MS-09 Dom
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This article is about a fictional machine from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries. Not to be confused with ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper.
A few months into the One Year War, the Zeon realized that their revolutionary MS-06 Zaku II mobile suits, which had proved a formidable force in space, were severely handicapped under the full gravity conditions on Earth. Mobile suits were just too large and slow moving under Earth's gravity, which made the massive machines into easy targets. To remedy this situation Zeon's Zimmad Company began to produce a new model mobile suit that had a higher ground speed. Using the data from the MS-07C-5 Gouf Test Prototype the Zimmad Company engineers created the MS-09 Dom.
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[edit] MS-09 Dom
The MS-09 Dom was the successor to MS-06F Zaku II and MS-07B Gouf mobile suits, and far surpassed both in terms of performance. Developed as a heavy-type, high performance mobile suit, the Dom could outperform the Federation's new mass production mobile suit, the RGM-79 GM. While the Dom can use many of the Zaku II and Gouf standard armaments, it was also equipped with a new 360mm Giant Bazooka, which could easily blow apart a mobile suit. Later, a new 880mm Raketen Bazooka was also developed that could destroy almost anything with one hit. The Dom also had a new Heat Saber, shaped very much like a beam saber. Lastly, the Dom featured a scattering beam gun, too weak to damage mobile suits, but powerful enough to blind a pilot for a few seconds.
The Doms main advantages were its speed, agility, and maneuverability. The Dom had massive legs and a "skirt," under which were several high-powered thermonuclear jet engines that made the Dom hover over the ground. These gave it a 240 kilometer per hour hovering speed, which far surpassed the Gouf's running speed of only 99 kilometers per hour. The Dom's superiority was blatantly evident to the Zeon forces and the Dom went quickly into mass production.
The first three Dom units shipped out were assigned to the Black Tri-Stars, who had been sent to aid Captain M'Quve's Odessa mining base. However, all three units were destroyed by RX-78-2 Gundam's pilot Amuro Ray after only two battles.
[edit] MS-09R Rick Dom
When the battle shifted back to space, the Dom was re-designed from ground combat to space combat. The space-type version, the MS-09R Rick Dom, had the jet engines replaced with rocket thrusters. An improved model of the Rick Dom was produced very late in the war, the MS-09RII Rick Dom II.
Because of the Dom's bulkier build, thanks to a bigger design frame and heavier armor, a Musai-Class Light Cruiser can only carry two MS-09Rs in its main hangar, versus three of the smaller Zaku II's.
The Dom series became the mainstay frontline unit for the rest of the One Year War. It was supposed to be replaced by the excellent MS-14A Gelgoog, but the war came to a close too quickly, allowing the Dom series to remain the frontline mobile suit until the war ended.
The remnants of the Zeon forces upgraded their Rick Doms into MS-09R Rick Dom "Stutzer" to counter Titan's new machine, as they had no production capabilities for any new mobile suit. It was armed with a winch unit on the front of the machine. This winch unit was able to launch wire-guided arm parts that could entangle enemy machines with wire, or throw hand grenades at them while the mobile suit itself remained hidden. Other armaments included missile pods and minelayer units attached to its shoulders. Weapons were usually operated via the manipulators, but fixing them in place made it possible to use many weapons simultaneously. It could also carry bazookas and other standard hand weapons. The large backpack gave it an increased propellant supply.
The Dom's design would later serve as the base for the RMS-099 Rick Dias mobile suit, which was extensively based on the Rick Dom's design. The AMX-009 Dreissen is also a distant relative of the Dom series mobile suits.
[edit] MS-09RII Rick Dom II
Very late in the One Year War, the Principality of Zeon launched their United Maintenance Plan to upgrade and improve existing mobile suit designs and to make its own manufacturing capabilities more streamlined. Several new mobile suit designs were produced from it, and one of the production designs was the MS-09RII Rick Dom II.
The Rick Dom II was an upgraded design of the already exceptional MS-09R Rick Dom. Its main improvements were its overall increased thruster acceleration, along with the addition of more attitude control verniers for improved maneuverability. Because of the increased fuel consumption, the Rick Dom II's producer, Zimmand Company, added a pair of external propellant tanks to allow the Rick Dom II to operate in the field for more time.
However, it was produced so very late in the war that only a very few units were produced. Some of those units that did survive made it to the Delaz Fleet and took part in Operation Stardust. However, some of those units had slightly less thrusters, possibly due to the unavailability of replacement parts for the mobile suits.
The Rick-Dom II was capable of using a large clip-fed beam cannon, often referred to as a "Beam Bazooka". It was in a beam bazooka-armed Rick-Dom II that Zeon ace Anavel Gato earned the nickname "Nightmare of Solomon", and it remained his weapon of choice until long after the general Zeon retreat following the battle of A Baoa Qu.
