20 replies to this topic

[Bandaids]

In today's Time period and age would mech's be practical? Personally I only with battle armor like the Element would be. To me even small light mechs would still be impractical and vulnerable to many thing. An assault mech would Bring tons of collateral damage which we try and prevent. Image one day a pilot is doing down your neighborhood. "OPPS I TRIPPED AND NOW BROKE YOUR HOUSE, WIFE, DOG, AND CAR I'm sorry well see ya man". That's pretty much how stuff would go and in combat 8 or so mechs would level a city in a matter of 4 hours of gripping combat. A battle armor is also small and fast and can dodge stuff like bunker missiles a normal mech would get so effed by that missile, Also do not forget tanks all they would need to do is shoot the leg joints, A 120mm cannon would do some serious damage on that.


So, to my conclusion Mechs are impractical today Share your thoughts, Arguements, Disagreements, and agreements. Also, I understand similar posts have been made to this probably so don't get mad at me. >8(

Edited by Bandaids, 20 June 2012 - 10:31 PM.

[Telthalion]

Agreed.

In the real world, mechs will always be impractical for 1 major reason, regardless of power sources or material advances: Legs.

I don't care what kind of gyro system you have, anything on legs is easy to knock over. Or just shoot the legs out from under it. And even if it does magically manage to avoid the fate of being face down in the dirt from the opening salvo, it has a retardedly huge profile - anyone can see it coming from miles away and shoot it easily.

Battletech-style battle armor, however, would be amazing on a modern battlefield. Allowing infantry to move quickly, be largely unaffected by small arms fire, and carry enormous amounts of gear/supplies/wounded/whatever without being slowed down.

[cinco]

in real life, mechs would have one really large long range weapon called a main gun and tracks instead of legs.

[Insidious Johnson]

We make the age FIT the top technology available then name it accordingly. The last century was about flight. Piston, jet, rocket, supersonic, space ages have all come and gone. We've quit looking up and out. We look down and at a screen now. We are forging the abstract tools with which we will craft our future. We didn't build complex and expensive infrastructure because we planned to invent ships, trains, automobiles, trucks, buses, and airplanes. The only time we actually build in anticipation of technology is when the government is the monopoly financing it.

[I C U B4 U C ME]

Really giant mechs this big are impractical, as you said a battle would level cities in hours. Arms and legs are massive weak spots and would be destroyed easily by modern rockets and missiles. Plus aircraft would easily be able to take out these giant targets.

Tanks are much more practicle as they are as fast yet way smaller, plus with advancing tech the armaments mountable on tanks will in crease in strength.

Although 'Heavy Gear' type mechs....more like exosuits would be very practical, as they would be fast very, maneuverable and good terrain crossing capabilities.

The one major advantage of giant mechs is that they are so awesome.

[Bandaids]

I really think the collateral damage would be the biggest problem though.

[ScrapIron Prime]

On an infantry scale or as civil engineering tools, mechs would be brilliant. But on the battlefield... the armor tech isn't there. Unless you come up with armor protection that makes a large surface area like a humanoid form worth it, a tank is going to be more efficient and survivable.

[Blitz1775]

The only reason it would be designed like a human, would be because someone decided to make a Bio/Neuro interface, and the closer the object mimics a human the easier it would be to interface. While the mech itself would not be as efficient as other designs, the gains from that level of control could outweigh the design advantages of stuff like tanks etc. However the more likely reality (especially with the funding there) is the work on things like power armor and exosuits, verse a full blown out mech.

Edited by Blitz1775, 20 June 2012 - 10:41 PM.

[RogueFox]

Elementals showed what a few motivated individuals can do to a Mech with little to no cost.

Mechs would be way too expensive to maintain and repair.

Too many moving parts and weak spots.

Training someone to pilot one with any kind of skill would take way too much time and money. Plus after they saw what happened to the guy they were replacing they would never get in the thing.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Blitz, we have that kind of interface now. But it won't let a mech dodge a 120mm round or an antitank missile. Without armor to shrug that off, its just a high profile target.

So make em infantry sized. Bullet-proof and mortar-proof infantry...

[SteelWarrior]

I would say power armor would be far more practical.

But even looking to the modern age, its bascially come down to satilite guided ballistics, drones and infantry. Back in the day the armies would move in with thousands of men and equipment with air assets and fully commit. These days they just fire off 1000 rockets from subs and send in small special forces teams. War in general in most parts of the world have gone from full scale death and destruction to smaller sqirmishes/gurilla warfare.

Even from a cost stand by mechs would never be practical. The only possible exception is combat on a planet with no atmosphere perhaps.

[Bandaids]

RogueFox, on 20 June 2012 - 10:42 PM, said:

Training someone to pilot one with any kind of skill would take way too much time and money. Plus after they saw what happened to the guy they were replacing they would never get in the thing.

Suppose money and time were not an object then what?

[Steven Dixon]

No, in real life mechs really arn't practical for many reasons and we will probably never see them but they sure look cool. Power armor on the other hand actually has some possiblities and the military is activly working on it as we speak.

[RogueFox]

Bandaids, on 20 June 2012 - 10:47 PM, said:

Suppose money and time were not an object then what?

Then your stating that you have unlimited resources and any other point is moot.

[OfficerTaco]

Only super light mechs would be practical
The only region they would be better than a tank in is in a swamp

[cinco]

Insidious Johnson, on 20 June 2012 - 10:24 PM, said:

We make the age FIT the top technology available then name it accordingly. The last century was about flight. Piston, jet, rocket, supersonic, space ages have all come and gone. We've quit looking up and out. We look down and at a screen now. We are forging the abstract tools with which we will craft our future. We didn't build complex and expensive infrastructure because we planned to invent ships, trains, automobiles, trucks, buses, and airplanes. The only time we actually build in anticipation of technology is when the government is the monopoly financing it.

csb

in the future, there'll be only one human left and he'll screaming at himself in the mirror before committing suicide.

[Okami Ryu]

Construction mech would be incredible useful and making it humanoid would reduce the learning curve to pilot it.

[Tsunamisan]

All i have to say on this subject is that its game its not superposed to be real life and practical. Furthermore mech would not have to get even close to the enemy. Sniping off the enemy from far beyound there range to retaliate with weapons like AC2's or Gauss rifles. Anything besides another mech would not even get close to it that's why they are the main battlefield weapons for the age.

[Woska]

Don't forget, part of the fundamental technology shift is also armor that is layered and has to be chipped away in pieces. So that 120mm cannon would be the equivalent to an AC 10, and an AC 2 hitting simultaneously. So, not an unstoppable force. So in that context, traditional tanks can only mount so many weapons in a turret before it becomes impractical as well. Adding legs and giving it torso and arms for weapons increases the array of weapons you can bring to bear and any one time.

So, fantastical? Yes. Practical? Maybe, depends on too many technological specifics, but probably not.

[OfficerTaco]

Oh and a large mech would simply be a morale booster

It would terrify any un-proffesional military

I mean, imagine, your a normal soldier, armed with a rifle, sidearm, and some grenades, then all of a sudden a 200 ft tall war machines comes over a hill shooting lasers everywhere. Would YOU try to stop it?

but then again in real life the mech would be controlled from a diffrent continent by some guy controlling it like a drone, because of this, the pilot would have no fear of death, and would only try to have the mech survive so it isn't replaced

Wars are fought with machines, But they are won by men. - General Patton

Edited by NotoriousForce, 20 June 2012 - 11:26 PM.