Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Name: Miniature Smoke Vents
Cost: $5,000
Weight: 3 Tons
Function: Optic Cloaking
Mounts On: All Terrestrial Zoids
Mount Location:
--Mounts internally and along the surfaces of all Zoids. This part cannot be mounted with any other EP Part.
In Brief: These miniature vents mount serve the same function as smoke dischargers on the Command Wolf line and other Zoids. They create a shroud of smoke that is used to conceal the zoid.

Description: The Extra Potential corporation learned an extremely lesson from their great success with the Optic Stealth Shield: Stealth sells. Also, the Extra Potential corporation, being a company, wanted more money. Combine those two factors, and soon, the managers of the EP corporation were demanding a cheap alternative to the Optic Stealth Shield. The engineers, being lazy and a bit peeved at having to produce something as complicated as a generalized Stealth Shield, handed a Smoke Vent system back up the chain. Marketing and Sales decided that it was worth a shot, so they tried to sell it. An instant hit resulted.

As it turned out, the managers were right. Stealth does sell. The Miniature Smoke Vents were simple to equip to a wide variety of Zoids, and thanks to their extremely reduced cost, proved to be very popular. The mechanism was simple: when activated, the Vents create a smoke screen, allowing a Zoid to disappear from view. Some of the more veteran Zoid pilots, as well as the ones who'd been fighting stealth Zoids for the longest, knew how to find ways around this visual obstruction. Radar, IR, and other forms of advanced sensors would not be inhibited by the smoke. While it might take the most exotic forms of detection to pinpoint a Helcat, mere visual obfuscation was nothing compared to true stealth. Still, Miniature Smoke Vents are a cheap and easy way to cover a retreat or simply hide your position.

The Miniature Smoke Vents also have the advantage of not being a permanent EP part, if you choose to buy and equip them. This means that you can choose another, higher power part later, or stick a wider range of choice of lesser parts, if you'd like. Also, the Miniature Smoke Vents have become a kind of "gateway part" into other EP parts, much to the glee of the Extra Potential Corporation. Lastly, note that if the equipping Zoid already has smoke dischargers, this does little more than increase the rate at which the smoke spreads.