Are Mecha a feasible alternative to tanks.

Guys solve problems, that is how we universally (well almost universally) operate we solve things fix what is broken (even if it isn't sometimes) we use whatever is available to make any issue that comes up go away, and at this Shinji failed miserably, if he had his man license I'm sure it would be revoked, but he never qualified for the thing to begin with.

No, not really. Next gen tanks are supposedly using a different system I'm not really sure which one, frankly I doubt the next gen will use something new, but I think the one after that will. I remember seeing it once but now I don't remember what system they were using it because I only caught a glance in a magazine while I was doing something important. Tracks are an ok system but a pain in the ass to repair. Wheels don't work as well in mud because the vehicle will get stuck, which is why every tank on earth uses tracks.

I studied for one year in an agricultural school (not sure if is the right word, but in plain terms is a school that forms technitians needed for farming, cattle and many other areas of that segment, including making raw products into something like cheese), in there I saw a tractor that had rubber tracks, I mean some really heavy duty badass rubber tracks made for moving in mud as well as in pavemented roads with best efficiency.

With the development of new technologies the full metal tracks might be replaced by rubber ones (with a metal filling or something), to decrease the total weight and allow the implementation of better arms or armors, in that avaliable weight.

Modern tracks are made of steel and have rubber treads on them which are a bitch and a half to replace. You literally have to take that section of track off and then replace that whole section.

Mechs also get stuck in mud without jets. Replacing a wheel on a tank would also be a bitch and a half since the wheel would be huge, I would much rather prefer replacing a 1X2' track than replace an entire wheel designed to help support 50+ tons.

And you would have at the tops one extra tire, with tracks you might have more sections stored, I mean the can be stacked, rolled or whatever other way that is used to store them in the tank for emergency use.

While a major pain in the ass, changing a damaged track section must be easier than changing a huge tire. Changing regular tires is a pain, imagine changing tires that are taller than a car and weight more than one.

Yeah, they like to add tracks to the tanks hull for additional protection and so that they have them available if they ever throw track (term for the track breaking and then the resulting hurling of the track off of the road wheels)

other than the balancing problem due to the weight of something that big, as well as how crappy the maneuverability one would be IRL, it is possible. Now, as said even back on page 1, if you used a 4-leg system similar to a dragoon in SC, it will solve a good number of the balance problems.

The biggest problem is how they would function. Most mech run on black box technology. Minovsky Physics is the biggest example of this.

A 70-80 ft tall robot is incredibly unpractible. However, a 10 to 15-ft tall power armor built for hit-and-run tactics could very well work, if they could find a suitable power supply (really, the EVA umbilical cable is the only feasible option)

No, I refuse to believe anything the Evas did was right. When we do start actively using battle suit technology (which is the midpoint between powered armor and mechs. Appleseed style vehicles) we will have batteries which can run them for several days non-stop. I do think we will have to find an alternative fuel source or use fusion/fission engines to generate a flight capabilities on such a vehicle though, but like I said by the time we actually use those, the alternative source/mini-nuclear generators will probably be active, and "safe" to run on.

No, I mean something that can be up and running in the next 5-10 years from now, in which case we will still need an external power supply for battlesuits. Besides, EVA wasn't the only series that used power cables. The automated sentry drones in Blue Gender had them too. Those robots were considering flawless at killing the Blue, except for the fact that they needed to be hooked up to an external power supply, making them unreasonable to use in the field.

As for a portable nuclear generator, that is both unfeasible and a really, REALLY stupid idea. The reason nuclear plants are so big is because a nuclear reactor needs a LOT of shit to stabilize it. Control rods, cooling vats, pressure vessels, neutron moderators: all are necesary for a reactor to safely run without reaching meltdown, and it takes up a lot of space. It's not something you can just slap onto a jeep (unless said jeep is the size of a city block). Most types of portable power supplies in fiction are a massive handwaving (though really, that can be said with 90% of all mecha technology).

