Which Nation will be the first to build a real-life Mecha?

I'm going for Japan for 2 reasons

1--Lots of brain power

2--No common-sense what so ever


Also that walking machine pwns in a non-combat environment. Definite practical use in work environment.

Going for japan too, for goodness sake, they already built gundam replicas as close as they could.. speaking of gundam replicas, do anyone have a footage of that huge gundam mecha walking? Because I'll love to see how well it can walk.

It's just a replica dude it's not an actual walking gundam.

I dont mean the mini gundam one but I mean the one that's laying on it's back in a picture.. it look like its three times bigger than the different smaller gundam replica.

The U.S. intends to deploy power armor in the next 20 years at latest, because we value our infantry or some such nonsense. We already have models that function properly just trying to get the small details, like how to make sure they function in all environments and up-armoring them, which using another already developed piece of technology would make them almost immune to everything below .50 cal. because that's the way we roll. The first being the suit of powered armor they showed on Attack of the show, the second being a real-life Mjolnir (Halo-style) inspired suit of armor some garage scientist concocted.

I doubt anyone will use mechs they are too big and to easy as targets, blow out one of their leg joints (as a former tanker I know they can target a normal persons leg joints so a giant robot should be no problem)and they become useless, and considering they are usually no less than 30 feet tall hitting the legs is a joke even at the 2 mile mark. They do look impressive though. We may see them when space battles become a big deal since mecha would be the infantry in those, because you can rip into enemy ships, while in a mech and you can wander the corridors, but a small suit similar to the suits in Appleseed would have almost the same function they just aren't likely to be useful as anything but boarding parties.

Sorry to bring realism into your flights of fantasy but that is probably how things would roll in real life.

Dont be sorry about bringing realism into our fantasy =p it helps put things into perspective.

Yeah, you don't have to apologize for being realism into the discussion. However while uncertain certain mechs can be used similarly to tanks, if you look to Gundam 8th MS unit, that is how they consider the MS. Sure mechs and other giant robots are easy targets, but we have to consider the range of the weaponry that they can be equipped with.

Being bigger and heavier than tanks, with a taller weapon system a mech can aim at longer distances with heavier weapons. I am not familiar with artilery grade weapons and munnitions, but I am pretty sure that mechs could fire some of those massive shells that can hit a 200 liters drum at 30 kilomters of distance.

Ohboyohboy...I remember having this exact argument somewhere else...

Nevertheless, I'll do it again.

Please do not mention tanks in the same breath as mecha. Tanks, while extremely effective for all we have seen of them, are nothing more at this point then the top of the tank tech tree. Face it. We are NOT going to make better tanks. Well, hover and plasma tanks, maybe. But no better current-gen tanks.

The easiest way I have of explaining it is this: Imagine a tech tree in an RTS.

We've hit the top of the Tank tree. Thus, we have unlocked the Mech tree. For fucks sake, of course first model mecha are going to be lightly armored slow clunky things that tanks can take out in an instant.

But think back: What did the first tank function like?

It was a square of metal that would break down in rain, snow, mud, or if you thought about it too hard. It could be pierced with small-arms fire.

Think about that. A tank that's NOT immune to small arms.

If we put proper resources into mech development, as we have into tank development, we will essentially create Universally-capable Giant Armored Infantry.

I'll see your two mile joint shot, and raise you a 10 mile giant sniper rifle shot. Besides, if you lose a joint, a mech can still fight, just as a soldier who has lost a joint can still fight.

hrm well i must agree with some of you japan will be the first however it will have to be backed by one of its major supporters the US or another however china can also be first but as i said before not without backing and materials from another country and as for russia they have all the military to do it but not the tec now hopfully that will end this argument (NOT! i dont want it to ever end muhahahah)

And depending of how the mech is made the joint/limb can be replaced quickly at a junction, i.e. if the hand is broken change the arm by the elbow, if the elbow is gone, remove and change by the shoulder.

And I do remember that the first tanks weren't as powerful as today's, in the beginning they were made to crush barbed wire fences and other kinds of anti-infantry blocks in the field so the infantry could charge.

Later in wars the function changed after fixed cannons and machine guns were installed on the tanks, so they could fight back while tearing the defenses of the enemy. Modern tanks took a different path from the original tank, no one can contest that it was a turn to better, but nowdays tanks aren't the 'battering rams' that they used to be in the days of their creation.

