Would the Military Ever Use Mechs?

[@RHCole]

The problem mechs solve is our disturbing lack of mechs 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Mayor_Of_Eureka17]

Here here!

[@jefffoy530]

Lol

[@dbscarlett13]

True...

[@Count_Smackula]

Exactly!

[@Vaeldarg]

Most of the problems are, as the video showed, with humanoid mechs. Tanks already are pilotable non-humanoid mechs, so you could eventually have that idea extended out like in the anime Heavy Object where they become massive gun-covered balls of heavily armored machines. Would still have the weight issues as well as an easy target, but a lot more practical than a humanoid form.

[@Kahvalier]

See, now I want to see an episode about power armor, because I think that is far more likely than multi-ton mechs

[@hackman669]

Mech = giant target practice!!!😄😆😗

[@aaronbaker2186]

Yeah, I wanted to point out that Darpa has been working on a strength and endurance enhancing exo-suit for US Soldiers and considering armoring it. A 7-8 foot tall powered armor system gives the advantages of a mech without most of the disadvantages mentioned (though a 1200 lb human is going to break a lot of things it steps on).

[@koloth5139]

More likely perhaps, but still highly unlikely. Robots are far more likely on the battlefield than any kind of mech suit. Remove the human element from the actual battle and have them remote pilot some robots or drones. That is the smart move. The fewer soldiers in harm's way the better.

[@nick33ee]

huh... now i want to see some halo armor explanations.

[@flameendcyborgguy883]

Yea, exosuits, and exoarmors are viable thing, but their size still needs to be relatively human-sized, and that is a point of theirs. Not a big increase in size, a big increase in combat capabilities.

[@finalascent]

Exo-suits and small 'mechs might have a wartime application - perhaps not used in actual combat, but to support combat elements - imagine how quickly a non or lightly armored 'mech could assist the engineers in assembling Hesco barriers or other fieldworks. Or perhaps carrying an "armful" of crucial supplies here and there.

[@alistairgrey5089]

There are already designs for military exoskeletons. But none of them are going to be enclosed in the foreseeable future. Most are just leg and back support while a couple also help with arm strength. The kind of things that engineers would use would likely be robots and drones rather than mechs. The future of warfare is mostly robots and I see a future where soldiers won't even need to be present for 90% of a war.

[@jacobnebel7282]

Exosuits and similar sized mechs would absolutely have combat applications. One word: mobility. A platoon of soldiers essentially wearing armored motorcycles could zip along with armored elements, whereas current mechanized infantry has to dismount.

[@jamesricker3997]

They may have uses in actual combat strap a couple of anti-tank missiles and a chain gun on them and you have a fire support unit that can go almost everywhere the Infantry can

[@jarrodbright5231]

An exoskeleton to provide back and leg support to allow for the carrying of heavier equipment (particularly heavier weaponry) has a definite battlefield support role. Essentially an infantry heavy weapons platform augmenting the existing "Squad Heavy Weapon" of today's military. Not sure you can call this a "mech" though and I don't think this would be any more armored than your average infantryman. I'd agree that this could also have applications for carrying heavy building materials but I don't think that's what the military would invest in this for. As for real heavy engineering applications, I believe experiments have been done for something similar to the "Loader" from the movie Aliens and existing machinery just did the same job better without the balance issues.

[@russellharrell2747]

@@alistairgrey5089 most of the world’s combatants are men in pickups with assault rifles and RPGs. It would take a radical change for the asymmetric warfare that the US engages in becomes symmetric, much less a day when armies of robots fight each other on the behalf and behest of humans.

[@petesbeats483]

Bro missed the best Pun opportunity with MechDonalds instead of McDonalds. Lol

[@bjornatlas5017]

How can you tell 😅

[@Kragith]

There was no pun opportunity, the mechs weren't going to work at the McDonalds or be serving any. It would have made no sense to just randomly throw that in there.

[@ricaard]

MatPat would've caught that!

[@Mike-rt2vp]

He missed lots of things.

[@jinpachichulo7561]

Mexicans call it MecoDonalds. Or MecoBell.

[@AdmiralBlackstar]

I remember discussing Pacific Rim's mechs with my SO and how it to make it better, starting with how it would've made more sense to have one pilot handle the top half, and one handle the legs. Then I went a step further and suggested a third person to handle the other things like power distribution, sensors, etc. Then maybe replace the legs with treads. My SO then congratulated me on designing a tank with a humanoid upper turret.

[@lordilluminati5836]

Gm guntank moment

[@EricWulfe]

@@lordilluminati5836 and zaku tank moment

[@behzadmirmozaffari2563]

Welcome to the Armored Core series!

[@lampostsamurai2518]

Guntank?

[@spritemon98]

Tank lower half with a human upper half makes the most sense. Could also add shoulder mounted cannons to free up the arms and hands are other things

[@mrbonesaw90]

The funny thing is even the fiction acknowledges it's a problem. In the original Gundam the titular mobile suit was nearly destroyed on 2 separate occasions by small guerrilla forces utilizing booby traps and or placing explosives on the unit in hit and run attacks.

[@kabbablabba4073]

theres this really great but somewhat obscure anime from the 80s called armor hunter mellowlink and almost every episode of it is just the titular mellowlink beating enemies in mech suits on foot with guerilla warfare tactics and also a huge fucking harpoon gun like weapon longer than his own body which he uses to penetrate mech armor and kill the pilot inside lmao (it also doesnt even launch the spike but rather pushes it forward really fast like a cattle punch so its basically like a melee weapon designed to kill mech pilots)

[@dragonfell5078]

@@kabbablabba4073 that's fucking cool

[@salol18]

@@dragonfell5078 shield but national country need to be respected

[@redTanto]

The exact same problems heavy and armor units have always had. Here we are though, with billions invested per vehicle model. So nothing against a mech in particular.

