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Originally Posted by HunterRequiem
I was wondering, does anyone know if the controls for the KFs are in any way plausible? Seems to me that two little control sticks are not going to cut it for controling a humanoid mech.
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It doesn't seem to be very realistic, but the underlying assumption behind all humanoid mecha is that they are extremely highly automated. A simple input is thus supposed to translate to complicated actions.
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Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant
As we pointed out in the past, your answers could be that KMs are extremely, perhaps ridiculously, light. Almost to the point that armour is non-existent, though not quite  . |
That's right. At less than 8 tons, a fragile looking drivetrain is supposed to be supporting the full range of motion of a Knightmare Frame. It's horribly vulnerable to damage, but that's the case for the rest of the machine as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant
The closest equivalent I can think of is the NOD missile speed-bikes in the original Command & Conquer RTS. Units that can literally run rings around a tank and turn on a dime, armed with moderately damaging missiles, and able to charge though an enemy base almost unharmed. But if it stays still for even a second nearly anything can kill it. A tank can even run it over.
(The nature of the RTS means the bike is not very useful in the game, what with the level of micro needed to even keep the bike alive during an attack. But if each bike, like a KM, is controlled independently by a human pilot, they would be unstoppable.) |
The only reason such a vehicle can be useful in a game is because the weapon fire in it is ridiculously slow. In the real world, the only way a light-armored vehicle has a chance of surviving is to not get shot at. Even the smallest calibre cannon-fire will destroy most of those lighter vehicles. Speed is no protection because you can't outrun a bullet or a missile.
Tanks, in particular are devastating against lighter armor. The US Army constantly runs wargames to test their combat theories. In a recent simulation, a pair of M1 Abrams with some infantry support held up an entire Stryker Brigade, destroying 25 of them in the process. I believe that a similar result can be expected if the Strykers were replaced with Knightmare Frames.