Hand armaments: power mace, battery-powered, stored on recharge rack on back, hand-carried in use; machine pistol, clip-fed, 20 rounds per clip, stored in holster on skirt armor
Special equipment: ion field generator; x2 remote launcher, mounted on shoulders, stores 3 defensive remotes each
Tasked with designing a prototype for Astraea/Zeklov’s new Dolph line, Heavy Team’s X Group set out to develop the ultimate defensive combat frame in answer to Group Y’s AZY-002 all-out attack CF. Also starting with a CF-015 Zwei Dolph, Group X added two layers of advanced composite armor for XSeed-caliber protection.A breakthrough ion field generator projected a sphere of charged particles around the unit, granting effective protection against plasma weapons. Solid projectiles and laser beams could pass through the field, but the double-layered armor could repel multiple direct hits from either. Otherwise, multiple plasma hits–or a single shot from an incredibly powerful plasma weapon–were required to knock out the field.
Putting a twist on drone technology pioneered on the XCD-101 Ezekiel, Group X installed a pair of remote launchers on the heavy armor Dolph’s pauldrons, which carried three remotes each. These remotes were not designed to reflect lasers. Instead, they each carried a miniaturized ion field projector. Just as agile as Ezekiel’s remotes, the Dolph’s drones could surround their parent CF, enclosing it in a nigh-impenetrable energy field. The highly mobile remotes could also envelop other CFs, objects, and areas within protective ion fields.
Group X equipped their prototype with minimal offensive weaponry. The heavy armor wielded a power mace which featured two settings: one to superheat the mace’s head for better armor penetration and an EM setting capable of delivering a potent electromagnetic pulse to a target on contact, disrupting insufficiently shielded electrical systems at the point of impact. For a modicum of short-range attack ability, the prototype carried a machine pistol chambered for tungsten-graphene rounds similar to Grand Dolph rifle ammo but in a smaller 40mm caliber. The pistol’s high rate of fire allowed its dense slugs to puncture 1D carbyne armor at point-blank range. However, its lower ammo capacity made running out of bullets an even bigger concern.
The defensive Dolph prototype had one more trick up its sleeve. Its ion fields could deliver powerful EMPs to electronics brought in contact with them. Test pilots soon devised the effective tactic of purposefully swarming an enemy with the CF’s remotes and exposing it to multiple overlapping fields to disable its systems. Though less effective against heavily insulated CFs like XSeeds and other Dolphs, this remote EMP attack made short work of Guardian and Grenzmark-class combat frames.
Christened the AZX-001 Heavy Armor Dolph X, the defense-optimized CF proved an even match for the Heavy Armor Y. When tested against each other, both units scored the same number of victories, with success depending upon the pilot.
In the end, both the Heavy Armor X and the Heavy Armor Y were shown up by the AZZ-003 Heavy Armor Dolph Z, Nevertheless, Astraea/Zeklov managing director Sullia Zend chose the Heavy Armor X prototype for her executive CF team.
