What would happen if there was a battle between an Eva and a Mk.33 Bolo?
The scene: outside Tokyo-3, as the latest Angel approaches the city by
air. A 32,000-ton slab of duralloy armor squats outside the city on
six sets of treads, the landscape around it unmarked due to use of its
contragravity mobility generators. Over a hundred meters long, the
HCT-series Mark-33 Bolo stands ready to attack, its directing
psychotronic intelligence waiting only for a human order.
"Do what you like," says Misato Katsuragi dismissively. "Angels are
invulnerable to conventional weapons."
There follows the sound of a 200-cm slab of steel-jacketed slush
hydrogen being flash-compressed to fusion temperatures while being
fired skyward at 70% lightspeed, a sound for which the adjective
"thunderous" is totally inadequate. Then it happens again, and again,
as the Bolo's three turrets fire in rotating sequence.
Its AT field is an externalization of the Angel's own sense of
identity. Reeling under the assualt of five megatons-equivalent per
second, its sheer surprise causes that field to flicker. The moment's
inattention is enough to let the next flaming round penetrate,
transforming the Angel from "pattern blue" to "pattern splatter across
the landscape."
"Dammit, a Hellbore is *not* a conventional weapon!"
"Not in *your* century, perhaps," answers the Bolo impassively.
***
[...] It'd depend on whether the Eva
had the attributes ascribed to it in the series or just those
attributes actually demonsrated in the series. If the former then
the Eva wins by a handwave. If the latter then the Bolo wins as soon
as it clears the horizon... if not sooner...
Let's set Unit 02 against the Bolo, since it (and its pilot) have less
chance of changing their capabilities in mid-combat. "Why is it
always *me*?" grumbles Asuka, before she's persuaded of the
opportunity to demonstrate her prowess.
Stats for Humanoid Weapon Evangelion Unit 02 (2015 AD):
Height... Does anyone have a number for this? Measuring my Unit 02
action figure (180 mm toe to head), and assuming a 160-cm pilot to
scale would be (2,5) mm tall, that makes the Eva (144,58) m tall. The
latter measurement sounds more reasonable... we need better
photogrammetry.
Mobility... A simple scale argument (a 60-m humanoid has a stride 30x
the length of a human, 2002 world-record for 100-m sprint is 9.78
seconds), approx. 300 mps, or 1080 kph; sustained run probably less.
Weapons: Onboard: shaped AT field, progressive knife, spike-launchers,
hand-to-hand. External: a wide variety of progressive-bladed
close-combat weapons, projectile and missile launchers, and long-range
beam projectors.
Defenses: AT field, 4000 plates of fortified armor.
***
Stats for HCT-series Mark 33 Bolo planetary siege unit (c.3500 AD):
(As described in _Bolo Rising_ 1999, _Bolo Strike_ 2001, and on
William H. Keith's website)
Scale and mobility: 120 meters by 38 by 25 to upper deck, massing
32,000 metric tons. Six sets of tracks, or contragravity generators
(12 at 4000 tons each) for hover and planetfall. Road speed of 110
kph, CG-assisted sprint speed much higher.
Weapons: 3x turrets each mounting a 200-cm hellbore, delivering (each?
total?) 5 megatons per second; effective range 50,000 km. 14x (or 16,
or 20) 20-cm (or 30-cm) hellbores in side-mounted ball-turrets. 10x
40-cm ballistic-launch mortars, firing 10-kt nuclear shells. 4x
240-cm howitzers firing 500-kg HE shells. Vertical-launch missile
system. Antipersonnel flechette guns.
Defenses: shield projectors, 1-m duralloy; optional reactive armor
appliques.
***
What's the yield of an N2 mine? Whatever it is, a Hellbore would be
more effective, as a focused impact rather than uncontained explosion.
In matters of pure tactics (and often strategy), any Bolo (since at
least the Mark 29) can out-think any human. Often they're hobbled by
restrictive rules of engagement (limit the collateral damage, etc.) or
the need for human approval.
At close range, Unit 02 might be able to dodge the Bolo's shots. At
longer ranges, however, and given three turrets for bracketing shots,
the Bolo should be able to catch it. (Super-golem powers aside, I
rather doubt a 60-m humanoid sprinting at 300-mps can turn on a dime.)
Even if the Bolo can't penetrate Unit 02's AT field, it can easily
destroy the landscape around its opponent, reducing its mobility.
(They've often been shown capable of such lateral tactics.) In
close-quarters, the kinetic impact alone of its massed weapons (AT
fields don't negate momentum, do they?) should keep the Eva
staggering.
Prog-knife versus duralloy of the upper hull? Who knows?
Both combatants have shown the ability to absorb massive damage -- to
take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.
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