Name: Iron Kong Mk. II Limited (aka “Iron Kong Mk. II” or “the Mark II”)
Alignment: Zenebas/Guylos Empires
Family: Gorilla
Registration Number: EZ-038
Crew: 1-2
Height: 21.0 Meters
Length: 19.1 Meters
Weight: 209 Tons
Top Speed: 170 kph
Weapons: Imperial Hyper Beam Cannon, 70mm Wrist Cannon, Wrist Weapons Pod, AZ Anti-Ground Missile Launcher, Ten-Shot GEP Pod, Hardened Alloy Fists.
Special Abilities: TVM Tactical Missile Launcher, Composite Sensory Unit, Arm Launcher Swap, Maneuver Thruster Pack.
Level: 5 (Level 4 Upgrade)
The older brother of the Iron Kong is this Zoid: Iron Kong Mk. II Limited, but the “Limited” is often dropped for convenience. The Iron Kong Mk. II is yet another Zoid with a long and rich history in service to the Imperial Army. While the Iron Kong was often given to field Commanders and adept pilots, the Mk. II was granted only to colonels and division commanders. It’s easy to see why. The Mk. II in an improvement over the Iron Kong in almost every way: heavier guns, faster speed, heavier armor... the list goes on and on. The only drawback is that the Iron Kong Mk. II Limited has less potential for customization than the Mk I.
Anyway, now I’m sure you’ll want to hear a summary of those advantages. Well, alright. Firstly, to protect the high ranking officers it carried, the Iron Kong Mk. II was designed with much thicker armor than its predecessor. (The Mk. II’s armor is roughly on par with the Gojulas’.) Secondly, the upgraded Kong has been equipped with a Maneuver Thruster Pack and a higher top speed to help it get around. Thirdly, the Mk. II boasts a much heavier arsenal of weapons than the standard stock Iron Kong. And, of course, it still retains zee missiles if it has occasion to use them. All in all, the Iron Kong Mk. II is a very powerful Zoid with some useful pieces of equipment. However, it also comes with quite a price tag.
Weapons:
Imperial Hyper Beam Cannon:
If you needed a weapon to counter the Gojulas, what would it be? Actually, the answer to that question is “ a TVM Long-Range Tactical Missile”, but the Iron Kong already has that. What other weapon could you give a Zoid to counter armor of the Gojulas’ grade? Well, whether or not they were right, the Imperial techs added the Imperial Hyper Beam Cannon (IHBC) to the Mk. II’s right shoulder. It’s essentially a large-bore standard beam cannon with extra penetration thrown in, comparable to an AZ200mm cannon. However, the weapon is powerful but slow-firing: once per three seconds on average. It also faces basically whatever the Iron Kong faces, but can pivot up to 10 degrees in any direction. Note that it’s recommended that the Iron Kong not jump via the Maneuver Thruster Pack while using this weapon, as the kickback might have unforeseen effects.
70mm Wrist Cannon:
Though the weapon is a holdover from the Iron Kong Mk. I, the Mk. II has a semiautomatic 70mm cannon in its left wrist. While the weapon itself is pretty much standard, it comes with a list of advantages and disadvantages thanks to its location. The Iron Kong Mk. II also requires its hands to run or walk, as well as to maneuver. While the Iron Kong is using one wrist to aim and shoot, both of those two abilities: walking and maneuvering, are severely inhibited. (Maneuverability can be salvaged to some extent by the Thruster Pack.) However, thanks to its positioning, the weapon can hit almost any target around the Iron Kong Mk. II, because it can face anywhere the wrist can face.
Wrist Weapons Pod:
On the Iron Kong Mk. II’s right wrist is a weapons pod that has been grafted into the armor plate. The Weapons Pod consists of a pair of semiautomatic 105mm Cannons and a quartet of multipurpose missiles. The missiles, like all multipurposes, can lock onto either land or aerial targets, but take 1.5 times as long as a standard anti-ground missile to do either. While the pod itself is pretty straight forward, its positioning complicates things. Like the Wrist Cannon, using the weapon impairs movement. However, the positioning of the weapon gives it a great range of motion.
AZ Anti-Ground Missile Launcher:
The is the default weapon to be mounted in the Iron Kong Mk. II’s left shoulder. When this weapon is being used, the Kong’s left shoulder plate slides back to reveal a tube, pointing straight up. It’s just an AZ Missile Launcher, capable of firing a single round. This round then arcs around and downwards and hits whatever its locked onto. However, the Iron Kong Mk. II carries a full five reloads internally, and the reloading process is almost instantaneous (a bit under a second). The only downside is that each newly loaded missile has to lock onto its target separately, making for a slow firing rate. Also, this weapon can’t be dumbfired effectively unless the target is straight above you. These are AZ AGMs, meaning they can lock onto ground targets only, but have twice the standard damaging potential.
Ten-Shot GEP Pod:
This weapon can be mounted for use in the Kong’s left shoulder, as an alternative to the AZ Anti-Ground Missile Launcher. When its deployed, the armor plate on the left shoulder slides back, and a pods pops up and out. The pod has two rows of five GEPs, or Guided Explosive Projectiles. These basically walk the line between missiles and rockets: they’re dumbfire only, but use a weak internal guidance system to improve accuracy. Practically speaking, they only improve the chance of the round to hit by 20% to 30%, but that can still be quite alot. However, they’re as powerful as a standard Anti-Ground Missile, and can be far more useful than their Missile Launcher counterpart. Their main advantage over the AZ AGMs is that all 10 can be fired at once (or at any rate, at the pilot’s discretion) allowing them to swarm and overwhelm anti-missile and point defenses. However, the Iron Kong Mk. II Limited carries no internal reloads for this weapon. Once they’re used up, you have to rearm at a transport to use them again.
