Captain Booyah
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Post: 53524929_31 created on Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:34 pmPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:34 pm
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InugamiPup Captain Booyah If the mecha was small, but armored in the front, they would only be useful in one situation: in doors combat. It would be the only armored unit to date capable of maneuvering in enclosed spaces. Tanks and jeeps can't go inside if it's needed. Of course, the mecha would still have several flaws. Such examples being hand held explosives (grenades) and tight passageways. Still, it may be the only option if you have an enemy who has fortified themselves in an inaccessible portion of a building and you need to get through a soldier bottle neck barricade, or any other form of in door combat scenario. One thing the mecha would need is foot soldiers as support. If it goes in by itself, it could be easily flanked and destroyed. By sending in one mecha per platoon, you would increase it's effectiveness ten-fold. Outdoors (both urban and non-urban), most of the armour would be devoted to protecting systems vital for the operation of the mech and safety of the operator(s). A lesser proportion of the armour would be dedicated to limbs and movement systems on a mech. Mechs surprisingly share many of similarities with tanks. One of the major similarities is that both would have their movement systems easily compromised. Power armor is a bit impractical. It is basically an electronic, mechanized suit that a soldier wears for protection. Although the soldier's ability to move forward would be greater than that of a mecha (possibly?), it would still be affected by small arms fire. Whilst the shots would not penetrate the armor, it would most definitely throw the wearer back, much like how modern Kevlar is. If the user is less affected by the impact, and lets say only caused pain and set lightly off balance, the benefit gained from this may not be worth the mobility granted by less armor. The metal is still directly attached to the user, and his feet are still what is supporting the power armor. And that is looking past power issues, assuming that by this time energy problems have not already been eliminated. Now, lets us once again look toward indoor mecha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0X1vyWU6bw I base my theories on this video of existing technology (for theories and educated guesses are all we have right now). If this mecha were to be more highly armored, it could potentially completely resist small arms fire. The body is supported by mechanical legs that the user operated, rather than being supported by the user's own biological legs. This could decrease the off balancing factor to zero. A mecha of this size may not be able to carry significantly larger ammunition than small arms, but would be able to carry slug (such as those seen in guns designed to hunt elephants) and fire them semi-automatically. This would be devastating during in doors combat. The performance of a mecha like this in urban combat is not as effective. Whilst the armor would be heavy enough to resist small arms fire (much like a tank) it would be much more vulnerable to weapons that are capable in urban combat, such as the RPG or an existing tank. These weapons would be unavailable during indoors combat, thus making the mecha much more threatening. The mecha would basically serve as an indoor tank. This would be an important revelation (perhaps too strong a word?) seeing that the indoor heavy armored vehicle does not yet exist. What I do agree on you with is that the pilots of these mechs would have to be skinny. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the mech, the cockpit would have to be as small as possible. This opens a new line of discussion: would the future pilots of mecha be primarily female pilots, due to their ideal body proportions for small cockpits? |
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