Welcome, welcome, come in. I'm DiFranco, and I am the curator of this wonderful establishment. Feel free to wander, to stare at our antique Zoids, to observe the glories of the past. It's been a lot of hard work, collecting all these Zoids, but I'm very proud of our collection, and the crowning achievement.

What's that you say? The crowning achievement? Well... AIZDAT have lent us some wonderful artificial reality booths, and we've gone to painstaking efforts to recreate our museum Zoids inside the simulators. We even created a league for the people that enjoy coming in to fight with these majestic old beasts. Would you like to sign up?

Hmm? You want to know more? Well, here's an incentive for you. As part of the cultural precedeent program established by the government, this league actuall gives out cash prizes! Spiffing, eh? I'll explain....

Our vintage Zoids are classed by rankings, as noted in their information sheets. Our pilots in the league also have rankings, as we give them small discs that store their information everytime they play. When you fight your opponent, you get cash prizes in this manner: For every Zoid you fight, you get 500 credits at the end of the battle, with 300 more tacked on for every level higher than the Zoid you're using. When you fight, you receive 2000 credits, with an extra 500 per league level your opponents are higher than you. Now, if you win, the prizes you take home are doubled. The museum *cough: me* gets a grant equivalent to 15% of the total cash prizes taken home.

If you do want to fight in a Virtual Vintage League match,PM me to sign up, I'll subtract a 500 credit joining fee, and then you'll be able to post your matches in The Simulator, with VVL at the start of the title. The pre-programmed battle AI will assist you from then on.

The system of battle is very much still in the works, and is still subject to change, but if you'd like to register, please sign here... here and here. Thank you.

Virtual Vintage League Ranking Table:

DiFranco (37 w/10 l/12 d) - Rank One

(Still under construction, but ready to accept people into the League)

RMZ-010 Furolesios
Type: Plesiosaurus
Length: 13.0 m
Height: 7.1 m
Weight: 8.85 tons
Top Speed:
45 knots

Equipment:
Active Sonar System
Torpedo Launcher x2
20mm Ant-Air Machinegun x2
Smoke Discharger

VVL Level: 1

Armour Description:
The Furolesios was one of the first aquatic Zoids ever, and you can tell by its simple and rather weak design. The actual structure is fairly sound, as the main part of the body is a solid piece with ballast tanks and fins attached. This structure is reasonably tough, and the Furolesios is covered in a coat of armour that is placed over the ballast tanks, front, rear and underbelly. The fins are also constructed from this armour, which is about as tough as that of a Heldigunner, by virtue of the fact that it has to survive underwater pressures. However, the entire back is exposed, and then… there’s the neck. The neck is flimsy and impotent structure that can barely hold the weight of the head, which is a quite sturdy cockpit. The neck is pathetically weak, able to be taken out by a few direct hits. It’s a good thing the neck is so narrow. Basically, the Furolesios can be taken out by a single modern day torpedo.

Mobility and Power Source:
The Furolesios is not really all that manoeuvrable, nor all that fast, in the water. It sort of glides through the water with a combination of propeller- and fin-based force. The Furolesios changes depth with two ballast tanks and has no energy based weapons, so basically, it can plod on for absolutely ages before tiring out. Furolesios is a placid and gentle Zoid, designed not for fighting but travelling the seas. The oxygen tanks can hold enough air for around twelve hours before the Furolesios needs to surface.

Weapons

Active Sonar System
The Furolesios uses a simplistic sonar system to see where it is going, able to make a 360 degree map of the ocean around it for up to five kilometres, unless there’s something solid to appear on the sonar.

Torpedo Launcher x2
Mounted on the back of the Furolesios are two torpedo tubes that are each loaded up with a single large torpedo. These are actually quite powerful torpedos, being about as strong as three missiles, but considering the enormous size of the torpedos its actually quite weak. The torpedos are direct fire devices, unable to lock against a target, and have a fairly sluggish top speed, though the acceleration is good. Given the weak constitution of the Furolesios, it’s no surprise that a single torpedo of this design can sink a Furolesios.

