Talk:Gunship

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Class name

Now literally speaking the kanji translates as "lightning attack boat" which I suppose could be translated as "blitzkrieg ship". In the DVD encyclopedia it has a subtitle of weltall-zerstörerisch, which from what I can tell is not exactly meaningful. I have chosen to translate the ship class as "gunship" to avoid any confusion with actual destroyers, and because it fills an anti-ship strike role. I suppose "bomber" might be another option but it is hardly ever shown bombing anything. Iracundus 13:48, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I always called it a gunship myself as well. BTW, in MCISS we see that those modules can fire the usual blue beams - same when Merkatz uses them in Episode 22 (both at the start of the episode and the end). Vympel 13:53, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I know, but beams does not necessarily preclude them still being rail guns as the Imperial ground tanks are explicitly said to have rail cannons yet when it fires it fires what looks like a beam. Iracundus 13:56, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

The difference there is that the tank cannons of the Gaiden have a distinct behavior that isn't like the beams seen in space battles. Most tellingly, we see in Episode 22 that the beams of Merkatz' gunships track over the hulls of their targets (check the opener of Episode 22 vs Reuenthal). That shouldn't be possible for a rail gun. The round is a solid projectile that can only impact at one point. The beams in MCISS also blink intermittently in exactly the same fashion as those of capital ship guns seen elsewhere throughout the battle. Vympel 14:32, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't see any tracking in Episode 22. I see 3 shots impacting the dorsal engines of an Imperial battleship, in close succession, but still 3 distinct white glowing impact points as opposed to any burned furrow as one sees in Episode 79 when Poplin burns one into the hull of an Imperial cruiser. Three shots impacting in close succession can be still be clusters of rail guns firing one after another. By the way, which behaviour about the tank cannons are you referring to? Iracundus 15:22, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Watching frame by frame you're right, there' three impacts, but they're all coming from the same beam playing along the hull. If that's a rail gun (rather than say a beam of fluctuating intensity), its very odd behavior for one, implying a high rate of fire. Same with the intermittent blinking in MCISS. If that's a railgun, they're hiding it really well. Meanwhile the ONW weapons are obviously projectiles, and may well be the railguns referred to in the material. As for the tank cannon behavior, there's the circle that emanates from the muzzle on firing in HSBHL, and in Silver-White Valley, we see that the tank shells don't propagate instantly like LOGH space weapons- they take time to reach a target. Watch both the bombardment of the Imperial base at the end of Chapter 3 of Silver-White Vallye, and Kircheis' shot on Reinhard's command in the same episode. They're distinct "bolts" rather than the instantly propagating beams of true LOGH energy weapons. Vympel 01:49, 17 December 2011 (UTC)