MS-09R Rick Dom

The MS-09R Rick Dom (リック・ドム) is a mass production space combat mobile suit, and variant of the MS-09B Dom. It was first featured in the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The space-type version, the MS-09R Rick Dom, had the original MS-09B Dom's hover jets replaced with rocket thrusters for use outside of the atmosphere. The resulting mobile suit had superior armor, power output, thrust, and maneuverability than the MS-06F Zaku II, the mobile suit the MS-09R Rick Dom was to replace.

For combat the MS-09R Rick Dom relied on the same weapons and tactics as the ground use original. The MS-09R Rick Dom's standard armament is a 360mm bazooka which fires rocket propelled explosive rounds, giving the Rick Dom the power to destroy an enemy mobile suit in a single shot or to heavily damage an enemy warship. For melee combat the Rick Dom uses a heat saber, a rod which heats to super-high temperatures and can melt through the armor of an enemy mobile suit. The heat saber has a larger surface area to heat, which requires more energy, but the greater surface area gives it greater range, making it more effective in combat than the heat hawk used by the old F-type Zaku II. And built into the chest of the Rick Dom is a scattering beam gun, which is useless for actually damaging an enemy, but is employed as a diversionary weapon for its ability to blind an enemy's eyes and sensors for several moments.

In order to increase its combat abilities the Principality of Zeon develops an experimental beam bazooka that several Rick Doms are outfitted with. The beam bazooka is capable of dramatically increasing the offensive power of the Rick Dom but the beam bazooka is never put into mass production.

Because of the Dom's bulkier build, possessing a larger frame and heavier armor, a Musai-class could only carry two MS-09Rs in its main hangar, as opposed to three of the smaller (but weaker) Zaku II's.

Armaments

 * Scattering Beam Gun
 * A chest mounted scattering beam gun. Does little damage to enemy mobile suits, but can be used to blind enemy pilots for several seconds.


 * Heat Saber Type 7
 * The Rick Dom features an improved version of the Dom Type2 heat saber. Stored on the backpack when not in use, this weapon bears a strong resemblance to the beam sabers used by Earth Federation mobile suits, however it still relies on the older technology of using thermal energy to superheat a metal blade, allowing it to melt through the armor of an enemy machine at high speed.


 * H&L-GB05R/360mm Giant Bazooka
 * The primary weapon of the Rick Dom is a large bazooka. The bazooka is magazine fed and holds 10 rounds per magazine. A single round can blow the torso off of an enemy mobile suit.


 * Ex-T2-2 Beam Bazooka
 * A new weapon developed near the end of the war and given to the Rick Dom. It is an experimental beam bazooka, and its use requires the Rick Dom's energy systems to be modified. The bazooka has its own internal reactor, rather than an E-cap, and is, essentially, a Musai deck gun scaled down for mobile suit use. Due to using a reactor rather than an E-cap, the bazooka is capable of a single sustained blast or several short bursts, requiring a lengthy recharge period of approximately 10 minutes before it can be used again.


 * ZMP-50D 120mm Machine Gun
 * The 120mm machine gun is a standard weapon for Zaku type mobile suits. It is a shell firing gun that does not require energy to be used, however its effectiveness against heavy armor is very limited. The ZMP-50D used a 100-round drum magazine.


 * MMP-80/90mm Ver.8 Machine Gun
 * An alternative to the 120mm Machine Gun. It used 90mm bullets instead of 120mm type, allowing for a greater speed of firing and a higher rate of penetration. The machine gun is magazine-fed with 32 rounds per mag.


 * Shield Lance
 * A weapon used by Zabi's royal guards, as its name suggests, it is a Lance weapon with a Shield attached to it.  This allows the pilot to switch back and forth between offense and defense. The only downside of this weapon is its heavy weight, which causes the Dom's speed and mobility to be decreased below its usual standards.


 * Knuckle Shield
 * The knuckle shield is a modified Zaku II shoulder shield that mounts on the left arm. When mounted on the forearm the curve of the armor fits over the mobile suits hand. One of the modifications is the additions of three spikes placed on the plate that rests in front of the hand. These spikes make the knuckle shield an effective bashing weapon.


 * Sturm Faust
 * An explosive weapon with a rocket propelled warhead, it was designed before the beginning of the One Year War as an anti-ship weapon. Useful both in space and under gravity, it was mainly deployed for anti-ship attacks during the early days of the war. The Sturm Faust likely made a good anti-mobile suit weapon during the latter days of the war, as Zeon mobile suits could be equipped with both a Sturm Faust and a more typical ranged weapon for greater versatility. As a non-guided weapon, it is difficult to hit targets with high mobility. Can be stored on waist armor storage racks.


 * Heat Sword
 * A melee weapon originally developed for the Gouf line of mobile suits. Like the Zaku's heat tomahawk the heat sword is a blade that is heated to high temperatures in order to increase it's cutting capacity. The Heat Sword was designed after a broadsword so its blade is longer than the tomahawk allowing for a greater range of attack.

History
Late during the One Year war, the Principality of Zeon sought to replace their line of MS-06 Zaku II mobile suits with more advanced machines in order to end the stalemate of the One Year War. It later became more imperative in order to counter the Earth Federation's own mobile suit development. For its terrestrial war front the Zeon forces deployed the MS-09B Dom, a fast-moving heavy assault mobile suit that would serve as the successor of the MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type.

Because of the success of the ground use MS-09B Dom, its producer Zimmad began work on a space-use variant. To acquire the needed data, Zimmad modified an MS-06F Zaku II by replacing the standard legs with larger Dom-style legs equipped with rocket thrusters. This allowed the MS-06RD-4 Zaku High Mobility Test Type to maneuver as the new mobile suit was predicted to. Though destroyed in battle the test data was recovered and used to produce the MS-09R Rick Dom.

Major battles that MS-09R Rick Dom mobile suits would participate in would include various skirmishes near Side 6 to destroy White Base and the Gundam, the Battle of Solomon on December 25 where ace pilot Anavel Gato would use an MS-09R Rick Dom and earn the nickname "Nightmare of Solomon."

Because the Principality of Zeon was pushed off the Earth shortly after the introduction of the MS-09B Dom its space-use variant had a longer production run, but even then it would last for only a few months as in the final weeks of the One Year War the Principality of Zeon would begin focusing their production capabilities to produce the high-performance MS-14 Gelgoog model mobile suit and its variants. However because of their dire situation all three major front-line mobile suit; the Zaku, the Rick Dom, and the Gelgoog would be used before the end of the war on January first of UC 0080.

An improved model of the Rick Dom was produced very late in the war, the MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II, as part of the United Maintenance Plan, an initiative to improve the performance of existing mobile suit models and standardize the parts used in their construction in order to improve the cost efficiency of both construction and maintenance.

Variants

 * MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II
 * MS-09R Rick Dom [Stutzer]
 * MS-09RS Rick Dom Anavel Gato Custom
 * MS-09RS Rick Dom C.A. Custom
 * MS-09R Rick Dom Dozle Zabi Custom
 * MS-09R4 Psycommu Rick Dom "Schnee Weiss"
 * MS-09S Dowas
 * MS-09R Rick Dom (Thunderbolt Ver.)

Notes & Trivia

 * The "Rick" in the designation stands for "Remake".
 * In SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online, the Rick Dom is given its Beam Bazooka and shares the same melee and secondary weapon as  the normal Dom.