ZMS-006 Zaku

The ZMS-006 Zaku is a mobile suit type from Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha. The Zeon Empire's main mobile suit type, it serves as both a symbol of the Empire's advance into the galaxy as well as a great bane to Star Force mobile suit pilots.

Appearance
Pretty much looks like the MS-06Fz Zaku II Kai with the B-type helmet, but with certain "futuristic" elements added.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Being the first of Zeon's mobile suit line, the Zaku presented a radical departure from the mobile suit design standards of the time (which had been emphasized by the Federation). Rather than act as a mobile gun battery meant for combating warships, armored vehicles and other "conventional" targets, the Zaku was designed for one explicit purpose: to fight other mobile suits. For this, a design emphasis was placed on mobility and close combat capability over durability (though they were armored in high grade Zeon Steel) and firepower; this resulted in the Zaku being laden with powerful thrusters, giving it speed and maneuverability that far surpassed the Guncannon and preceding units. This design focus ended up being highly successful in battle, as Zakus could literally dance around Guncannon weapons fire while closing the distance and attacking unprotected flanks. In fact, this design ethic was so successful it would later become the new standard for mobile suits, as later Federation units like the RGX-780 Gundam and the GM series would also be built primarily around mobility.

The Zaku's offensive capabilities were also made specifically to fight mobile suits; as opposed to then traditional "heavy" weapons like beam cannons and single shot beam rifles, the Zakus' weapons were designed to be light, precise and overwhelming, such that they could function with the Zaku's high mobility. Its main weapon is a beam machine gun, which could literally rain beams upon its target while the Zaku is performing high speed maneuvers, thereby saving its pilots the time of lining up singular shots. Supplementary armaments include a beam axe for melee combat (which the Guncannon had no counter against outside its beam shield), a right shoulder mounted beam shield projector for defense, and six hip mounted missile tubes for back up weapons. As well, the Zaku could be equipped with an optional beam bazooka for anti-ship combat, as well as a whole line of additional weapon types.

Perhaps more noteworthy than its mobility and weapons however, the Zaku would be the first mobile suit to use the Mono-Eye camera system, which (as the name suggested) placed a single "main" camera on an extended track in the Zaku's head, while secondary cameras were mounted around the mobile suit's body. Altogether, they gave the pilot excellent scope and visibility, which again ended up surpassing that of the Guncannon line (though later Federation types would supplant this with the Dual-Eye camera system). Outside of that purpose however, the Mono-Eye also functioned as a psychological weapon, giving the Zaku the visage of a giant cyclopean monster; many a Star Force soldier had quivered under the gaze of a Mono-Eye, especially when it turns to focus in on a specific target. This secondary effect was considered just as lethal as the Zakus' performance and weaponry, such that Zeon engineers were quick to refit the Mono-Eye to emit a "flash" to further emphasize it.

As another departure from Federation design ethics, which is to create specialized units from a single base design, Zeonic (Zeon's primary weapons manufacturer and the Zaku's producer) made the Zaku to be a pure general purpose type that could be used in just about any assignment; as such there are no secondary production models of the Zaku. That being said however, a number of specialty custom units exist, as one of the priviliges of Zeon commanders and ace pilots is virtual free reign in mobile suit customization, both personal (for aces) and unit wide (for commanders). Among such famous units are those belonging to Captain Char "Red Comet" Aznable (painted blood red and equipped with more powerful thrusters for greater mobility), Commander Anavel "Nightmare of Solomon" Gato (painted blue and green and equipped with a second beam axe), Commander Ranba "Blue Giant" Ral (painted blue and equipped with a custom beam gatling gun designed by Ral himself), Commander Johnny "Crimson Lightning" Ridden (painted red and black, equipped with more powerful thrusters and a more powerful bazooka) and Lieutenant Commander Shin "White Wolf of Solomon" Matsunaga (painted white and black and also equipped with more powerful thrusters).

