A few issues with your angle on this...
If engines in BT really had
unlimited power, it wouldn't matter which engine size you fitted to a Mech. (Urbies would go whatever speed they wanted, up to the physical limits of their leg pivots.) BT engines have
immense power, for sure, but there are
limits.
The strength of the structure is also limited. (There is a tonnage limit.) Delivering too much power to myomers and leaning too hard on the gyro would overstress the internals of a Mech. A bit like using a digger's shovel to move it around: the hydraulics have the power to do this but such extreme and unusual forces are likely to bend an arm or shear off a pivot.
Forward pitch with high mounts, to get back on topic, is
physically limited by simple balance. Strength doesn't increase the degree to which an unbalanced load can be extended. (Greater strength does allow a barely balanced load to be held longer. If the Mech mass is balanced, it has the power to stay like that until the fuel source runs out.)
In the experiment to hold weights high up and lean forwards, you'll soon fall on your face no matter how rigidly you hold your body. That's why you're supposed to do the experiment! Feel the physics.
If the load moves beyond the balanced point, it's a faceplant for any system.
Mechs with high mounts, therefore, should have limited pitch. Mechs with low mounts should have greater pitch.
Gyroscopic stabilisers (not to be confused with sensors) only help for a short time (as discussed) due to the finite amount of energy that can be stored in a spinning mass. It runs down while the potential energy is being converted into kinetic energy which resists the force of falling too far forward.
The 'Mech has to return to a stable footing for the Gyro to spin up again, during which time it can't hold an unbalanced load. The 'unsteady' phase in the recent BattleTech PC game simulates (to some extent) this spin-up phase before the gyro returns to full energy.
Aside: A Mech would be more vulnerable to knockdowns during this spin-up phase as there won't be much potential energy when the gyro mass is spinning slower. When a small Mech touches down after a brief jumpjet burst, that's the time to shoot it!
Allowing more organic movement than we have in the videogames can extend the limits limits but they don't go away entirely. Putting one leg further forward lets a humanoid shape pitch further forward; a high lunge position. It is possible to walk like this; the whole body is held a bit lower in order to shift the entire gait to the front. (Top speed is reduced and it's also less stable.)
With more organic movement, a Dragon could offset its legs to the right while running and steering left. Thing is...so could any other Mech! So even in the most favourable intepretation, the
inescapable limits of simple balance will disadvantage some designs for some movements when compared to others.
Fun topic. But please let my Centurion and Dragon stay balanced and twisty. @nightbird
Edited by BenMillard, 25 January 2020 - 04:27 AM.
5
Nightbird, on 24 January 2020 - 04:13 PM, said:
