StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Transatlantic boredom at work:


I drew a mech while flying back to Sicily. Pretty generic I know, but it was partially inspired by the wyvern armor from "Vorpal Blade". I wanted to make something beefier.

So what does it use those huge leg volumes for? Fuel? Ammo? Rocket engines? Surely the actuators can't take up all that space alone?

Starglider wrote:So what does it use those huge leg volumes for? Fuel? Ammo? Rocket engines? Surely the actuators can't take up all that space alone?

Pretty much just armor. I haven't really thought about what else could be safely stowed there. I suppose some sort of sensors could be housed there, or even holographic camouflage projectors.

Hmm, all those sound about right...

it could be to even out the ground pressure (there's a reason why a woman in high heels is more damaging to a polished wooden floor then an elephant(whether this is true or not I do not know, but it's the most common example)).

Lord Revan wrote:it could be to even out the ground pressure (there's a reason why a woman in high heels is more damaging to a polished wooden floor then an elephant(whether this is true or not I do not know, but it's the most common example)).

Good observation. That and better stability/lower ground pressure are why I made huge feet for the thing. Smaller feet look out of proportion.

Lord Revan wrote:it could be to even out the ground pressure

That's a good reason to have big feet. It isn't a good reason to have thick legs; in particular not /wide/ legs, because that big flat front profile is just asking to be burst open by a canon round or an RPG.

TheMuffinKing wrote:Pretty much just armor.

Armour isn't something you carry around for the sake of it; there has to be something worth armoring. Unless there's something that actually needs the volume, thin solid metal bird-like legs, or at worst flat ones like on an AT-AT (to minimise front profile) would be optimal. Is the holographic camouflage, if that's what it is, really worth multiplying the vehicle's front target profile by a factor of two plus, as well as lugging around the weight of the extra armour needed to cover all that?

TheMuffinKing wrote:

Lord Revan wrote:it could be to even out the ground pressure (there's a reason why a woman in high heels is more damaging to a polished wooden floor then an elephant(whether this is true or not I do not know, but it's the most common example)).

Good observation. That and better stability/lower ground pressure are why I made huge feet for the thing. Smaller feet look out of proportion.

well it's rather simple physics really, pressure is mass/area and mass is related to volume and density, so the larger the creature/mech is the larger should the area of bottom of it's feet relative to the rest of the body be or it would sink to the ground.

sadly this is something not many artists/designers realize, so we have mechs/creatures with Human like bodies but who are 30 m or more tall.

Starglider wrote:

Lord Revan wrote:it could be to even out the ground pressure

That's a good reason to have big feet. It isn't a good reason to have thick legs; in particular not /wide/ legs, because that big flat front profile is just asking to be burst open by a canon round or an RPG.

TheMuffinKing wrote:Pretty much just armor.

Armour isn't something you carry around for the sake of it; there has to be something worth armoring. Unless there's something that actually needs the volume, thin solid metal bird-like legs, or at worst flat ones like on an AT-AT (to minimise front profile) would be optimal. Is the holographic camouflage, if that's what it is, really worth multiplying the vehicle's front target profile by a factor of two plus, as well as lugging around the weight of the extra armour needed to cover all that?

Good point, but this mech would look preety weird with bird legs!

TheMuffinKing wrote:Good point, but this mech would look preety weird with bird legs!

Just put the fuel cells or reactors or whatever in there. If the joint motors can do regenerative braking, the additional energy needed to move the heavy legs won't be too bad. The schock loading will go up but this equipment has to be combat hardened anyway. Putting the power cells/fuel tanks/reactors/engines/generators/turbomachinery down in the legs lowers the centre of gravity (a very good thing for a walker) and may also protect the pilot (up in the main body) from secondary explosions.

Starglider wrote: Just put the fuel cells or reactors or whatever in there. If the joint motors can do regenerative braking, the additional energy needed to move the heavy legs won't be too bad. The schock loading will go up but this equipment has to be combat hardened anyway. Putting the power cells/fuel tanks/reactors/engines/generators/turbomachinery down in the legs lowers the centre of gravity (a very good thing for a walker) and may also protect the pilot (up in the main body) from secondary explosions.

Shouldn't the fuel cells be somewhere a bit more stable and less prone to shock, like in the main body?

General Zod wrote:Shouldn't the fuel cells be somewhere a bit more stable and less prone to shock, like in the main body?

Fuel cells (and in principle, cold fusion cells) actually have very good shock tolerance compared to say turbogenerators or hot-fusion reactors.

The fuel cells for this thing would be buried within the powerpack at the rear. I envision the use of a miniature fusion device (I know I never explain my designs, I apologize for that).

As for the legs being so heavily armored compared to target size, you have brought up some very good points that I agree with, however, I think the legs, being the only means of motion need to be suitably armored to protect the actuators, shock absorption systems, etc.

Again things you've brought up that I didn't really focus on. In spite of this, I feel that a large armored mech can have a shock affect similar to tanks, and in this case a larger profile would be beneficial.

I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a mech ON an airplane.

TheMuffinKing wrote:In spite of this, I feel that a large armored mech can have a shock affect similar to tanks, and in this case a larger profile would be beneficial.

You could make those legs out of cardboard (around a thin, tough skeletal frame), and hope the enemy will waste their ammo firing uselessly at them.

TheMuffinKing wrote:In spite of this, I feel that a large armored mech can have a shock affect similar to tanks, and in this case a larger profile would be beneficial.

Tanks aren't big because the designers want them to be visually shocking, they're big because that's the minimum size the designers need to pack all mission-essential equipment-- fuel, ammo, powertrain, crew and crew protection, electronics, etc.-- in them. A larger profile basically screams, "Shoot me!"

havokeff wrote:I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a mech ON an airplane.

That is the awesomest thing I've seen in a looong time!

Oddly, that mech's pose is better than a lot of your drawings, since it's dynamic and since he's on an F-16.

TheMuffinKing wrote:

havokeff wrote:I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a mech ON an airplane.

LOVE YOU!!

The mecha on the F-16 is better designed, e.g., not such a walking gunnery target.

havokeff wrote:I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a mech ON an airplane.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

Though I was expecting the mech to be sitting on a passenger liner, then the stewardess comes by with the drink cart and the mech orders a Diet Sprite.

Civil War Man wrote:

havokeff wrote:I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a mech ON an airplane.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

Though I was expecting the mech to be sitting on a passenger liner, then the stewardess comes by with the drink cart and the mech orders a Diet Sprite.

Oh come on! Grabs pencil and artpad...

Why do I half expect the pilot to shout "Its A GM" and get blown out of the sky, or the mech to jump from jet to et until it reaches the ground.