Video Game / Shin Gihren's Greed

The latest in the Gihren's Greed series of grand strategy games based in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam franchise (and, sadly as of 2023, the last game in the series). Essentially a remake of the original game (hence the Shin in the title meaning "New"), it was released on the PSP in 2011, including among other things updated attack scenes, a new anime opening and characters from Gundam Unicorn as bonus characters.

As part of this "back to basics" approach, the bulk of the game revolves around the One Year War, omitting the Gryps War and the First Neo Zeon War. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, however, is included as a separate era. In addition, the tech tree reflects this approach: the maximum rank for tech development in the One Year War is 20, and only technology from that era is accessible (i.e. no more pumping funds into Mobile Suit development to unlock machines that ought to be decades in the future as was possible in Menace of Axis).

Another major change is the introduction of playable characters as opposed to playable factions. While both Gihren Zabi and General Revil are in the game as usual, several other Zeon and Federation characters are also playable as officers. Choosing either Gihren or Revil will begin a standard game where the player commands the faction as a whole, including factors such as diplomacy, PR and technological development. Playing as anyone else will begin a game where the player plays as the character as they do their part for the war effort. On the Federation side are Amuro Ray, Admiral Tianem and General Revil, while the Zeon side has Char Aznable, Dozle Zabi, Gihren Zabi and Gaia of the Black Tri-Stars. For the Char's Counterattack era, the playable characters are Char himself, Amuro and Quess Paraya. DLC introduced additional characters: Bright Noa, Tem Ray for the Federation, Kycillia Zabi, Garma Zabi, M'Quve and Ramba Ral for Zeon, and Gyunei Gass and Hathaway Noa for the CCA era.

Playing as these non-supreme commander characters provides some interesting differences: instead of having to worry about money and resources the player instead receives income they can then use to requisition units, recruit characters, or customise their machines. This income depends on the player character's rank, so naturally an admiral like Dozle or Tianem will receive more income per turn than pilots like Amuro Ray or Gaia. Any requisitioned units will appear at the player character's location, no matter where they are. Customising machines is also done on case-by-case compared to the Supreme Commander campaigns where any modifications only effect newly built machines. This encourages the player to modify their machines in order to improve their survivability, especially when playing as a frontline combat pilot like Amuro or Char.

Furthermore, instead of units being developed in groups of three or five like in previous games, each unit is a single machine. This means that a stack of six machines will actually have only six machines, compared to previous games where a full stack of five might mean the presence of fifteen machines. A size system was also implemented, where larger Mobile Suits take up more space on ships or in stacks. As an example, a squad might consist of six Zaku-II J-types, and since they're all S sized machines, you can make a stack of six. However the Byg Zam is an L sized machine, and so when put in a stack with other machines takes up 3 spaces meaning only three more S sized machines can join in. This means it is possible to send a Mobile Armour into battle accompanied by wingmen.

Like all the other games in the series, Shin Gihren's Greed is not available for purchase outside of Japan.

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This game presents examples of the following tropes:

• Ace Custom: Unlike previous games, Ace Custom machines like Char's Gelgoog or Dozle's Zaku can be developed without placing the pilot in a stock unit and then customising it. However, only one of these Ace Customs can exist at a time (e.g. if you want to build a new Char's Z'Gok, the old one needs to be scrapped first).
  • In addition, when playing as a pilot or commander, any unit can be made an ace custom by virtue of the customisation system ^note increased damage but more energy consumption, more armour/health but a reduction in agility, improved agility but reduced damage, improved energy levels to allow a unit to fight for longer . In Amuro's storyline, for example, Kai Shiden and Hayato Kobayashi both start with Ground Combat GMs. Hayato's could be customised with improved agility to take advantage of his Reflex stat, while Kai's with improved armour to take advantage of his Defense stat.
  • An unusual example is the Gouf Ramba Ral begins with in his story. In previous games, his Gouf is listed as a separate Ace Custom unit in the database despite in-universe simply being among the first of the MS-07B to roll off the assembly line (in comparison, M'Quve's custom Gouf with its distinctive gold trimming and Gyan-like head spike is more along the lines of a proper ace custom unit). In this game, it is more properly a completely ordinary Gouf that has been modified (specifically with improved armour, damage, agility and energy).
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Several machines from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory are included at the high end of the tech tree despite the primary focus being on the One Year War. Justified by how even in-universe, it's mentioned many of those machines like the GM Custom were at least conceived during the War, and others like the Dra-C use the same technology of the era. In other words, the gap between the 0083 machines and 0079 machines isn't as big as, say, a Mobile Suit from the Gryps War era.
  • In the Char's Counterattack era, successfully completing certain missions promptly unlocks several units from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn like the Geara Zulu or the ReZel, machines introduced some years after the events of CCA.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Garma Zabi must be played as one of these, because his objective is to defeat the White Base. If the player fails and Garma is either shot down or runs out of turns, then Garma dies as he does in canon. If he instead succeeds at defeating the White Base, he's promoted to General and the various Earth Attack Force units are placed under his command... though in-game you still only have command of units you personally requisitioned.
  • The various Ace Custom Zeon units finally have a chance to show how much better they are compared to the base models. In previous games, they were almost always at a disadvantage due to how regular units were normally in batches of three, while they were individual units [[example: in a civil war situation where Shin Matsunaga in his High Mobility Gelgoog is fighting regular High Mobility Gelgoogs, there's a good chance he'll actually lose because it's a three on one fight, and the health of his Gelgoog is not significantly higher than the regular models (the primary difference being improved agility and damage) ]]. In this game, since all units are individual units the difference in their capabilities is more pronounced.
• Adaptational Protagonist: While playing as Gihren and Revil is par for the course for the Gihren's Greed series and countless games allow a player to play as Amuro and/or Char, this game allows you to play as commanders who normally aren't focus of Gundam games such as Admiral Tianem.
• Adaptational Villainy: General Elran in the original anime was a traitor, but "merely" arranged to delay his forces during Operation Odessa so that M'Quve's defenders could focus on the other Federation armies instead. In Shin he outright switches sides... alongside a big chunk of his troops including a Big Tray land battleship. It should be noted that in the original anime, the moment his treachery was revealed the other soldiers on the Big Tray immediately put him under arrest.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • For balance reasons, many Mobile Suits aren’t as powerful as they are in canon. Both the Gelgoog and GM Sniper II are said to be equal to the Gundam in terms of their specs, for example, but since being able to pump out Gundam-level units at a fraction of the price would trivialise the game, they’re significantly inferior.
  • In canon, the GM is significantly superior to the Zaku II, but due to its reputation and image as the Federation’s answer to the Zaku, their stats are comparable. Even the beam spray gun, which is supposed to have superior penetration power even compared to the Gundam’s beam rifle at close range, is only slightly stronger than the Zaku’s machine gun.
  • The Guncannon’s heavy armour canonically makes it fairly capable at close combat, able to deliver heavy punches and kicks. In the game, it has no melee attacks at all, meaning that it’s completely helpless at melee range. It also means Hayato’s fairly high melee stat is basically wasted.
  • The Earth Federation’s industrial capacity, inadvertently caused by the changes to how units work. In previous games, units were built in batches of 3 or 5 so in a single turn the EFF HQ at Jaburo could manufacture 40 Type 61 tanks in a single turn. Since here the units are singles, that means that Jaburo, capable of building, arming and manning entire fleets within a short amount of time... can only build a measly 8 tanks per turn.
