RE: Infantry Walkers

On Sun, 23 Aug 1998, Noah Doyle wrote:

> Infantry walkers are at least as mobile and dextrous as Powered Armor.

>  They would not have to accomodate human limbs inside their limbs -
this 
> would allow a great range of motion.	I envision most IWs as roughly 
> humanoid, with the pilot sitting in the torso, probably very cramped. 
An 
> IW should be able to walk, jog, run, crawl, kneel, jump, everything a
human 

Hmmm... do you know how many muscles it takes to perform these actions
well with humans?  If you want to do this with some kind of vehicle,
there's going to be a *lot* of moving joints.  All of them have to be
*very* tough to withstand the strain, and also have to be very small to
fit into the walker.  This is also going to wind up being a mechanical
nightmare to maintain and repair.

> can do, or at least a human in PA.  It would need to be of strong
enough 
> material to withstand this kind of punishment as well (I envision my
IWs as 

See, if you have some kind of super tough material, why not use it in
large quantities to armor tanks/starships?  That would be much more
effective than the necessarily thin layers you have to put on a walker.

> being very beat-up looking).	In the game, this would be represented
by an 
> evade capability while moving (run only, probably), and an elimination
of 

I don't see why walkers should get an evade capability.  They are in no
way faster or more maneuverable than any other kind of vehicle. (and
probably less so than most)  If walkers have an evade capability, other
vehicles should have it too.

> the signature penalty when the IW is not in motion.  They would drop
prone 
> and take cover, like infantry.  They would be inherently unstable, as
all 
> 2-legged vehicles are; yes, they would trip occasionally, but they
should 
> be of a small enough size (3-5 m?) and tough construction that they
would 
> not be severely damaged by the fall.	They would be equipped with soem
of 

That's going to be another problem.  If the walkers can take up prone
positions, that means they have to be able to survive the fall.  It's
actually not hard to build a machine that can survive a fall like that.
But it's very hard to find a human pilot who can!  The force of the
impact
will be transferred into the cockpit, with unpleasant results
(especially
when you're in a steel box falling from 3-5 meters).  Unless the pilot
sits in a water tank, he's going to have problems staying intact...
The comment about the "small size" brings another problem.  This is a
"small" walker and it's still 3-5 meters, which is as tall or taller
than
the largest tanks.  I still think the walker signature increase of 1 in
the rules is not nearly enough.

> the best defensive suites for their size; APFCs, excellent stealth &
ECM 
> (GMSs is their nemesis), APSWs/SAWs for anti-infantry work, etc.  They
may 
> even be able to participate in close assault more like PA than
vehicles.

Given how walkers are arranged in an upright form when they are moving,
they would need far lighter weapons than their squatter counterparts
such
as tanks/APCs, for obvious reasons.

> for aerospace-dropped infantry, or for other light forces.  They would
be 
> effective & mobile in most forms of terrain.	They would also be
pretty 
> intimidating to civilian populations, as well.

Heh, heh, that's one way to use these, riot control against people
who've
watched to many anime movies... Until they figure out that these
super-expensive machines can be destroyed with ridiculously low-tech
methods, like rolling logs, tripwires, potholes, etc.

I know this is all supposed to be just fun, but I guess it's the
engineer
in me that has to point out all these obvious fatal flaws in design...

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