[@salol18]

@@redTanto usa trying recreation gundam cross ray

[@Tiniuc]

The thing is.... mechs in space is actually a good idea, but not for strictly military reasons, but because arms, spacesuit, manipulators, tools, force amplification, etc. And consider a future where resources are abundant thanks to asteroid mining, people would need a way to get out and work on very large things in very low gravity, and the best way to do that is an exosuit or a tiny mech. From that point, it's just a matter of who decides to go rogue and put weapons on it.

[@Raz-wt5jr]

Just put arms on a ship though, or have a fleet of drones. Also once we reach the point where civilians have ships the prospect of throwing a gun on it is less lethal than the ship itself being drone piloted into something. A single cargo ship could easily destroy a station in space.

[@RHCole]

@@Raz-wt5jr Or put servos on a space suit and give it some armor.

[@RHCole]

@@Raz-wt5jr Also kamikaze drones can't be reused: Guns can.

[@chosenfallen2024]

@@Raz-wt5jr Ah the outlaw star approach 🤣

[@fakhrizzaarrifi9375]

That basically the backstory for mobile suit in Gundam series. With arm and leg, it's more manouverable in the space without too much rely on thrusters.

[@jotdoc]

See, you aplied mundane and flawed human logic of evaluating mechs against human weaponry, but what if the opponent is a giant kaijiu who accepts only cinematic melee combat?

[@seantrevathan3041]

You'll see the wisdom of using mechs when we invade a planet covered in stairs.

[@CSAdityaHoon]

yeah that's what I think they're best for space not for ground combat

[@francisquebachmann7375]

Just invesr in advance drone tech. No need use stairs if it can fly.

[@Alex_Fishman]

Helicopters. We have fucking helicopters, with both machine guns and rockets.

[@MarkusKnecht]

Tanks have zero problems with stairs (unless they are oversized)

[@seantrevathan3041]

@@Alex_Fishman It was a bit of humor.

[@FinGeek4now]

Military based mech's wouldn't be the large, oversized ones we see in sci-fi shows. They would allow the operator to lift heavier objects and move over terrain without tiring while also providing armor. Basically, it would be classified as powered armor rather than being a mech, but just add some weapons and there ya go. The idea of using a larger mech in a more of a logistical role is actually better for the military due to transportation, storage, and multiple roles (like the mech used in Aliens).

[@sicilian_airliner]

Yeah I imagine they’d be more like force multipliers like titans.

[@suzettehenderson9278]

Think Ripley in Aliens.

[@heikos4264]

i guess the biggest thing would be like a gundam. if you think gundam you can boil it down to 'highly mobile weapon carrier that can carry 2 to 4 times the amount of weapons of a tank' (but that would be like in the anime, far in the future). and like you said, the majority would be a lot smaller.

[@Galimeer5]

So a forklift with legs

[@FinGeek4now]

@@Galimeer5 Pretty much, yea. They're much more compact (they actually exist today as prototypes) and more maneuverable. Since they're actually easier to operate and transfer from place to place than a forklift, they can be useful in rapid deployments.

[@saifulbrine2391]

How to design mech 1.tell them that u need it for a mining equipment and hard terrain purpose 2.wait for the AI to become rogue 3.warlord titan

[@SonOfLemonRuss]

Thats a leman russ

[@bocahdongo7769]

Armored core plot then

[@Valor816]

God no, please don't let mining equipment operators behind the wheel of Mechs. The AI would be entirely justified in going rogue.

[@lordshell]

You forgot battlefield profile. Standing tall on a battlefield is inviting everyone to shoot at you. Shorter is better.

[@spaghettiwaffles]

5:13

[@DKNguyen3.1415]

That's why mechs are in humanoid form. So they can go prone.

[@MattGarZero]

I think Gundam sells the idea best. The first mobile suits were developed from colony construction and mining equipment. They're compatible in scale and function to their environment, that environment being giant fictional space colonies.

[@goldsea1678]

I would respectfully disagree. I think Titanfall sells them best as infantry support. They aren’t massive, they can all be used for multiple purposes (moving debris, removing cover, moving cover, etc). Not to mention how simple they appear to be to use considering Cooper learned to use BT despite (to my current knowledge) never truly piloting a Titan before, do correct me if I am wrong tho.

[@valor1omega]

I disagree, Battletech sells it best.

[@ZetaMoolah]

Mecha fight!

[@valor1omega]

@@ZetaMoolah Megabots vs. Japan, actual mech fight between an American mech and a Japanese mech. The fight is on megabots KZbin channel.

[@AeriFyrein]

@@goldsea1678 Except Titanfall mechs run into basically ALL of the problems listed in this video, and are thus realistically impractical to use compared to many other forms of currently-available modern weaponry. Barring such a mech having some sort of very, very good optical camouflage, anything of that size would be a MASSIVE target that would be easily spotted and intercepted before it could provide viable support. You would be massively better off just creating autonomous drones with the ability to hover in place. Those would be able to maneuver around significantly faster, be much cheaper to build, and be significantly more stealthy, while being just as (or more) deadly than any Titanfall mech. You could also probably have some sort of cockpit or other compartment available in said drone to provide infiltration/exfiltration assistance if the goal was to have it as support for an infantry super soldier. MattZero is correct in that mechs as popularized by most anime/sci-fi fiction would be most viable as primarily-spacebound construction/mining/maintenance tools. Even in those cases, however, many parts of traditional mechs are fairly redundant, and you would likely be better off with essentially a small spaceship with highly articulate arms. Legs would have little purpose unless you were actually in an area with a gravity well, and in those cases, being bipedal would probably not be the best option. Having any sort of power source strong enough to power an entire mech would likely make any energy efficiency from being bipedal negligible in comparison to the stability granted from having 3+ legs, and having something like articulated treads instead of legs/feet would probably be even better.