• Adapted Out:
  • Like in the previous game, several characters who aren't part of an OVA or anime series aren't included in the game. For example, Lydo Wolf aka the Dancing Black Death isn't present, nor is Zeon ace pilot Thomas Kurtz (part of the same Chimera unit as Johnny Ridden), meaning their Ace Custom units like Wolf's GM Cannon, Mass-Production Guncannon and GM Sniper II as well as Kurtz's Gelgoog Cannon are likewise not included. In addition, some characters who were Bridge Bunnies in their own games or series like Maureen from Blue Destiny and Anita of the White Dingoes are also omitted.
  • Oddly enough, the White Dingoes don't get their Ace Custom machines from their game series. This is especially odd because the White Dingoes have a custom paintjob that sets their GM, Mass-Production Guncannon and GM Sniper II machines apart from the basic models.
  • Some units like the GM Sniper III and High Mobility GM are likewise omitted despite being closely related to machines already in-game (the GM Sniper II and the GM Commander Type respectively). This could be because they're closely tied to the Titans, who have yet to form during Shin's time frame.
• Airborne Artillery
  • Zigzagged with the Apsalas-II and III. As Mobile Armours, they can use their beam cannon well out of enemy range (for comparison, their beam cannons have a range of 5 hexes while most artillery or long range Mobile Suits tend to have max range of 2 or 3 hexes). However, their beam cannons are only MAP attacks and so they're completely helpless if an enemy (even as simple as the Saberfish aerospace fighter, a completely obsolete piece of hardware) manages to get close.
  • The Adzam's beam cannons have a range of 3, allowing it to attack enemies with impunity. However, it's fairly slow due to its function as an aerial artillery unit, and so vulnerable if enemies manage to get close. Unlike the Apsalas above, however, the Adzam is also armed with machine guns for close quarters defense in addition to the beam cannons.
• All in the Manual: The Original Generation units are described under the Mechanics list on the main menu. This is the only place to learn that, for example, the Gyan Krieger is meant for fast assaults (not unlike the Kampher).
• Alpha Strike: Some characters have skills that allows them to make guaranteed use of all the weapons on their assigned machine (as opposed to simply having a chance of using all the weapons). These characters naturally are at their best when assigned to a Mobile Suit with plenty of attack options, like the Kampher.
  • Part of what makes Amuro The Ace is the fact that his skills combined allow him to use all the weapons on his assigned machine and increases the number of attacks done. This means that with a Mobile Suit equipped with loads of weapons, he lays down an unrelenting barrage of fire. This ironically means that when using the Support Team units like the Unicorn or the Double Zeta, Amuro gets a lot more use from the ZZ because it's armed to the teeth (missile pods, head vulcans, double beam rifle, mega beam saber) compared to the Unicorn only being armed with the Beam Magnum, head vulcans and beam saber.
• Alternative Calendar: The Universal Century, naturally.
• Alternate History: Since most playable characters die in canon, and their canon deaths lead to a Game Over, this game is focused on this trope as they have to survive their canon deaths. Dozle's scenario begins at the Battle of Solomon where he's supposed to die, for example.
  • Unusually, playing as Amuro or Bright makes it clear that their scenarios are one of these. Instead of following the canon story as you might expect, they instead join the Federation military and deployed as regular soldiers. Amuro in particular loses the Gundam and instead pilots a much weaker Ground Combat Gundam (thought nothing is stopping the player from requisitioning the Gundam once they have enough points/ income). Bright meanwhile still commands the White Base and has the various members (i.e. Amuro, Kai, Hayato, Sayla, Frau Bow, Mirai, Job John) under his command, but now begins at the EFF Headquarters at Jaburo.
  • In the Char's Counterattack era, Char's faction engages in hostility with the Earth Federation's forces a lot sooner, making use of older Mobile Suits formerly fielded by Axis Zeon from Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ before the Geara Doga is completed and becomes their main combat unit.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Averted; both the Federation and Zeon can be played as Lawful or Chaotic. Yes, this means that Gihren Zabi can be played as a noble leader of his people, though this is much more difficult for the Principality to do than it is for the Federation. Overall, the game tries to encourage behavior in line with your faction's canonical ethics, but doesn't hold you to them.
• Always Lawful Good: Averted. See above.
• Anyone Can Die: Averted when playing as the various playable characters. When playing as Ramba Ral, for example, Acos and Cozun aren't killed when shot down by the White Base Mobile Suits. Played straight when playing as Gihren or Revil, as decisions made can result in various characters being killed as in canon.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit:
  • The game gives all factions a hard 300 unit headcount, after which newly constructed units simply have their construction time labelled 0 and are only completed once another unit is scrapped or destroyed. This is 300 units total, including Mobile Suits, Mobile Armours, tanks, air units, warships and space units. This can lead to some frustration when playing as officers or commanders when requisitioned units can't arrive because the cap has been reached, but a big chunk of those forces are useless units simply wasting away in bases far from the action (like Zeon building dozens of Rick Doms even after the battlefield has shifted to Earth's surface.
  • Several units have seemingly arbitrary caps, even going against known canon at some points. For example, canonically there were 58 GM Cannons and 20 Ground Combat Gundams built during the One Year War. In the game, the maximum number is 50 GM Cannons and 15 Ground Combat Gundams.
  • Some limits can be broken: while only one RX-78-2 Gundam can be built, a maximum of 8 Full Armour Gundams can be constructed. Because the Full Armour Gundam is basically the RX-78-2 with additional amour equipped, it's possible to purge the armour parts to gain another RX-78-2. It's then possible to construct another Full Armour Gundam. Rinse and repeat, and it's theoretically possible to equip every named pilot with their own RX-78-2.
• Artificial Stupidity: In order to take a stronghold, the main base must be taken and all enemy units destroyed. Because of this, the AI generally tries to drive straight for the main base... regardless of how many friendly units it controls and how many enemies are present. It isn't unusual to be playing as someone like Amuro Ray or Gaia of the Black Tri-Stars and get frustrated by how friendly units just keep advancing despite virtually no chance of victory since they bypass strongpoints, resulting in the advance eventually grinding to a halt because they run out of energy.
• Attack Drones: The Funnels and Bits utilised by the various Newtype-use machines like the Elmeth from the One Year War era and the Sazabi and Alpha Azieru from the Char's Counterattack era.
• Awesome, yet Impractical: As powerful as the Super Prototype units are in their respective eras, just how horrendously expensive they were is reflected in their in-game costs. Sure, you could try to manufacture as many Gundam-types as your budget can afford, but you may want to wait for the humble GM Mooks and their variants instead; less flashy, sure, but far more practical.
  • While the Federation has far more resources than Zeon, trying to mass-produce a fleet of extremely expensive state-of-the-art Pegasus carriers and RX-78 Gundams will quickly eat through those reserves. Building modified Salamis and Magellan warships and the much cheaper GMs? Far more cost effective.
• Badass Crew: Some characters have a skill that makes them more effective when in the same stack as their teammates, reflecting this. Among such characters are the Cyclops Team, the 08th MS Team and the White Dingoes.
• Back from the Brink: Kycillia and Dozle Zabi's storylines have this happen for Zeon, as their stories take place after the Federation has Zeon on the ropes (Kycillia's in particular beginning just before the final battle at A Baoa Qu takes place).
