Pain Killer, on 21 January 2013 - 05:06 AM, said:
Perhaps, you could have some really nice optics and image enhancement hardware to compensate for the three pixel height effect.
True! It could be very engaging, but would need to be an entirely different game I think.
To be honest, I find all these arguments highly amusing, especially the ones advocating the supremacy of the humble battlemech. They simply can't be compared people! Mechs are fantastic looking machines built for fun and awesomeness. Tanks are ugly machines built for surviving long enough to murder anything they can target in the most efficient and brutal way possible.
As far as mechs being able to take more damage... the stalwart tank of the American (and now Australian) army, the Abrams, has very rarely had it's armor penetrated by ANYTHING in battle. From the stupendously accurate Wikipedia:
"Nearly all sources claim that no Abrams tank has ever been destroyed as a result of fire from an enemy tank, but some have certainly taken some damage which required extensive repair.
aaand...
In the Gulf War, Abrams tanks survived multiple hits at relatively close ranges from Iraqi Lion of Babylon tanks and ATGMs. M829A1 "Silver Bullet" APFSDS rounds from other M1A1 Abrams were unable to penetrate the front and side armor (even at close ranges) in friendly fire incidents as well as an incident in which an Abrams tried to destroy an abandoned Abrams stuck in the mud."
This is a fun read also:
http://yllus.com/201...tank-really-is/
If you start using these arguments though, you may as well imagine the same technical advances in Mech warfare, using our own advances for a basis. Maybe there is a possibility of technology evolving to the point where mechs are viable. Maybe the protective qualities of battletech armor are far superior to modern tank armor. Maybe they have managed to cram all the ludicrously complicated working parts necessary to enable a 100 tonne machine to walk into a viable package.
However, even with all that, a tank produced with the same technology would still be a far more efficient weapons platform, and would have a FAR smaller profile than a battlemech. You could mount a hideous amount of firepower on it, as unlike a mech with all it's weight concentrated on two feet, a tank has it's weight distributed over meters and meters of tracks.
Then, think about weapons power. If armor protection had increased so much further than contemporary tanks today, the destructive power of weapon systems would have to increase to the point where they could damage it, otherwise war would merely be the equivalent of a very noisy game of laser tag. Turning up to a war where the first weapons fire removes some pesky local mountains and turns kilometers of open space into a blasted ruin would be kind of counter productive.
"General, the Planet is ours! Well, it's actually one third smaller now than it was before we started firing, and no longer has an atmosphere, but we totally kicked ***!"