Ryan Champion, on 12 April 2014 - 09:06 AM, said:
Here's what your myomer will be, when it's usable.
http://www.gizmag.co...romuscle/30217/
That stuff kinda outclasses canon myomer, BTW; it's a good deal more durable, I think(vanadium and it's alloys are used
to make jet engine blades and stuff, VERY tough stuff).
Read the article thoroughly. It says it has a great potential application on a miniature scale. 'Mechs are a macro scale heavy military application. Vanadium is also a metal, not a polymer and if it does work on a macro scale would be far more expensive than polymer myomers. The numbers concerning how strong vanadium dioxide is are deceptive by scale. Materials often increase in strength as the scale gets smaller. Boeing would not build a 747 out of balsa wood, but the same material is more than strong enough for Estes to build hand thrown gliders. Note the micro object in the video is only fifty micrometers, 50 x
10−6 m, or 0.00005 meters and requires a microscope to see. A Blackjack is about 10 meters tall or 200,000 times larger than the thrown object and many orders of magnitude greater in mass. Add this to the fact that vanadium dioxide's operating temperature is 67 Celsius forcing the 'Mech to run hot just to move. A preheat sequence is the last thing a combat machine needs for its motive systems.
Scaling eats and spits out a great many current technologies.
At the OP. Cockpit potential: With a rigger cacoon the normal space requirements of a Battlemech cockpit go out the window. The head can remain right where it is, but the armor restrictions are gone and BT build rules no longer apply. Since the character is linked into the system and does not move the cocoon is basically a
protomech cockpit using an
enhanced imaging system. For the same reason, even with safety buffers the character might get feedback and the 'Mech interfaces with the brain is more directly so there is no need for a gyro. Still a good redundant system, safety buffer against feedback (continue to function even if a pilot is disoriented), and if put on autopilot so the character can change remote locations, necessary. The cacoon can be given an armor value slightly less than the arms. Why stick with the head? Because the cacoon can be set up for something a protomech cockpit cannot, a
full-head ejection system. Depending on how rabid a fanboy the character is he actually might insist on a normal cockpit.
More on ammo feed systems. There are currently three modern options for disposal of spent casings, not having them with caseless ammo, external ejection, or a return feed. The last is mostly used in high speed aircraft where ejecting spent shell casings is hazardous. Ammo can be loaded through a special feed system into drums or magazines which never disconnect from the autocannon feed systems except for maintenance. The drums or magazines can be externally loaded and then attached to the feed systems. The latter method is faster, but the former method requires less heavy machinery.
Ammo usage, autocannons are hungry beasts, even at lower rates of fire. 1 ton of 40mm Bofors 3P (programable ammunition) is 400 rounds or 80 seconds of sustained fire from an L/70. Weights per round (shell and casing) for other ammo are proving more difficult to track down.
Weapon systems: Current manufacture autocannons have interesting caliber jumps: 20mm to 23mm to 25mm to 27 mm to 30mm to 35mm to 40mm to 57 mm. The Bofors 57mm is a naval system that masses 14 tons complete with 1000 rounds of ammo. Counterbalancing that monster would be hell. 20mm and 30mm are the most popular with 30mm getting the more exotic variations like caseless ammo, gast gun operation, and recoilless firing. 20 to 40 in increments of 5 are popular vehicle mounts. Aircraft weapons should not be ruled out as space and weight are premiums.
'Mech cooling systems come in three basic varieties: standard, double-strength, and laser.
Standard heat sinks have been discussed, but it should be noted their coolant fluid is lethal (in a "kill me now" painful way) if ingested or splashed into open wounds. The coolant found in Clan built heat sinks is nontoxic. Double heat sinks are enhanced versions of standards, but bulkier and with an enhanced coolant. These are likely hybrid systems combining liquid cooling, heat pumps (
thermalelectric cooling),
heat pipes, and radiators.
Double-strength heat sinks are functionally identical to double heat sinks, but use corrosive
liquid metals move by
electromagnetic pumps. Expensive and maintenance intensive systems, but equal in size to clan double heat sinks and are a very defined current technology.
Even more expensive are Clan Jade Falcon developed
laser heat sinks which use lasers to cause an anti-
Stokes shift in the materials covered in a special pigment it strikes, forcing them to convert thermal energy to light energy. This energy is then directed out of the 'Mech via mirrors and highly polished surfaces. The main advantage of this method is also a disadvantage, it is not affected by environmental conditions, negatively or positively. So taking a dip in a nearby river or pond will not cool the 'Mech down. The other disadvantage of this system is as long as a 'Mech generates heat it emits light. As laser heat sinks dissipate more heat, the 'Mech puts on a more spectacular light show. They dissipate the same amount of heat as double heat sinks and in BT are considered a dead end technology.
Gyros are a substitute for a natural sense of balance as they are self orienting to true vertical as long as they spin. The torque applied by forcing them out of true vertical is the stabilizing mechanism. For Shadowrun they would be used as described in the cockpit section since all changes using the DIN would be actuator based shifts to the center of gravity.
I am at a loss on current materials for skeletal structure.
If Shadowrun is anything like what I have read in a day's worth of research, your character will be drawing a lot of attention. More than a few of which will be smart enough to wait until he is almost finished with the first prototype before they move in. Working for a corp guarantees more than just funding and materials if he can convince them to foot the bill. By succeeding he proves he can make something out of it and they will want more. Success is longevity in a project like this unless the GM is short sighted. Getting the play with the new toy once it is complete is a different problem.
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