Will Mechs ever become a reality?

[CluckerChiken]

No..

Why not?

They are to vulnerable.
The legs are a HUGE weakspot, not to mention the cockpit...which usually contains a glas window :D

Nope...i don't think humanoid styled mechs of this size will ever be a reality.

To bad though...they look awesome :D

[Fanatic]

BAWK!

It all depends on material and AI advancements and incentive. Take the setting of complex machines capable of complex movement tasks operating in complex environments where speed and human brainpower is essential. In such a case, and with no suitable AI replacing humans, the most likely design solutions will be humanoid like, because humans can control these much better then any other physical form.

Don't argue that we can use joysticks, you can't pick up things that way, or move the arms and grab like a real human can.

Will they ever be use for combat mechs? Doubtful...as combat is a special purpose case, where only limited controls are required. There are way more efficient designs for this and AI's will be much more easy to create. THink of the pilot interceptors and attack craft the US is already experienting with. They perform better then any pilot ever did, due to less design restrictions and the absence of a pilot that cannot the the G forces a plane can.

So, yet there will be humanoid mechs in the future. Asteroid mining in space comes to my mind here, but for combat, hell no. It's a shame tho!

Fanatic

[DruidChiken]

I doubt if they would, but if they did i think they would be more of the Omni design like the Daishi and Masakari rather than the humanoid shape.

But it would be an awesome sight to see :)



Druid

[PherdnutChiken]

Construction and firefighting.

[LoneStarChiken]

No....not in MW4 form.

The high center of gravity makes the device too easy to knock over (regardless of advanced gyros).

Also, it's not possible for one of these things to get back on its feet after getting knocked prone.

Finally, not possible to have unlimited jump jet fuel.


PS. Maybe a Puma on tracks could work.

[DirtPoorChiken]

I agree wtih Pherdnut, sooner or later with technology advances they will make something like a mech to battle fires up close and to handle heavy loads like at loading docks and maybe construction. I am thinking something along the lines of the loaders that where in the movie Aliens to start. I guess kind of like a powered exoskeleton. Real mechs would be pretty vulnerable unless supported by additional armor and infantry though, and I can only imagine the cost so I doubt it would be any time soon.

[Papa Theif]

Combat....well it would all depend on the type of firepower and range. Most combat machines were biult around weapons not vice versa. Look at it this way, why did submarines get bigger, so they could fit big ass missles in them.

I do agree if they were biult it would be a low center of gravity like a Diashi.

Unmanned drone vicheals are great but they do have downfalls. Visibility for one thing.

A.I. also lack some too, they have no instint and no spontanious reactions.

[PherdnutChiken]

So is Black Knight worth it for the single player?

[Anonymous]

I don't think so really. It'z a great single player campaign, but getting mercz for itz single player iz more worth it.

[PherdnutChiken]

Cool. Just got 'Mercs. I think 'mechs would work in RL but only as wicked cool replacements for SUVs.

[peekaboochiken]

bawk

the closest i could ever evisage is a catapult type body on four legs, like a spider, this would give it stability but would lack speed

(are the yanks experimenting with pulse lasers on a stealth bomber?)

[crazyjose]

I dont think there will be bi-pedal mech out there, but i could deninetly see and insectoid mech with like 4 or 6 legs roaming around, i also think if they did have exposed legs, its way to vunerable, with todays tanks and guns pretty much anything can be obliterated with a single well placed 150mm tank round.

[PherdnutChiken]

Tanks aren't worth a damn in certain terrain however. Whether we could 'mechs that would be useful in such terrain is the real question.

[crazyjose]

Thats prolly why mechs or a hybrid tank/mech design of that sort will come in the future.

[Papa Theif]

It would be more likely they would cross tanks with hovercraft. Terrain is a problem for all vicheals with mud being the worst, but if you hover above the terrain, even pop up from behind a hill and pop back down, it would make more tactical sense.


(actually us yanks are using lasers to shoot down artillery shells)

[Anonymous]

I would just run of to a sitting one and put a C4 on its leg. :clubbed:

[PherdnutChiken]

You could do the same thing to a tank.

[Papa Theif]

That is why tanks have a machine gunner.
If memery serves me(which it rarely does) Original BT mech had devices similar to frag grenades strapped to their legs which the pilot could detonate, turning brave infantry into piles of goo.

[crazyjose]

Or you could just put a bunch of head level guns on the tank/mech thingy.

[PirateChiken]

OK, no, Mechs won't be a reality because of several things mentioned above, like being knocked over.

Also, because of the HUGE costs of building, maintaining, and repairing such things.
Firefighting, yes, could be a reality at some point, and you know the US Military will find a way to make them "useful" at some level.

Mechs won't be like the Airplane. The high cost of ammunition, tonnage, and raw materials going into something like this makes them unobtainable.
and, even more importantly, because of what we as a human society have learned from basic warefare. You gott'a have people on the ground, holding ground. For the reason that a small squad of 4 or 5 men could easily sabotage a mech well before it went into battle. Yes, they are too vulnerable. simply put....lol.
They would be great for variable terrain, and could take what ever a 155mm tank gun could dish out. HEAT rounds or not, if you are talking about the Technology in this game in modern times, the Mech would kill the tank before the tank could get off a first or second shot. Some of you people need to think realisticly about our Modern tanks vs 300-400 year advanced Technology based on High intensity beam and ballistic weapons and Armor.
Right now, our M1 Abrahms tank has a classified armor of Cold Rolled Homogenous Armor with several layers of Reactive armor on top of that. And Other things I'm unable to discuss here....

Also, the Technology in this game is under the presumption that we can contain a nuclear fusion reaction in a "gas tank" (probably the size of a Yugo) sized unit for propulsion AND be have it be stable enough to travel, AND have it be stable enough and opperable while taking heavy fire in battle.....yeah right, that's feasable....lol. Not gonn'a happen people.
They're too busy smashing atomic particles to find out why gravity even works the way they think it does to bother with the Ultra High efficiancy rating needed to run something like a mech.
But, damn, what a hell of'a fun game!

[Anonymous]

On the flipside, even if they do or do not build 'Mechs, I wouldn't want to live in a world with them.

Every time 2 of them went into battle you'd end up with limited nuclear fallout. That's not a pretty thing to have at all, much less in a city.

[ViperChiken]

in Matrix:Reloaded they had some type of mechs...

they got owned my flying mechanical jellyfish

lmfao!!!!!!!

but imagine....battlefields of thousands of these things marchin into battle.....

[PherdnutChiken]

That's because flying mechanical jellyfish are badass. Hmm... MechaFish. The next awesome FPS.

[~US~ OptiX™]

check this out, one of our retired guys is a part of this group...


http://www.mechaps.com