[@josiah42]

That last bit about bipedalism and the versatility that you get from having your hands free applies very differently if you're talking about human-sized robots in a domestic environment. The OP makes a convincing argument for why a gigantic mech wouldn't have available tools because it's not the correct size for its environment. However a robot whose job it is to walk around the house and perform chores would actually really benefit from the versatility of just having regular hands and being able to walk up and down stairs.

[@ash470]

You are exactly right our homes and settlements are designed specifically to allow it to be trans-versed and utilised optimally by Humans. (Sure their is some concessions made to people with hindered mobility or function but even then their will always be a significant percentage of the environment that is best trans-versed by a narrow bipedal form.) And as for tool use while human hands are extremely functional they are also an engineering nightmare to replicate mechanically you can get a lot done with just a couple of thick pincers or something amorphous that uses active suction.

[@nitonono4143]

robots are not mechs. mechs are bipedal machine piloted by humans.

[@crazyfakar1]

@@nitonono4143 Not all mechs are bipedal, some have six legs, and some are tracked. mech /mɛk/ nounINFORMAL noun: mech; plural noun: mechs 1. a mechanic. 2. BRITISH a derailleur gear mechanism on a bicycle.

[@dreadfulmantis7452]

Though not entirely incorrect this video was purposed to show how improbable it would be to see human-piloted robotic fighting machines is. Robots in and of themselves are very likely going to be integrated into the real world. America has loved its whole thing about focusing on survivability and cost of general combat power. The Sherman from WWII is an example of this, cheap and easy to produce but had decent enough armor. A robotic fighting force is very much in our future and robotic servants will likely come first as the technology progressing would initially favor non combat roles. Sorry that got a bit long.

[@AzraelThanatos]

@@nitonono4143 However, something utilizing the basic designs for, say, a paraplegic would be something to consider there. And with the video using mechs for powered armor and similar, you have those as well which are in development by several countries and other groups.

[@ArchOfWinter]

This is why I like the Patlabor series. The mechs are primarily used industrial and construction use. They are a jack of all trait tools where they can perform multiple jobs replacing single role construction equipment. While militaries uses mech, they don't rely on them. And most military mechs shown on screen are not bipedal.

[@westrim]

Sure, but then they give the police mechs 6 shooters and you just kind of have to narrow your eyes.

[@Ylyrra]

Except single-role equipment exists for a reason: it's better than a jack of all trades solution that doesn't do anything as well as specialist equipment. A jack of all trades body is a fine solution for biology, where you can't just hop in another body, but from an engineering standpoint the optimal solutions for being a bulldozer and being a crane are wildly different, and the advantage from doing one of those things well is far more than the cost of having two machines.

[@daniel_f4050]

Patlabor does a lot of interesting things with Labors, but…. They are almost all bipedal. Other than the UN bug tank labor in one of the movie openings and the Russian (?) model that someone tried to smuggle in by ship. The Helldiver paratrooper labor and the weird German combat labor are both bipeds. But it’s been quite a while so I can’t think of any other military labors seen on the show or in the movies.

[@nosrin1988]

i need to watch that series. I got it sitting in my closet. Ive watched the first movie and maybe the second one?

[@thorveim1174]

@@Ylyrra on the counter-argument, having all-purpose equipment would make said equipment much cheaper and allow that one machine to do more work. A bulldozer and a crane may be the best at their respective jobs, but it may still be worth it to maybe replace both by a single machine able to do both; also said machine would be useful from the start to the end of the construction job rather than only being used at certain points and then just sitting here unused until its needed again. And having a one-fit-all like that means replacement parts will be more plentiful and always compatible (since its the same machine) than they would be for more specialized equipment.

[@doriamvell5386]

How about heavy infantry? Something like elementals in Battletech. A suit small enough to get into the buildings or roofs, and fine protected against small arms. Perfect for urban warfare.

[@IanJenn356094]

No, that's just really dumb and not realistically tactical nor strategic.

[@TheFapFactory]

⁠​⁠@@IanJenn356094Way to not provide any support for your argument lmao. it’s not dumb and it would be strategic you’re dense for thinking otherwise

[@hkbandit1]

We worked with DARPA a while back to field test an exoskeleton for ship board use. It worked, but it was super awkward and in a move that surprised nobody at all, we didn't opt to continue with the project.

[@Hoellewood_Solutions]

@hkbandit1 wait, you made powerloaders?

[@hkbandit1]

@@Hoellewood_Solutions, it was one of the fancy contractors out there. Kinda like the suits they had in Edge of Tomorrow, but if Peter Griffin built it.

[@alistairgrey5089]

That sounds like what has happened with just about every exoskeleton project. None of them can deliver what the military wants.

[@jamesricker3997]

"Officially "

[@Hoellewood_Solutions]

@@alistairgrey5089 I refer once again to Chromehounds. The concept was really good when you didn’t use legs and was very feasible if you scaled the Chromehounds down quite a bit.

[@scarredFalconer]

I always saw Mechs as an evolution of power armor. I'd argue that power armor is (maybe) significantly more feasible then say a mech. MAYBE the mechs from the Avatar movie (in the lore those evolved from power armor). But yeah, power armor maybe better and could be worth a video.

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

For me they could be an evolution of tanks adopting them to use less crew or at least taking away the grew from the ammo basically tanks with completely remote controlled turrets

[@gabrielclark1425]

I'd say it's less feasible because it has the ability to pulp it's own user if something goes wrong.

