Hand armaments: shield, attaches to left forearm, mounts double plasma cannon, power rated at 1.75 MW total (2x 0.875 MW); double plasma fork, power rated at 0.60 MW per head (2x 0.30 MW each), wielded one or two-handed in use.
Masz’s approach to personalizing his CF proved crude but highly effective. He began by stripping off all fixed weapon systems and replacing the titanium layer of the Zwei Dolph’s armor with stronger yet lighter palladium glass. This streamlining gave the YCR-015-1 a lighter full weight than a standard Zwei Dolph while providing greater protection.
Next, Masz took advantage of this weight reduction to pack his combat frame with high-performance drive and maneuvering thrusters powered by Seed Corp’s highest output CF reactor to date. This combination produced one of the fastest and most agile combat frames in existence.
With his custom Zwei Dolph’s defenses enhanced to his liking, Masz turned his attention to the CF’s offensive capability. He first had Seed Corp design a new shield to his specifications. Though it featured additional reinforcement, the shield’s main advantage was the double plasma cannon Masz ordered mounted inside. The firepower both barrels discharged from the shield’s tip surpassed that of the XCF-08D-1 Dead Drop’s plasma cannon. Housed within his shield, Masz’s double plasma cannon enjoyed more protection and concealment than standard-issue Dolph rifles, which could explode violently when hit. This precaution anticipated enemy combatants taking advantage of the Dolph rifles’ vulnerability and gave the Zwei Dolph Custom a significant edge in combat.
Masz applied and amplified this doubling principle with his CF’s close combat weapon. A high-output plasma emitter was mounted on either end of a carbyne-reinforced staff containing multiple capacitors. The plasma emitters could split on command, forming parallel energy blades or “plasma forks” capable of disarming enemy CFs or simply visiting incredible destructive force upon up to two targets at once.
The Zwei Dolph Custom proved to be an unholy terror on the battlefield. Its combat performance rivaled or even exceeded the exploits of its progenitor, the XCF-08D-1 Dead Drop. However, due consideration must be given to the vicious intensity and merciless savagery of the YCR-015-1’s dreaded pilot.
Is "Telsa Browning' just untalented, or does he just not get enough time to work? His first mech was a piece of construction equipment with guns slapped on, and his next 'innovation' was just to reverse engineer the mech of a mad genius, and then make incremental improvements from there.
"Doctor" Browning has talents, but as Megami observes in the novel, they're limited. He's high IQ but not a genius. Browning's talents lie in combining concepts whose products are greater than the sum of their parts. He also has a knack for getting his ideas in front of the right people.
In short, he's not as sexy as a Tony Stark, but it's hard to argue with his results.
Leaning towards "not enough time to work".
We're only 5 years from the Grenzies, and probably not much more from the CF-02 Grenzmark I or the CF-01.
How much R&D, let alone production, took place in planes or tanks or other new military things in 5 years?
Things to note: Tesla Browning is not in his own lab, he works for Seed, but that means he's constrained by corporate (and intercolony/international) politics. Also, prototype R&D production vs mass-production (Dead Drop outclasses the Ein Dolph for just that reason).
"Doctor" Browning?
Are we going back to the 80s so we can go back to the future of Gundams?
@ D.J. Correct on all counts. Browning had four years from his date of hire with Seed Corp to come up with the CF prototype they pitched to the CSC. There was about a year each between the CF-01-1, the CF-02 Grenzmark I, and the Grenzmark C. The Grenzie served as the Socs' main front line unit for five years before the Grento rolled out.
Then Dead Drop fell into the CSC's lap, and Sanzen went all Veruca Salt on Tesla Browning and the Seed Corp factory. There's a reason his demands accelerated so sharply, though.
"Are we going back to the 80s so we can go back to the future of Gundams?"
1. We're all going back – all the way back.
2. Browning's self-taught. People extend him the honorific as a term of respect. You'll understand why everybody gushes over him when you see the Type One.
3. "…he works for Seed," Definitely underpaid.
Brian,
Is there a definitive history of the Gudman robot models (not Bandai's plastic kits) that appeared in the canonical anime?
xavier