Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Name: Hybrid Vulcan Cannon
Cost: $15,000
Weight: 15 Tons
Function: Fire Superiority
Mounts On: Dark Horn, Iron Kong, Great Sabre(*2), Red Horn(*2), Zaber Fang
Mount Location:
--On the Dark Horn, the additional Hybrid Vulcan Cannon mounts next to the other one, on the same mount. It cannot be mounted with the Imperial Hyperbeam Cannon.
--On the Iron Kong, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon mounts on the vacant right shoulder.
--On the Great Sabre, each Hybrid Vulcan Cannon mounts on a front shoulder, coupled to the Flight Pack.
--On the Red Horn, one or both Hybrid Vulcan Cannons mount to the artillery cannon mount, one on each side of the artillery cannon. Only one Vulcan can be mounted with the Imperial Hyperbeam Cannon.
--On the Zaber Fang, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon mounts to the Zoid's back.
In Brief: The Hybrid Vulcan Cannon is an immensely powerful weapon that can spew 35 60mm shells each second. While it does not effect the speed of most Zoids it mounts too, the Zaber Fang and the Great Sabre are slowed by its weight. Each Vulcan must be purchased separately for the Red Horn.

Weapon Type: Hybrid Vulcan
Ammunition: 60mm Solid Shells
Rate of Fire: 35 rounds/second

Description: If the Minigun was among the first types of weaponry ever to surface on Zi, then the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon was surely among the most feared. The day that the first mass-produced Dark Horn, new with a shiny Hybrid Vulcan Cannon, rolled off the assembly line was a dark day for the Helic Republic. Capable of spewing literally 35 60mm shells each and every second, almost never jamming or stalling, and attached to the toughest Zoids available in the day, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon seemed unstoppable. It all but was, and many would tell you that it still is. Many pilots can attest to seeing the sheer, raw, unbridled power of this weapon on the field of battle. It's not exactly a comforting feeling. Though the accuracy of the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon deteriorates drastically with range, it can strip even the toughest of stationary targets or armor in just a few seconds. Fire saturation means that it will almost always hit something, too, so good luck dodging.

I'm sure you get the picture of weapon itself. Now, all the Guylos Empire had to do was mount it on the appropriate Zoids. There was the Dark Horn, which was designed to mount it and carried one in its stock form. It could, with some tweaking, mount a second one as well. The Red Horn, its close cousin, could do the same. Also, thanks to the pivoting-turret mounting system of the Styracosaurus-typed Zoid family, both Zoids enjoy 360 degrees of protection on the horizontal axis and 10 degrees of vertical protection. The Iron Kong was both large and well-centered enough to mount the weapon, and could do so. The left shoulder is occupied, so it can mount forward-facing on the right shoulder. (Sadly, in the Mk. II, both shoulders are permanently occupied, making mounting difficult.) The Hybrid Vulcan has 10 degrees of movement on both axises in this case.

Most worthy of discussion are the Zaber Fang and Great Sabre, the former of which can mount a single Hybrid Vulcan Cannon on its back (after much work, panic, and more than one stressed friendship among the Guylos engineers), and the latter of which can mount one on each shoulder. However, the Zaber Fang was never designed to carry a 15-ton deadweight on its back and suffers a 30 kph speed reduction, as well as corresponding performance loss. On the Zaber Fang, the Hybrid Vulcan can tilt up to 20 degrees up and the same to either side or down. On the Great Sabre, the back is occupied by the Flight Pack, but each vulcan mounts to one of its front shoulders. There are two drawbacks to this - first, each Hybrid Vulcan Cannon reduces the speed of the Great Sabre by 30 kph and affects maneuverability proportionally. Second, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon cannot rotate at all on the Great Sabre.

The Hybrid Vulcan has one weakness - the gun itself cannot be armored. This is for reasons ranging from weight to heat, but it simply cannot be done in a mass-producible and cost-effective manner. Therefore, if can shoot it off, you're fine. The challenge is surviving long enough to do so.

And now, following the collapse of all of the Empires, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon design has finally been released into the Customizable Parts line of public domain modification schematics and is readily available to any pilot anywhere in the world. Make no mistake, the Hybrid Vulcan Cannon is firepower.