Ulukai on 13/7/2009 at 15:41
Quote Posted by van HellSing
ITT: discussions of realism in a thread about big stompy robots.
Mechwarrior = Serious Business
EvaUnit02 on 13/7/2009 at 15:46
Quote Posted by Ulukai
Mechwarrior = Serious Business
Breaking news from van HellSing:- The Smith & Ticker have started giving away free MW5 t-shirts... THE GAME HAS SURELY BEEN CANCELLED!!!!!111
This is brought to you by the infalliable future-predicting powers of the Polish.
Ulukai on 13/7/2009 at 15:50
I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about.
Koki on 13/7/2009 at 17:28
Well did you hear anything about it? Did you?
Banksie on 14/7/2009 at 03:32
Quote Posted by DDL
Big stompy robots don't actually violate physics, though. Common sense, sure, but they're still actually
possible, albeit implausible.
Not really, they have issues with the tensile strength of what they are standing on (large weight, bipedal feet giving small surface area for supporting that weight) and the unreasonable strength their joints need to function. They would get mired down on anything other than hard rock and become sitting ducks waiting to be shot.
To add insult to injury a tank out classes a mech for armour, mobility and firepower carrying capability.
DDL on 14/7/2009 at 07:10
Surely that all comes under implausible (i.e. nobody in their right mind would build a mech because it's idiotic and massively impractical, but if they wanted to, they still could -it would just be shit) rather than impossible.
catbarf on 15/7/2009 at 04:10
Quote Posted by DDL
Surely that all comes under
implausible (i.e. nobody in their right mind would build a mech because it's idiotic and massively impractical, but if they wanted to, they still could -it would just be shit) rather than impossible.
I always wonder why writers of this sort of sci-fi don't seize upon the easiest explanations. Example: If understanding of the human brain has progressed significantly, then wire that 100-ton robot into the pilot's central nervous system and let his own functions handle keeping balance and walking. Problem solved.
On another note, I always loved the game Ogre. It's about big stompy AI tanks with enough firepower to level cities.
nicked on 15/7/2009 at 12:37
Old giant robot beat-em-up One Must Fall used that explanation. The pilots were wired in to the robots so their motions controlled them, and when the robots were damaged, the pilots felt pain. The last part I can't quite see the practical use of though...
DDL on 15/7/2009 at 14:00
Protective measure, arguably. Within limits, obviously (no crippling pain of brainmelting proportions plz), it'd be quite a good way of indicating damage status. You know, if the ground you're walking on is full of tiny abrasive shards that are fucking up your mech's feet, it helps if this is communicated to you by "ow, my feet" rather than waiting until a damage display comes up, or your mech's feet fall off or something.
Of course, actually implementing some sort of damage system like this would be oh-so-much more complicated than mere "driving with your brain" (which we can almost do now, actually), that it really wouldn't be practical.
Not that I spend time thinking about these sorts of things, of course. :sly:
