45 replies to this topic

[HellsBlackAces]

Jack Deth, on 08 December 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

I think one of the things that confuses people is the lack of something akin to "the internet" in the MechWarrior universe. Gotta remember that even with Hyperpulse Generators off-world communication is relatively slow. Locally on one world network speed could be hella-fast, but off-world messages could take days or even weeks to reach their recipient across the vast regions of space. This is one of the things that makes the whole idea of running the Inner Sphere on a feudal-type system realistic, because a lot of decisions have to be made locally due to the lag time to get a hold of central government superiors.

Those 1 ton targeting computers probably only way a few kilograms. Active compensators aren't exactly weight free. That's like adding up the total weight of a hydraulic system on a car and then saying the total weight means the computer control system weighs too much.

[Aescwulf]

To be honest if you think about it you can only advance soo much in terms of technology and then you need to make it last so the only way to do that is to make it bulky and blast proof otherwise every time a mech is near destroyed its pretty much useless. And i doubt our computing technology can survive the pounding that the mechs get.

In today's conflicts its all about who has the most stealthiest machine, its only going to get to the point of ECM's etc and the only way to counteract that is to use oldest technology and take the fight up close and personal.

But i doubt in the future space flight is going to be like a luxury cruise with so much white emulsion that you need to wear sunglasses.

But in the end of the day its just fiction, someones thoughts of what the future might be like.

[Okie135]

CaveMan, on 08 December 2011 - 03:03 PM, said:

ECM is easy. All you have to do is generate enough noise (a spark plug, a big AC generator, and an antenna are all you need), and the other guy's signal-to-noise ratio is too low to use.

Not quite. That's how ECM worked 40 years ago. Then people figured out that you could target the center of the ECM bubble and shoot down whatever it was that was jamming. So to counter that they developed a system where the jammer doesn't broadcast in all directions at the same magnitude. (Essentially think of deforming the bubble, now it's harder to pick a source.) Now the source for that can be figured out with some mid-range math, so that has been developed a bit more.

Nowadays, they use a modified method which falls under the secret squirrel category of stuff we don't know.

Also ECM is a pretty broad term. You can filter out static on a radio sometimes. Radar jammers can be spoofed and they can counter spoof that.



Now to the OP:

The thing about battletech is that they had way better technology. Then the first and second succession wars bombed many planets to preindustrial stages. Factories and shipyards were targeted back then. Altogether its a mix of super-futuristic technology and technology that would fit right in with the 1870's.

Much of the higher stuff they don't know how to make anymore. The innersphere of 3025 still makes jumpships, but it's on a VERY slow scale dictated by only a handful of shipyards and machines that do much of the processing. Nobody knows how to make a Kearny-Fuchida Jump Drive, but they know how to start a machine that can. This has lead to the mysticism that surrounds ComStar. An acolyte does a specific set of things in a specific order and the HPG fires off a message to far away planets. After 300 years of this, it seems like incantations. (I'm a CS major and now that I know how a computer works it takes most of the magic and fun out of it. LoL) Even much of COmStar began to believe in their own mysticism which was set up to keep the other houses from ceasing the HPG's.

This is only now starting to change in the 3040's. The discovery of the Helm Memory Core and the analysis of such devices by the Federated Commonwealth and other houses has lead to many new advancements. ComStar is NOT happy about this.

When the clans invade, captured tech will give just enough of a leap forward for the innerspehre to catch up and surpass their technology. By the time Operation Bulldog is launched in 3059 Task Force Serpent is equipped with NEW Warships built by the innersphere house lords.
In 10 years of invasion we go from not understanding how to build a Jump Drive, to building a series of Warships. By the late 3060's technology passes that of the old Star League.

Edited by Clark, 08 December 2011 - 04:39 PM.

[CaveMan]

Clark, on 08 December 2011 - 04:36 PM, said:

Not quite. That's how ECM worked 40 years ago. Then people figured out that you could target the center of the ECM bubble and shoot down whatever it was that was jamming. So to counter that they developed a system where the jammer doesn't broadcast in all directions at the same magnitude. (Essentially think of deforming the bubble, now it's harder to pick a source.) Now the source for that can be figured out with some mid-range math, so that has been developed a bit more.

Nowadays, they use a modified method which falls under the secret squirrel category of stuff we don't know.

Also ECM is a pretty broad term. You can filter out static on a radio sometimes. Radar jammers can be spoofed and they can counter spoof that.

Yeah, I gave the 1950s explanation, but for BattleTech it's enough.

Also, when that noise jammer is powered by a fusion reactor, that bubble of static can be a mile wide, so good luck "targeting" the center of it. You throw enough wattage at them, eventually you're going to scramble their sensors, its just a question of how much wattage you need.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Clark, on 08 December 2011 - 04:36 PM, said:

Now to the OP:

The thing about battletech is that they had way better technology. Then the first and second succession wars bombed many planets to preindustrial stages. Factories and shipyards were targeted back then.

Yes, that's where my question has drifted to: What are things like "now" (December, 3048) compared to, say, right before the Amaris Civil War, and compared to a modern soldier in a theoretical FCS (Future Combat System) loadout?

Edited by Prosperity Park, 08 December 2011 - 07:59 PM.

[EDMW CSN]

Well as per fluff for listen kill missiles, it seems like most Battlemechs do seem to be armed with some sort of ECM. Cos these on board ECMs made listen kill missiles obsolete by 3040s. So that can partly answer why accuracy is terribad in Btech.

The Guardian ECM suite is just a lot more powerful ECM unti than regular on board ECM.

http://www.sarna.net...en-Kill_Missile