31 replies to this topic

[RL Nice]

I'm reading Decision at Thunder Rift right now, and there's a passage in it that says BattleMechs don't have glass windows in their cockpits. It would make sense, since they are weak spots, but I was wondering what the rest of the canon says about this.

After all, this contradicts the artwork I've seen of several 'mechs, most notably the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat, and of course, all the MechWarrior games since Mech3. Of course, in the games, I suppose they could be projected images on the inside of the cockpit wall, but they look awfully a lot like windows made of glass or something equally transparent.

[Manthony Higgs]

Not all windows are Glass, mind you.

[Otto Cannon]

For practical reasons, they shouldn't have windows like the Marauder. For artistic reasons, mainly the fact that mechs have different designers, many if not most do have windows.

[KombatWombat]

One of the books i have read in the past explained that mechs squeeze the whole 360 degree view down into 180 degrees of view (i think it was 180). I suppose different mechs would have different types windows/screens in them...

[Ramius Hazen]

Aye. They're transparent aluminum, laddie!

[ChargerIIC]

Glass is not normally used in a mech cockpit, although mention of glass is sometimes seen in the fiction (I just read one of my MWDA novels that mentions a glass cockpit on a Catapult for example)

[Hawkeye 72]

KombatWombat, on 11 July 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

One of the books i have read in the past explained that mechs squeeze the whole 360 degree view down into 180 degrees of view (i think it was 180). I suppose different mechs would have different types windows/screens in them...

Yes a couple novels depict this and I am wondering if MWO will feature anything similar to this. 360 view would be trippy

[z369]

I think they're called Transpex in the books. I've read plenty of books that mention clear windows on the mechs, including references to direct hits on cockpits.
Also stories of cockpits smashed in by elementals, and not to mention Cassie Suthorn and her own exploits. Stackpole's novels are also replete with cockpit descriptions that include transparent window like views.

[Krubarax]

The transparent material is called "ferroglass" and is a kind of armor-glass.
And never forget:

[Tincan Nightmare]

Well they have always been drawn as having 'windows', though as Krubarax ^ points out it isn't 'glass.' Though it would be funny to kill an Atlas by machine gunning the pilot thru a window .

[monev]

windows on modern attack helicopters aren't made of glass either. They are made of Sapphire crystal paines. http://www.newport.c.../1033/info.aspx

[Damascas]

RL Nice, on 11 July 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

I'm reading Decision at Thunder Rift right now, and there's a passage in it that says BattleMechs don't have glass windows in their cockpits. It would make sense, since they are weak spots, but I was wondering what the rest of the canon says about this.

After all, this contradicts the artwork I've seen of several 'mechs, most notably the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat, and of course, all the MechWarrior games since Mech3. Of course, in the games, I suppose they could be projected images on the inside of the cockpit wall, but they look awfully a lot like windows made of glass or something equally transparent.

Actually back in the way back days of that book a lot of things were different. Mechs lacked windows, lasers were invisible to the naked eye, a untraceable gyro error was common and neurohelmets were lostech.

[Alteris]

i believe it's called plasteel. can't remember if it was during one of the earlier books, like from the 90s, that on certain 'mechs they have it recessed.... but iono.

[ZnSeventeen]

I think they are supposed to have windows, though not necessarily glass, since getting hit in the camera by a PPC would utterly annihilate your vision for minutes, if not forever. Admittedly they are a weakpoint, no matter what they are made of, since they cannot be as thick as the rest of the mech, but they would allow a mechwarrior to still have situational awareness even while shut down, under the effects of EMP or if the camera is busted in some way.

[Weird Beard]

Mech cockpits have always been drawn with windows. I never once thought they would be made of glass. Thanks Krubarax for confirming what they are actually made of. Where is ferroglass mentioned?

I figured the windows were the reason the cockpit was so fragile (max 9hp)

[Icebound]

Could you build a whole mech out of this clear metal to have partial invisibility?

[ZnSeventeen]

Icebound, on 11 July 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Could you build a whole mech out of this clear metal to have partial invisibility?

Ninjamech. Would be pretty boss.

[MC Hammer]

Icebound, on 11 July 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Could you build a whole mech out of this clear metal to have partial invisibility?

But then everyone could see your "Hardpoints"

[Bongo TauKat]

The transparent material for battlemechs is referred to as "Transpex" in several novels.

[RL Nice]

Icebound, on 11 July 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Could you build a whole mech out of this clear metal to have partial invisibility?

That would simply look too weird. And brittle.