Real life gundam

[MakubeX2]

To drive a final nail into this discussion :-


Even Okawa think it's impossible for bipedal mechs to be use as war machines.

[Patriot's Blade]

does that mean, bye-bye armored trooper Votoms?

[Double 120%]

What about Star Wars AT-ATs?

[Anh_Minh]

They can be taken down by stone age midgets.

[-Sho-]

I got a news here :

http://http://www.animenewsnetwork.c...ars-completion

Wow dunno how many times they make it and how much it costs but good job
I'll see it one day ^^

[kenjiharima]

http://punynari.wordpress.com/2009/0...gundam-part-1/

Spoiler for BIG RX78 Gundam:

[Patriot's Blade]

^ to bad, its just a giant sized Model-kit.

[kenjiharima]

^
That is a scale you don't wanna take home.

[Rising Dragon]

It better have some absolute bitchin' boxart.

[Keio]

Now all we have to do is slap on some actuators and capacitors and... OH WAIT.

[gilliana]

look so much cooler at night =]

[lboy]

woW

thanx =)

[Dean_the_Young]

You know, I'd just like to say that it's rather impressive that after three and a half weeks at airborne school, the same points are still being brought up and contested again and again. That's just... wow.

Keep up the good fight, Lords of Science and Reason.

[Patriot's Blade]

huh, unless one day in the future, there will be a "Wright Brothers of Mobile Suits", LOL

adapted from the Funny Quotes about Air planes & Aircrafts.

"Mobile Suits can barely keep themselves standing on their own legs. How can they then carry any kind of load?"

"Mobile Suits suffers from so many technical faults that it is only a matter of time before any reasonable man realizes that they are useless!"

"No bipedal machine will ever walk from New York to Texas."

"Mobile Suits are interesting toys but of no military value."

"Mecha is good for sport, but for the Army it is useless!"

"shooting a weapon from a Mobile Suit will do as much damage as a 3-year old child throwing small rock pebbles at a wall of a concrete house.
it will be my pleasure to stand on the bridge of any ship while it is attacked by Mobile Suits."

*then plays the Zeon theme music in the background*

[mechabao]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

huh, unless one day in the future, there will be a "Wright Brothers of Mobile Suits", LOL

adapted from the Funny Quotes about Air planes & Aircrafts.

"Mobile Suits can barely keep themselves standing on their own legs. How can they then carry any kind of load?"

"Mobile Suits suffers from so many technical faults that it is only a matter of time before any reasonable man realizes that they are useless!"

"No bipedal machine will ever walk from New York to Texas."

"Mobile Suits are interesting toys but of no military value."

"Mecha is good for sport, but for the Army it is useless!"

"shooting a weapon from a Mobile Suit will do as much damage as a 3-year old child throwing small rock pebbles at a wall of a concrete house.
it will be my pleasure to stand on the bridge of any ship while it is attacked by Mobile Suits."

*then plays the Zeon theme music in the background*

One question: Did the people who uttered those lines ever bother looking at the practical applications and limitations of airplanes?

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by mechabao

One question: Did the people who uttered those lines ever bother looking at the practical applications and limitations of airplanes?

Nope . Most of the early criticisms of the capability of aircraft came in the infancy of the airplane when military science was nowhere nearly as introspective as it is nowadays. Hence the comments (I won't justify them as arguments) about their limitations came from gut instinct. Moreover, they were comments about the usability of aircraft at that point in time rather a a matter of potential. On top of that, the merits of combat aircraft had been explored for hundreds of years before then.

[C.A.]

In early WWII, both British and Germans already had the ideas and blueprints for jet engines.

The British thought that jet engines will never work and is not feasible because it will not provide enough output for fuel spent. And there's a chance for the engine's turbofan to melt from heat with materials of those days and result in explosions.

But the Germans were more prudent and experimented with jet engine prototypes until they created the first jet fighter for war, Me 262.

After being terrorised by the Me 262, the allies went into further research, but the war has already ended. The US airforce was even further behind, they never got into jet technology until after the war, but now their jet aircraft technology is the best.

We can never be certain whether mechs will be useless in battle until someone actually built one and tried it. But of course not with materials and technology of today's standards. Maybe at least until Nanocarbon technology becomes widespread and even developed into E-Carbon.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by C.A.

In early WWII, both British and Germans already had the ideas and blueprints for jet engines.

The British thought that jet engines will never work and is not feasible because it will not provide enough output for fuel spent. And there's a chance for the engine's turbofan to melt from heat with materials of those days and result in explosions.

But the Germans were more prudent and experimented with jet engine prototypes until they created the first jet fighter for war, Me 262.

After being terrorised by the Me 262, the allies went into further research, but the war has already ended. The US airforce was even further behind, they never got into jet technology until after the war, but now their jet aircraft technology is the best.

First flight of the Me 262 jet: 1942.
First combat missions of the Me 262: 1944.
Start of the Gloster Meteor development: 1940.
Start of the P-80 development: 1943.

This doesn't really matter anyways since all it can possibly show is that sometimes people are wrong about what a particular technology can achieve. That's obviously quite true, but it has very little bearing on this discussion.

Originally Posted by C.A.

We can never be certain whether mechs will be useless in battle until someone actually built one and tried it. But of course not with materials and technology of today's standards. Maybe at least until Nanocarbon technology becomes widespread and even developed into E-Carbon.

No, but since mecha aren't all that dissimilar from current platforms, we can easily speculate on its relative advantages and disadvantages. One of the most striking points is that any technology that can make mecha better/more feasible will also apply to their competition, but to an even greater degree of effectiveness.

[willyvereb]

Not really...if the mechas are THAT similar then we don't have the problems about their so called complexity and controll problems...A Tank and a Mecha as similar as a bycycle and a horse!

[C.A.]

If I were to compare a tank to a mecha, I would say its like comparing a land animal to a human. Comparing with a plane, would mean a bird, a ship or submarine would be fish.

If you want something that operates specifically in its terrain, then it will be either of the animals.

Mazinger Z the first mecha in history took the human form so that it can grant a man powers that can make him a god or devil. Getter Robo the first transformable mecha took 3 forms for air, land and sea.

According to the documentary 'Evolve', humans evolved to become a biped for 2 main reasons. One is the ability to use tools with 2 free limbs, hands, the other is the ability to run. Bipedal running is actually a unique action evolved only in humans, it also defers from galloping 4 legged animals in several ways. While 4 legged animals can run fast, they do no have the capability to run for long periods of time, humans have developed running for extreme distances. Ancient humans actually ran marathons to chase down their prey until their prey gave up or died from exhaustion.

Is a running mech with free hands to use tools and weapons feasible? I'm not sure. You can also strap on wings and thrusters to make it fly.

And there's the futuristic terrain of space. In the low gravity vacuum of space, any form works, the amount of thrusters and their output determines how agile and fast they can be. Bipeds can work, but the legs would be better off as another pair of arms.