Walker design (no56k)

[Master of Cards]

Looks like HAB got in touch with the IDB.

[fusion]

The barrel seems a bit small compared to the whole turret...

[fuzzymillipede]

Lucasarts apparently likes my stuff enough to use it without telling me. Check the Force Unleashed trailer.

Which part of the trailer? The Star Destroyer?

[Alan Bolte]

The sort of arm that stretches out from above the barrel and attaches to it looks silly. Also, the whole turret seems a little too tall. The barrel looks fine to me, though.
Does it carry 9x3x4=108 missiles, or do those retractable pods somehow have reloads waiting?

[DrMckay]

The walker looks great-however the Big turret looks a tad wanktastic.

Perhaps you might put the missile launchers up there, with some flak cannons in an armored housing for Anti-Aircraft duty-lessons learned from Hoth and snowspeeders, and all that. Your call

Bummer about what happened with Lucasfilm stealing your designs. You deserve Compensation...Perhaps some type of suit could be filed?

[Crossroads Inc.]

The Walker by itself looks wonderful... It would be an immensily powerful Anti-Personel and small vehical Weapon. However the momment I see the "Big Gun" on its back, I'll I can invsion is it firein,g and the recoil sending the walk back on its butt.

Really, with the Firepower levels of StarWars in general, some heavy blasters on the side would be more then enough along with what you already have. Trying to fill the roll of a "Big Gun" is something handled already by other Vehicals and too a much better degree.

[RRoan]

Yeah, I think the turret is just a bit too big for the mech. I could definitely see a smaller one for AA work, though.

[Havok]

That's a fucking honkin' big ass gun dude. Maybe if you scaled it down some...

[fractalsponge1]

Yes, the big gun was a big mistake.

This looks much better currently (imho):





The turret will not change much, as I quite like it, but I might do variants on the weaponry...we'll see though. Man this part was hard; looking forward to doing some nice easy detailing.

I also need to find a way of rigging to gun to make it more obvious how it deals with recoil. The initial idea was to have a recoil-less rifle type setup, but that's actually rather hard to convey visually.

The gun in the turret now is much closer in caliber (if that means anything in SW) to the chin guns. Not like the giant thing in the last few WIPs. Still, I wanted something like the dorsal gun on the AT-TE, or perhaps something like an HVMS system (http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/ ... /M-60.html). Long range, high accuracy, direct fire.

The walker does indeed have 108 missiles. No plan for reloads really, just two compact pop-up launchers on either side.

[Havok]

Size is WAY better. As far as recoil.... make it a rail gun. Aren't those recoilless?

[[R_H]]

Size is WAY better. As far as recoil.... make it a rail gun. Aren't those recoilless?

Don't think so. It could be a recoiless rifle though, no recoil hence the name.

[Darmalus]

Of curse a rail gun would have recoil. Equal and opposite and all that, but is most likely more efficient about getting the energy into the bullet.

Anyway, love it, its awesome, and I got a kick out of the window on the turret. My I humbly request a shot or two of this monster with its missile launchers extended?

Edit: I just noticed, that little pyramid above what looks like a targeting device is just floating there. Looks odd.

[Alan Bolte]

Edit: I just noticed, that little pyramid above what looks like a targeting device is just floating there. Looks odd.

Indeed, but this is a WIP. I like where he's going with it.

[Havok]

Just a nitpick, but wouldn't a four legged walker be a better support platform for a gun of that size?

[NecronLord]

As people have said, it looks a bit unstable. But if they can make the Balmorran Viper work, they can make this work.

[Covenant]

Is it possible for the thing to traverse the turret sideways and fire it like that, where it has a bit more stability than 'front-back'? Spread the legs, turn the turret to the side, and pop.

I still want to animate it. ;__;

[fractalsponge1]

Some details added:





I'm not entirely sure about the recoil issue - I always thought that most of the recoil would be handled by elements we can't see (i.e. the recoil from the SPAH-T in AOTC would be handled by some exotic kind of energy field instead of the spindly set of legs). In that sense the platform exists to bring the weapon into firing range, not so much to compensate for the recoil entirely by its mechanical strength. Indeed, for a large enough weapon, i.e. one with enough recoil to land a multi-thousand ton walker on its end, it must be an all or nothing thing; the recoil forces would be powerful enough to overwhelm any practical structural stiffening, and the weapon system would rely of some kind of active force dampening technology. In essence, the weapon would essentially be unsafe to fire without power to supply its recoil compensating mechanism.

Not to say that a stable structure or gait is unimportant. The weight distribution on the walker to me *feels* reasonable, given that the heaviest components ride farther back in the walker; the head may be voluminous, but not particularly heavy compared to the fuel, reactor, battery/capacitor components in the after end of the walker. The main gun itself I envision as being more powerful than the heavy chin guns, but not by many orders of magnitude - if an AT-AT can compensate for its chin guns recoil simply by sliding the assembly back (the head does not seem to vibrate or recoil back with firing), then I imagine the turret mounted gun here can be dealt with by the drive system and whatever exotic compensation system is in place for sw heavy weapons...

[Alan Bolte]

The SPHA-T issue is a good point, so when we're talking about recoil it has at least as much to do with not looking silly as with being technically possible. You could put a cannon with ten times the diameter on that turret, and it could still have negligible recoil... but wouldn't that look silly?

Anyhow, I'm more concerned with the new detail at the turret gun's tip. It looks too recent sci-fi game, rather than looking like Star Wars. I'm finding it hard to be more specific than that.

[NecronLord]

Now for the really important question...

What's it called?

[fractalsponge1]

the tip may yet be revised - based on the muzzle of the AT-AP from ROTS.

As for names, was leaning towards AT-AV (attack/assault vehicle) - found it on Saxton's catalogue, un-documented characteristics - fits this vehicle's role too I think.

The problem with this walker is that it is actually rather hard to add detail without making it seem flimsy - real life armored vehicles don't have much snaking around their surfaces either. Oh well, trying to add more:

[fractalsponge1]

Bottom detail integration and some extra bits.

[fractalsponge1]

Filling out the top detail:



And with enough cut away to see the edges:

[fractalsponge1]

I've reworked the kneeling stance, and added a brace for the top part of the turret gun barrel.

(link):

[fractalsponge1]

Call this pass #1 at the cockpit side.

[Kanastrous]

I really dig the kneeling configuration.