RMS-019 Crouda

Model number: RMS-019; RMS-019S
Code name: Crouda; Crouda Commander Type
Unit type: mass production high efficiency mobile suit
Manufacturer(s): Space Revolutionary Army
Operator(s): Cloud Defense Service, others
First deployment: UC 216
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 18.0 meters
Armor materials: high-tensile titanium alloy ceramic composite
Powerplant: ultracompact fusion reactor, power output rated at 2045 kW
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; anti-beam coating
Fixed armaments: 2 x vulcan gun, fire-linked, mounted in head; 2 x beam cutter, emitters mounted on backpack binders; 2 x beam saber, stored in racks in shoulders, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armaments: heavy beam rifle, 30 round charge; 100mm machine gun, drum-fed, 72 rounds per drum

Technical and Historical Notes

Following the successful rollout of the RMS-014 Octave, the Space Revolutionary Army's premier all-environment mobile suit, the research and development staff at Cloud Nine developed an ambitious proposal for a dedicated space superiority mobile suit. By doing away with a form factor well-suited for combat in gravity, many hard limits could be done away with. The result of the program, the RMS-019 Crouda, has produced quite possibly one of the finest space combat mobile suits of the post-Interregnum.

The Crouda operates under a few simple principles, specifically that anything will move with enough thrust. Its enormously large and thick body is stippled with extremely powerful vernier engines that enable it to move its incredibly well-armored form with remarkable speed and maneuverability. Its composite armor plating is supplemented by an anti-beam laminate, allowing it to withstand repeated hits from mobile suit-portable beam rifles with little more than superficial damage, and it is for all intents and purposes immune to most ballistic weapons entirely. Of course, it is not nearly as maneuverable on the ground as the earlier and lighter Octave, and its prodigious weight prevents it from accomplishing more than brief jet-assisted jumps, essentially leaving its terrestrial combat roles to defensive positions. A commander's version, sprouting a pair of long-distance communications antennas but otherwise essentially identical, is issued to unit leaders.

With excellent speed and maneuverability, the Crouda is outfitted to utilize its mobility to great effect. A pair of very large beam cutters are mounted on the edges of its boost binders, allowing it to execute devastating "fly-by attacks" against both stationary targets (e.g. enemy warships) as well as mobile suits that cannot quickly evade. A high-output heavy beam rifle with a large charge capacity is furnished to provide immediate knockout power against other mobile suits, with twin vulcan guns for local defense rounding out the armament. Two beam sabers allow for more conventional melee attacks, and can be used for great effect in conjunction with the binder-mounted beam cutters.

With the end of the Space War in UC 224, the much-reduced Cloud Nine Defense Service that succeeded the Space Revolutionary Army utilizes the Crouda as its main service mobile suit - aside from its obvious qualities in combat, standardizing on just one or two types of mobile suits can greatly reduce overhead, allowing the fairly small military to maintain a healthy number of the potent units. A small number of Croudas have turned up in the hands of renegade operators over the years, and are greatly valued and sought after.

Lineart

100mm machine gun
Beam cutter
Beam rifle
Beam saber
Cockpit hatch
Rear view