Armaments

 * ZMP80 Beam Machine Gun
 * The Zaku's primary weapon, nicknamed the "Monster" by Zaku pilots for its large, almost intimidating size and power. Essentially a huge expansion of the Federation's beam vulcan concept, the beam machine gun, as its name suggests, fires multiple "small" beams in controlled bursts as opposed to the single "large" beam of a standard beam rifle. As such, while each individual beam is less powerful than a full rifle shot, they are fired at such great rate that they can literally rain across targets. Combined with the built-in targeting system's great accuracy, Zakus can fire these machine guns while executing high speed maneuvers and still make precise hits.


 * ZBB25K Beam Bazooka
 * Though Zakus were primarily designed to fight other MS, the beam bazooka allows them to still function as "heavy" combatants. With power marginal to that of the Guncannons' shoulder beam cannons, the beam bazooka lacks the high firing rate of the Zaku's machine gun, but gives far greater power per shot, making it an effective weapon against heavily armored targets such as warships and fortresses. The tradeoff, however, is that the bazooka can expend its power in only a few shots, and the resulting recharge period can last up to several minutes.


 * ZSS07 Beam Shield
 * One of the few fields that Zeon is lagging behind the Federation in, the Zaku's mounted beam shield is noticeably larger and more cumbersome than Federation models; in fact, it might as well be an entirely seperate device from the Zaku, as it takes up all of the right shoulder and covers most of the right arm. This is due to certain materials that the Federation used in the size marginalization of their beam shields not existing in Zeon, therefore causing Zeonic engineers to compensate with more rudementary parts. Even so, the Zaku's beam shield power is roughly equivalent to that of the Guncannon's, and Zeon pilots are capable of using the "solid shield" projector as both a secondary defense and as an impromptu offensive weapon by ramming other MS with it.


 * ZA05 Beam Axe
 * As the Zaku's maneuverability allowed it to close in on its target rather quickly, the designers of Zeonic felt that the Zaku should also be equipped with a melee weapon for such occasions (inadvertantly opening up a whole new field of mobile suit warfare). Since their main opposition (the Guncannon) was heavily armored, the designers chose to make this weapon a battle axe, a weapon ideal for breaking through heavy armor and defenses. By generating a small field of beam energy across its "edge", the resultant beam axe possessed great cutting power that was not only efficient against mobile suits, but warships as well. However, when the Federation started fielding mobile suits equipped with beam sabers, which emitted whole beam blades and held greater reach and cutting angles than the axe, Zaku pilots suddenly found themselves robbed of a key close combat advantage.


 * ZIM09 Missile Launcher
 * The Zaku's main secondary weapon, nicknamed "Crackers" for their multi-explosive effect. Not unlike the beam vulcan for Federation mobile suits, the Zaku's hip mounted missile launchers were designed to give pilots back up measures against enemies, namely when their other weapons were either lost or recharging. Each missile is a guided high explosive device, which contain enough power to destroy a single mobile suit with a glancing blow (assuming the enemy unit can't raise its beam shield in time). The Zaku carries six of these.

System Features

 * ZCC55 Cloaking Device
 * The Zaku is the first mobile weapon to use Zeon's patented cloaking technology. The stealth system functions by generating an electromagnetic field around its host Zaku, which in turn reflects light and sensor waves, effectively making the unit invisible to both sensors and the naked eye. However, the tradeoff is that the cloaking device takes a massive amount of energy to utilize; once activated, the Zaku is unable to utilizes its tactical systems, and its mobility is extremely hampered. As such, the Zaku is highly vulnerable when cloaked, thus pilots must take care to utilize the cloak sparingly, and well outside combat.

History
Rolled out in January GC 372, the Zaku would become the Zeon Empire's mainstay mobile suit not long after, serving for at least five years before the coming of the First Galactic War. Immediately after the war's beginning the Zaku's superiority would become established; no other mobile suit could match its performance, while warships were equally vulnerable to its power. Entire Star Force squadrons and fleets would end up being wiped away by Zaku squadrons alone, causing the Federation to tak heavy losses from the onset of the war; as such, leading galactic media groups would come to refer to this period as the Zaku Scourge.

