Terran Dominion Vs Gundams

[Lord]

Alright this is a bit of an odd one, which requires a bit of anime and game knowledge to answer.

I was recently musing {to the point of posting a fanfic about it called Arcturus Mengsk vs the Earth.} about how Arcturus Mengsk is in a way the ultimate Gundam Villain in a world without Gundams. Since he is one of a handful of villains who actually succeeded in dropping a colony on a planet, or in this case, the Zerg. It was really his execution that sold it, since he gathered the hopes of dreams of the rebellion behind him initially, and then launched the coup de grace on the enemy planet before anyone has sufficient force to halt it.

So that in turn raises an interesting question. Suppose that the Zerg threat was more or less contained, and the Hybrids were not an issue. Kerrigan is dead, and the prophecy is nonexistent. Now suppose that in lieu of the Hybrid project the Umojan Protectorate creates Mobile Suit technology, and effectively pulls an operation meteor on the Terran Dominion.

Would Gundams be an effective weapon in the Koprolu Sector, and if so, how would they fair in a campaign against the Dominion? Would Mobile Suits be capable of toppling Mengsk's Empire, or would the more versatile nature of and sheer number of Dominion weapon systems destroy them by power of attrition. Lastly, would the Gundams be able to actually achieve the traditional generic Gundam ending which seems to beset that particular series like a plague.

By which I mean, giant space station gets blown up during huge battle, and everyone randomly decides to abandon all their anterior motives and long held schemes and beliefs to work toward a future of puppies and rainbows despite the sheer absurdity of the past statement.

...Yeah, I'm a cynic regarding the Generic Gundam ending, particularly when they appear in stories where they have no place. I'm looking at you Code Geass. I'll let you have your choice of which precise Gundams to utilize, since that may well make a significant difference.

Keep in mind that this is not a question of whether the Gundam's make the universe a better place, thats just bonus points. The only thing they have to do to pull a win is topple Mengsk's regime.

Assassinations are allowed by both sides, but must kill ALL the primary faces to score a victory this way. Thus in Round 1 say, Nova, would have to assassinate all five Gundam Pilots to score a win, although she could certainly hand the equipment over to the R&D department. Likewise, Heero Yuy shooting Arcturus Mengsk from afar would not be sufficient, since he would probably have to kill a vengeful Valerian Mengsk as well to end the bloodline {Arcturus never tried to kill him in this timeline, so he's not likely to be cooperative with a generic Gundam Ending unless he has no other choice.}. Keep in mind that both Arcturus and Valerian have combat experience, though its far from their primary attribute.

Round 1:
One group of five Gundams against the Terran Dominion. They have interplanetary transportation. Raynor's Raiders, and the Protoss are active and operating. Umoja will not be providing direct support in a military form, but its intelligence network is hard at work helping out.

Round 2:
All the teams of Gundams that have ever been released, each one on a different planet. Raynor's Raiders and the Protoss are both active and operating. Again, Umojan will not be providing direct support in a military form, but its intelligence network is hard at work helping out.

Round 3:
A straight up fight between the entire Dominion Fleet and one Gundam Team, both at their heights.

Round 4:
Every single Dominion Army that has ever been raised, including ones which may or may not have died, and Raynor when he was working for the Sons of Korhal, alongside pre-infestation Kerrigan and Nova team up in a united effort to purge the world of murderously hypocritical total pacifists and assault every single Giant Mecha, villainous and or heroic, that has ever appeared within an anime and does not possess the capacity to blow up a planet to that end.

So no Gurenn Lagaan or whatever its called. The anime with Kaname is right out.

Think Ragnarok, only with mecha.

Bonus Round:
A Terran Dominion invasion army vs Any of the Villainous Factions from the Gundam series in place of Gundams. Space Colonies may intervene, if they see fit.

...This Vs thread is a bit elaborate. If you haven't seen all the relevant data, go ahead and answer to the best of your ability. Be sure to note if the victory is pyrric or easy.

Have fun debating. I may post a related thread elsewhere.

[Anxe]

How are Gundams really different than Goliaths or Thors?

[Lord]

Gundams have a significantly higher output of damage for one thing. Goliaths are a far more limited and less mobile device than a Gundam, which can mow down dozens of lesser devices with relative ease. They also usually have the ability to go under water, and sometimes fly as they are upgraded higher.
They vary in weapon type, but most of them wield as a melee weapon giant sized beam sabers that can quickly cut through most machines. Thors and Goliaths are mass produced versions of original much more deadly prototypes, while Gundams are one of a kind which sometimes have mass produced Mobile Suits based off of them. They also usually are designed with unique characteristics and powers. In essence, Gundams are more comparable to the Odin, though they might be considered less durable or more advanced.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Well, the Gundams are occasionally lead by people who are not idiots, so I'd bet on them.

[Kitten Champion]

You can destroy the Dominion with Turn-A Gundam alone so long as you had some FTL-capable vessel to escort it to strategically valuable areas, and presuming it can't actually teleport as the Wiki suggests.

[Winthur]

Well, the Gundams are occasionally lead by people who are not idiots, so I'd bet on them.

Both the Magistrate and the Captain in their respective episodes prove to be, at the very least, ridiculously efficient in small-scale arrangements, often with insufficient information (like in First Strike). General Duke isn't, generally, seen as particularly incompetent; mostly a sleazeball. Stukov was generally right, too.

