Aldnoah.Zero: Soldier's Pay (Attack on the Burning Sand)

February 1, 2015 8:56 AM - Season 1, Episode 16

The Deucalion heads back to earth. Slaine is yet to be fully accepted by the other Vers Knights. The faction opposing Slaine's ascendance enjoin Count Mazuurek to begin an offensive. Count Mazuurek, who had so far avoided hostilities with Earth forces, reluctantly deploys in his kataphrakt. Yuki and Marito are part of the squadron sent to intercept Mazuurek. Back in the Vers asteroid base, Slaine realizes he needs to make a grand display of power to silence his detractors.
posted by needled (9 comments total)

One would think Slaine (or Saazbaum) have been reading Machiavelli during the time skip.
posted by needled at 9:00 AM on February 1, 2015

Meanwhile the Earth forces spent their downtime studying the Eddas to decide what to do next.
posted by ardgedee at 3:26 PM on February 1, 2015

While Inaho is Odin, Slaine appears to be Fenrir, based on that line about Slain becoming a wolf.

(Does that make Asseylum = Baldr and Saazbaum = Loki ?)
posted by needled at 3:54 PM on February 1, 2015

So the Cyber Eye apparently outclasses the Deucalion's entire sensor array and fire control system.

Is the eye another piece of salvaged Aldnoah tech? That would at least explain why the Earth forces haven't built it into the cockpit of every mech in the service.
posted by Iridic at 12:03 AM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Is the eye another piece of salvaged Aldnoah tech? That would at least explain why the Earth forces haven't built it into the cockpit of every mech in the service.

IIRC, it's a highly experimental prototype.

But I would posit that Inaho was doing the firing because the Deucalion does not appear to have weapons on its underside. Maybe it's not designed for orbit to surface attacks.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:43 AM on February 2, 2015

From some of the things Inaho has said it's not just a Cyber Eye, but a Cyber brain enhancer? The device in his eye seems to be interfacing directly with his brain and making use of his brain cells in computations related to processing visual information as well as other uses Inaho has found for the capability. So Inaho now has a cyber-brain, which actually might be more efficient for complex computations than whatever the Deucalion uses to compute ballistics trajectories.

I think the reason why Inaho was outside in the Sleipnir was that he was linked directly to the Sleipnir's sensor array, but then, yeah, why not link to the Deucalion's sensor array instead?

(This is a show about some magical alien power discovered on Mars and people fighting in mechas. I'm just gonna enjoy staring at all those mechas and whatever crazy shit the Vers are up to.)
posted by needled at 2:26 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

From some of the things Inaho has said it's not just a Cyber Eye, but a Cyber brain enhancer?

I thought he said something about being able to use his unused brain power thanks to his upgrades.

(This is a show about some magical alien power discovered on Mars and people fighting in mechas. I'm just gonna enjoy staring at all those mechas and whatever crazy shit the Vers are up to.)

Good call. You reminded me of an anime fan going on and on about some nuclear reactor safety feature in a panel with people who made Earth Girl/Maiden Arjuna. Dude, the main character is a high school girl chosen to be the "Avatar of Time" and entrusted with saving the dying Earth. It's not real.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:17 AM on February 4, 2015

I was wondering: do the earth forces try to pick up any of the mecha tech after they (er, Inaho) win battles? I understand it would take a while to reverse engineer how everything worked, but for the long term good of the earth forces, I'm sure someone is scavenging battlefield tech. Maybe that could pop up in future seasons, should this show continue.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:19 AM on February 4, 2015

I would think the Mars mecha tech is not very useful to Earth forces because they don't have full access to Aldnoah. It's risky for Earth forces to rely on Aldnoah power since they only have Inaho to activate it. If Inaho dies, there go all the battle tech he activated.

The Earth forces were scavenging tech, the Deucalion is proof of it, but it's also proof of how it wasn't very useful to Earth forces.
posted by needled at 1:53 PM on February 4, 2015