[@michaelfranciotti3900]

@@gabrielclark1425 I've always thought about that. The stress and force being imparted to the user. Like when Ironman's suit was attaching to him in pieces, my first thought was "how did that not break his legs and arms?"

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@gabrielclark1425 If we get actual power armor it's purely going to be because there's a treaty to prevent skynet from happening. If we allow robots to pull the trigger, then that's where this is going to go eventually. We've all seen the historical documents that Cameron shot in the '80s and early '90s. A robot can go inside a building and kill anything in there without having to destroy the building and doesn't necessarily have to kill everything, it can be tasked with single targets and those that fight back.

[@indrapratama7668]

@@michaelfranciotti3900 "I've always thought about that. The stress and force being imparted to the user. Like when Ironman's suit was attaching to him in pieces, my first thought was "how did that not break his legs and arms?"" Haha. This. My thoughts, exactly. My 9 year-old self who watched the first Iron Man back in 2008 couldn't help thinking how Tony Stark managed to survive his first escape attempt from the terrorists' cave without suffering from at the very least a permanent, severe, coma-inducing brain damage. A brain damage of that level should be the best case scenario in that scene. The worst case scenario, of course, would be him being turned into scrambled egg upon collision with the sand in the desert. Until an ultra-high performance shock absorbing material that can absorb at the very least 90% of the kinetic force from an impact from the sky is invented, I can safely say that body-fitting, Iron Man-type exoskeleton is physically impossible. It's a mere romantic idea with zero practical application in the real world.

[@Nick-st4hb]

That's why I love mechs on Halo, all of them were designed either to make repairs in harsh environments or special operations, the mantis and Cyclops are really simple tbh

[@Fallout_Survivor]

Counter argument: mechs are fucking awesome

[@Carewolf]

Not once you realize how stupid they are, and how easy you could defeat them. Then you can just watch the media ignore all the issues, and roll your eyes.

[@messman10]

What about the mechs from Ghost in the Shell? The legs were to have redundant wheels to better adapt to the ground and have multiple redundant points of support. It only "walked" over terrain too rough for its wheels/treads.

[@cgRui34]

The Tachikomas/Fuchikomas in Ghost In The Shell are a much more feasible mech design. Basically quadruped mini-tanks with options to roll on wheels. However, I'd still imagine that all the moving parts are still a nightmare for operational logistics and financing compared to a simpler fighting system. But definitely among all the mech types, a smaller treaded/wheeled machine with the option to walk on four or more legs would be a more practical design in terms of mobility and form factor. Lower center of gravity with redundant modes of locomotion and a much more stable weapon platform than a biped, but it does greatly add to the complexity of the whole system.

[@Enzo012]

I'm not sure if a legged tank counts as a mech? AT ATs in Star Wars aren't really considered mechs, I suppose you could argue they are.

[@hermeister3870]

@@Enzo012 at ats dont have treads/ wheels so i absolutely will argue they are mechs, i've seen similar (albeit more well designed) four legged engines being called mechs regularly

[@Enzo012]

@@hermeister3870 I would call them walking vehicles or walkers myself. Mechs are bipedal and/or humanoid. But I don't there's any official definition.

[@hermeister3870]

@@Enzo012 mechas specifically are humanoids, mechs is way broader and accepts anything with legs and guns even if there's no head or even arms

[@michaelwoodhams7866]

Back in the days of Usenet (early 1990s) I participated in a debate about whether military mechs could ever be a thing, or whether wheeled/tracked vehicles would always be a superior option. Always the peacemaker, I suggested a compromise: put the mechs on bicycles.

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

Or rollerblades \m/

[@JustinMShaw]

Maybe they'll put giant arms on tanks, specifically for the purpose of being able to flip off the enemy in any direction

[@core2zero]

@@Pavlos_Charalambous that's code geass knightmare frames

[@NarwahlGaming]

A unicycle!

[@RCAvhstape]

Use tanks as roller skates. Problem sorted.

[@liamjohnston2000]

A lot of comments have already stated this, but I think an episode on power armor would also be cool.

[@3DJapan]

Look at the robots Boston Dynamics has. They're extremely athletic and it's pretty hard to knock one over, whether it has 2 legs or 4. And that's current tech, not even thinking of what we might have in the future.

[@DarthVaderfr]

Scale the size and the technology has to change completely , a small robot like Boston dynamics are nowhere near the size and the weight of a huge mech

[@KilerkRazorclaw]

I honestly think that the way we may see mechs is in a logistics/construction role and not that big, roughly the size of the ones from Avatar. If they are given hands and other tools they could be decently useful in those tasks. They'd probley be mounted with a few light weapons if its a front line construction role such as machine guns but likely not much more.

[@alistairgrey5089]

More likely that those roles will be taken by specialized robots and drones. The need for mechs just wouldn't be there when the exact same thing can be done for cheaper and with no risk to personnel.

[@tomizatko3138]

what do you know the disadvatages of a mech and a robot are almost the same

[@alistairgrey5089]

@@tomizatko3138 not even close. Robots are purpose built with almost none of the weaknesses of a mech.

[@charlestonianbuilder344]

@@tomizatko3138 a robot can have wheels, and does not need a human, that alone could solve many problems of a mech

[@ulforcemegamon3094]

Quite , all of the US projects that were related to legged robots was for logístics purposes

[@wastelander138]

A good example of how difficult designing a functional mech is, The Hacksmith Powerloader build series. It was awesome because they got it working but they really showed how basic it's movement and functionality is. We are no where near the point of building sonething combat ready considering we can't build something that is good to take over civilian work that can be done with other machinery. Like Simon said, the cost and practicality of it just doesn't balance out.

