Originally Posted by Captain B
Still didn't answer the respawn/infinite soldier with no fear of death or consequence issue.  |
I figured the fiction had covered that well enough. They're building the bodies at the atomic level using a stored reference and data/materials from nanite recycling of corpses in the field. They just have to be precise when making the neural network and the clone will effectively be the same person that just died. It's crazy tech, but they're borrowing it from a species that apparently built a
planet.
Originally Posted by Captain B
1) Steep, narrow passes that tanks can't traverse and would have to detour significantly to reach. The mech could fit between the boulders and land formations that clutter the path or even jump on top of some of the smaller rocks (I said I didn't like flying or high jumping, but doesn't mean they can't propel themselves up a proportionate or slightly less than proportionate distance to a human). This would allow them to maneuver through such terrain with ease and maintain an appropriate speed with the other infantry.
2) As far as an urban environment, you'd be able to turn about and face your opponents quickly. Sure it's a bigger target, but smaller than tanks (or roughly the same size, especially if they can crouch and move). In fact, that right there is its advantage: it can provide close support of infantry with its bigger hull (than a MAX or just heavy infantry), but if you're flanked or ambushed in such confined spaces you can turn about and engage to the front armor as opposed to being a tank in a cramped alley going "well shit" before the big boom.
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1)It depends on the size of the mech your talking about, but if it's anything significantly larger than an infantryman having to navigate that rough terrain without tipping would slow it down considerably. It would also have to do it under heavy fire given that the infantry and more conventional vehicles would probably be using the rocks for cover, thus making it the only available target. If it
isn't significantly larger than an infantryman then it might work better, but it sounds more like an exosuit (which we already have) and I suspect it wouldn't fit Sirisian's rather strict definition of a mech.
2)Tanks do not turn that slowly. Mechs do not turn that quickly (
it's harder than you'd think). In addition the armor has to be lighter in order to make the thing work which means that a tank might well have armor on it's back thicker than a mech has on it's front and will almost certainly expose fewer critical components. All of that also compromises it's ability to act as mobile cover, and if you scale it down until it can use cover itself then it's basically just a max again. The idea of having it crouch isn't that bad but it seems like it would be more sensible to just make a tank with a variable height turret.