penetrating thick armor (which missiles are supposed to do).
A different option to this is to simply fire-link the collective missiles' Damage Dice and add +1D per missile to the base damage. BUT! That CAN get rather powerful, perhaps more than most GMs would want. Using missile volleys is also more for smaller missile with less damage, but that could be packed in a small enough launching system to be fired all at once and deliver multiple dmages upon a target.
If the target tries dodging, they are not doing so against one missile, but Manu of them (hence the +1 pip per missile added to hit). If escape seems unlikely, they can instead target the missiles and attempt to destroy the volley. If they destroy enough of them to reduce the attack roll below their dodge roll, they successfully evade the rest of the missile volley.
But with Phase Shift armor, most Gundams in Gundam SEED can simply soak thei damage.
*Self-Destruct System: Each G Unit was initially equipped with a self-destruct device to keep the technologies they incorporated from falling into enemy hands. However, the Earth Alliance's fears came true as four of the machines were captured then used by ZAFT pilots against them in turn, their unique systems duplicated by the Coordinators and used to build newer, stronger models that outdo their previous models, such as the GINN, which had already been so hard to overcome in the first place.
When the self-destruct is used, it does damage as the Gundam's Hull dice as capital scale. Against Phase Shift armor at point-blank range, the PS cannot soak the intense energy unleashed and takes damage normally.
OTHER SPECS
-Model number: GAT-X103
-Code name: Buster Gundam
-Unit type: prototype long-distance artillery mobile suit.
-Manufacturer: Morgenroete, Inc.
-Operator(s): Earth Alliance (Atlantic Federation); ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty); Three Ships Alliance.
-First deployment: 25 January C.E. 71
-Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso.
-Dimensions: head height 18.86 meters
-Weight: max gross weight 84.2 metric tons.
-Armor materials: unknown
-Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery (power output rating unknown).
-Equipment and design features: sensors (range unknown); Phase Shift (PS) armor.
-Fixed armaments: 350mm gun launcher (mounted behind right arm, can be combined with 94mm high-energy rifle, hand-carried in use); 94mm high-energy rifle (mounted behind left arm, can be combined with 350mm gun launcher, hand-carried in use); 2 x 220mm 6-barrel missile pod (mounted on shoulders).
-Appearances: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED; Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (manga); Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ASTRAY; Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam SEED; Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Never-Ending Tomorrow; Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (game); Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 STARGAZER: Phantom Pain Report; Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam Vs. Gundam Next
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