[@pakde8002]

Robots are more realistic. Or clone armies.

[@alphagt62]

No matter the amount of armor, the tech needed to stop a mech will be much cheaper than then mech itself. A shoulder launched missile with laser targeting on the leg joint will destroy the $200M mech with $50k tech. But why not just have the torso mounted on tank treads? Still, a taller and larger target.

[@Badjujubee]

@@alphagt62 we will have BOLOS before a mech kicks up dirt anywhere. Semi sentient nuclear powered surface to orbit wielding best boy tank/landships for the win :)

[@cosmichay74]

@@Badjujubee For the honor of the regiment!

[@Tyrany42]

I feel like the Rule of Cool is in full effect here. Sure, they’re not practical in reality, but I can never have enough giant robots in fiction!

[@thorveim1174]

I am of the Brigador school of thought when it comes to mechs to quote: "Mechs take considerably more maintenance than anything on wheels or treads. But when the War Council gets to see a new heavy legs unit put their foot straight through the top of a tank, it shakes the part of their brain that worries about money. I like to think the first mech field test was sort of like when the military first got real hot and bothered for helicopters back on Earth. They want the slick new stuff, who cares what it costs? Despite how long mechs have played an active role in combat and police work, there's a segment of the Brass that still argues against them hard. They're "walking targets" that are "too expensive to maintain" and "damage roads and infrastructure because they don't broadly distribute their weight." Ok maybe some of that's true, but bureaucrats don't know what a psych-out it is to get stared down by a heavy. Gets you that fear deep in your reptile brain, sympathetic nervous system response. Also the part that worries about money." its also why mechs are the weapon of choice in battletech despite tanks botth existing, being cheap and still effective: at its inception the mech was the latest in military tech, and thus EVERYONE wanted them to not fall behind, despite the mech still being an unproven tech in the field. And from here the mech just was developped way further than other types of vehicles; helped by the fact being vertical allowed them to carry more weaponry and other equipment than tanks withoutcovering too wide a surface like a giant tank would.

[@zsewqthewolf1194]

@@thorveim1174 it also helped that mechs from that world (not anime kind) are made to handle rouht areas, I like to see a tank go up a claff side or a VERY rocky area without clearing it out 1st

[@alganhar1]

@@zsewqthewolf1194 I would like to see a mech do so as well. A real world mech of the same weight class as a modern MBT would be LESS capable of traversing rough terrain than the tank. I agree with the rule of cool, mechs are great in fiction, and I love them, but as a real world combat platform too many laws of physics conspire to make them impractical, assuming they are even possible at all! You can ignore laws of physics in fiction, you cannot, unfortunately, ignore them in the real world!

[@zsewqthewolf1194]

@@alganhar1 to be it’s 5050 on would it be done, unless we find something or make something that allow us to make mechs like the size from earthsegie or hreavy gear or patlabor. Then it he a hard sell at all. But I think keeping the dream alive and keep going at it we may see them use in industrial settings like factory or woodlands or mining for worker safety. Unless something pop up like synthetic muscles like how battletech did it then ya it be a long while

[@odinulveson9101]

Sure they are not practical? You own a building size mech? Yes the sizes wouldnt be as tall as in Pacific Rim, Battletech, Gundam. But we havent even got off this damn planet and develop new technologies with new metals, materials in general. I dont count Pascific Rim even if its mainly on earth due to dimennional shenanigans

[@rickyal9810]

0:20 That's a Linebacker (Clan Omnimech) from Mechwarrior/Battletech and it's only as big as a two story house and weighs only 65 tons (As much as a tank).

[@hangmanmatt2598]

Realistically, i think the more likely mech wouldn't be large ones, but instead the power armor from fallout 4. It's smaller and more portable but gives the user increased strength and resilience on the ground while only slightly hindering mobility. It gives the opportunity to have a mobile heavy weapon in places a tank or armored truck couldn't go. Plus the armor would allow the power armor user to be at less risk while breaching a door. Obviously like normal tanks, it needs infantry support to avoid being overrun by enemy combatants

[@doriamvell5386]

Ukraine warfare show, that currently drones make a big threat to infantry. Maybe portable personal AA gun will be a thing. Like AMS in battletech.

[@JL-nb1yc]

Exactly, the problem it solves is providing body armor. Like the Fallout power armor or Tony Stark's Iron Man suits.

[@Yshka2]

@@JL-nb1ycpower armour was made so that in Alaska, where they were struggling to use heavy vehicles, infantry could use larger weapons

[@stevenkolle08]

But that's power armor not a mech

[@SobeCrunkMonster]

the fallout 4 power armor is a fantasy, theres nothing real or useful about it, something knocks you over in that thick tin suit and youre just a roasting overturned turtle at that point

[@garethmartin6522]

I think the killer problem is the height. The taller it is the easier it is to spot, and to shoot. Tanks are already designed to be as low as possible for this reason.

[@samuelpotter6639]

Mech suit could combat this problem better than normal exposed soldiers

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

Just look in a different wavelength and visual light spectrum matters less. You can see birds on radar.

[@KaiserAfini]

You also have the balancing, since walking is surprisingly difficult to do well. The quadratic rule also means the amount of weight the joints would need to carry would make extremely difficult to engineer. The power source, plus the difficulty to repair and switch parts would make them a logistical nightmare.

[@Name-zo3fm]

If you see my mech coming I am sure I can see you scrambling. Line of sight works both ways.

[@bort6414]

@@Name-zo3fm If I see your mech coming, I've already put a 120mm depleted uranium carbide alloy SABOT into your engine compartment from several kilometers away. Profile matters because the range at which modern weapons operate.

