Are humongous mechs practical?

[mrhappyface]

The nation of Japan would put you to death for even attempting to suggest they aren't practical.

I find that hilarious, since I have dual citizenship with for both Japan and U.S.A.

 

[Chipperz]

Anime style thirty-story mechs of jet boosting laswer-sword wielding deathness? Yup, impractical.

These babies? Slightly more feasible. World War 2 would have been so much cooler if they actually existed...

Spoiler: hidden picture snip

Those babies are nice. Where did you find them?

They're from a (criminally underrated) tabletop wargame/RPG by the name of Gear Krieg. It's basically World War 2 where tanks have been a massive failure, so the Nazis developed transforming tank/mech hybrids to take their place (and then the Allies nick the designs and make their own).

Sadly, I believe the line was cancelled before they released the Japanese Mechs - I really wanted to see if they went for an anime style or a more realistic style...

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

The Mechs in the third Matrix would be pretty good I reckon

 

[Rolling Thunder]

The reason they stopped building extra large tanks (such as the King Tiger) was because of their extreme vulnerability to AT weapons. Mecha would just magnify the problems. Imagine it getting hit with an RPG or AT missile on the cockpit or top of the body. It would just fall.

Actually, the current generation NATO tanks weigh about as much as a Koingstiger and, while having a lower profile, are about as physically bulky.

 

[GamerPhate]

Sure they are! The one I have gets better gas mileage than a Hummer at least!

 

[Sanguinedragon]

if you can build mechs you can build bolos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_(tank)

this is an AI controlled tank with 2 plasma cannons that can shoot a heavy cruiser out of orbit, it will kick your ass battle mech

YES BOLOS, I am so glad I wasn't the only one thinking of them.
Give me a bolo over a battlemech anyday.

 

[traceur_]

Humanoid mechs? Not at all. There's a reason no vehicles today have legs: legs are slow and need a lot of power and coordination to get around on them. Mechs are big, that's pretty much the whole idea, and if you're on the battlefield inside a big robot, you're gonna want to move pretty fucking fast to avoid being ripped apart by tanks and fighter jets. Balancing something like that on two legs is going to be a colossal task, to serve any purpose it would have to have super-human agility considering it'll need to move very fast and avoid enemy fire while responding in kind, staying upright will be impossible. The materials used would have to be immensely strong just to allow it to stand without crushing its own feet, let alone run at speeds in excess of 30 m/s, not to mention the hydraulics.

The only semi-practical mech would be a spider-mech not much bigger than a tank with wheels on the end of its legs, and that's too similar to tank to necessitate it's creation.

 

[Doom_bringer58]

I think mechs are practical because they're just tanks on legs, which means tanks that can jump and run, which means no real obstacle for them, which means that they will be unstoppable, which means if a terrorist ever got his hands on one he could basically rule a metropolis in no time

 

[traceur_]

To say a mech is impractical in a combat situation is foolish. They clearly have some distinct advantages that a tank does not:

Mobility- Say what you will about bi-pedals, but having a three dimensional range of movement (that being X,Y and Z axis) as opposed to a tank which only has two dimensional movement (clearly lacking jumping/flying) is a huge advantage. Probably more of a nessesity, really. Everyone keeps talking about munitions that can pierce armour, but last time I checked you have two types: slug based weaponry (bullets, tank shells, etc) that may move very fast but also only in a straight line, and guidance based (missles) that move slower-ish but have some form of maneuverability. On both accounts, the mech has a distinct advantage on being able to move in a wider veriaty of directions to DODGE (and that word is key) the attack. Looking on most Japanese mecha anime/manga, most mechs are terribly vulnerable to incoming fire. The solution was to train pilots to avoid getting hit, much like dog fighting. The practicality of making mechs more humanoid to ease the learning curve on pilots to learn how to execute these dodging maneuvers is probably something that's more realistic than not. It would be much easier to take conventional tactics for surviving under fire in the open on a humanoid robot than some weird looking quadra-pedal spiderant.

Think of all the fuel you'd need to get that thing off the ground, or just the power required to jump. They would never even need to jump. For it to move fast enough to make it practical, it has to be made of unbelievably strong stuff to avoid crushing its own legs when accelerating, and all the hydraulics, fuel and weapons just add more inertia that it has to fight against to move.

Speed- Mechs are typically fast. Very fast. Mach something fast. Realistically you're looking at a tank with a small arms weapon (maybe a high caliber machine gun?) and A LOT of jets. Moving fast is going to be key because of the point stated above and my very next point to be mentioned.

Close Quarters Battle- A mech is not made to kill things from miles away. That's what warheads and ballistics and orbital bombardments are for. Mechs are made to get in close and shoot conventional-like weaponry (rifles, rockets, SMGs, etc) to destroy targets. The fact that the armour gives them rediculous speeds and mobility to take effective evasive action (again, also resembling humans for familiarity) only reaffirms this. You could potentially use all close quarters martial arts in a completely funcional mecha without having to reinvent any techniques.

Martial arts? Seriously? Dude, you need to cut down on the anime for a while if you think that is even remotely possible or useful in any conceivable way.

And say what you will about tanks, but equip a machine moving at mach 10 with a can opener and a flamethrower and you have as good an anti-tank weapon as any. It gets in fast without the tank being able to effectively target the incoming aggressor and then opens the tank with said can opener appendige, then flames anything inside the tank.

