>>23444112
No, he's right. There's tensile strength but to even exist it would need to be a giant space platform. OP's picture would be an utterly massive mass with outside shell that would need to be enormously tough just by size OP's O'Neill cylinder was supposed to have a partly pressured atmosphere at around half Earth's to relieve stress on walls but it's all a big balloon. like a spacenoid female's giant tits. But Gundam thematically portrays them as high risk and weapons like the Crossbone Vanguard Shot lancer were created to minimize damage to the colony. A beam rifle, unless it hit key structural points or a volatile power source for the whole colony, just isn't wide enough to cause that much damage. Even when it's like Zeta and a Psycho Gundam can enter, it didn't destroy the whole colony. So it's more costs of repair and maybe introducing some gasses to stabilize the breathing space.

Now that I think of it, it may be a propaganda tool. Shot Lancers may be a way of showing they care more about their invaded target than the defenders whose machineguns straight up bonked a random mother holding her baby. It's less about the actual and more about image. With how much better the Zons are, they can afford to use lighter arms and still win. But then everyone started using beams later on so who knows. Real funny how later UC had more and more bullet weapons like in F91.