[@John00065]

If I recall the Original Battledroids game , the Mechs didn't use servos and motors: they used a system of Myomer bundles that essentially mimic large scale human muscles on the limbs. The Myomer bundles would contract or expand with the application of electrical charges. This is how they were able to make the Mechs lightweight an armored with a lightweight material called Plasteel. I also believe the Mech Warriors used a neuronet helmet to control the Mech in combat. So this gave the MechWarrior an almost instantaneous reaction time in combat. The mech moved real time based on the warriors thoughts. If he turn his head to look around, the mech followed the pilots movements. In other words the technology to make an actual Battlemech doesn't really exist right now. Current technology would need a huge power plant, motors and joints and servos to even move. The weapons system of the Battlemechs were lightweight lasers and SRM *short range missiles. A few had auto cannons similar to a A-10 Warthog firing armor piercing rounds. I think if we could actually make the artificial muscle system utilizing a real life equivalent to the Myomer Bundles then making a mech becomes a much less daunting task. Most modern tanks use depleted uranium for armor. It is lightweight and extremely dense and makes excellent armor. It is also prohibitively expense. But if scientists could actually make a Plasteel fusion material then the ground weight argument would disappear. Where I do agree is that an actual mech would be a great big, beautiful target that would draw the fire from every side! It would be very difficult to conceal such a weapon on the battlefield. Smaller, faster units would simply overwhelm a Mecha and bring it down with sheer strength of numbers.

[@cobalt968]

There were also a number of historical events in the Battletech universe that made bipedal robots the ideal war machine to use. Though they’re the poster child of the setting, ground and air/space vehicles are both still extremely important parts of any war machine in the setting. Any mech-based force that doesn’t have good aerospace support can and will get wrecked by aerospace assets. This is in contrast to most other mech-based IPs, in which mechs have largely supplanted tanks and planes.

[@marijuanoloco1324]

What if the mech had stealth technology built in it. Practically a ai stealth tank

[@platospotatoes6205]

Did you really just say depleted uranium is lightweight? And expensive? The reason you use it is because of what you even said: extremely dense, meaning heavy. Really flipping heavy. Tanks only use a net of this or else the tank would weigh too much. As for the expensive part... Maybe expensive to shape and craft, but there is literally millions of tons of the stuff lying around without a purpose as a waste product to uranium enrichment for nuclear power plant fuel.

[@MazonDel]

Let me preface with the statement that I love a good mecha game/anime. Unfortunately, the problem that mechs run into is that there is no technology that can be developed that ONLY helps make mechs better. Anything you develop to help a mech can also be applied to tanks. For example, let's say you make a "plasteel fusion material" as you say to give mechs armor while being light enough to avoid other problems. Right now a tank with armor measured in inches of thickness can happily support itself at 50-60 tons of weight with all the armor it has and still do its job. With this new lightweight armor that is still just as strong, you can now make tanks that have armor thickness measured in feet, and the increased volume doesn't matter because it's own ground pressure would likely end up going down due to the increased physical size of the vehicle. So you'd have a future mech that can equate to a modern tank, and a future tank that equates to a modern naval destroyer. You still wouldn't use a mech over a tank. As was lightly touched on in the video, while bipedal motion is more efficient than quadrupedal motion, it's not more efficient than wheels and gears and such. While myomer muscles are technically possible (electro-mechanical fibers are a thing, but they do not nearly have the strength or electrical efficiency to operate like mechs require currently) they won't operate more efficiently than tank treads. But a key point is that EVEN IF THEY DID, then this means you could just change the drivetrain of your tank to still have treads, but the spinning shaft system is now based on a myomer ratcheting mechanism or somesuch. So the efficiency "boost" the mech would get has now largely been usurped by a tank. The mind-machine-interface system of Mechwarrior is another thing which can be applied to other vehicles just as well. You could arrange a system inside of a tank such that any sort of neural signals you care about are detected and then interpreted however you like. Twisting your torso to turn the upper part of a mech could easily be repurposed for turning the turret on a tank, and so on. It would only be a software problem to properly set up your interface to get it working right, but that can be accomplished with literal trial and error if necessary. The result being a one-man operated tank. And sadly, what we're seeing in the modern day is that height in ground combat is a HUGE deal. From the US' time in the middle east and such, our own vehicles have shown that as a general rule of thumb, 80% of weapons strikes will hit the upper 20% of the vehicle. The shorter the structure of the vehicle, the fewer overall hits they tend to take. We can see a rather substantial difference between vehicles that are only 1-2 feet different in their height, so going from an ~8 foot tall tank to a 15-20 foot tall mech just guarantees it's going to be getting smashed from all sides.

[@FalconWindblader]

@@MazonDel Just to address the notion of tech developed for mechs ain't gonna be limited to only mechs. It's worth noting as well that bipedal mechs & tanks don't need to be mutually exclusive. In Gundam, even the very first iteration, there's the Guntank. In Code Geass, just about every Knightmare has wheels & threads built as part of their lower legs. Mechs don't exclusively need to be bipedal or quadrupedal or whatever-number-pedal. They could be built with wheels & threads for feet, allowing the pilot to choose between modes of movement most suitable for dealing with the current situation. Hell, one could even design a mech's legs to allow it to lower itself to almost the height of a tank, raising itself only when needing to see better or whatever. While mechs are almost always discussed to be exclusively ground vehicles, it actually need not be the case. Mechs could also be choppers & planes with arms. Granted, the physics of aerodynamics dictate that they ain't gonna be dogfighting modern fighter jets or even just attack helicopters, mechs with limited flight capabilities, if they were to have human-like reaction times, would still have an edge over strictly ground vehicles. If electromechanical muscles do become a reality, there would be an advantage applied exclusively only to mechs--absurdly easy weapon modularity. Unlike any fighting vehicle or vessel we have today, having actual arms & more importantly, hands, means that mechs could just pick up a weapon & be on their way, with 'installations' taking a couple of minutes, if not mere seconds. A mech with a busted weapon could also just ditch said weapon & pick up another, something our fighting vehicles & vessels, if restricted in their current form factor, could never do. Just like how cars evolved from horse carriages & motorcycles from bicycles, development of mechs, despite the direction it's often taking today, don't necessarily need to go through the whole process as their own thing. Hell, if piloting mechs do become a lot more intuitive than driving tanks & piloting aircrafts, i bet we'd see tanks with legs or planes with arms or anything in between as mentioned before, before we actually see truly humanoid mechs coming to reality.

