Thread: Mech Proposal

Mechs are a quite probable Military Unit. What comes to mind with a Mech is the things from the Mechassualt Games and etc.. Bipedal, with Fusion-reactors.

Those are a little far-fetched for for now. But Larger walker type tanks could be made, fully armored running of Hydrogen Energy Cells, with a Array of weaponry like Homing missiles, machine guns and quite possibly even Laser Weapons.

They are rather impractical currently due to their fragility and mobility issues. We can just about get Asimo to walk up a stairs, shoving 10 tons of armor and a suite of armaments will be make it a much more difficult task.

To compound the issue, it has to be able to resist being shot at...

I guess the question you would need to answer would be "Why use this mech instead of a tank?" especially since the tank will probably be cheaper and have more armor etc. About the only thing I can think of would be that a walking vehicle might have superior mobility in rough terrain, so maybe you could do something there. But of course a 60+ ton tank can just knock a lot of stuff out of the way or drive over/through it, while you mech might need to carefully go around things. Maybe a mech would be good for fighting in totally destroyed urban areas. As I recall at the battle for Stalingrad there was so much rubble from the destroyed buildings that both sides had a terrible time trying to move tanks or other vehicles around. Maybe a mech could just walk over the rubble.

I think they would be pretty limited in their application though.

Also a point to note would be if these fabled ''advances'' ever become a reality I think you will find that they could equally be applied to a tank thus making it even more versatile whereas the Mech counterpart will only just become fesible...etc.

My son wants me to build that two-legged walker from the Star Wars movies. Oh man that would be so friggin' awesome.


I saw a kind of mech thing up close last month. It was the Mondo Spider out for a spin at Vancouver's Parade of Lost Souls. Which meant tight alleyways and crowds and get the fuck out of its path. You pick your kid up and back away. I can see these being very intimidating in battle, like warhorses were supposed to be. It's all the steel legs swinging faster than you want to make sense of - wheels just don't have that effect.

Once mentioned above, the practical use for a 2 legged walker type tank/mech would be that it could maneuver or rugged terrain quickly.

IT wouldn't be human like ether, it would Bow-legged giving it more balance.

IT wouldn't be human like ether, it would Bow-legged giving it more balance.

The shape of the legs are irrelevent. A bipedal machine will inherently be less stable along it's z-axis. In more simplistic terms, it will will able to fall backwards irrespective of the design.

A theoretically more fesible concept would be a mech suit with multiple legs (3+ preferably 6... I suggest you look at insects for inspiration) for added stability. Of course this only compounds engineering issues but honestly I see it as being the only thing even remotely possible of maintaining stability under fire.

The practical use of a walker, today, is in intimidation. Crowd control. If you can run it inside houses, even better. A walker is like a warhorse. Now we still use mounted police - where and why? To shock demonstrations. One cop on horseback can herd an angry mob all around, no problem. He can safely gallop clear through them. Try pushing through a crowd with a heavily armoured foot-soldier or a wheeled vehicle. See?

I should have mentioned how it would decrease Moral of the Enemy troops as well.

Designing this, to make it most disconcerting, remember "lots of legs in yer face". The vehicle may be shielded by the motions of its own limbs. A scampering steel spider is best IMO.

Originally Posted by Tharghana

Mechs are a quite probable Military Unit. What comes to mind with a Mech is the things from the Mechassualt Games and etc.. Bipedal, with Fusion-reactors.

Those are a little far-fetched for for now. But Larger walker type tanks could be made, fully armored running of Hydrogen Energy Cells, with a Array of weaponry like Homing missiles, machine guns and quite possibly even Laser Weapons.

I think it would be a waste of money, since depending on the size, an RPG could probably just blow off a "leg" and then it would be useless.

If youre talking war with a standing army I dont even see how ground combat would be practical with the capabilities of the new aircraft like the 22's and unmanned aircraft like the predator. The type of war we're fighting now makes it necessary to enter buildings and clear them because of the risk of hurting civilians, if we were fighting a nation would we just blow them up. The idea is to do alot of damage with as little risk as possible to American troops. It would be cool but I cant see DOD dollars being blown on something like a lightly armored tank for manuverability.

and then the walker slips on a banana peel and falls over No a walker would be impractical. what they are designing is a suit that you wear that serves as an exoskeleton which gives mechanical power to humans so they can lift huge objects etc. At last test the suit could hold 400 pounds out in front of the suit for 2 hours before shutting it off. This was done hooked up to a socket so theoretically it could have held that weight forever. I always liked the idea of a spider droid for mountain and heavy rubble area. Also the military should design tanks with elevating treads that can act like an independent suspension thus lifting the tank over the rubble.