Junon & The Mako Cannon

[Davey Gaga]

Or the Sister Ray if you want to be fancy.

I recently started up a new game of VII and I've acquired the airship. I've always found it annoying how the Mako Cannon at Midgar is meant to point at the Northern Crater but points quite a far bit east of the crater.

It's recently struck me that I never followed the trajectory of the cannon at Junon. So, for funsies, I did it yesterday and found that it hits nothing. It's not anywhere near close a town, a city, and does nothing but point at meaningless mountains across the far western continent, all the way back across to the back of Junon.

So, for some thought-provoking discussions - what was the cannon pointing at? What was the point of the cannon in the first place, besides defending against Sapphire Weapon (which would never have been in anticipation - no one but Gast knew about Weapon, other than Hojo, but Hojo admits to keeping that information to himself)?

The only thing that I can think of is that the attacks from the cannon can bend (so that it goes Midgar -> bend -> Northern Crater) and that it was built during the war with Wutai as a means of destroying them if Sephiroth failed.

Additionally I can't see it being too powerful - it took 5 reactors (presuming Shin-Ra didn't repair the damage AVALANCHE caused at the beginning of the game) to produce that attack that destroyed the crater, and only one underwater reactor was present at Junon.

Thoughts?

 

[King Sean]

I thought that maybe it was made a weapon for Shin-ra to show that they were badass and that they could in essence demolish a town or city that they considered a threat. I mean, that huge canon does look pretty menacing to the point of view of a city that the canon could be pointed towards. You saw how it thrashed that WEAPON and destroyed Sephiroth's force field around the crater.

Basically, I see it as Shin-ra showing that they have the power to deal with anything that comes across as a threat to the empire they amassed. Or as a way to show off what they got.

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

As we all know, Junon is an army base build by Shinra. The cannon was used only as Shinra's defensive weapon as it was shown during the attack of the Sapphire Weapon, not for any other purpose. As for the direction the cannon was pointing, it wasn't meant to target any specific location, it was just for defense only. That is the only purpose of the Mako Cannon.

 

[Davey Gaga]

Defense from what, though? There's nothing on the planet that would threaten Junon in such a way that a mako cannon would be an appropriate counterattack.

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Defense from what, though? There's nothing on the planet that would threaten Junon in such a way that a mako cannon would be an appropriate counterattack.

Because they knew about the Weapons. If I remember correctly, one of the house that is located at the Snow Village, shows some videos of Professor Gast talking to Lucrecia with some information about the Ancients, the Weapons, etc. That's how they got the information about the Weapons. They tought that they will be a threat to them, so that's why they build a army base with a Mako Cannon. Why else would Shinra build a army base with a cannon?

 

[Dionysos]

I think that perhaps it is simply just a goof. It was perhaps added on to the town to make it look cool, and we were not meant to follow it to see what it was aimed at.

If we do take that it was well thought out and that the cannon had a real purpose, then perhaps the scientists who were aware of Weapon built the cannon as a form of protection from them. I doubt this is the only reason though... Firing in a single direction doesn't seem like the best way of defending a city, especially if it was not even aimed towards the Northern Crater.

Perhaps it was created just for general defence, in case any invaders attempted to get near to the town. Again though, since it is a massive cannon, and can not be moved, it seems so extreme for a weapon that is likely inefficient at holding off invaders. Both invaders and the Weapons could easily just go round and attack Junon from behind, or even the sides...

The other alternative would be that the cannon was built to attack Wutai. This seems more likely, in my opinion, since it seems to be aimed at that direction. If it wasn't the real aim then at least it is good to imagine that Shinra had developed a powerful weapon to use against Wutai. The Junon Cannon really is only effective as a long range weapon, and can not change where it is aiming, and therefore I'd think that Shinra must have (unless they were idiots) carefully planned where they were wishing to aim the cannon before they built it.

As defence against close invaders it is pretty poor, but perhaps if it was aimed at Wutai it could cause quite a lot of damage and maybe the intention was to win the war with it.

 

[Dragon Mage]

It's a naval defense weapon, meant to protect an important naval base in Junon. One shot from that bugger into the water could obliterate an entire fleet simply from the wave it would cause. And the wave would probably dissipate before it hit Junon on account of how far the thing can fire. It can literally nail something far beyond the horizon. And with one shot from that baby, you don't have to worry about firing it again. And if the city does get hit by the tidal wave, it's so heavily fortified at the base there's no fear of a tsunami damage. Pretty effective, if you think about it.

 

[Original_Syth]

I hate to poop on your post, but you mentioned it not being too powerful because only 1 reactor was present at junon.......

The cannon did not originally run off mako energy as such. It was designed to fire HUGE materia, therefore being 330 times more powerful than any type of regular magic, quite powerful really...IT was then RE-designed to fire mako energy after the last of the huge materia was used up Killing Weapon.

Yes, im a nerd for knowing about the small details. But there ya are

 

[Davey Gaga]

Because they knew about the Weapons. If I remember correctly, one of the house that is located at the Snow Village, shows some videos of Professor Gast talking to Lucrecia with some information about the Ancients, the Weapons, etc. That's how they got the information about the Weapons. They tought that they will be a threat to them, so that's why they build a army base with a Mako Cannon. Why else would Shinra build a army base with a cannon?

Only Gast knew about the Weapons, though, thanks to Ifalna. After his untimely demise, Hojo took his research but, as Rufus confirmed at the Northern Crater, Hojo kept this information to himself, so I find it quite unlikely that the cannon was built to protect against the Weapons. I doubt Hojo would have shared that information for protective purposes - he's not interested in prosperity, only research.

I hate to poop on your post, but you mentioned it not being too powerful because only 1 reactor was present at junon.......

The cannon did not originally run off mako energy as such. It was designed to fire HUGE materia, therefore being 330 times more powerful than any type of regular magic, quite powerful really...IT was then RE-designed to fire mako energy after the last of the huge materia was used up Killing Weapon.

Yes, im a nerd for knowing about the small details. But there ya are

Not sure where you got that it fired Huge Materia - as far as we've ever been taught, Huge Materia was only attempted to be used in destroying Meteor. Rufus fired the cannon at Sapphire Weapon and would presumably knows how it works, but when Scarlet and Heideggar were explaining their plan to ram Meteor with Huge Materia, Rufus knew nothing of its power, so it seems to contradict what he would know as President.

Have to say I'm leaning towards Dragon Mage's idea, actually, maybe in combination with preparations against Wutai invaders.

 

[NobleKnightNow]

Maybe it can turn?

Mod Edit: Can you please expand on your post a bit? This doesn't add much to the thread topic. Thanks.