MACH 10!!! Ok dude, get off the weed. Only one extremely specialised, unmanned vehicle has ever gone that fast this side of the stratosphere.

Can-openers and flamethrowers are completely useless, for one, flamethrowers aren't used anymore, and two, we have missiles and tanks to do the same job.

You also have the potential to make other style mech, which would be far more functional/practical for battlefield deployment. Robotech seems to have the best idea with a mecha that also has a jet mode AND a half jet, half robot mode. It affords better air-to-air combat than any mobile suit would with the added bonus of a travel mode for long distances. It then has the half/half mode for urban warfare at high speeds, and of course the complete robot form for trench/hand-to-hand combat. The dreadnaught from Warhammer 40K is also another viable solution. More of a tank-style walker, these mech have a turret-like body with interchangable weaponry. One arm is usually kept free for grasping/smashing opponents with a mounted flamethrower as well, while the other has the long range/main cannon weapon. The body has solid armour and a low profile, not much larger than a tank's. These two concepts seem the most likely as proto-types for the Japanese styled mecha of the future.

This will never be useful, ever.

To say we'll have a mech in another year or so is foolish, but to say that it's not a practicle battle tool is just as foolish.

Actually, foolish isn't strong enough a word.

 

[shippuudenfreak]

Impractical? Hell yes
But they still have uses. Terror weapon is one, the second and more likely, if they ever come into service, would be building, terrain movers, mechs are giant exoskeletons designed to lift extreme weight. Maybe a fully equipped soldier model, one that's no bigger then the soldier and encompasses him, would be better. Faster stronger and only 60 million instead of 6. Think master chief instead of Gundam

 

[Kevvers]

I wonder, in space, and if you had 4 arms but no legs and specialised in close combat...

You have a point there, in space they might be useful, as basically they would be like spacesuits with armour, and the arms would be very useful.

On land for sure tanks would be a much better choice.

 

[RufusMcLaser]

Impractical in battle, but there might be very limited applications for quadrupedal-or-more mechs in some non-combat jobs. The drawbacks in combat have been discussed at length- too high of a profile, too many weak spots, etc. There are also specific engineering problems with the giant robot concept. [http://www.denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/tmw/mechas.shtml]

And that's a shame. I like a good 'mech now and again. They make for fun stories and some fun games. It's a shame to think the future doesn't hold any.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

training wheels

Oh how I laughed.

Yeah, mecha aren't the most practical of things, and considering how much weight there would have to be to get any sort of decent armor... it's really not gonna work... Until they build forcefields at least.

 

[aaron552]

I'm sure it's been said already, but my 2c is this: humongous mechs? impractical. Too slow, too expensive, vulnerable to antitank weapons, etc.

The closest we could get to a mech of any sort would be some kind of powered armor (Fallout, Iron Man, etc.)

 

[DTWolfwood]

When you have bipedal mechs on the battlefield runing/jumping like a regular human being, the practicality is there, especially in an Urban environment. In urban warfare where there are buildings, your mech would never suffer from the mobility issues tanks/threaded vehicles would have, and you can easily take cover behind buildings. On the Open dunes/deserts yeah they would be less practical.

what would make more sense is just to make a transforming mech, best of both world! ^_^

Impractical in battle, but there might be very limited applications for quadrupedal-or-more mechs in some non-combat jobs. The drawbacks in combat have been discussed at length- too high of a profile, too many weak spots, etc. There are also specific engineering problems with the giant robot concept. [http://www.denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/tmw/mechas.shtml]...

hah! but thats assuming we use what is available now and not what we may have in the future XD but y does a mech have to be huge? it cause just be say 10-20 ft tall instead of 50m+

 

[Madshaw]

I thiunk ones like the WH40,000 sentinels and space marine dreadnaughts might be usefull, the sentinels are small and light and would be usefull for dense natural terrain and cityfight situations, and the dreadnaught is heavy and well armoured enough to be usefull in a defensive situation

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

I seriously doubt they actually have practical applications. But science fiction isn't supposed to make sense, so I don't complain.

Agreed. Maybe darth vader will attack our planet next, along with metal gear.

short answer:NO

long answer:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Familiar.

Ah....

"Sir, enemy mecha approaching!"

"Roger that driver. Gunner, lay on, enemy mecha-robot, 2300 yards, eighteen degrees from fore."

"Aye sir. Loading...loaded."

"Fire!"

*Mecha is blown apart by a 120mm depleted uranium round*

That works too.

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

Anime style thirty-story mechs of jet boosting laswer-sword wielding deathness? Yup, impractical.

These babies? Slightly more feasible. World War 2 would have been so much cooler if they actually existed...

Is that from the "secrets of the third Reich" game?

Mostly, mechs would be too obvious and too unbalanced (compare how often you trip over to how often a milipede does) to be practicle, but something long those lines (prehaps a bit smaller, like terminator armour) could be useful for mountainous terrain (assuming it was able to climb).

 

[hermes]

No, the legs put the center of gravity way up, so hey have to put some effort into mantaining balance at all time. The only place where it would be more practical is in highly irregular terrains (montains and such), and even then, some animal designs are better than humans (think of a spider or a centripede)