  • Thanks to the system where strongholds can still produce units even when invaded, it's entirely possible for enough defending units to be created to actually outnumber the attackers given enough time. This is especially possible in cases where invaders lack units to take the main base (e.g. due to ferocious fighting only Balls, which cannot take strongpoints, are left from an attacking Federation force).
• Bad Boss: As could be expected, M'Quve. When playing as Gaia of the Black Tri-Stars, he's tasked by M'Quve with defeating the "Trojan Horse" and its Mobile Suits. Upon succeeding, M'Quve then makes the perfectly understandable request to join in the defense of Odessa, as Operation Odessa is in full swing. However, at one point his adjutant Uragang informs Gaia of M'Quve's intention to launch a nuclear missile at the thickest concentration of Federation forces... which depending on how the battle is going might be right where Gaia, Ortega and Mash are fighting. M'Quve simply instructs Gaia to "not get caught in the explosion".
• Battle Couple: Some female characters have a passive skill that activates if they're in a stack with their love interest. This has the effect of boosting the stats of both.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Averting the hell out of this trope is pretty much the entire point of the Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Greed games. Killing named characters before or after the point they were supposed to die in the original series can change the way the entire story progresses, creating any number of Alternate Histories of the Universal Century timeline.
  • Up to and including the survival of Gihren Zabi himself.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence:
  • Operation Odessa. Barring characters whose storylines begin after Operation Odessa (i.e. Dozle and Admiral Tianem), sooner or later there will be a call to arms that the Federation is making a move for Odessa, with a direct warning to prepare for the battle. Federal characters will explicitly be given 8 turns to prepare to advance, while Zeon characters are simply warned that an attack is coming and to be ready.
  • The advance on Solomon is one for a Federation character, as a Federal Forces fleet will spawn and begin advancing on Solomon, while almost all forces built up at Luna II will likewise make their way there. Depending on how the game is progressing, there's a good chance that Zeon will deploy a massive fleet of their own, with forces generally clashing at Side 4, halfway between Solomon and Luna II.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When playing as Ramba Ral, M'Quve is nothing but helpful, with his adjutant Uragang informing Ral of the White Base's location and keeping him posted of its movements. When Ral's forces are on the brink, Dozle Zabi promises a squad of new Dom suits to aid him, but a short time later Uragang contacts Ral to regretfully inform him that the transport ship carrying the Doms was lost when it was ambushed by Federation forces. Of course, people who know the canon are aware M'Quve deliberately kept the Doms from Ral...
• Bittersweet Ending: Many character endings can count as this, especially if you don't achieve the Golden Ending. For example, Amuro Ray's normal end mentions that he's placed under house arrest as he was in canon, despite him being acknowledged as a war hero who led the Federation to victory.
• Boring, but Practical: Most mass-production, or even limited mass-production MS fall under this. It might be tempting to manufacture as many Super Prototypes as possible, but that isn't always cost-effective. A Gundam takes several turns to produce compared to a single turn for a GM, and Amuro in a GM is still Amuro Ray. In fact, in this game there's a high chance that the units a player might encounter the most will be the Gundam Marine Type and the various aquatic Zeon Mobile Suits (especially the Z'Gok) simply due to how cost effective they are ^note  The Gundam Marine Type is much more powerful than the Aqua GM and much more effective, to the point that when given a choice between building a Gundam Marine Type or nothing at all, the computer will opt to build nothing at all, even if the Aqua GM is available.
  • As a caveat to the above, however, all units have a limit that represents just how much of their ability a skilled pilot can extract from the machine, and mass-production models normally have a fairly low one (e.g. 130% for a GM compared to 180% for the Gundam), meaning that sooner or later, those skilled pilots need to be given more powerful and/or unique machines in order to keep up.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: If things are going particularly badly for either side, older and obsolete machines like Oggs, Balls, Saberfish and so on start appearing alongside more cutting edge machines, simply because they're cheap enough that they can at least slow an enemy advance for a little bit.
  • The Zaku Snipers are explicitly an example of this, as they've been refurbished in an attempt to make the Zaku I a usable combat unit again.
• But Thou Must!: When playing as Gihren, Dozle will contact him to report word that the Federation's Operation V project has been discovered in Side 7, and that he wants to send Red Comet Char Aznable to investigate. However, if the player chooses not to send Char, Dozle will ask Gihren to reconsider, over and over again until the player agrees.
• Butt-Monkey: As is tradition, Johnny Ridden. In this game, his supranym has been retconned into "Red Lightning" as opposed to "Crimson Lighting", in order to justify people getting him confused with Char or (in the case of Shin Matsunaga) never hearing of him at all. Ironically enough, Char recognises him instantly.
• The Chain of Command: Utilised when playing as non-supreme commander characters. Playable characters can recruit other characters into their unit and can also issue orders to allied forces by using Requisition Points (which recover every turn). However, you cannot issue commands to or recruit characters with a higher rank. For example, Amuro Ray starts out as a senior chief petty officer, and so can't recruit Bright Noa or South Burning who are lieutenants. However, if Amuro manages to reach a higher rank such as major, he can then recruit them into his unit.
  • Also utilised in some stories, as the playable characters may be so low ranking that the higher commanders won't directly deal with them. For example, many of Ramba Ral's story events will be delivered by written orders from Dozle, rather than have Dozle contact him directly ^note  This is partially to hide how there are no new voice lines for Dozle, since all his voiced lines come from before the passing of Daisuke Gōri . High commanders might directly contact playable characters after certain events (e.g. when playing as Gaia, Kycillia directly contacts him to offer her personal congratulations for the successful defense of Odessa).
  • In Admiral Tianem's story, after General Revil is killed by the Solar Ray he immediately assumes command of the remnants of Revil's First Fleet as despite being in command of the Second Fleet he's also the highest ranking officer after Revil himself. He's shortly after formally appointed Revil's successor as supreme commander.
• Can't Catch Up: Characters gain levels by engaging in combat and surviving, so if you have a team (e.g. the Cyclops team made up of Steiner, Andy, Misha and Garcia) and one member finds themselves getting shot down a lot, they can fall behind levelwise. This also means that characters who are placed in warships often find themselves with few opportunities to gain experience points due to how warships ought to be kept far from the frontlines. This can be solved by putting them in a frontline combat unit, or making use of units with MAP attacks to help drive up their XP.
  • In terms of technology, the Federation's biggest weakness is that Zeon's endgame units like the various Gelgoog or Gyan variants are far more powerful than their GM opponents, with some of them even being a match for Gundam-type machines.
• The Cavalry: In Dozle’s story, M’Quve arrives with a reinforcement fleet during the Battle for Solomon. In canon, the fleet was only partway to Solomon when they learned it had fallen (though they were close enough to pick up survivors).
• Cavalry Betrayal: In Dozle and Kycillia’s stories, Gihren calls for reinforcements to A Baoa Qu once Zeon confirms that’s where Revil’s fleet is heading. Once there, however, both can then reveal that they know he deliberately fired the Solar Ray while their father Sovereign Degwin was in the line of fire, and launch a coup.
• Civil War: It's Gundam, so this can come up especially on the Zeon side. While there is a Karma Meter, for some characters a civil war breaking out is part of their story (e.g. when playing as Dozle, upon learning Gihren assassinated Sovereign Degwin he can either remain loyal to Gihren or immediately break away to bring his older brother to justice).
• Colony Drop: In the One Year War section, this is brought up as part of the backstory as is normal.
  • When playing as Gihren, colony drops are suggested as strategies to help make the initial Earth invasion drops easier, with the targets being Australia, North America, North Asia, South Asia and Africa where Federation strongholds are located. These cost a lot of resources and take time to set up, and additionally result in a huge hit to domestic and diplomatic approval ratings. In addition, once all of the Federation's strongholds on Earth are taken, it's pointed out that Jaburo's anti-air defenses are so robust that any airborne invasion would be extremely costly if not fail outright, resulting in Gihren ordering a second Operation British to drop a colony on Jaburo. Unlike the first Operation British, this one actually hits its target and leaves Jaburo open to direct invasion.
  • Naturally, the Char's Counterattack portion involves Char's attempt to drop Axis on Earth.
• Cool Old Guy: Several on the Federal and Zeon sides, such as Paolo Cassius (original captain of the White Base), Gadem (who tried to fight the Gundam with a Zaku I), Ramba Ral and General Revil.
• Crippling Overspecialisation: A major problem with most of Zeon's One Year War units. The Zaku II C-type (which they start out with) can be refined into the Zaku II F or the Zaku II J. The F-type works best in space, but can barely function on Earth. Meanwhile, the J-type is specialised for ground combat, but cannot be deployed in space. Worse, unlike previous games there's no option to modify the F-types into J-types and vice versa.
  • Several of Zeon's latter One Year War units still have this problem. The Goufs and Doms can only operate on Earth, while the High-Mobility Zakus are space-use only. In addition, as Zeon's ultimate goal is to take the Earth Federation military HQ at Jaburo, that means that many of their late game units like the High Mobility Gelgoog are at a disadvantage due to being designed for space combat rather than terrestrial warfare, while some units like the Gelgoog Jaeger are completely unusable.
  • Transport aircraft like the Medea and Fat Uncle can carry lots of MS and move quickly in the atmosphere, but they have virtually no use as combat units and are totally unusable once the main battlefields move to space.
  • Virtually all aquatic MS and units (e.g. submarines) are totally useless to the Earth Federaion once most battles shift to space.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: What makes the 0093 portion of the game particularly difficult is that regular units like the Jegans and Geara Dogas are extremely unlikely to even touch the likes of Char or Amuro. Even if the player dispatches several full stacks, Char and Amuro's Mobile Suits have MAP attacks that are pretty much guaranteed to wipe them all out in a single attack. Worse, Char and Amuro are the final bosses of the various storylines, meaning you must defeat them. And the best part? They might even spawn in the more powerful Nightingale or Hi-Nu Gundam instead!
• Dance Battler: The GM Light Armour has this as its primary advantage, as its armour is stripped down to improve agility and speed.
  • Any pilot with a high Reflex stat in a machine with a high mobility stat can become one of these.
• Defector from Decadence: In Dozle's story, Kycillia approaches him with information that Gihren assassinated their father Sovereign Degwin and asks him to declare himself leader in Gihren's stead. Should Dozle agree, virtually all of Zeon flocks to his banner barring a few die-hard Gihren loyalists like Aquille Delaz and Anavel Gato.
  • In Char's 0093 storyline, his Golden Ending involves convincing Amuro that the Federation really doesn't deserve his loyalty due to how corrupt it is.
• Drop Pod: The HLV (Heavy Landing Vehicle) acts as this, most prominently during the Earth Drop Operations that take place at the beginning of the Gihren/ Zeon campaign. The Earth Federation can build them as well, but normally have little reason to do so as they already have several strongholds available at the beginning of the Revil/ EFF campaign (specifically Madras, Torrington, Belfast and Jaburo).
• Drop Ship: A major advantage the Federation has over Zeon is that the Federation has three warship classes that can act as this (the Pegasus class, the Grey Phantom class and the Albion class) while Zeon has two (the Zanzibar and Zanzibar Kai class ships). All other warships are restricted to the environment they were designed for (e.g. the Musai and Salamis class ships are space only with no ability to deploy on Earth).
• Easy Logistics: Averted.
  • In battle, not maintaining a steady supply chain can easily lead to an advance grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel and ammunition.
  • This is why the Zeon colony drop operations must succeed in taking at least one supply depot as soon as possible: the HLVs used to enter Earth's atmosphere just aren't designed to resupply your MS.
• Emergency Trainee Battle Deployment: When playing as supreme commanders, as the war drags on a suggestion is made to perform one of these, resulting in adding "rookie" characters like Kou Uraki and Bernard Wiseman to the pilot pools.
• Enemy Mine: When playing as Char during the Char's Counterattack era, his Golden Ending involves convincing Amuro to side with him against the corrupt Federation government.
• Enemy Civil War: Averted, as any civil wars that can break out are normally done by the player.
• Epic Fail: In General Revil's storyline, maintaining a high level of Intelligence allows Federation Intelligence to identify Zeon's new weapon the Solar Ray. This also allows them to send an urgent warning to the Federation fleet, allowing General Revil enough time to order evasive maneuvers. Not only does this result in the Solar Ray doing almost no damage while also burning itself out as in canon, but Revil even has enough time to warn Sovereign Degwin of the incoming shot and so Degwin survives as well. In other words, all of Gihren's objectives in firing the Solar Ray before it was ready (i.e. killing his father while also damaging the Federation fleet) are complete failures.
• Everyone Has Standards: If the "M'Quve launches nukes during the defense of Odessa" event occurs, the Zeon player has the option of imprisoning him for breaking the Antarctic Treaty (which forbids use of weapons of mass destruction like poison gas and nuclear weapons). Should the player decline to do so, then there is generally a huge drop in law and order, as this is a blatant disregarding of the agreed upon rules of war.
• Evil Costume Switch: Should Federation General Elran successfully switch sides (e.g. in Gaia's story, where the Tri-Stars defeating the Gundam and the White Base prevent his treachery from being discovered), he'll suddenly be wearing a Zeon uniform even as battle rages around him.
• A Father to His Men:
  • Ramba Ral. In his story, it's repeatedly brought up that he only takes risky missions because he knows that's the fastest way to get promoted and give him the authority to protect his subordinates from being used as cannon fodder.
  • In Admiral Tianem's story, when General Revil contacts him directly to offer his congratulations in taking Solomon Tianem brushes aside the praise and credits the men under his command with the victory. Revil wryly observes he fully expected such a response from Tianem. Tianem also makes it a point after each major victory to issue congratulations and thanks to his troops, crediting them and their fallen comrades with the Federation's success.
  • Zigzagged with Dozle Zabi. He has faith in his men, but in Ramba Ral's story when Ral is instructed to turn over the state-of-the-art Zanzibar to Zeon's Earth forces in exchange for an older Gallop-class land battleship, Ral's lover Hamon questions why Dozle would take away such a useful tool (the Zanzibar being roughly equivalent to the Federation's White Base, the ship Ral's unit is pursuing). Ral wryly notes that the Earth forces probably need it more, and he's certain Dozle thought that "Ramba Ral can pull this mission off, even without the Zanzibar". As Ral is the playable character, he does succeed, but it is a very, very close thing.
• Fix Fic: Even more so than usual when playing as characters who would die in canon such as Gaia or Ranba Ral.
• Four-Star Badass:
  • Played with. Generally pilot characters like Amuro, Char and so on only go up so high the military totem pole (at max level, for example, Amuro is still outranked by people like Kojima or Synapse).
