RE: Infantry Walkers

At 03:32 PM 8/24/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Chen-Song spake thusly upon matters weighty: 
>> 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...
>
>I agree (for similar reasons) that walkers are somewhat unviable vis 
>a vis effective efficient grav vehicles. Too much weight and space 
>devoted to locomotion, balance, etc. - whereas a grav tank can devote 
>that space to armour, ECM, and weapons if grav systems are efficient 
>enough. 

<blink>
<blink>

Of course, current technology is able to work on walker vehicles, but
grav
vehicles are something no one has ever been able to demonstrate, so who
can
say which is more *efficient*?

[snip]
>The infantry walker probably appeals to 
>the japanese anime fans, the BT crowd, and some others. 

The Heavy Gear crowd. <grin>

>But as a 
>serious combat vehicle, I'm not sure it will ever fly... or in this 
>case walk.... although I do have to admit they make cool minis.....

Actually, I do like Heavy Gear's use of the walkers.  It assumes a
reasonably efficient and compact power supply (energy-hungry weapons
have
their own batteries, and are scarce anyway) plus the computational power
to
figure balance, the "macro" moves, etc, so the pilot isn't doing
everything
by hand -- fly-by-electron, or something like that.  (I forget, is
fly-by-wire where you're actually moving the tail flap or whatever, or
is
it something else?)

Anyway, Heavy Gear does *not* make Gears the end-all, be-all of weapons
systems, unlike (saaay) Battletech.  *In certain conditions* (fairly
rough
terrain, heavy jungle, swamp, etc.) where tanks and other
wheeled/tracked
vehicles have trouble operating, Gears allow heavier weapons than just
infantry can carry around.  In the open, gears get their butts kicked by
tanks.	(Assuming equal points values, of course, and sometimes even
when
the gears outnumber the tanks....)  Of course, someone may have done the
ritual abuse of the HG construction system to create a super-beastie,
but
there are very definitely ways around 'em.  I recall hearing of one
super-hovertank that, in the end, lost to an infantry horde because it
didn't have enough anti-infantry ammo... anyway.

Later,
					Aaron Teske
					ateske@HICom.net