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Aircraft pilots have to worry about not hitting the terrain in a rather general sense..the ground is bad, m'kay? But for a Mech, well..it's a wee bit more complicated. Terrain isn't something to avoid by simply pulling up, it's something to use, abuse and fear all at the same time. Aircraft don't hide behind trees or buildings or hills or inside craters and so on, Mechs do. Aircraft tend to have 2 weapon systems that can be used against them, missiles or guns. Mechs have all sorts of weapon systems from guns, AtG and even dumbfire missile systems, artillery, a whole list of various mines, infantry running up with sticky bombs, pit traps...the list goes on and on, hazards they must be prepared to deal with.
Mech pilots have to learn how to work with the tools required to drive a Mech, one of the hardest being the view. Mech pilots don't look out the cockpit window and see the world, many Mechs HAVE no such thing, they instead look at a view that's shown inside their neurohelmet(I'll cover those next) that takes a full 360 degree view around the Mech and compresses it into 160 degrees directly in front of the pilot's eyes. THAT is one of the hardest things for a Mech pilot to learn to deal with, and it's one of the things that washes out hopefuls. Mechs aren't controlled by the neurohelmet, a very VERY common misconception, they are actually controlled with at least 2 joysticks on the arms of the command couch(the seat you sit in..it ain't anything like WE use in our military vehicles of any sort!) and with foot pedals. The joysticks are for controlling the torso and general arm movements, with waldo type devices to control hands(when applicable). The foot pedals are to make the Mech walk and to activate jump jets. It's a workout to drive a Mech around, Mech pilots are extremely fit, have exceptional stamina and are capable of handling extreme stress and heat for long periods of time. This is because Mechs are HOT, and even the best enviromental systems can't deal with the extreme heat that comes from literally sitting on top of a working fusion reactor, especially when you add in the heat from the various weapon systems. Pilots wear a cooling vest and the command couch is designed to help keep them cool as well. Most Mech pilots wear their underwear, boots, cooling vest and neurohelmet while inside their Mechs, it's just THAT damn hot inside a Mech.
Neurohelmets are the most important thing in a Mech..but they don't do what so many think they do, control the Mech. They are a neural interface device that does 1 thing..taps into the human sense of balance, that's it. They do this so the Mech can remain upright and walk and jump and kneel, stand, whatever, because without that, the Mech will fall over the first time you try and move it. Gyros HELP maintain the balance of a Mech, but it requires a living human being to GET that balance in the first place, and any pilot who's injured his inner ear is a done pilot. It's almost as difficult to get used to the neurohelmet as the 360-160 view, because they ain't perfect, there's always a..buzz..as it's described in the TT and novels, never goes away, and you 'feel' the Mech as if it were you're own body..sort of..it's a limited bio-feedback system. Which can be painful at times as well. Second major cause of washouts, neurohelmet intergration, some people just can't do it.
Neurohelmets are also a security feature, so before you think about bailing out of your beat up Mech and going and pulling a GTA on someone ELSE'S Mech, disabuse yourself of that stupidity right now. Trying to jack into someone else's Mech will result in, if you are lucky, unconsciousness and a LOT of pain as their neurohelmet interface systems detect you are NOT the authorized pilot and 'detain' you until said person shows up, complete with alarms and so on. Many of these systems are set to lethal levels however, and stealing Mechs like this isn't a common thing by any means. There are, naturally, ways to bypass these security measures, but those take time and really good computer skills, which your common Mech pilot simply doesn't have, it's specialized training.
And that is the BattleTech Universe..Mech pilots are the elite of the elite, rare and vaunted, or hated, warriors who pilot giant machines of destruction and devastation..or hope and peace, depending on your point of view.
NOW..as to playing the MechWarrior games..well..they do make using a Mech much easier then your average good flight sim, but that's because of the fact that we don't have the hardware required to control a Mech as described in BattleTech, much less the tech to replicate that hardware properly
Try to d/l the MekTek MechWarrior4:Mercs game, it's free and it's pretty easy to get into. You may need to find the WinXP codecs to make the game actually run beyond the opening cinematics though, http://www.xpcodecpack.com/download is the one I used with Win7 to make it function. MW4 was the most simplistic of the MechWarrior games on PC, but it will give you some idea of what it's like to drive one.
because you've totally both piloted a 'Mech and flown a fighter aircraft, and are qualified to tell us how it is. Your knowledge of flight mechanics is good enough that I'd almost believe you were a pilot, but I know you haven't driven a 'Mech.