Yes, there SHOULD be an internal power supply that can allow the battlesuit to run for a few minutes under its own power. However, it is easier (not to mention cheaper) to just slap a power cable hook-up onto it for a power supply.

Another problem is overheating and suspension control. The machinery of a battlesuit/mech made from non-alien technology would, realistically, generate a lot of heat, probably enough to kill the pilot through heat stroke if there isn't a proper way to vent it out of the unit. The suspension control was brought up in Gundam Wing. The Tallgeese was not built with a proper suspension system for the cockpit, which when coupled with the fact that the Tallgeese could move at insanely high speeds even by mecha standards, put a HUGE physical and mental strain the pilot trying to maintain control in it, a problem that cost Zechs's friend Otto his life.

Of course, in terms of reality and conventional weapon, I doubt we'll see mechs. Robots, maybe, but not mechs. More than likely, we'll take the flying/space battleship route instead.

I doubt we'll ever have battles like this in reality, where mechs replace soldiers.



If anything, a battlesuit/mecha should be used for injured soldiers: have those who can no longer fight under their own strength be hooked up neurally to the systems of the cockpit, so that they can continue fighting until their bodies give out.

The Blue Gender suits sucked too, they couldn't even hurt their targets unless they hit a certain point. Units that have external power sources will never be used in combat, probably never used out of combat easier, it is just simply too easy to snap a cord and then you have a worthless pile of metal in the way of everything. Like I said batteries would be the way to go until you want to add a jet pack to it then you have to use a different source of power because batteries aren't efficient for flight.

That wasn't their fault. It was the only weak point the Blue had, and heavy-type weaponry couldn't be carried by such small units.



You'd be amazed how easily it would signed off as "acceptable" if it was economically the better choice. Budget determines a lot in what technology is used.

As I've already said though, mecha are, physics-wise, a really, really bad idea. Even space battleships are completely out of the question until we find some near-infinite power source. Oh if only we had the Ide...and it doesn't kill us all.

Yeah that was their fault those guns were horrible, I've never seen such high caliber weapons do so little damage to anything, ever. What is really weird is that by the end of the series they could just simply shoot the bugs and they would die, it's like the bug armor got weaker, they didn't state that they were using better ammunition or anything, and the guns looked the same, so it is safe to conclude that some moron gave them duds at the start of the series.

No, seriously we would just stick to vehicles that work, having your power cord cut by ambushers and then being rendered useless is not economical in any way otherwise we would already be doing it.

or it could be, ya know, plot device.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoweredMonsterDifficulty



we don't do it now because we have nothing that needs it. An aircraft carrier holds its own nuclear reactor on board, but only because it can fit it.

Besides, anything with a power cable would obviously be used for base defense, not offensive capabilities.

Vehicles that work? Well then scratch mecha, since 95% of them run on either Minovsky physics or Black Box technology. Unless an alien ship crashes that we can reverse-engineer, we can't produce what mecha can do with what can be found on earth. If we had alien technology, then yes, maybe even Super Robots that ran on the pilot's courage and willpower would be possible. Mecha isn't science, it's psuedo-science.

Of course, no group could ever get a military contract for shit like this, since the military would be much more interested in simply buying missiles that can hit the target from the other side of the planet and can level a city.

I wouldn't even use those for base defenders, someone could go all Rambo style(or they could just shell our power supply) and cut the power to those and then we are left to traditional defenses, oh wait no, we have less of those because the poorly designed vehicles with outside power sources took up all of our money and space. Vehicles with an external power supply is a retarded idea, especially for military purposes.

That may or may not have been a plot device but it wasn't a very good one. I call it bad writing.

I never said it was a good idea. I just said it was cheaper than developing a new power supply. Hell, mecha in general aren't a good idea. That goes for lasers too (well actually, we CAN build them now, but they'd be really impractical).



um...duh?