NationStates Jolt Archive

Now, I'm a Modern-Tech nation, and so when I say "robots" in a military sense, I don't mean something huge and ub3r f1ght1ng sk1lz like something out of a Japanese cartoon. What I have in mind is more like a large mechanical armored suit (maybe ten-ish feet tall), that would act in a sort of Infantry Support/Heavy Assault role. It would be armed with standard weapons (machine gun, rocket or grenade launcher); nothing too fancy.

However, I don't want to go to the trouble of designing something only to have it ignored as FT, or worse, godmodded, because that certainly isn't my intention. Therefore, I'd like the opinions of any Modern nations, whether or not you think it's a good idea.

Any comments are appreciated.

IIRC, some guy has actually built a robotic suit like that in real life, in his back garden of all places. Not exactly military-grade but I would definitely say it's possible.

If you mean robotic infantry then the idea is FT/PMT otherwise GM.
If you mean powered armour then it is possible and if well done should be acceptable.

theres so many robots out there now....

As long as you could realistically explain it, and it wasn't immune to a well placed round, or an anti-tank weapon, sure, I'd play.

Something that big wouldn't stand a cance against a lot of things. Like a tank or well-armed infantry. It would need a very powerful propulsion system and an AI pilot wouldn't be that reliable.

What about something along the lines of a large mechanized suit, with a human pilot? Ideally, it would only be deployed in urban combat, or some other situation where it wasn't likely to meet a tank or something along those lines.

And of course it wouldn't be immune to attacks. Perhaps practically immune against regular rifle bullets, but explosives and large-caliber bullets (like a .50 cal) could still bring it down.

A Power Armor suit is more realistic. If you have the propulsion system powerful enough, but not too powerful, to enhance the pilot's abilities, or make it rather armored and not hinder him too much, I'd consider not too PMT.

Yeah, an Armored Suit was what I had in mind, sorry for not specifying that at the beginning.

Thee's a lot of ideas like this floating around and I'll tell you what I tell them whenever I see them.

1) Something that big is often reffered to as a 'Target' its certainly possible but realistically it would be hard to Avoid hitting something this big.

2) propulsion; how does it move, are you using treads, wheels or feet, wheels are probably not the way to go, treads are easier in a tecnical sense but are logistic intesive, has a lower top speed and has a lowr top angular speed (turning rate), Feet/legs can be faster and more maneuverable but they take up a lot of space just to move it around, the are also vulnerable and without a very comprehensive control suite that would take up even more room they can quickly over balance.
This is something that can be done very well and can be a very effective infantry support system in area that more conventional equipment couldn't go but you have to do some creative thinking and not be surprised if some people ignore it 9some people are just stupid that way)

A good basic design would be a pair of legs that make up most of the vehicle, the pilot is miunted between the legs (lowering the center of gravity to minimalize balance issues) and the weapon systems would be mounted on the back and on top. a good back mounted weapn would be a double set of light mortars (maybe 75mm) and a good top weapon would be maybe a .50cal and a tow missile or a similiar turret system.

Something along the lines of the Armed Suits from Stand Alone Complex?

I'm not familiar enough with Ghost in The Shell to know. maybe if you could find a picture? I looked but I couldn't find one, google kept giving me 'refine your search' messages

You might find this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=394046&page=1) to be of use. I think that's similar to what you have in mind. Verdant Archipelago made alot of comments and suggestions about the system described in that thread, and raised quite a few points that needed to be addressed. His notes in that thread might be of some help to you.

I'm not familiar enough with Ghost in The Shell to know. maybe if you could find a picture? I looked but I couldn't find one, google kept giving me 'refine your search' messages

I looked, but couldn't find any. It kept giving me pictures of the spidery things, which isn't what I'm talking about. Imagine a bipedal metal humaniod, with the pilot in the torso, and arms and legs...I'll sketch one later and scan it, maybe that will help.

No, No arms, arms are useless, you can mountall the weapons you need on turrets on the chassis without needing expensive, maintainance intensive arms thatrais the center of gravity

Okay, I think I understand what you are going for. It sounds to me like you want to search for images either from Heavy Gear, ExoSquad, or Battletech (the powered armor, not the mechs).

Gears are large enough that you can squeeze a human pilot into the torso, and they run on a special type of combustion engine, so not that future-tech.
Exosquad's E-Frames are smaller, and are essentially a big exoskeleton with weapons on them.
Battletech's powered armor are pretty much just suits of armor along the lines of what Robert Heinlein envisioned in his novel, Starship Troopers. (Please note that the movie version sucked, and butchered the beauty that is the Mobile Infantry)

If you go for legs, you should use at least four and probably six. Stability is key. You don't want your robots screaming "I've fallen and I can't get up" while your opponent pounds them into the ground. Hexapods also avoid complicated issues related to balance, especially balance when crossing rough terrain.

Plus, heavier weapons can be mounted on a quadruped or hexapod chassis because their recoil is less likely to knock over the vehicle.