[@dapperspider3766]

One of the problems a mech solves also happens to be one of its greatest weaknesses. Mechs, with their higher point of view, can aim weapon systems over defensive points to attack an enemy that might be hiding behind said defensive point. The problem, as it always has been with attacking a defensive point: If you can see them, they can most certainly see you.

[@Veretax]

Yes but unlike tanks which are typically limited to one or two carrots with perhaps some backup weapons Max might be able to carry a lot more Firepower

[@dapperspider3766]

@@Veretax where... exactly? Hard mounted? That's a problem, because the more weight you add, the more robust the gearing mechanisms need to be, which makes the mech heavier, which makes it need more robust gearing mechanisms, etc, etc... I know, give it arms! it can use multiple weapons systems... which are, put where? in a depot, that will have to be mobile to keep up with said mech? I mean you could, slot the weapons on a mobile heavy weapons platform, hell you could have the crew of that platform be able to operate that... wait, there's a term for that somewhere....

[@dapperspider3766]

@@Veretax You also have to remember, there are other more fundamental problems with battle capable mechs it's glossed over a lot, but where is the power source running a Mech, long term? I was an armor crewman... we had to more or less have our tank operational for at least 48-72 hours at a time, with fuel-ups every 12 hours. When you think about the logistics of fueling a high performance machine (which a mech very much is) you should allocate at least HALF of its weight to the consideration of fuel and powerplant management. Without power couplings... i.e. a tether, you could always go nuclear, but that hosts its own unique problem, that is, what happens when the powerplant eventually fails? Then, of course, there is the mechs transmission of said power. If I am understanding things correctly, the current mechs in development, use hydraulics, which is decent, if you aren't hauling battle-weight i.e. just the frame, walking on its own, nevermind armor, the above mentioned fuel, weapons, sensor suites, etc... the weight capacities and limits of a hydraulic rig start stacking up quick, besides of which, have you ever seen an excavator get a hydraulic leak, it goes limp real fast. That leaves a gear box, more robust then trying to make faux muscles, but comes with its own problems, stripping, overheating... Simply put, a Mech, is not a viable weapons platform for a landfighting military force.

[@dapperspider3766]

@@Veretax My last comment to really put this arguement in the grave... is that it's absurdly, hilariously false. as a land fighting weapons platform, the tank is far and away superior to a mech in every conceivable way, but most importantly, is that it has a much MUCH higher load displacement than a mech could possibly have. Take the MAUS. Though it never saw active use, the MAUS was outfitted to carry a naval cannon comperable to those used on heavy cruisers. The only point of failure that it had, was that the tank was so incredibly heavy, that it sank into the ground. that said, it was still a useable artillery piece. The most advanced mechs we could possibly make, would struggle to carry a vulcan cannon out of an A-10(and that is being heavily favorable to the mech), nevermind a 120mm or greater cannon. it doesn't compare, not even close.

[@Veretax]

@@dapperspider3766 I will remind you that the idea of having a boat that could do its combat functions almost exclusively underwater was a fiction until a few whack jobs decided to try a few things in the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War. We have what perhaps a hundred years of mechanized and armored combat to look at which might make us think tanks definitely are superior but what kind of breakthroughs were necessary to get tanks to where they were in World War II or in the desert storm for example. There were breakthroughs made I think there's just a lot of breakthroughs that would have to be made before Max is a combat vehicle at least the the large ones capable of raising a whole city might happen. I do see the idea of maybe EXO suits of some kind that that work with the body as it is and provide additional strength or agility as a possibility in the short term but as an engineer I I get your points believe me I understand how physics works and the way the next look right now may not be how it looks like if they were to actually come into being. I remember seeing some science fiction about what a Mech would have looked like in the Roman times or the medieval times and so forth and these things might technically be Max but they don't look anything like what we would postulate today. The funny thing is I don't know what will cause the need to find that leap that would allow that kind of stable articulation as a weapons platform while walking most of the fiction I have seen put these things you know more than a few centuries in the future 300 years from now it might look different who knows

[@Gorbz]

Have you heard of the Urbanmech? A small, slow, heavily armoured mech designed to move around urban environments and launch big slugs as targets from short range before hiding behind a nearby building.

[@Ratkill9000]

Because what's funnier than a trashcan that can core an assault 'mech in a surprise attack? In all fairness, the Urbanmech is one of the more realistic designs with the 360⁰ torso twist arc. They pack a nasty punch and in decent numbers they can really mess up your day.

[@Gorbz]

@@Ratkill9000 I got mine from Discount Dan.

[@TheIceGryphon]

If you see Dan tell him the AC/2 I bought from him exploded after 1 shot.