This question is easily rendered moot the very moment the Gundam gets in range of Ghosts. A single Lockdown is enough to render the ultimate Starcraft machine, the Battlecruiser, helpless and able to be shot down by a group of Marines; Ghosts are invisible and I doubt even a Newtype pilot would be able to just avoid them, especially since Lockdown is not a skillshot. They are also not, by Starcraft definitions, particularly expensive, and you can field one everywhere, preventing a single Gundam from just wrecking stuff in an Odessa-type situation, shooting things from afar.

Gundam is supposed to be that one ultimate weapon that beats things out by better performance and some great new technologies (and usually a Newtype pilot). But they also aren't very numerous, even in mass-produced versions. Gundams would face a ton of scrutiny from threats like Lockdown, EMP Shockwave, the plain ol' Cloak, Optical Flare, Yamato Gun, and such. A good enough Zaku pilot can really put a dent in a typical Gundam protagonist; Tom Kazansky alone could probably give Amuro a run for his money.

If Ulrezaj the renegade Dark Archon and his likes still exist, a pretty uncomfortable third player could arise; mindcontrolling the Gundams would be an interesting wild card.

Plus points for Starcraft: You would never get a mission like The Dylarian Shipyards where a kid decides his name is a man's name and decides to hijack a Battlecruiser.

Also I don't think Gundams have to ever take care of such massive scale. I know of colony droppings and such things, but Terrans fight each other with hordes of convicts and manufacture weapons pretty rapidly, much more rapidly than there are Zakus and such. The usual capital ship with a number of Mobile Suits inside just doesn't seem to have the scope to fight your typical 200/200 Terran ball on a daily basis. It probably won't be able to break up the Terran Dominion that easily, unless once again the victory condition is to capture Augustgrad.

tl;dr: Ghost locks down the Gundam and Edmund Duke (or maybe Warfield) wrecks the Gundams in his Norad III musing "This is no Battlecruiser, boy, no Battlecruiser" for a reason he himself doesn't quite comprehend

tl;dr2: The Protoss, misinformed as usual, decide that the best course of action is to support "lesser evil", let's say the Umojans in this case. The Gundams win, Starcraft gets some very good interbellum OVAs, and we later learn that Valerian Mengsk is now head of the Anti Umojan Union Group under a stupid pseudonym like Cinquo Benis. This guy (http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/f/f1/Vulture_SC2_Head2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100906230446) looks awfully familiar too (http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/0/06/Bask.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081126005925)

tl;dr3: Actually who even cares, the Terrans can shoot down Battlecruisers with Gauss Rifles so sick 40 Marines per 1 Gundam, hire SlayerS_BoxeR to control them and have them use Stimpack.

[The Glyphstone]

Though it's worth noting that Starcraft suffers massively from gameplay-story segregation...there's no way in hell a Ghost could lock down an entire Battlecruiser in the supplementary fiction, nor could 40 marines so much as scratch the paint of one.

[GolemsVoice]

Yeeah, that's purely gameplay. Now, I don't know if a Ghost might be able to snipe the pilot out of a Gundam. I really don't know anything about them, so I don't even know how well their cockpit is secured. And even IF the Dominion could get their hands on a suit, don't the pilots require special training to be able to use the mechas?

[Kitten Champion]

Yeeah, that's purely gameplay. Now, I don't know if a Ghost might be able to snipe the pilot out of a Gundam. I really don't know anything about them, so I don't even know how well their cockpit is secured. And even IF the Dominion could get their hands on a suit, don't the pilots require special training to be able to use the mechas?

The cockpits are usually quite secure, they're generally enclosed and hidden behind layers of armour somewhere in the core of the unit. Gundams can shrug off 120mm Machine Gun rounds, an anti-personnel rifle would only be a real threat to the camera. Of course Ghosts, or anyone really, can kill a pilot outside of their Mobile Suit. Personal cloaking devices aren't in any of the Gundam universes - though precognition and ESP is and how that applies would be pretty vague however you slice it.

The real threat would be the Ghost's Lockdown, which does have the gameplay-based issue of, well, always hitting its target despite being a physical object one could presumably avoid or shoot down.

As to piloting them, generally speaking the Gundam protagonists turn out to be naturally skilled pilots who are forced to fight immediately due to plot. Initially with some clumsiness and they gradually get better. Usually the superiority of the Gundams themselves (as sort of high-spec hero units for the meta-franchise) relative to others is sufficient to get them through the beginning arc. Though some have standard military training or go through some degree of informal training and possess no specific prodigious affinity for piloting. That, and in-universe requirements for piloting can be different, like G Gundam where they're instruments of martial arts-based combat or Gundam SEED where initially only genetically enhanced people possess the acumen for piloting (though StarCraft has genetically engineered people as being common among Terrans).

Though, again, this is all kind of inconsequential when the Turn A Gundam exists, a walking WMD powered by an artificial black hole, with a barrier field that can withstand nuclear explosions while its frame is able to automatically self-repair through advanced nano machines, possesses an overpowered beam rifle, and it can cloak itself. Its ultimate weapon - the Moonlight Butterfly - releases and distributes specialized nano machines which can reduce all silicone-based technology to mere scrap on an interplanetary level. I can't think of a reason it wouldn't work on Terran tech, it's as if not more advanced than anything they have.