• Fragile Flyer:
  • Gouf Flight Types are quite fragile in the air. In fact, in a clash between Gouf Flight Types and dedicated air-to-air combat aircraft like Core Booster IIs, there's a reasonably good chance it will end in a Mutual Kill.
  • Many land-based Mobile Suits have the ability "can ride sub-flight systems", which allows them to ride on certain vehicles like the Dodai bomber or Base Jabber to grant them flight capabilities on Earth. This is vital, as otherwise they have no other way to cross bodies of water like lakes or oceans (besides boarding a mothership). However, they are noticeably more fragile than when they're on the ground, with the implication that the enemy is simply shooting down the sled and letting gravity do the rest. This is true even of Ace Custom Mobile Suits.
  • During the One Year War era, when the majority of the fighting is concentrated on Earth, both sides have to choose whether to move their forces using transport aircraft (the Medea and its upgrade the Medea Kai for the Earth Federation, the Fat Uncle and Gaw Attack Carrier for the Principality of Zeon) or land battleships (the Big Tray for the Federals or the Dobday for Zeon). The transport aircraft naturally have far more range, but are also much more vulnerable to concentrated enemy fire. The Federals have an advantage in this area, since they have a variety of aircraft including dedicated air-to-air combat aircraft that can swarm and bring down even a Gaw Attack Carrier by sheer weight of numbers.
• Frontline General: Any highly ranked officer can serve on the front lines, no matter how much they whine or complain when forced into battle. Played straight with some characters like Dozle and Garma Zabi (who both have customised Zakus), but most high-ranking officers will likely be assigned to warships that often have a support role and so generally don't get involved with close quarters combat.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • When playing as high-ranking commanders like Dozle, Admiral Tianem or M'Quve, in theory this means they have command over their respective bases (Solomon, Luna II and Odessa respectively) and should therefore be able to do things like improve the base defenses or choose what Mobile Suits or ships are produced there. In actual gameplay, they basically play the same as officer characters like Amuro, Char or Ranba Ral, only able to requisition units that appear wherever they happen to be (e.g. instead of Dozle being able to have a squad of Rick Doms constructed at Solomon, if he happens to be fighting at Side 4 the Rick Doms will automatically appear there). While this can be very handy in reinforcing an advance, it can be quite bad if an enemy force is advancing on a stronghold and the player can't order defenders to be built before the attackers arrive.
  • In theory, a low-ranking character should have far fewer units under their command than a high-ranking one. As a Sergeant, for example, Amuro should only be able to command a small team (he actually begins leading a team made up of himself, Kai and Hayato). In practice, the only unit limit for a character is how much income they have available to requisition units, and whether the faction's unit limit (300 units total) has been reached. This means that it's entirely possible for Amuro, at the rank of Sergeant, to command warships with crews of hundreds (as a warship only counts as one "unit") and practically the entire Earth Federation military barring units being piloted by characters higher ranking than him.
• General Failure: Playing as Gihren and doing very well can make General Revil come off as this. Not only was it his "Zeon is exhausted!" speech that caused the war to continue despite the Federation considering surrender, but depending on how well you play both Operation Odessa and the assault on Solomon can result in complete failure that do nothing but deplete Federation resources further.
• Glass Cannon:
  • The GM Light Armour is a GM with most of the armour removed to improve its speed, reaction time and agility. It's also equipped with a powerful beam gun (as opposed to the GM's beam spray gun). However, the trade-off is how fragile it is.
  • Some Mobile Armours like the Ze'Gok or the Apsalas II and III can come off as this, as while they have high speed, range and firepower, they can go down fairly easily to dedicated anti-air or air-to-air attack.
• Golden Ending: The max alignment ending is generally seen as the Golden Ending for the faction that one plays as.
• Guide Dang It!: Can sometimes happen to a player who isn't well-versed in the Gundam series. Oh, a scientist has developed a new Mobile Armour that could attack Jaburo? Sure, let's approve it. What? It's Ginias Sakhalin? Oh dear....
• Guy in Back: Because of limitations of the assignment system, this is completely averted. Only one named character can be assigned to a unit, whether that unit be a single-seated fighter plane or a massive warship. While this makes sense in the case of, say, Eledor from 08th MS Team being alone in a hovertruck, it much weirder to have Bright, Mirai, Frau and Job John all in charge of individual warships when the three latter characters were Bridge Bunnies under Bright's command.
  • Zigzagged somewhat with the sub-flight system (SFS), where a Mobile Suit can ride on certain vehicles like the Dodai bomber or the G-Fighter. As the Dodai and the G-Fighter can be assigned named pilots, this basically means that you can have two named characters working together (e.g. Amuro in the Gundam riding Sayla in the G-Fighter). In such cases, it's recommended to have a pilot with high reflex in the SFS unit and a pilot with high shooting in the riding unit.
• Hero of Another Story: Invoked when special operations are offered. Since these operations are basically the storyline of various Universal Century works, the involved characters are removed from player control and the player may get reports on what they get up to (e.g. if a Federation player allows the story events of the 08th MS Team proceed, eventually there will be a report that the prototype MA Apsaras has been destroyed but team leader Shiro Amada is missing in action). Shin goes further than other games in the series in that in many cases, the supreme commanders (Gihren and Revil respectively) don't even speak to the protagonists of those other stories.
• Humongous Mecha: As a Gundam game, this is to be expected.
• In Name Only: Some MS designated Gundams are clearly inferior to the original RX-78-2. The stats of the Ground Combat Gundam, for example, are only slightly better than the Ground Combat GMs (in-story, the Ground Combat Gundams are basically improved Ground Combat GMs with Gundam-style heads). Likewise, the Aqua Gundam is basically an improved Aqua GM with a Gundam-style head.
  • Some variant Gundams do exist, however. The Gundam Pixie is much weaker than the RX-78-2 and only armed with machine guns and beam daggers (as opposed to the Gundam's beam rifle and beam sabers), but that's because the Pixie was designed as a simplified model for limited mass-production. The Pixie is still superior to most GM variants of the One Year War.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • In theory, any story where the White Base is shot down before reaching Jaburo should result in the Federation's Mobile Suit progress getting set back by a huge amount (since it was Amuro's combat data that helped Federation pilots quickly develop their skills). Not only does this not happen even in scenarios that take place when White Base first arrives on Earth like Garma or Ranba Ral's, but on the harder levels more advanced Mobile Suits can appear before the White Base even makes it to Jaburo.
• Instant-Win Condition: Averted. Unlike previous games where victory would be instantly granted if all strongholds were taken, in Shin the main base must be taken and all enemies (including any base defenses) must be destroyed. Played straight when it comes to the opposing faction's main headquarters: taking the main stronghold there automatically wins the campaign.
• Jack of All Stats: The biggest advantage the Federation has over Zeon in terms of their mobile suits. The GM isn't as powerful as the Dom or the Gelgoog, but they're much cheaper and can fight in any terrain except the water. It's entirely conceivable for the Federation to use GMs to take a Zeon base on Earth and immediately send them up to space to join a battle there, while Zeon would have to make one Dom to for combat on Earth and a Rick Dom to fight in space, resulting in more of a drain on resources . Unfortunately, the problem comes when the GM has to fight more specialised machines like the Rick Dom in their home ground of space, where they have the advantage.
