What about the construction of Cosmo Hound No. 2 and subsequent models?

Published May 18. See the original post here

Hello, everyone.

Chapter 3 of 3199 has ended its run to great acclaim, and promotion for Chapter 4 has already begun. When I watched the final screening of Chapter 3 recently, I was once again struck by how each chapter in the remake world has been carefully crafted to showcase its key moments. In particular, the scenes where the young crew members from 2205 like Domon work together in the iconic mecha are truly memorable.

In the original series, whether it was The New Voyage or Yamato III, the new young crew members were not handled very well, and this seemed to limit the breadth and depth of the work. In contrast, the remake version skillfully intertwines the newcomers with the seasoned crew members, beautifully depicting the growth of both groups. The Cosmo Hound, which is operated by a large number of people, may be particularly well-suited as a stage for this purpose. With that in mind, I decided to write a little about the Cosmo Hound today.

According to the official website and Hobby Japan Web, the Cosmo Hound that appears in 3199 is the first model that debuted in 2205. During the Iscandar Incident, it was immediately deployed into combat upon completion, and after the incident, it was used as a test vessel for data collection. It was later re-deployed as a carrier-based vessel for Asuka, but according to the official website’s mechanical name notation, the “prototype” designation has not yet been removed (incidentally, the Cosmo Python also retains a “prototype” designation).

What caught my attention here is whether the Cosmo Hound will be mass-produced as an official weapon of the Earth Federation Defense Force in the future. However, the Cosmo Hound transferred from Asuka to Yamato is still an “experimental vessel,” so there is a possibility that a formally adopted model with a different design will be prepared. Therefore, it might be better to rephrase the question as, “Will Earth-made dimensional submersion weapons be mass-produced in the future?”

Looking back, dimensional submersion technology played a decisive role not only at the tactical level but also at the strategic level in both the 2202 Ark of Destruction battle and the 2205 rescue operation for the Iscandar royal family. Sending a minimal force (elite troops) covertly into an impregnable defensive zone and completing the mission is the opposite of the Wave-Motion Gun fleet concept, which involves directly confronting an enemy with high-powered weapons. It aligns with Earth’s post-2205 policy of optimizing military capabilities to suit its capabilities (“smartification”).

However, for Earth to expand and utilize dimensional submersion technology in the strategic domain in the future, the presence or absence of the technology demonstrated by the Garmillas dimensional submarine fleet in 2202 and 2205, where multiple submersible vessels coordinate to submerge a non-submersible vessel, will be of critical importance.

For convenience, this article refers to this special submergence technology as “area submergence.” If this is achievable, the flexibility of operations would undoubtedly improve significantly.

It’s easy to imagine that if only the dimensional submarine fleet had attacked Gatlantis in the latter half of 2202, they would never have reached the throne. In a critical situation, the ability to secretly deploy decisive forces to the enemy’s home base (home planet or capital planet) could serve as a viable alternative for Earth, which has abandoned the Wave Gun Fleet as its ultimate trump card.

Considering this, it would not be surprising if multiple Cosmo Hounds have already been newly constructed, even in the form of increased prototypes, but unfortunately, there is no indication of this in the various setting materials (of course, it’s possible that it’s simply not mentioned).

On the other hand, if no additional construction has been carried out, I decided to speculate a little on the reasons why.

1) Budget issues

Given that even the Garmillans have only built a few dimensional submarines due to their adoption of special engines and structures, they may be extremely expensive to construct. However, while the setting materials for the UX-01 mention that “research and development costs are high,” there is no mention of high construction costs. Alternatively, it could be that the licensing fees paid to Garmillas for each new build are extremely high. In any case, insufficient funds (budget) preventing the construction of multiple vessels is a plausible possibility.

2) Technical Issues

The device used for crossing dimensional boundaries (dimensional submergence) is referred to as a “multidimensional phase ballast tank (dimensional submergence device).” Since it is called a “tank,” it likely has a certain capacity, and this capacity may also influence the duration of dimensional submergence.

When performing the previously mentioned “area submergence,” it’s necessary to create a very large dimensional boundary surface, typically limited to the immediate vicinity of the vessel. A single dimensional phase ballast tank may not have sufficient capacity, so multiple ships may need to combine tank capacities or amplify and resonate phase energy to create a vast dimensional boundary surface.

However, the Cosmo Hound is less than one-third the size of UX-01 (approximately one-tenth in volume), so it may lack sufficient ballast tank capacity, phase energy, or output. In that case, to achieve area submergence, it may be necessary to build larger dimensional submersibles (or increase the number of submersibles that can submerge in coordination), so the Cosmo Hound may be limited to technical verification and operational data collection, with no additional construction planned.

3) Military Issues

In 2205, the Garmillas dimensional submarine, which had previously been invincible, suffered its first defeat (captured and destroyed by Goruba). How should we interpret this fact? In short, does it mean that dimensional submersion cannot achieve absolute superiority against Dezarium (even if it is not completely ineffective)?

However, Garmillas (Galman-Garmillas) has constructed a new class of ship, the “Zerandal-class attack-type dimensional submarine.” Since the specifications of the Zerandal, except for its length, are as yet undisclosed, it’s unclear whether it is equipped with any anti-Goruba weapons (equipment), but I suspect it is not. This is because there have been too few opportunities to engage a Goruba, and even if they were to develop countermeasures, there is insufficient data to do so.

In that regard, it seems reasonable to assume that the Zerandal-class is primarily targeting the Bolar Federation. If dimensional submersion still grants an absolute advantage against the Bolar in particular, I suspect that military buildup prioritizing the Bolar will continue until the safety of the Galman-Garmillas homeworld (Holy City Ruda) is at least partially secured. (Of course, the Supreme Leader is a man who “never forgets humiliation,” so preparations to crush Dezarium are likely progressing steadily as well, but that’s just my guess.)

On the other hand, unlike the Garmillans, Earth has not yet entered into direct combat with Bolar (judging from their response to Bolar’s territorial violation near the 11th planet). Furthermore, based on information such as video data recovered from the Goruba during the Iscandar Incident, it seems that Earth evaluates the threat posed by Dezarium more highly than the Bolar. However, in that case, due to the fact that dimensional submersion does not hold an absolute advantage over Dezarium, there may be a need to slow down the expansion of Cosmo Hounds (though not to the point of halting it entirely) and instead lower their priority.

That said, if the threat from Dezarium were to disappear in the future and the threat from Bolar were to increase, there is a possibility that priorities could be reorganized (and the Cosmo Hounds’ priority could rise) once again.

Another possibility on Earth’s side is that there could be interference from factions collaborating with Dezarium, acting as a brake on further expansion. If Dezarium were aware that Earth-made dimensional submersibles played a role in the loss of Goruba in the Iscandar Incident, they might assign a certain threat level to Cosmo Hounds as a precaution. In this case, there is also the possibility that Earth’s collaborating factions could politically obstruct the expansion of Hounds.

4) Diplomatic Issues

Finally, there is the possibility that they were concerned about the reactions of other nations to the possession of technology capable of secretly infiltrating and destroying an enemy’s capital planet. In terms of current weaponry, this would be akin to possessing strategic nuclear missiles that can be launched from anywhere, along with highly stealthy strategic missile submarines or mobile launch platforms equipped with nuclear-armed medium-range ballistic missiles. If handled poorly, this could completely undermine the image of a “peaceful nation” that Earth has been promoting since 2205.

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