Originally posted by: Curium
Sorry for not including this with my last post, but I thought of it just after I hit send.

Does the Core Splendor on the Impulse have Phase Shift? I don't believe it does, but I figured I should ask. The reason it came to mind was because while it is covered on the front, the Core Splendor is exposed on the back of the Impulse. The different equipment packs cover most of it, but isn't it still partially exposed? I would think that would be a problem. A missle to the back placed well could seriously damage the core splendor and potentially harm the pilot when it would be shrugged off anywhere else.
The Core Splendor does have a Phase Shift. If you watch the intro, you can see that it's colored while the rest of the pieces are gray. Then it goes into full Phase Shift mode. Ya know, it'd be kinda bad if it was shot down before it could fully transform into Impulse, meaning it's most vulnerable when launching, but they probabably took that into consideration. It's kinda how the shield is always on Phase Shift mode.

Originally posted by: Wren
the only way its more efficient is on the go combat repairs; by simply replacing one of the damaged components (im guessin this works for everything BUT the core splender itself lol) but other than that it is somewhat of a waste, but shinn being a shitty pilot i guess u have to have a backup ;-)
Well, the changes it goes through between weapons systems is also faster. Remember back in GS when Kira had to change in space because he ran out of power? That took forever and he almost got killed. Compare that to the time when Shinn went into SEED mode against the mobile armor and you could call it efficient.