• Jousting Lance: While the original carried a Royal Rapier-style beam sword, most of the Gyan variations from this series wield beam lances supplemented by shields packed with weapons.
• Karma Meter: The alignment system, reflecting domestic and diplomatic support.
• Lensman Arms Race: There will almost certainly come a point where a player's best pilot in the best available MS will be hard-pressed by the enemy's grunt suits. This is especially true of when a new Mobile Suit appears in increasing numbers. This encourages players to always keep researching new tech so that they don't get outmatched by newer machines. However, it is then subverted once both sides achieve maximum tech, because when that happens the war now becomes an outright numbers game.
• The Magnificent: General Revil is referred to in narration many times as "the hero Revil". In Tianem's ending he's likewise referred to as "the hero Tianem" for successfully leading the Federation to a complete victory and also spearheading reforms that lead to a long period of peace.
• Majorly Awesome: Several characters can reach this rank, while some others start as majors and can get promoted higher up.
• Mighty Glacier: The Byg Zam in particular is this. Thanks to its plentiful HP, the anti-beam I-Field and multiple weapons, it's probably the most powerful Mobile Armour of the One Year War era. Unfortunately, the Byg Zam also has a very low movement range, meaning that it's most useful when placed as a final line of defense at a stronghold like Odessa or Peking. When trying to use it offensively, it will take a long, long time to arrive on the field, something aggravated by the fact that almost no ships or transports can carry it.
• Modern Major General: Players can invoke this. For example, Ginias Sahalin is a master engineer, but he can be put in command of a Dobday land battleship.
  • Tem Ray's storyline in particular makes him one of these. Unlike in canon, he personally pilots one of the Gundam prototypes to repel Zeon's incursion (and is surprised to learn that his son Amuro piloted another Gundam and destroyed 2 Zakus), and after successfully returning to Earth is promoted from Lieutenant to Commander before being tasked with field testing new units while continuing research and development. He himself points out to General Revil that he's not exactly a military man, but Revil sways him by noting that he'd be able to personally oversee the effectiveness of any new units on the battlefield, speeding up research and development.
  • In M'Quve's storyline, after successfully repelling Operation Odessa, he brushes aside his subordinate Uragang's congratulations by noting that while he was indeed military commander of the Odessa facilities, that wasn't actually his area of expertise. Instead, his real skill is in logistics.
• Mythology Gag: A lot for the Universal Century, by the very nature of the series. This game in particular has a few that relies on some knowledge of the Universal Century as a whole.
  • Some gags come in the form of dialogue, such as Captain Paolo Cassius getting a variation of his "It's Char, the Red Comet! Run!" line for several other Zeon aces (e.g. "It's Shin Matsunaga, the White Wolf! Run!", "It's Ramba Ral, the Blue Nova! Run!" and so on). Likewise, Ramba Ral gets variations of his "This is no Zaku, boy! No Zaku!" when piloting a Dom ("This is not a Gouf! Not a Gouf!") or a Gelgoog/Gyan ("This is not a Dom! Not a Dom!").
  • While many modern games give Yuu Kajima a voice, this game makes him The Voiceless with characters simply treating him as The Stoic. This is basically how he was treated in his original games, where as a player avatar he never spoke.
  • In Dozle's storyline, should he declared himself Zeon's new leader in place of Gihren virtually all named and surviving characters will join him, except for Killing from Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, the 803rd Test Unit from Igloo and Aguille Delaz and his Delaz Fleet members like Anavel Gato and Carius. While both Killing and Delaz were noted to be Gihren fanatics, the 803rd Test Unit specialises in superweapons and experimental tech, something Gihren began putting resources into as the war went on.
  • In Tem Ray's storyline, he's assigned several teams of characters as time goes by. First he's assigned Yuu Kajima and his team (aka the "Guinea Pig" team), then the White Dingoes, then the White Base members, and finally Christina Mackenzie, Kou Uraki and Chuck Keith. An odd collection, until one recalls that in their various series all the aforementioned characters were involved in testing experimental tech (e.g. the White Dingoes were given some of the first model GM Cannons and later GM Snipers to field test, Chris was the Gundam Alex's test pilot), exactly the kind of pilots Tem Ray would find useful.
  • In Gaia's storyline, he begins at Odessa with orders to repel the White Base. When the battle begins, a Medea is right next to the White Base. Who is it? Why Matilda Ajan, who in canon would interfere with the Black Tri-Stars' attack and be killed in action as a result. In Gaia's story, however, the Tri-Stars successfully bring down the White Base, ironically sparing her life.
• The Neidermeyer: Several characters, naturally. However, players have the option of simply not using them, thus ensuring they never get a chance to be promoted.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted, as both Federation and Zeon characters are playable.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted. While certain Mobile Suits and Mobile Armours are discontinued in the canon for various reasons (e.g. the Byg Zam uses up energy quickly, numerous Super Prototype machines are prohibitively expensive to mass-produce), there's nothing preventing the player from rebuilding destroyed even one-of-a-kind units like the Gundam or the Gundam Alex.
  • Unusually, this can also be done with Ace Custom units like Char's Zaku, Z'Gok and Gelgoog. The ace custom units are tied to the tech tree this time, so once the Gelgoog Commander-type has been researched it also becomes possible to research Char, Gato and Ranba Ral's Gelgoogs, even if, say, Ral is already dead.
  • Furthermore, one of the customisation options allows the player to make more than one of even the unique one-of-a-kind machines at the cost of a huge hit to their stats. As an example, using this option 5 times allows the player to have a total of 6 RX-78-2 Gundams... but they'll be only a small fraction of the power of the original.
  • Some story events play with this. Allowing the events of The Blue Destiny to play out results in Yuu Kajima being MIA, but allows the Federation to build Blue Destiny Units 1, 2 and 3. Canonically, the plans for the EXAM System and all three machines were lost during the events of the game, meaning no others could be built.
• Nonstandard Game Over: Many special endings occur due to making the wrong decision in the event trees. Unusually, for some characters following the canon route counts as this (e.g. in Bright or Amuro's stories if they fail to reach Earth's atmosphere within a time limit, the canon story then plays out as a game over).
• Number Two: Admiral Tianem's storyline paints him as this for General Revil, to the point that when Revil is killed by the Solar Ray Tianem immediately assumes command.
• Oddball in the Series: Shin Gihren's Greed for the PSP had a DLC system along with a system that focuses specifically on the storyline of various pilots.
• Old Soldier: Several. Paolo Cassius from the Federation and Gadem from Zeon are examples.
• Original Generation: The series features quite a few original mobile suits; for example, if you choose to mass produce the Gyan instead of the Gelgoog, it can be developed into new model that parallel the Gelgoog's development from canon, including the Gyan Marine and Krieger (analogous to the Gelgoog Marine and Jaeger respectively). This also includes Ace Custom versions for pilots like Char and Gato.
  • The GM Commander custom (easily identifiable due to the fact it has two beam sabers instead of one like the regular GMs) is another example of a unit introduced by the series.
  • Shin in particular introduces the Zaku Custom S, a commander-type version of the Zaku Sniper seen in Gundam Unicorn.
• Overshadowed by Awesome:
  • Due to the large cast, it's inevitable that some characters are just markedly superior to others. As an example, Bernie at maximum level will likely only be as good as Char at his lowest level. Similarly, Sayla Mass, Kai Shiden and Hayato Kobayashi at max level are highly capable pilots, but they're simply outclassed by Amuro who is The Ace of aces.
  • Several otherwise perfectly capable Mobile Suits can get overshadowed by more powerful or useful machines. For example, the Zaku II Kai is the best Zaku variant in the game, but by the time it is developed the player will most likely be relying on the Doms for terrestrial combat or the Gyans and/ or Gelgoogs in space.
• Rank Up:
  • When playing as a Supreme Commander, characters can get promoted based on their successes on the battlefield, but rank otherwise doesn't have much of an effect except for leadership bonuses gained at the higher ranks (normally things like improving allied dodge and hit rates).
  • When playing as other characters, getting promoted becomes more important because you can only issue orders to or recruit characters of a lower rank than you (e.g. when playing as Bright, it's possible to immediately recruit Monsha, Adel and Bate, but their team leader South Burning is the same rank as Bright and so can't be recruited until Bright gets promoted).
  • Some characters receive two-rank promotions as part of story events. Ramba Ral in canon was promised a two-rank promotion if he succeeded in avenging Garma, and that's played out. Similarly, Gaia of the Black Tri-Stars is given a two-rank promotion by Kycillia Zabi as a reward for defeating the White Base and successfully aiding in the defense of Odessa, while Tem Ray is given a two-rank promotion by General Revil for his success in developing the Gundam as well as to allow him the resources and authority to continue research and development on the battlefield.
  • Certain characters go from playing as commanders (i.e. you can requisition units and characters to your personal unit and customise machines under your personal command, but have no ability to affect the tech tree or diplomacy) to supreme commander (i.e. commanding the entire faction) as part of their story. 0093 Char in particular begins the game as a pilot (i.e. no ability to requisition units at all) and ends his scenario as the supreme commander of Neo Zeon.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Johann Revil gets special mention here.
• Red Baron: Several pilots have their own nicknames and customised suits. The most famous is of course The Red Comet Char Aznable, but you also have the Blue Nova Ramba Ral, the Crimson Lightning Johnny Ridden, the White Wolf Shin Matsunaga and the Nightmare of Solomon Anavel Gato. The Federals get a few too, such as White Devil Amuro Ray or Blue Death the Blue Destiny.
• Reporting Names: Brought up in-story when the supreme commander gets word of units like "The White One" (i.e. the Gundam) or "The Trojan Horse" (the White Base).
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: In Tem Ray's story, he takes advantage of the fact that General Revil has full faith in his abilities. He's able to convince General Revil that the civilians who boarded the White Base could be useful, leading them to later join his unit with Revil's approval (instead of being imprisoned or executed for learning military secrets).
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you choose to continue researching Cyber Newtypes against Zero Murasame's will, he'll take Leila Raymond and disappear off the face of the war entirely.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong‎: The games can come off this way, since a Gundam fan playing the game has knowledge that they couldn't possibly have In-Universe. For example, a Zeon player can choose to pull Ghinias Sahalin off the Apsaras Project before his dementia leads to the entire thing ending in disaster as in The 08th MS Team.
• Shout-Out: The observant player can see that the series' title, Gihren no Yabou, is a play on the strategy series Nobunaga no Yabou. The English translated titles play with this with Gihren no Yabou by using an alliterative synonym (substituting "ambition" for "greed.")
• So Proud of You: In Tem Ray's story, while he mostly credits the sheer power of the Gundam, he also has a noticeable amount of pride in how Amuro not only quickly learns how to make full use of the Gundam's capabilities, but also demonstrates an understanding of what kind of systems were built in.
• Tactical Superweapon Unit: Some Mobile Suits and Mobile Armours act as Super Units, costing significantly more resources and time to build. However, reflecting the Lensman Arms Race that is a big part of the series, as time goes on even regular grunt units can become capable of matching earlier Super Units, encouraging the player to advance their technology to keep up. In addition, depending on the game, there might even be a hard cap on how many of the unit the player can produce ^note  This is mostly in Shin Gihren's Greed, where only one of certain custom or Super Prototype machines like Char's Gelgoog or the RX-78-2 Gundam can be built. A few examples include:
  • The RX-78-2 Gundam, the one the entire franchise is named for, is the most famous example. Compared to virtually every other unit of the One Year War era, the RX-78-2 can fight in every environment (i.e. space, land, underwater). While the RX-78-3 (aka G3 Gundam) can also do the same, the RX-78-2 has the added advantage of swapping between the energy-based beam rifle and the solid ammo-based Hyper Bazooka, giving it more flexibility when faced with enemies equipped with anti-beam defenses. It's also incredibly expensive and takes a long time to construct, generally taking multiple turns compared to the single turn needed for the humble GM. In addition, only skilled pilots can utilise it to its full potential: without a named pilot it's just a somewhat tougher MS, while at the hands of someone like Amuro Ray or Yazan Gable it's fully capable of taking down full squads of enemy Mobile Suits single-handed.
  • The Mobile Armour Byg Zam was specifically designed to repel fleets, and it does that job well thanks to its anti-beam I-field making it completely immune to beam attacks (which are the main weapons of nearly all warships). While it's possible to whittle away at its health with close quarters attacks by GMs and their beam sabers backed by barrages by Balls and their cannons, it's actually more effective to go for its Achilles' Heel: it's so energy intensive that if it's cut off from supplies it will grind to a halt, allowing the player to assault it with impunity. As long as it's well-supplied, however (e.g. it's situated on a location's main base, meaning it will always recover health and energy each turn), it becomes a lot more difficult to bring down.
  • Many of the Support Team units unlockable via Intervention Points can come off like this. For example, the Quebeley. Equipped with funnels, beam weapons built into the hands, with high mobility and evasion, at the hands of a sufficiently powerful Newtype pilot like Haman Khan it's easily able to wipe out dozens of enemy MS solo and tank assaults from entire fleets thanks to its agility. The fact that the Quebeley is also capable of Map Attacks that target multiple units simultaneously can turn it into a One-Man Army.
• Tank Goodness: The Federation initally relies on tanks and conventional weapons for its ground forces, if just because the Feddies don't have mobile suits on hand. At least until Project V gets into gear.
  • Zeon's Hidolfur (from MS Igloo) can transform into a tank mode, giving it better mobility on the ground.
  • While the Guntank and Mass-Production Guntank are still considered Mobile Suits, the Guntank II is (as is tradition) listed as a tank.
• That's an Order!: In Tem Ray's story, he's basically able to run roughshod over the remaining crew of the White Base because he's genuinely the highest ranking able-bodied officer present (outranking Bright Noa by two ranks, for example). While he's "merely" an engineer, he's still an officer and so is able to assume command.
• The Starscream: Zigzagged. Heavily implied in regards to Kycillia in Gaia, M'Quve and Dozle's endings, where she either directly makes a play to overthrow Gihren (in Gaia and M'Quve's endings) or helps Dozle defeat Gihren but then is clearly plotting against him in his ending. Meanwhile, Char's loyalties are as mercurial as ever, as several endings mention him using his name as Casval Rem Deikun to challenge the Zabi family's authority.
• Timed Mission:
  • For some characters, they will be issued these for story reasons (e.g. Amuro will be informed that Operation Odessa will begin in 8 turns, and asked to prepare accordingly; when playing as Bright, failing to get the White Base to the designated point within 5 turns results in the events of the anime taking place while counting as an "ending").
  • To achieve several of the Golden Endings for characters, you have take A Boa Qu within 100 turns.
