76 replies to this topic

[nubnub]

As far as I know there are no mechs with guns directly attached to their legs - is there a reason for this? I ask because a lot of the mech's weight and structure is in the legs so why let them go to waste and not mount them with guns? This could even be sexy...



The only downside I see is that you only have a short period in which to fire between taking steps

[Bishiii]

one of most stupit movies ever. why shes not holding that rifle with her hands?? women* i dont get them.

[Polymorphyne]

How would you aim leg mounted guns? The torsoe twists and the arms move to help aim guns, the legs would require you to rotate the entire mech.
Also, if your mech goes through rough terrain, the guns could easily get tangled or damaged.
They would also have crappy elevation, any low lying walls or obstructions would mask their field of fire.

[Cyote13]

The only reason most mechs dont have weapons in thier legs is tactical, if you are behind any kind of cover the legs weapons would not be able to fire. Additionaly, legs are the favored place to put extra heat sinks, which takes up crit space, since water helps a lot with heat and legs are the first part of a mech in the water

[Tifalia]

Are there not enough weapons on a 'mech to satisfy you?

[Fluffinator]

nubnub, on 12 March 2012 - 02:31 AM, said:

As far as I know there are no mechs with guns directly attached to their legs - is there a reason for this? I ask because a lot of the mech's weight and structure is in the legs so why let them go to waste and not mount them with guns? This could even be sexy...



The only downside I see is that you only have a short period in which to fire between taking steps

Talk about asking to get legged

[Cake Bandit]

What.

[Vininator]

Yea I don't think guns on the legs are feasible from a purely practical standpoint. Hard to aim and easy to break.

[nubnub]

Ok I see they are hard to aim and easy to break. There are three mech implementations I was thinking for this:

1. missile boat - because the missiles are self-guiding anyway you can pack them into the legs too

2. super close range - when you are standing right next to you opponent then you have some extra firepower

3. elemental - jump onto enemy cockpit and unload

I would also think recoil in the legs would be far less than in arms, although I don't remember any recoil in MW games for balistic weapons in torso\arms??? I guess the main reason is you have space there so why not use it, even if for smoke launchers or flares.

[Cake Bandit]

nubnub, on 12 March 2012 - 03:44 AM, said:

3. elemental - jump onto enemy cockpit and unload

I just woke my household up laughing. Can you imagine what would happen with regards to recoil? I can't wait for the day that I see a smoking, spinning elemental trying to regain control after firing the autocannons in its legs.

[Polymorphyne]

Id rather put more armour onto my legs rather than more weapons.

[Kenyon Burguess]

b-pods go on legs


http://www.sarna.net/wiki/B-Pod

[Carebear]

Mines, why the hell not.

[Dlardrageth]

If you include missile launchers and not only "guns", the Crusader Mech could be a prominent example. CRD-6M variant even had double SSRM-4 launchers located there.

[ice trey]

I won't lie - guns on legs aren't the most efficient design concept.

However, they're not quite as uncommon as you think. First of all a "Leg Mounted" weapon often means that it's attached to the hip. An example of this is the Unseen Crusader (Or if the stats matched the artwork, the Summoner/Thor and the Hellbringer/Loki). Some - but very few - mechs also mount weapons as low as their knees (Viking, Sirocco), but they're pretty few and far in between. This might be for aesthetic reasons, or it might be because the stats don't have room for them anywhere else (A torso slot has only 12 locations, after all). Another reason might be for redundancy - If you blow off a torso location, all the components in that location get destroyed, and the arm gets blown off, losing you double the gear. The only way to blow a leg off is to attack it directly (as they're attached to the CT, which when destroyed means the 'mech is dead, anyway)

The tactical issue with the leg mounted weapons are that when you torso twist, the torso arc and the legs arc become different. What is more, they would make it very difficult to fire over terrain features, as partial cover from the legs up would absorb the shots (But on the plus side, you could shoot at targets under the water earlier, likely why the Hatamoto-Kaeru variant sports torpedo-launchers on the legs). Each weapon in Battletech, I imagine, are hooked up to some sort of actuator or ball turret of sorts to be aimed independently - especially in the torso locations, where getting the weapons to focus on a single location would be difficult. The main reason I have come to this conclusion is the comparison of weights between equal weapons found on both a 'mech and a suit of Battle Armor. Where a Medium Laser on a BA suit weighs 500 Kilograms, a 'mechs' medium laser weighs 1000Kg, or roughly double. My only assumption is that there must be a whole bunch of other mounts and actuators added to the weight of every weapon in order to give it that difference in weight.

So while aiming isn't going to be an issue, Terrain features and Torso facing would be.

[Beren Valari]

Isn't that what a Mech is? Guns on legs?

[Polymorphyne]

Hips are a different body part to legs.

Another problem with leg weapons is they are going to struggle to be fired while the mech is moving- the leg will be moving up and down alot as the mech walks. Hips on the other hand are less of a problem.

Edited by Longsword, 12 March 2012 - 05:16 AM.

[FEK315]

BISH0P, on 12 March 2012 - 02:34 AM, said:

one of most stupit movies ever. why shes not holding that rifle with her hands?? women* i dont get them.

Right on!

[CoffiNail]

I think it is more, you CAN put weapons on the legs, if you so want too. No one is saying you need to or have to.

[Damocles]

If the mechs that were designed for it were included in game (Ex: Crusader) then of course it should be included.

Though a major issue would be making sure your fire clears whatever ground cover you might be standing behind.