20mm Anti-Air Machinegun x2
Mounted on the rear of the Furolesios are two small cannons that point directly backwards. These are the Anti-Air Machineguns, capable of spitting out six 20mm bullets per second. That isn’t very fast for a machinegun, but the bullets move at double the normal velocity, to be able to pass through water and up into higher altitudes with ease. The guns can both rotate vertically 90 degrees, in order to point straight up. The machineguns cannot actually fire while submerged, so are only useful when the Furolesios surfaces.

Smoke Discharger
Built into the rear of the Furolesios is a canister that allows it to spew thick black smoke into the water, creating a cloud that pursuing Zoids are likely to get lost in. It’s useful for quick retreats, or for hiding in dark shadows.

RMZ-009 Spiker
Type: Mantis
Length: 9.0 m
Height: 6.0 m
Weight: 6.4 tons
Top Speed:
220 kilometers per hour

Equipment:
Toughened Alloy Attack Spike x2
30mm AA Beam Cannon x2
20mm Beam Machinegun

VVL Level: 1

Armour Description:
The Spiker is a four-legged creature with two ‘arms’, the lower halves of which are big spikes. Being an insect the Spiker is low-set, but also being an insect, it has weak structure, and no armour at all. The head of the Spiker is a standard Republican construction module for that time period, but otherwise nothing to protect the feeble legs and fragile body.

Mobility and Power Source:
The Spiker is an insect. A mantis to be exact. It has a respectable top speed, and being low to the ground, actually has a rather impressive turning circle, which you’ll have to whore for all its worth to survive in combat. The Spiker uses a rather weak core, and given the usage of beam weapons on this Zoid, it will stall pretty easy if you’re overzealous.

Weapons

Toughened Alloy Attack Spike x2
The ‘arms’ of the Spiker are hinged at the elbow, as one would expect, but from the elbow to the tip, the ‘arms’ are large metal spikes. They’re sharpened to a danegerous point, meaning they can bust into the weak armour of the Zoids of that era pretty easily. The spikes can be stabbed straight out in a vicious thrusting attack, or swung around. It’s best to use the point of the spikes, because the actual spikes themselves are blunt and rounded on the sides.

30mm AA Beam Cannon x2
Fitted onto the rear sides of the Spiker, pointing backwards and able to pivot to point straight up, are these guns that each fire three 30mm beams per second, roughly equivalent to 35mm shells. Because of the way they pivot, the guns are really meant only for anti-air duty.

20mm Beam Machinegun
Mounted onto the back of the Spiker is a single machinegun that faces backwards, but is able to pivot both right and left to a distance of 90 degree, covering the entire rear half of the Spiker. The machinegun fires beams that are the equivalent of 22mm shells at a rate of twelve per second, allowing it to lay down quite a force on any Zoids chasing it. However, this is the biggest energy drainer of the Spiker.

RMZ-008 Pegasaurus
Type: Bird
Length: 10.0 m
Height: 8.0 m
Weight: 4.7 tons
Top Speed:
Mach 2.5

Equipment:
Rocket Booster
30mm Beam Vulcan
30mm Pulse Beam Gun x2
Anti-Air Missile Launcher

VVL Level: 2

Armour Description:
The structure of the Pegasaurus, being of aerial design, is quite rugged, but the armour is very thin, about as strong as that of a Guysack. The wings and taila reactually covered with a double layer of armour, making them the toughest parts to take out. Coverage is pretty much all over except for the booster beneath the tail, and on the back, where the missile launcher is mounted. The Pegasaurus has huge wheels for landing and taking off, and can achieve a land speed of 150 km/h, or 250 km/h with the rocket booster.

Mobility and Power Source:
The Pegasaurus is actually quite a well armed Zoid, being loaded up with more firepower than most of the land-based Zoids of the time. However, this came at the price of agility. The Pegasaurus is a fast bugger, and for a time can actually exceed the Raynos in speed, but it can’t turn and twist all that well, being more suited to long strafe runs at slower ground targets. The core isn’t very powerful, so overusage of the Beam Vulcan and Pulse Beam Guns will wear out the Pegasaurus and cause it to crash.

