139 replies to this topic

[Tterrag]

I'm assuming solely that all of a sudden our technology had caught up to the battletech uni where you have warring on a massive scale more times than not. You have huge heavily armed leviathons storming around planets destroying all and dominating the fields then a man says "why don't we get a ship put a rail gun or two on it and fire down on the enemy base from orbit." Then three weeks later someone says " hey they are plowing us under why dont we make small fighters to take them out." Then "ok we need missle and targeting tech to take down thes fighters oh wait we can use the new missle tech to blast the huge assault mech" so on so forth and the huge lumbering mechs are useless and the smaller medium mechs who move at a pace able to do damage and not worth shooting with the expensive missles you know til the new stuff comes out in a week

Edited by Tterrag, 14 June 2012 - 05:00 PM.

[Ramien]

Skadi, on 14 June 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

Atlas boxing WOOT

And just imagine how big the Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots boxes would be...

[PANZERBUNNY]

unless a strong enough armour alloy can be manufactured to resist modern explosive damage etc, what's the point for a military application? It's siloutte is huge, opposed to a low ground hugging AFV.

[Agazoink]

For a gun platform the mech is totally usless. Being a huge target on a battlefield just draws fire, it doesn't matter what type. If the chance came up to pilot one though, I would take it in a heartbeat. Those things are cool to me.

Using a mech for construction I think makes more sense.

[Zynk]

Luke Garrad, on 14 June 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

Hear me out here guys. Why not a mech that can turn into a apache helicopter, think I have solved it. And maybe they could make a good classic tv show but make sure its not ruined in future

You can name it BLACKOUT.

[Tterrag]

So yeah rock em sock em robots/real steel would probably end up happening as sad as it is to picture

[Gigadouche]

Torcip, on 14 June 2012 - 04:06 PM, said:

Submarines man, a mech will not outmaneuver a submarine. And I think you would be surprised what a tank can drive through.

Go tell that to a tanker who just broke track on a small rock. It happens alot.

Seeing as how technology seems to take great leaps in short amounts of time, I could see tanks with walking legs being really quite useful. Think about it. If the technology was there to make a very dextrous walking machine, and efficiently and cheaply, then yes it would probably make tracked tanks obsolete. Theres no need to prove the effectiveness of walking vs. rolling, the evidence is all around us in nature. The trick is making the technology to replicate it on a mechanical vehicle a practical solution.

Edited by Gigadouche, 14 June 2012 - 05:14 PM.

[Tterrag]

There are indeed many many places a horse can go that a vehicle can't but I believe that a giant metal horse wouldn't be practical. But I do think that a mech with it's articulating feet would be good if the already small mech was scaled down

[KageRyuu]

With our current level of tech, pretty much nothing. But if we had BattleTech level materials in production then at the very least Mechs would be able to go where Tanks really can't, Jungle and Mountains.

You see the mobility of a bipedal or even quad form vastly out shines the weight distribution and stability of tracks and wheels when tracks and wheels wouldn't otherwise be able to make it through the dense under brush or up the steep inclines of said impossible to pass terrain. That's why most of Vietnam was fought on foot, because the vehicles just couldn't get far into those dense over grown jungles, and why traditionally tanks don't do too well in Afghanistan.

[Tterrag]

Gigadouche, on 14 June 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

Go tell that to a tanker who just broke track on a small rock. It happens alot.

Seeing as how technology seems to take great leaps in short amounts of time, I could see tanks with walking legs being really quite useful. Think about it. If the technology was there to make a very dextrous walking machine, and efficiently and cheaply, then yes it would probably make tracked tanks obsolete. Theres no need to prove the effectiveness of walking vs. rolling, the evidence is all around us in nature. The trick is making the technology to replicate it on a mechanical vehicle a practical solution.

If you could somehow make even a single small unit vehicle that could move like a dolphin or big fish I think you would have complete underwater superiority

[Iwaslost]

Gigadouche, on 14 June 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

Go tell that to a tanker who just broke track on a small rock. It happens alot.

Seeing as how technology seems to take great leaps in short amounts of time, I could see tanks with walking legs being really quite useful. Think about it. If the technology was there to make a very dextrous walking machine, and efficiently and cheaply, then yes it would probably make tracked tanks obsolete. Theres no need to prove the effectiveness of walking vs. rolling, the evidence is all around us in nature. The trick is making the technology to replicate it on a mechanical vehicle a practical solution.

You were saying?

[Tterrag]

KageRyuu, on 14 June 2012 - 05:23 PM, said:

With our current level of tech, pretty much nothing. But if we had BattleTech level materials in production then at the very least Mechs would be able to go where Tanks really can't, Jungle and Mountains.

You see the mobility of a bipedal or even quad form vastly out shines the weight distribution and stability of tracks and wheels when tracks and wheels wouldn't otherwise be able to make it through the dense under brush or up the steep inclines of said impossible to pass terrain. That's why most of Vietnam was fought on foot, because the vehicles just couldn't get far into those dense over grown jungles, and why traditionally tanks don't do too well in Afghanistan.

A single daishi on the field of any of our past war would completely change the war and I imagine that anyone would surrender seeing one barreling down on you

[BenEEeees VAT GROWN BACON]

Iwaslost, on 14 June 2012 - 05:24 PM, said:

You were saying?

Edited by BenEEeees VAT GROWN BACON, 14 June 2012 - 05:29 PM.

[Tterrag]

I still believe that in the end the battle armor would be far more valuable in the field

[Randalf Yorgen]

all in all, One Black Lion and I would own the whole ball game.

[ShadowLop]

BenEEeees VAT GROWN BACON, on 14 June 2012 - 05:28 PM, said:

(not requoting a video, you can watch it above)

I do believe the only reaon that tank stopped was because the driver stopped it, probably so as not to kill the civilian driver. It seemed to move on by itself just fine.

[Tterrag]

So have we decided that the most practical a mech will get is construction, forest fire fighting, and rock em sock em arena? The mobility issue is important but I imagine if you really stomped a few trees your mech would suffer some form of damage to the feet making it ill advised.

[BenEEeees VAT GROWN BACON]

ShadowLop, on 14 June 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

I do believe the only reaon that tank stopped was because the driver stopped it, probably so as not to kill the civilian driver. It seemed to move on by itself just fine.

I merely wanted more tank crushing cars videos to continue... of course it stopped only to assess the damage, and not because it jammed. It's pretty obvious.

[BduSlammer]

guys that was not a tank that hit the car but a bradley armored fighting veh or Apc

[StonedVet]

They would be practical if the monitary concerns weren't there and if they were well supported. You still need your infantry and armor to play the role of escort. But having a formation of mechs would be a frightening sight to see.