ZM-001 Zoloat

The ZM-001 Zoloat is a mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha. It is the mainline mobile suit of the Zanscare Consortium.

Appearance
Essentially a larger version of the original ZM-S06S Zoloat from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. The main difference is that it now lacks the shoulder mounted beam shield and instead holds dual beam string emitters. They are typically colored in Zanscare standard bronze, but as usual for the setting, custom units are known to exist.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The ZM-001 Zoloat is Zanscare's debut mobile suit type. Designed primarily for speed and mobility (like other Outer Power units), it possesses powerful Apollo Thrusters and secondary drive systems that granted it exceptional performance. Though not quite as fast as units like the Zeon Empire's ZMS-006 Zaku, the Zoloat was more than fast enough to outmaneuver most Inner Power mobile suits, while also possessing enough offensive power to fight them head on.

For armaments, the Zoloat is armed with a pair of torso mounted beam vulcans, a hand-held beam rifle, two optional beam cannons that can be mounted on hard-points located on the Zoloat's back and two beam string emitters in its shoulders. A weapon that would soon become one of Zanscare's trademarks, beam strings are thin wire based weapons that can be used for either grapping or cutting. To add to the strings' flexibility, both of the Zoloat's shoulders can extend outward on gyroscopic arms for wider range of motion.

Though a well rounded, relatively high performance unit, the Zoloat suffers from one critical weakness: it lacks any formal defensive armament, such as a beam shield projector. This mistake would be rectified in future Zanscare mobile suits, beginning with the ZM-002 Zollidia.

Armaments

 * KVE-86 Beam Vulcan
 * The Zoloat mounts two beam vulcans within its torso. As smaller caliber, rapid fire beam guns, the vulcans are generally used in closer ranges, both as pinpoint defense weapons and to cause supplemental damage to enemy mobile suits. Otherwise the Zoloat's guns are little different from those used more famously by Inner Power mobile suits.


 * KST-55 Beam String Emitter
 * The Zoloat's most unique weapon, as well as one of Zanscare's trademark developments. Mounted in either shoulder assembly, the emitters shoot out five beam luminated electromagnetic wires that are "coated" with beam energy. As a result, beam strings can be used in a variety of ways, such as grappling or cutting targets, as well as for distraction purposes. For greater range of motion, the emitters are mounted on retractable arms that can extend outward from the Zoloat's shoulders.


 * KCC-54 Beam Cannon
 * For optional heavy armaments, the Zoloat can mount two beam cannons on its back. Though somewhat less powerful than other weapons of its type, such as the RGC-601 Guncannon Trooper's guns, the cannons are powerful enough to inflict great damage on even the most well defended targets, such as enemy warships. At the same time however, the cannons' added weight and additional power usage can hamper the Zoloat's mobility, so they're only mounted and utilized for specific mission parameters.


 * KRF-04 Beam Rifle
 * Standard armament for this mobile suit type. This model of beam rifle is little different from other such weapons, but is well regarded by Zanscare pilots for its reliability. Its power is roughly on par with that of an Earth model.

History
The ZM-001 Zoloat is the first mass production mobile suit deployed by the Zanscare Consortium, only four years before the First Galactic War's beginning. Along with the other Outer Powers that followed Zeon on the initial blitzkrieg, the Zoloat was used to great effect against the unprepared Inner Powers, inflicting much damage to the latter forces and easily outperforming the majority of opposing mobile suits. As a result, the Zoloat would be used by Zanscare through the entirety of the war, even as newer, more advanced units like the ZM-004 Contio took to the field.