However, in spite of the Zaku's superiority, the Federation was not entirely outmatched. Star Force still had several ace pilots and commanders who were both capable of fighting Zakus with inferior Guncannons and coordinating their forces against Zaku formations, while the one particular ship type, the Midway-class fleet carrier, was capable of command and controlling an entire fleet's worth of mobile suit forces, thereby all but nullifying the Zaku's performance advantage. On other hand, Zeon also possessed several gifted mobile suit pilots, each capable of wiping out an entire Star Force unit singlehandedly, as well as equally gifted tacticians and commanders that could make the most of the Zaku's power en mass. As a result, Zeon would make great headway from the beginning of the war, but at the same time would be unable to decisively defeat the Federation early on.

Eventually however, the Zaku's battlefield dominance would come to an end when the Federation began introducing even more powerful mobile suits to replace their Guncannons. The first of which, the RGX-780 Gundam, would even make its first mark in history by singlehandedly destroying three Zakus at once.

Variations

 * Char Aznable Unit
 * Arguably the most famous unit of the series, the Zaku belonging to Commander Char Aznable would become something of a trend setter for other mobile suit units. Besides its blood red color scheme, which would become Char's main trademark as the "Red Comet", its main feature is its enhanced thrusters, which are powerful enough to increase the unit's speed over thirty percent. As such, the Zaku would for a time be the fastest mobile suit in existance, until other Zeon pilots began mimicking Char's example by boosting their own Zakus' thrusters and mobility systems.


 * Anavel Gato Unit
 * Once establishing himself as an ace, Commander Anavel Gato would customize his own Zaku by painting it deep blue with a green torso, marginally enhancing its thrusters, and adding a second beam axe to its arsenal. It was in this unit that Gato earned his epithet "Nightmare of Solomon" through his participation in the First Battle of Solomon.


 * Ranba Ral Unit
 * Commander Ranba Ral, otherwise known as the "Blue Giant", would customize his Zaku by painting it in a straight blue scheme. Beyond that, Ral also increased the power output of its Apollo Reactor in order for the unit to utilize a special weapon: a beam gatling gun, designed by Ral himself, which he fitted upon the left arm. Eventually, Ral would take the combat data and experiences he gained in this unit and utilize them to create a new, more powerful MS design: the ZMS-007 Gouf.


 * Johnny Ridden Unit
 * Following the example set by Char Aznable, Commander Johnny Ridden, better known as the "Crimson Lightning", would customize his Zaku for increased speed and mobility, as well as paint it in a crimson tone (while adding black highlights to seperate it from Char's unit). As well, he would have Zeonic design a more powerful beam bazooka for it, which he would use as his primary weapon; this design would serve as the basis for the ZMS-009 Dom's primary weapon. Much to Ridden's detriment however, Federation pilots would be unable to differentiate his Zaku from Char's, and as such often mistake him for the more famous Red Comet.


 * Shin Matsunaga Unit
 * Known for his predatory habit of stalking potential targets, Lieutenant Commander Shin Matsunaga, better known as the "White Wolf of Solomon", would naturally paint his Zaku in a pure white and black scheme. Beyond that, he would set himself alongside fellow "speed aces" Char Aznable and Johnny Ridden by enhancing his unit's thruster power, giving him a massive boost in speed and mobility.

Painted in light blue with gold lines, the Zaku belonging to Lieutenant Commander Aina Sahalin, better known as the "Azure Witch" by Star Force pilots, is said to possess a prototype cloaking device designed by Aina's brother, Admiral Ginias Sahalin. Though the capabilities of this device are classified, rumor has it that the cloak not only functions in its standard capacity, but can also actively "phase" the matter and energy of its host Zaku, thereby allowing it to pass through normal matter, including beam attacks.
 * Aina Sahalin Unit
 * Black Trinary Units
 * Painted in their signature colors of black, purple and grey, the three Zakus belonging to the Black Trinary possess enhanced mobility and offensive power. Since the units are designed to function as a team, they are each equipped with syncronized computer systems that can pass data between units more readily than average as well as aid in executing general manuevers. As well, the unit belonging to team leader Lieutenant Gaia Harken is equipped with an enhanced communication system, which she can use to issue commands to her subordinates even when under heavy interference.


 * Dozle Zabi Unit
 * Kishiria Zabi Unit
 * Garma Zabi Unit
 * Paptimus Scirocco Unit
 * Garma Zabi Unit
 * Paptimus Scirocco Unit
 * Paptimus Scirocco Unit