• Trading Bars for Stripes: In Amuro's story, the big point of divergence is that despite Char's efforts, the White Base successfully enters Earth's atmosphere at the right angle to arrive directly at Jaburo. However, once there Amuro (and presumably the other civilian volunteers like Kai, Hayato and Sayla) is informed that while the Federation is grateful for their efforts, they still learned military secrets (i.e. the existence of the V Project) and the penalty would normally be imprisonment ^note  In canon, when Frau Bau asked General Revil directly about not wanting to join the military, he replied that the punishment for discovering military secrets would normally be life imprisonment or the death penalty, since they're in a time of war. He also noted that out of consideration for their efforts up till that point, the penalty would be reduced to "merely" a year's imprisonment. Amuro is then offered the choice of joining the Federation military instead, since that way it wouldn't be "civilians learned military secrets", it would be "soldiers were forced to make use of classified machines in an emergency situation" and so no punishment would be necessary. Refusing results in a Non-Standard Game Over as Amuro spends the rest of the war in prison (ironically, the War itself would be over in a few months, while he'd be in prison for a year).
• Transforming Mecha: These mostly appear as part of the Support Team units that the player can spend Intervention Points to add to their beginning forces (specifically the Messala, Gabalthey and Hambrabi Sirocco can start with, the Psyco Gundam, or the Zeta and Double Zeta Gundams). Justified, as in-universe transforming Mobile Suits only began appearing during the Gryps War era that takes place 8 years after the One Year War. The only exceptions are the Hidolfer (which can switch from a Mobile Tank mode to a Mobile Suit mode... which is basically a Zaku's torso sitting up out of the tank's chassis) and the Commander-type GM, which in gameplay terms can switch to an aerial mode (which is actually the GM utilising a Flightliner support machine, rather than it actually transforming).
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Completely averted when it comes to freshly created units deploying right onto the battlefield in defense of a stronghold (e.g. Odessa, Madras, Peking, Jaburo itself). You might expect units deployed in such a case to have some sort of penalty (e.g. reduced health), but no, they will be deployed at full health and full power, meaning that an unlucky invader can suddenly be faced by an entire stronghold's production limit's worth of units (i.e. 8 at max) suddenly popping up to reinforce the defenders. This is part of what makes charges straight for the main base ill-advised: there is a very high chance that the charge won't be able to take the main base before these fresh troops complete production and join the battle.
• Up Through the Ranks: Occurs when you choose to play as a low-ranking character like Amuro, Char, Ramba Ral or Bright. As you succeed in battle, you get promoted to higher and higher ranks, though there is a cap. Bright, for example, can reach his Char's Counterattack rank of Colonel, while Amuro can only reach Captain.
• Vanilla Unit:
  • The GM has no special abilities other than being equipped with a shield that they can use to deflect enemy attacks. They otherwise are completely vanilla, lacking even the ability to swap weapons (even though in-universe they're supposed to be able to utilise any weapons wielded by the Gundam like the Hyper Bazooka or Beam Javelin). In comparison, their Zeon counterpart the Zaku II can swap weapons between the Zaku Machinegun and the Zaku Bazooka.
  • The GM Custom is a huge improvement to the original GM in terms of stats, but still lacks the ability to swap out their loadouts and are restricted to their basic weaponry consisting of an assault rifle, head vulcans and a beam saber.
  • The Dra-C utilised by the Delaz Fleet have no special features and are effectively an evolutionary dead-end. Their only key saving grace is how cheap they are to build. At the hands of a skilled pilot, they can become surprisingly effective dodge tanks, though it doesn't take much to bring them down.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Doing things that reduce domestic and diplomatic support can result in penalties such as lost income and resources. This includes become just a little bit too nuke-happy, or by invading neutral territories like the moon cities or Side 6.
• Villain Protagonist: Anyone playable from the Zeon side (Gihren, Char, Dozle, Gaia, and DLC characters M'Quve, Kycillia, Garma and Ramba Ral) technically fall under this, though some of them come off as more Punch-Clock Villain or Noble Demon types. Ramba Ral and Gaia, for example, are only concerned with carrying out their missions and looking out for their subordinates, with no interest in any political plays.
• Villainous Virtues: Shin shows that whatever M'Quve's other flaws, he's genuinely loyal to Kycillia Zabi and makes it a point to credit her with his victories.
• The Watson: Uragang plays this role in M'Quve's storyline, as M'Quve explains his plans to him (which allows the player to learn M'Quve's plans too).
• Wave-Motion Gun: Some units like the ZZ Gundam or Psyco Gundam (useable only if the player uses Intervention Points to add them to their forces alongside their pilots) are equipped with one of these. For some units, this is their only attack (and a MAP attack, at that), like for the Apsalas II and III or the Burstliner optional equipment for the Full Armour Gundam. They're very useful for clearing out multiple enemies, but the main issue is maneuvering them into a position where they can actually hit multiple enemies.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: Played straight as you are playing as particular characters. Putting Dozle in his old Zaku-IIS custom and sending him against the more advanced GM Command Space Type will only result in him being injured and out of action if you play as Gihren. Playing as Dozle himself and getting shot down results in a game over as he's KIA.
• We Have Reserves: A Federation player playing a One Year War scenario (especially before the completion of the V Project) will likely find themselves resorting to this tactic using swarms of fairly cheap and quick-to-construct Type-61 tanks and Fly Mantha fighter-bombers.
• What If?: As is tradition, Shin allows players to see what would've happened had different decisions been made in canon. Among other things, it's made clear that Ramba Ral would've defeated and captured the White Base if the Doms he'd been promised had been delivered on schedule by M'Quve without trickery (as the player can make M'Quve do.) There are similar occurrences throughout the series, like how deciding to let the White Base remain part of the main Federal Forces (as opposed to functioning as an independently operating self-contained unit) prevents the deaths of several characters such as Matilda, Woody and Ryu Jose.
  • While Gihren must send Char to investigate the Operation V project at Side 7, he can decline to resupply Char after his first few encounters with the White Base. This results in Char sending his subordinates Doren, Gene, Denim and Slender back for their safety (despite the latter three all being killed during those first few encounters in canon), thus sparing their lives. In addition, Char goes missing after being overwhelmed by the Operation V Mobile Suits, and without him to lure Garma into an ambush Garma also survives.
  • Playing as any characters who are supposed to die in canon (i.e. Gaia, Dozle Zabi, Admiral Tianem) automatically leads to this, as generally they'll begin their scenarios during the battles where they perished in canon (e.g. Gaia and the Black Tri-Stars engage the White Base during Operation Odessa, Dozle begins his scenario as the Federation Space Force begins their invasion of Solomon while Tianem begins his storyline launching said invasion).
• What the Hell, Hero?: As supreme commander, Gihren and Revil can receive this reaction for doing things like invading neutral territory or utilising nuclear weapons.
• Worthy Opponent: In Tianem's storyline, after the Byg Zam is shot down and it's reported that the pilot was Admiral Dozle Zabi himself, Tianem notes that while they were enemies, he was aware that Dozle was a true and proper soldier.
• You Are in Command Now: In Tianem's story, when General Revil is killed by the Solar Ray he immediately assumes command of the remnants of Revil's First Fleet (in addition to his own Second Fleet) to keep the advance going. Shortly after, he's informed that the Federal Force General Staff at Jaburo have formally appointed him Supreme Commander to replace General Revil.