Weapons

Rocket Booster
Tucked just beneath and partially within the tail is a small booster nozzle and two tanks, of liquid oxygen and hydrogen. That’s right, rocket fuel. There’s about enough for six seconds, so when ignited a huge fiery trail blazes out behind the Pegasaurus and it can attain a speed of Mach 3.4 for those brief, shining six seconds. Its inadvisable to try any stunts at that speed, as you’d likely tear the Pegasaurus in half.

30mm Beam Vulcan
Mounted at the base of the neck, where it joins the body, is this stubby triple-barrelled Vulcan, capable of firing twenty five 30mm beam rounds per second, to the equivalent of 37mm shells. It’s advised not to fire this Vulcan for more than three seconds without giving an equal break, so the Pegasaurus can recuperate the energy used by this beast. The gun is fixed at a 30 degree downward position.

30mm Pulse Beam Gun x2
Mounted onto the sides of the Pegasaurus, just below the wings, are these powerful weapons. Pulling the trigger results in a flurry of fifty beams per second, making it look almost like a continuous beam. They impact like 32mm shells, but the sheer number of them makes up for it. These guns can’t be fired for more than three seconds before giving a second or so to cool down, lest you melt the barrels. The guns can go from pointing straight ahead to about 45 degrees down.

Anti-Air Missile Launcher
Mounted on the back is a pod pre-loaded with two anti-aircraft missiles. They lock with a visual sighting, which takes about three seconds, and when they lock fire as the pair, streaking towards the target. They have a smaller warhead than normal, and explode into shrapnel near to the target, shredding it up.

RMZ-007 Hidocker
Type: Apatosaurus
Length: 14.2 m
Height: 5.8 m
Weight: 7.9 tons
Top Speed:
195 kilometers per hour

Equipment:
Cyclone Multi-Mission Missile Launcher
20mm Beam Machinegun
Stern 12.7mm Beam Cannon x2
Eruba Missile Pod x2

VVL Level: 3

Armour Description:
Hidocker is one of the bigger and tougher Republican beasts of the time, but it doesn’t carry any armour at all. The entire structure is exposed, but it’s quite tough structure, being very simplistic and sturdy. The neck is, as with a lot of old Republican Zoids, the weakest spot, while the feet are heavy and tough, as is the chest.

Mobility and Power Source:
Hidocker is not very agile at all, being unable to turn much better than a bathtub could. However, it is quite fast, especially for a Zoid with such impressive firepower, and this is quite useful. The core is a slow release type, so as long as you go gentle with the beam weaponry, Hidocker can actually maintain its top speed for quite a good period of time.

Weapons

Cyclone Multi-Mission Missile Launcher
This device is at the rear end of the back, composed of two barrels that stick up and slightly off the sides of the Zoid. Each of these barrels is loaded with one missile and hold two spare, for a total of six in the entire launcher. The missiles can be either surface-to-surface, surface-to-air or the more powerful dumbfire rockets, in both armour-piercing and surface devestation types. The AP rockets are 1.5x the strength of a normal missile, and penetrate the armour before blowing up, containing the explosion. However, the SD rockets are fragmentation, meaning they release a lot of shrapnel on impact, good for damaging and removing large areas of armour. It takes a second to lock a missile, and a second to reload the launcher, so up to three missiles can be fired per round, while all six rockets can be fired in a turn. Please note that all six projectiles must be of the same type. The launcher is strictly forward facing.

20mm Beam Machinegun
Just in front the Cyclone Missile Launcher is a device that looks like a crossbow. This is the Beam Machinegun. It can move 20 degrees to the left and right, but when firing straight ahead the Hidocker must lower the neck, otherwise it will shoot itself. The gun is actually weaker than it sounds, the beams being like 17mm shells, but fires at the high rate of 20 beams a second.

Stern 12.7mm Beam Cannon x2
Mounted onto the sides of the chest are two cannons that point straight ahead and are more for taking out light Zoids and infantry than actual fighting. Each cannon fires twice a second, and is very accurate, hitting like a 15mm shell. The cannons are locked in their position.

Eruba Missile Pod x2
Extending out from either flank of the Hidocker is a small pod loaded with two missiles. These are general-purpose missiles, able to target both air and land targets, but are completely standard in every other fashion.