Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero |
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An indepedent Zoids RPG Website. |
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Name: Flexible Booster Unit Weapon Type: Dual Beam Cannons Description: The prolonged conflict between the Helic Republic and the Empire (be it the Zenebas, Guylos, or Neo-Zenebas Dynasty) was long and bloody, and over the centuries, resulted in the creation of some of the most innovative Zoid upgrades and modifications known to man. For the most part, these inventions in the fine art of war came from within the two combatants: the Helic engineering schools were legendary for their focus on mounting big guns on platforms half their size, whereas the Imperial academies produced minds who asserted that the base Zoid should be designed for a specific function, as opposed to the Helic philosophy of flexibility and adaptivity. However, they always needed modifications. It often wasn't until after the original manufacture of many Zoids that the Helic boys got that big gun-mounting just right, and the Imperial engineers quickly realized that absolute, rigid inflexibility led to lost battles. However, while essentially every Zoid was designed by one faction or another, this was not so with modifications. Welcome to the year ZAC 2101, and enter the third party Zi-Arms corporation (Name ring a bell? They'll become caught up in the Three Tigers construction a while later), a conglomerate of manufacturers based in various independent "colonies". They announced their status as a neutral party in the great war, and sold munitions and manufactured goods to both sides of the conflict. Soon, Zi-Arms entered the modifications market, and concocted what they called the Customizable Parts or "CP" parts line, which was to consist of three of their newly designed modifications. Later on, with the planet under a unified flag, Zi-Arms would be nationalized by the ZBC and their parts line ballooned to more than 20 parts, then declared public domain. Anyway, the first modification in their line is this: the Flexible Booster Unit. A long, long time ago it was CP-1, and has since been demoted to CP-24 (for reasons that were largely bureaucratic, something having to do with chronology.) That being said, the FBU is a very simple device. It's a series of boosters designed to help with speed and maneuverability. Any Zoid its equipped to gets a whopping 50 kph top speed increase, and gets a very impressive increase in agility (most say more than even the speed increase would suggest.) It also gives the equipped Zoid impressive jumping ability. If you want a little history, the FBU is also the predecessor to the Iron Kong modification's and the IK Mk. II's Maneuver Thruster Pack (ripped off by the Imperium: no respect for property, those people). The FBU also adds two 40mm Beam Cannons, one over each shoulder of the Zoid in question. They're fixed, semiautomatic, and have linked firing. It was pretty much just thrown in because the Zi-Arms corporation wanted to show that this was indeed a military-purposed part, and because all of the Zoids it could be equipped with some kind of shoulder-mounted gun. But that's kind of a side-point: most pilots agree that it takes a back seat to the performance boost that the FBU provides. The Zi-Arms corporation is long since dead now, and the Customizable Parts line is now public domain. It's not particularly costly (which was a selling point), so you might want to seriously consider this piece of equipment if you own any of the Zoids it's available to. |
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