Well, one thing's for sure, we'll never know how well mechs will perform until someone does an real life simulation.. espically an simulation against tanks.

But yeah, does have a point in mechs for their abiliy to use different kind of weapons from what we have now. I wont be surprised to see one capable of carrying something like single barrel from one of battleships as its bazooka? =P

@arizth- i understand your point about present generation tanks being the top of the tech tree. however do you really think that once a mech becomes a feasible(spelling ftl) combat alternative we wont have extended the top of the tank tech tree? by the time we actually see mechs in a true combat situation we will prolly have uber tanks that could nuke a city in one shot(yes exageration but you get my point).

one thing ive been wondering is how the hell we will power these things. the only possible thing i can imagine is nuclear power. considering the relative size they will most likely be(im guesing like two sedan-make cars standing end to end with the front skyward), i cant imagine we will be able to use gas. electric is a negative unless we come up with a really good batterie in the same time period. i think that if we used gas we could use them as a quick end game shot(like sending them in to level a base after we take out the perimeter defenses) or as a initial wave to pretty much trample their frontlines before the smaller stuff comes thru.


on a similar bit, at this point wont we have pretty much turned earth into a war ravaged wasteland? i mean the weapons are getting bigger and bigger but the land isnt. im just thinking that at some point we need to just stop making em so...big i guess. i mean i think prolly the more level headed countries(i use that term as in not useing strategies that make a area worthless to the conqueror) will steer more toward efficiency but i still think that eventually we will get to a point that the next new weapon will just doom us all. but then again ive always assumed that armagedon will be a humanity only event. but thats another subject...and im rambling so ill stop now.

All energy that can be used to power a mech are explosive on a mass scale. Mini-nuclear reacter--nothing Mini about it. Gas tank--- I'll laugh when somebody thinks thats a good Idea on a giant robot. Hell we're better off trying to use spiral energy.

\\ almost all forms of power explode.

I do say "we" because I know what I'm talking about(although ostly because I'm American), currently speaking were we to try to make a functional combat mecha we could, it would be expensive, impractical, and a really big target, the weaknesses are too big on them, hit their waist actuator, they can't pivot without major effort, hit their knee they cannot walk and will probably fall over, hit their arm and their gun becomes useless as it cannot be aimed, shoot their sensor package and they cannot see.

On a tank though you shoot the treads and there is a fair chance the road wheels will take over, shoot the turret the gun will still function, shoot the sensor package and we can still look through the periscopes the vehicles have, but shooting the point where the turret meets the hull will probably kill most of the crew, if not all.

Why can't I mention tanks in the same breath? Ignoring the tank is what I consider folly, you aren't paying attention to your roots, your past, you are going to make mistakes, horrible irreparable mistakes. We have not hit the top of the tank tree, I've seen next gen tanks they possess autoloaders, are made of composite materials which are far far lighter and sturdier than the current layered steel on ceramic on depleted uranium on top secret material they wouldn't tell tankers like myself.

While I used to be a tanker I hated the fucking things they break down on their own, they have to be re-sighted between uses, if someone didn't set the fire control systems right they would go off on their own, and they are stupid hot on the inside. The tank still breaks down under nominal conditions but even with said breakdowns there are enough backup systems in the vehicles that they don't really need all the fancy hydraulics and electronics they possess.

The only tanks that were vulnerable to small arms fire were the french ones and those aren't tanks they are mechanized units, the brits were immune to it unless the infantry got really close, which modern tanks are still like that.

I'd have to say Japanese designed but built in Korea. Japan could most probably get the design right, Korea could build it well and cheap.

Ok at this point in time we do lack the nessary material to make a minaturized reactor. However the material we need has been found in moon rocks from the apollo missions. (shur took them long enough) The substance known as Hellium 3 has been discovered in high quanties on the moon. Hellium 3 will allow a fissin reaction instead of a fusion reaction. This info is from national public raido. talk of the nation science friday. this is also ironicly how mobile suits from gundam's universal century timeline are powered www.gundamofficial.com

yea the gas tank will be fine until after about a week or so(i say a week because for some ungodly reason major military officials and planners seems to overlook obvious stuff) a sniper is watching one walk by with its group and thinks "wait a sec...thats a giant gas tank...and i got exploding bullets(i dont remember the real name). he he he....this should be pretty...."<---that is honestly what i think the thought process will be. although it might just be a soldier. or a tank. whatever