First, you tell us walking is better for the environment and then you tell us that it won't be possible because some stupid numbers law thing? What do you expect us to walk on? Our own fucking meaty feet?! They go all ouchie after a time!
Our own fucking meaty feet?! They go all ouchie after a time!
Even ignoring the square-cube law, it's just a really bad design. If you look at modern main battle tanks, they have been getting lower profile. This is for the simple fact that not being a massive target sticking up from the terrain is a really useful feature. Even then, they often use terrain to try and lower their visible profile further. Add to that all the complexity of making legs and arms work, and it's begging for a stealthier vehicle to drop the mech with a 105mm penetrator to the knee.
Patlabor addresses this somewhat. Bipedal mech started as a way to rapidly rebuild Tokyo after a massive earthquake. They became so ubiquitous, that regular people had access to them so between drunk/disgruntled construction workers and some bank robberies, Tokyo police had to add two divisions of "Patrol Labors" to deal with it. They're costly and annoying to everyone. The mech carriers are two lanes wide and no body likes giving them the right of way in traffic. After that, the companies making them diversified into military and meches have a limited roll depending on the terrain. Mostly swampy jungles with bad line of sights, so the legs are useful and the high profile a none issue. High end military models are very quiet compared to civilian models.
Ah but the bipedal mech suits could crawl along to floor, given a really low profile. Tank can't do that. Checkmate.
/s
I want to see a Raven crawling on the floor with a low profile.
A Dire Wolf would be quite something too.
Didn't the original tabletop BT rules allow for mechs to lie prone for better accuracy and defense? And mechs that didn't have arm actuators had a penalty to standing back up?
I think you are ignoring the very important fact that Gundams are dope.
In game they introduced regular human sized battlesuits ("elementals"), they gimp mechs pretty much as bad as you're saying.
Let alone drones. If you don't install OP point defence on every mech, they will all be brought down by drones targetting the legs.
A taller mech has better reach. It helps when fighting with fists and swords. Checkmate!
If square-cube law then how T-Rex? Checkmate engineers.
What T-Rex? Square cube law dealt with them years ago!
"Square cube law cast Meteor! It was super effective!"
My headcanon is that mechs require a few things to be a viable weapons platform:
If 1 isn't true, then toss rocks at them from space and pick up the pieces later.
If 2 isn't true, then it would be easier to train local forces and use commando teams
If 3 isn't true, then it would be cheaper, easier, and more effective to deploy rapid response forces of mixed armored infantry.
If 4 isn't true, then send your swarms of autonomous weapons platforms to kill anything that moves.
I'm sure there's a few other reasons why Urbanmechs would make more sense than the larger platforms, but at some point you just gotta enjoy the mecha
Actually, did the surface area math for a Timberwolf/Madcat mech years and years ago and they were (unexpectedly) fine.
They had something like 25% more surface area per foot than a challenger 2 does with both treads.
The bigger issues are that chicken walker legs don't work to support 60 some odd tons of weight, and that the 10-15m height is a little bIt too noticeable
Picture a bipedal mech with a big gun that looks like rock. It has a shroud for people to hide under, so they can't be seen by thermal imaging. It could allow special forces to exist on mountains undetected for extended periods of time.
Admittedly, a quadruped would be better for traction purposes, but there could be specialized use cases.
Or the Titanfall mechs, that are much smaller than typical and used for industrial purposes, which canonically are used to speed up colonization because they don't need a lot of the infrastructure that wheels need.
Until we figure out a super strong super light material you can build them out of: All we really need to do is come up with a name for it!
May I suggest: Badassanium?
Carbon fiber! 10 times stronger than steel yet light as a feather!
...
Good luck mass producing that in the correct form though. Carbon fibers, while pretty much our currently best material is so far unusable besides on microscopic application.
We did find out this summer that carbon fiber is horrendous at pressure loads. Might not be the best material for a mech.
Awesome! We always learn more!
Nah, carbon fiber can't really take much abuse. It'll probably be some sort of crazy nano-something-or-other.
Build an ostrich. Problem solved.
DM me for the rates on my consulting fees.
I say this too, not as an engineer, but when reading the self important downers in battle forums saying a giant chicken wouldn't beat a lion only because of this stupid law, instead of just entertaining the idea
My hen and I were having a bit of a staredown one afternoon and she instantly and with no warning snapped her head to the side and chomped a bee out of the air, swallowed it, and was immediately back to staring me down.
They're also completely wrong. You can go see Lucy in Chicago and see with your own eyes the skeleton of the giant chicken that would take out a lion in one bite.
Lol, giant chicken (sensu latissimo) have beaten elephant sized animals for all we know. Also look up the terror bird.
A world without the possibility of Metal Gear isn't a world worth living in.
a space elevator for ~~nukes~~ payloads will probably come before mechs and that makes me sad
A space elevator (on Earth) is pretty unfeasible. Mechs are much more likely.
Not really the alloys for the elevator will be the mech armor joints etc. You need something like that or you mech is just canon fodder
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