[edit] MS-09F Dom Funf
Another Dom variation, this time part of the United Maintenance Plan, the MS-09F Dom Funf is the only Dom variant that can be reconfigured for different environments without seriously rebuilding the original design. After 5 different previous models( hence the "funf"- german for five) The most striking features are its shoulders and legs. If the Dom Funf had to be reconfigured for a new environment, it would only take a few hours. Its armaments differed in that it had an 880mm raketen bazooka, 90mm assault rifle, 90mm machine gun, and a 3-tube missile launcher (in the video game Zeonic Front, the Dom-F team can also use a beam rifle, which appears to be an early Gelgoog design. This has not been cofirmed in other MSV sources). It saw very little production before the end of the war. At least two units were known to have been fielded; one was assigned to Lt. Sophie Fran of the Midnight Fenrir Corps whilst the other served as a reserve suit for Zeon ace pilot Anavel Gato (aka. the Nightmare Of Solomon) in place of his custom MS-14 Gelgoog unit.
One of the most well known configuration of the Dom Funf is the MS-09F/trop Dom Tropen. An advancement on the YMS-09D Dom Tropical Test Type, the Zeon military introduced the MS-09F/trop late in the One Year War, designed to operate exclusively in localized desert and tropical regions on Earth ("tropen" is German for "tropical").
In addition to additional sand filters to protect its equipment and powerful cooling systems to overcome the desert heat, the Dom Tropen featured special sand protection filtered intakes for its leg-mounted thermonuclear jet engines, allowing the mobile suit to retain its high ground hovering speeds without fear of sand ruining the engines.
Another Dom Funf configuration is the MS-09F/Bn Dom Bein Nichts ("Bein Nichts" is German for "no leg"). By replacing Dom Funf's legs with powerful thrusters, the Dom Bein Nichts has very high mobility. It's armed with a heat saber, raketen bazooka and sturm faust. Usually, the Dom Bein Nichts would work as a team with the MS-09F/Gb Dom Gross Beil ("Gross Beil" is German for "giant axe"). The Dom Gross Beil's most distinct armament is a massive heat saber that could cut other mobile suits in half. Since this heat saber is so large, the Dom Gross Beil was also equipped with a heat knife to engage in close combat.
[edit] Variations
[edit] YMS-09 Prototype Dom
The Prototype Dom was able to overcome the speed problems that affected previous ground combat mobile suits by hovering over the ground instead of actually walking on it. The Prototype Dom achieved the ability to hover with the addition of several thermonuclear jet engines placed in the soles of the feet, as well as the rear leg armor, and the rear skirt armor around its waist. While hovering, the Prototype Dom was able to reach a top ground speed of up to 240 kilometers per hour, a staggering difference when compared to the top ground speed of Zeon's Zaku Ground Types, which was only a little over 80 kilometers per hour. By hovering, the Prototype Dom not only achieved incredible speed, but also unparalleled maneuverability, able to skate back and forth over the ground with ease.
Two Prototype Doms were constructed at Zimmad's facilities in Side 3 and they were both shipped to Zeon's California Base for testing. After the designs were field tested, the Prototype Dom was deemed to be a resounding success and the Principality of Zeon immediately ordered that the unit be mass produced as the MS-09 Dom.
[edit] YMS-09D Dom Tropical Test Type
Following the successful testing of the YMS-09 Prototype Dom at California Base, the Zeon began to mass-produce the MS-09 Dom. The design however had a flaw: it was especially difficult to maintain in certain environments, specifically in Earth's high temperature tropical zones. To attempt to come up with a solution, the Zimmad Company converted one of the two Prototype Doms into the YMS-09D Dom Tropical Test Type. The newly rebuilt and modified Dom Tropical Test Type mounted a coolant storage tank on its backpack to better regulate the mobile suit's temperature in the desert heat. This required the mount latch of the heat sword to be moved to a vertical position behind the left shoulder, as opposed to the original horizontal or diagonal positioning in other Dom models. The new Dom Tropical Test Type also featured a short-range communications antenna on its head.
These additional features helped the Dom Tropical Test Type maintain better combat efficiency in tropical climates. The desert warfare unit Caracal Corps, which was stationed in North Africa, would convert twelve of their Doms in such a manner, including the personal unit of Zeon ace pilot Major Roy Greenwood, whose Dom Tropical Test Type would be nicknamed "Thunder Cat" because of the lightning bolt designs on its frame. Advancements from the Dom Tropical Test Type would also later serve as the basis for the upgrades of the MS-09F/trop Dom Tropen.
The Dom Tropical Test Type was later adapted to create the MS-09KM Dom Cannon artillery support mobile suit, which equipped a pair of shell-firing cannons similar to those of the Federation's RX-77 Guncannon series.
[edit] MS-09G Dowadge
Another variant of the MS-09 Dom, its relationship with the MS-10 Pezun Dowadge is uncertain. It featured head mounted vulcan guns and external propellant tanks, extending its hover ability. The Dowadge was seen used by various parties in UC 0088. In the place of the heat saber used by most Doms models, the Dowadge used a heat tomahawk, which despite the name was actually more akin to a double bladed battle axe than a tomahawk. The Dowadge also used a slightly larger (380mm) version of the giant bazooka.
The most notable of these Dowadge is the MS-09H Dowadge Kai ("Kai" is Japanese Kanji character "改". In English it means "Modified"), piloted by "Desert" Rommel. The Dowadge Kai has additional shoulder thrusters and may also be armed with large beam cannon.
Special thanks to the people at Mecha HQ for providing the original revue.