Hardened Alloy Fists:
The Iron Kong Mk. II Limited possesses two incredibly strong and powerful fists, each capable of lifting 90 to 100 tons (180 to 200 tons together). As such, they’re even powerful than the standard Iron Kong’s and very dangerous tools. While not useful for conventional slashing and tearing, they’re great for boxing and crushing, letting the Iron Kong fight almost like a human being would.
Special Abilities:
TVM Tactical Missile Launcher:
Occupying the Iron Kong Mk. II Limited’s right shoulder, next to the Hyper Beam Cannon, is a powerful TVM Tactical Missile Launcher, the ordnace it fires being officially classified as a superweapon. The Iron Kong Mk. II must spend a full six seconds locking onto a single terrestrial target (or a set of coordinates) prior to firing the missile. The Iron Kong Mk. II is unable to lock onto a target or a set of coordinates within 100 meters of itself as a failsafe. Note also that the Iron Kong can lock onto any target its Composite Sensory Unit can pinpoint or that it can see. If any one of its sensory mechanisms can detect the target, it can lock on, and the lock on time is unaffected by the number of mechanisms that can detect the target.
After one full round, the Iron Kong Mk. II may launch its locked Tactical Missile. Unlike most missiles, the Tactical Missile does not fly straight at its target. Rather, it fires up from the Iron Kong Mk. II’s back and uses a parabolic arc like a mortar or an artillery shell. However, because it is a missile, its range is exceptionally long -- anything the Iron Kong Mk. II could even potentially see, the missile is long-ranged enough to hit. Anyway, the missile’s boosters and vectored thrusters allow it to continually update its flightpath to compensate for the movement of the target for a full three seconds, when the Tactical Missile runs out of fuel. (It will already be on its way down by this point.) From this point forward, the Tactical Missile is unguided, and will fall for between 1 second (excellent conditions) and 3 seconds (worst possible conditions). When it hits the ground, the warhead will detonate and create a massive 80-meter explosion. Though the very toughest of Zoids, such as the Gojulas, can survive this blast if relatively undamage, they will do so only barely. Lesser Zoids caught in the blast radius will surely CSF -- or worse. After the first Tactical Missile is launched, the Iron Kong Mk. II has a single reload, and but it takes it a full six seconds to reload after the first is launched. The Iron Kong Mk. II may not refresh its supply of Tactical Missiles while rearming in a sanctioned Zoid Battle. (In warfare, it depends entirely on whether or not the transport has them on hand.)
A few notes about the Tactical Missile before I finish. Firstly, due to absolute, ridiculous, and extreme danger to the pilot of the Iron Kong, the Mk. II’s enemies are forbidden from shooting the Tactical Missile prior to its launch. (All’s still fair in war, but its very likely that only the fuel supply will detonate. Still, that can be lethal when the explosion is right behind the cockpit.) After launch, the Tactical Missile can be shot down, but doing is so is difficult at best. The Tactical Missile is covered by a medium-grade armor plate, and it takes several good hits to destroy it. More likely is that the shots will trigger the impact sensor and prematurely detonate the missile. Next, the Tactical Missile is TVM, meaning that it is guided by the Iron Kong Mk. II and not internal guidance systems. (It was quite literally the Iron Kong Mk. II Limited locking onto the target, and not the missile.) However, the second Tactical Missile launched still requires a new lock. This systems does have distinct advantages, though. Firstly, ECM is ineffective against this superweapon. Secondly, Communications Jamming fails to destroy the link between the Iron Kong and the Tactical Missile, because they use several “unorthodox” communications methods. However, if the Mk. II is CSFed or destroyed while the Tactical Missile is in the air, the weapon will become unguided. Lastly, it is possible to dumbfire Tactical Missiles, but attempting to do so is both foolhardy and extremely dangerous. Also, it is illegal to dumbfire Tactical Missiles in the first round of combat of a sanctioned Zoid battle. (Guided launch takes a full round to lock, and would hence be second round.)
Composite Sensory Unit:
Like the Dark Horn and many other Zoids, the Iron Kong possesses a Composite Sensory Unit that allows it use 3D Doppler Radar and IR scanning to track its opponents. The sensors themselves are located in the head, making the Composite Sensory Unit impossible to destroy without taking the cockpit with it. (This is obviously illegal in sanctioned Zoid Battling. In war, people tend to care less.) Also, this unit is unique in that its data can be transmitted to teammates, making the Iron Kong great for coordinating assaults.
Arm Launcher Swap:
The Iron Kong was unable to carry both of its two available shoulder-mounted weapons because of the Tactical Missile Launcher. However, the Iron Kong Mk. II Limited was originally designed to be an improved version of the Iron Kong and carry both a AZ Anti-Ground Missile Launcher an a 10-Shot GEP Pod, with one in each shoulder. However, design changes midway through the development phase introduced the Imperial Hyper Beam Cannon, which occupied the Iron Kong’s right shoulder, making it impossible to mount a weapon there. Therefore, the Iron Kong can have either of the two weapons in its left shoulder. The Iron Kong pilot selects one prior to the battle’s commencement, and that’s the one that’s used. (the AZ AGM Launcher is default). Note that even with a CAS, it’s impossible to change the choice mid-battle.
Maneuver Thruster Pack:
The Iron Kong Mk. II comes with a Maneuver Thruster Pack built into its back, around the Tactical Missiles, which improves its top speed, agility, and jumping ability. Note that they’re omnidirectional, and able to pivot to face the Iron Kong Mk. II itself, which would damage it. Therefore, while this is a useful piece of equipment, it can also be dangerous, especially because of its positioning next to the ballistic missiles.
Available Modifications:
