GN-005 Gundam Virtue

The GN-005 Gundam Virtue (aka Gundam Virtue Particle Type') is the heavy-artillery Gundam in season one of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. The unit is piloted by Tieria Erde.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
A 3rd generation heavy arms Gundam made for its Innovade pilot, Tieria Erde. Unlike the other Gundams, Virtue was designed to be an anti-ship combat mobile suit as opposed to an anti-mobile suit one. The current adaptation of Virtue is also known as the "Particle-Type" which contrasts another variant design considered that is known as the Physical-Type, distinguished by the their main type of armament. One of the main reasons for the development of Virtue was to keep its true form, GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh away from the front lines. Both Veda Particle and Veda Physical were suggested to Celestial Being by Veda.

Initially, the Physical-Type was the preferred type for the final design due in part to the bloc's lack of particle weapons, as well as the fact that the condenser technology development at the time was not sufficient enough to allow Particle-Type's heavy usage. Due to this and other factors, the development of both Virtue Types were the slowest. At some point, both Virtue types went through much combat testing with other Gundams and in the end, Veda made the decision to choose Particle-Type as the final form of Virtue mainly due to its compatibility with other Meisters in the data.

This decision was not well received by the technicians who preferred the Physical-Type due to its ability to fight betrayers (likely with GN Field ability) with its physical weapons and put much more urgency on the completion of the solid GN blades as well as Exia's pilot with the role of fighting traitors. The idea of using both types via changing of equipment was considered but ultimately rejected by Veda due to insufficient manpower as well as the possibility of the common point (Nadleeh) of both equipment types being spotted by the enemy.

The cockpit's interface allows Tieria to communicate with Virtue via quantum brainwaves primarily to discard its armor and use the Trial System as the Gundam Nadleeh; it's unclear if there are additional abilities that Tieria can utilize in its Virtue form. At more than twice the armor volume of any other Gundam, Virtue's firepower and defenses are unmatched among its contemporaries. Virtue relies on its overwhelming firepower to destroy its enemies from mid-to-long range, with almost no capabilities in melee combat. Because Virtue's GN Bazooka requires a recharge time after each shot, it depends on its armor and GN Field for protection while recharging.

Should opponents attack Virtue while recharging, it can still attack using its dual GN Cannons; these same countermeasures are also Virtue's greatest weakness. While the GN Bazooka can be fired through the GN Field, the GN Cannons can't, requiring Virtue to drop the field while it fires. Its bulky mass, heavy armor, and weaponry also makes Virtue a liability in close-range or high-speed combat. When overwhelmed by a formidable unit(s), Virtue can purge its armor to become GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh for more general purpose combat. In addition, Nadleeh also doubles as an escape mechanism as is the norm for the Plutone lineage.

Armaments

 * GN Bazooka
 * The single most destructive beam-based armament currently employed by the Gundam Meisters. The double grips can be removed from their rotatable docks and function as wireless controllers. An additional grip dock beneath the weapon body can be used when resting the back end on the mobile suit's shoulder as per standard firing position, and grip position can be altered as the situation requires. When even more firepower is required, Virtue can be equipped with an additional GN Bazooka, carrying one in each hand. And a single charged or uncharged shot can wipe out a squadron of Mobile Suits.


 * GN Beam Saber
 * Because Virtue was intended as a heavy ranged assault unit, it lacks the agility for effective melee combat. In case of an emergency, Virtue can make use of the GN Beam Sabers stored in Nadleeh's knees to defend itself but side from these situations they are rarely used. It has the same power rating as the beam sabers of the other Gundams and is much more powerful than the sonic blades of conventional mobile suits.


 * GN Cannon
 * Should opponents attack Virtue while recharging, it can still attack using its dual GN Cannons as the Cannon's firepower is less than GN Bazooka. And a single charged or uncharged shot can wipe out a squadron of Mobile Suits. However, while the GN Bazooka can be fired through the GN Field, the GN Cannons can't, requiring Virtue to drop the field while it fires; the main body of the GN Cannons are some of the primary GN-Field emitters of Virtue and could not activate GN-Field while using the cannons.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Burst Mode
 * In "Burst Mode," the chest plate of Virtue opens, exposing the connection to the GN Drive. Virtue attaches the GN Bazooka to the GN Drive and the Bazooka extends an inner barrel, making the weapon almost twice as long. GN Particles are directly vented and compressed into the GN Bazooka for firing. The resulting firepower of "Burst Mode" is so great that Virtue wrestles with the weapon to maintain firing stability. The fired beam itself is 2-3 times larger when usually fired and can extend at greater distances for surprise attacks. "Burst Mode" can be only be used after a short particle charge and drains most of Virtue's particles. When used in Trans-Am mode, some leftover particles remain though the shot will still consume two-thirds of the total particle count.


 * GN Field
 * A powerful defense mechanism used by Gundam Virtue. It is fully impregnable by conventional arms while also providing competent defense mechanism against beam weapons in most cases. At its default particle compression settings, Virtue's GN Field is capable of blocking beam attacks from the Gundam Thrones' GN Launcher and GN Handguns but not from the GN-Xs' GN Beam Rifles. In a later battle, Tieria would re-calibrate the the particle compression rate to counter the GN-Xs' increased penetrative power and this new setting was successful in blocking the GN-Xs' beams. The field however is shown to be completely defenseless against GN-based solid blades such as Gundam Throne Zwei's GN Fangs.


 * Trans-Am System
 * Only available after the GN Drive's blackbox is unlocked via the system trap.


 * "Veda-based Operating System"
 * The operating system used by the Gundams that relies on a constant link to Veda. After the Veda link to the Gundams were permanently cut, the Ptolemaios team were forced to switch to an alternate and inferior stand alone system that they independently developed.

History
For Virute's history and exploits, please go to Tieria Erde's page.

Variants

 * GN-005/PH Gundam Virtue Physical

Notes & Trivia

 * The name of the unit is derived from Greek, Virtues - which is reference to the fifth rank angel.
 * Virtue's armor ejection is of a similar style to Kamen Rider Kabuto's cast off animation.
 * Virtue's GN Bazooka, when used for Burst Mode, is similar to the one used in the MSN-00100 (MSN-100, MSN-001) Hyaku Shiki in Zeta Gundam episode 10.
 * In the early concept stages, Virtue was codenamed "Rook Gundam". Like Virtue, Rook was a heavy bombardment type machine. The idea of the armor cast off in Virtue actually came in a "castling" concept that King Gundam would use, in which a totally different unit would emerge from within Rook Gundam, however the idea was not used in Virtue (who in the end got a cast off ability) and was given to Alvatore instead. The Rook Gundam also had large storages of energy within it and had the ability to transfer this storage into its allies, however only the former was used while the latter concept was given to the Throne units instead.
 * The Virtue's GN Bazooka function to connect directly with the GN drive is similar to the Doven Wolf's ability to attach its own beam rifle to its chest beam cannon's.