While not really a RPG history fact, I managed to find some interesting Zeon information regarding their mobile suits.

When Zeon was originally looking to mass produce mobile suits for military use, the Zaku was not their only choice. Aside from the suit we've all come to love from the Zeonic corporation, the Zimmand corporation also provided a suit to try to win Zeon's bid.

Zimmand's suit, the EMS-4 Zudah(zu-DAH), was a high-performance suit that was quite superior to the Zaku; however, the Zudah lost the bid due to its tendency to break apart during high speed test flights.

A few years later, the Federation develops the GM. To counter the negative moral this would cause, Zeon looks for a new suit of its own to introduce. Once again, Zimmand steps up with its new model of the Zudah, the EMS-10. Piloted by Major Jean luc Devall, one of Zimmand's largest military supporters, the Zudah still proves to be superior to the Zaku.

A propaganda campaign is started to draw attention away from the battle at Odessa, but the EFSF of London launch a counter campaign. This campaign reveals the unstable history of the Zudah, as well as the fact that Zimmand only changed the model name, leaving the Zudah unchanged since losing out to the Zaku.

After the news got out, you can bet the Zudah never became used by Zeon past the test models, but those test models proved that the Zudah was even superior to the new GM in performance during the retrieval of retreating Zeon forces after the Battle of Odessa.

If the Zudah was so advanced for its time, I can only wonder what it could have been capable of if Zimmand had eliminated the problem before reintroducing it as the EMS-10. If Char had piloted a Zudah, then I have no doubt in my mind that Amuro would have been killed in their first encounter, ensuring a Zeon victory. Oh well.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 15, 2006 11:47 PM: Message edited by: The Living Fro ]</font>