[@H_Hold]

It's a practical mech design; I call it a funky trashcan

[@zsewqthewolf1194]

the problem is pop cutral forgot there more then one kind of mech and that is the western desin where it was truely desin to be cheap and easy to use

[@RensStoryteller]

I'd argue that a Mech the size of a human is a power armor, and a well designed power armor could turn the tide in a battle. It would be an armor that could protect from most things your average foot soldier would be subject to and could potentially amplify their speed and strength, or at least augment them. And with people like Installation00 making the Mjolnir armor from Halo, I believe it could be done quite well for cheep. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Edit, you all seem to be thinking I'm suggesting them be deployed in troops like the Spartan Corps, and talking about competition with tanks. I'm talking more about them being an alternative to tanks where actual tanks cannot go and having one or two deployed alongside standard soldiers for heavy fire. And one pilot can do the work of the entire team in the tank, so that reduces the manpower loss if ONE unit is downed.

[@snorlax6691]

Yeah, I think mechs smaller than 10 feet are generally considered power armor. Those would be exceedingly useful in combat, letting a single soldier fight more efficiently. And I think the only issue with that we haven’t solved is, predictably, power.

[@zaco-km3su]

Speed? No. When they will try to amplify the speed they will hurt the soldier. It doesn't matter what you argue. A well designed "power armour" will get your soldier targeted by AT missiles and will also get your soldier to go on the battlefield without it. You need to transport it. We're not even taking about maintenance. And with people like Installation00 you can just keep on dreaming because it's not happening. This can't be done on the cheap. If you want it done on the cheap I'll send you into battle and I won't give you body armour. I'll just give you a piece of cardboard. You won't last 5 minutes.

[@zaco-km3su]

@@snorlax6691 No, you've been thinking that the imagination from your head is reality. It isn't. They won't be useful in combat. I guess for you "exceedingly useful" means having a piece of cardboard instead of body armour in combat. Maintenance and just the joints are issues that haven't been solved. It's going to be heavy and hard to transport. It will also become a target for AT weapons.

[@Cute_Clord]

Exoskeletons with armor plating and stuff could be rather practical. Exoskeletons is technology we already have and has been demonstrated. It's just about researching further of various things to make it even more effective for combat purposes. But yeah, those aren't mechs like in the video anymore like already mentioned. However at that point they are competing with tanks and tanks are good at handling heavy weaponry.

[@rotwang2000]

Strength enhancement is one useful feature, but current models suffer from lag and restrict the user when doing high speed movements like fighting and ducking and dodging. Another problem is that the human body is a complex shape and while you can put some good armour on parts like the head and chest, joints will always be a weak spot. The final issue is that even if you could build a suitable powered armour suit that is completely bulletproof, people will simple switch to the next tier of weaponry meaning you get targeted by things like RPG's or heavy ordnance like 20mm+ cannons, incidentally the sort of stuff that almost every army in the world tends to have in spades, even the more basic third world armies. Dunno about you, but I'd rather take my chances with 7.62mm vs current body armour rather than invite every guy with an RPG-7 to put a stream of super hot plasma and metal through my chest, not to mention the massive trauma caused by the explosion shockwave.

[@beetledesert8642]

Mechs such as the Avatar AMP and the Titans from Titanfall could be better suited to military use. The AMP was originally made to lift heavy cargo before being repurposed to military infantry fighting “vehicles”. The Titans from Titanfall were built for combat some were also converted into civilian use for cargo and repairs on hostile working environments.

[@yeetus442]

EXACTLY i cant believe he didnt mentioned these in the video, james cameron and the designers of titanfall made a more practical and believable bipedal platform than most anime and mecha sci fi

[@kingmasterlord]

why would the military want a worse tank?

[@beetledesert8642]

@@kingmasterlord Mechs werent made to replace tanks, are you even reading what I said?

[@curts7801]

@@kingmasterlord when thinking about planetary colonization, you have *extremely* finite space aboard the vessels traversing outer space. What little heavy machinery comes with needs to be extremely versatile. Parts need to be consistent and uniform. And every task needs to be doable with what’s present. Tanks are strictly the heavy armored weapons platform of war. Mechs can do *everything*, but aren’t amazing at it. And the elaborate humanized movement makes space combat actually viable, since they can double as swinging monkeys and brutal marines. As well as repair platforms. *That* is the mech’s moment of triumph. Until we reach for the stars for good, the Mech is but a distant dream. Exosuits, like Iron Man’s prototype suit or the Hulk buster, could be used to recreate the heavy infantry role of old.

[@kingmasterlord]

@@beetledesert8642 what they're made for in science fiction and what they're realistically capable of are two different things

[@-Lazy]

0:40 looks exactly like the mechs from the avatar movie

[@brianedwards7142]

There is a line in Watership Down that was a revelation at the time about how much easier it is for a quadruped to climb a steep slope like The Downs.

[@EdwardDanks009]

The Minovsky particles canceling radar out was why mech suit weapons were created in Gundam. And it was initially pushed for space usage first, then later ground combat.

[@nottodisushttoagen1309]

and even then, for pure ground combat the Hildolfr, which takes the technology of Mobile Suits and applies it to a Tank design, mops the floor with Mobile Suits and only didn't reach mass production because by then Zeon had been pushed off of Earth and the war moved to space.

[@demomanchaos]

@@nottodisushttoagen1309 It only did so because the plot demanded the test pilot somehow manage to beat machines that it absolutely should not have with manuevers that should not have worked. MS Igloo is honestly pretty dumb, and the Guntank is only ever really dangerous when it has a main character in it or is in a video game piloted by the AI.

[@salol18]

@@demomanchaos guntank crush everything in their ground

[@wingedsword93]

I could see Exo-suits like in the Fallout 4 or the landmates from Appleseed. The application could be light infantry support to give troops on the ground more firepower and armor while staying relatively mobile. Light enough to withstand small arms fire (maybe even rockets and RPGs) from ground troops but not heavy arms like tanks or aircraft. Also could use as a more armored Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit. Using a suit to dispose of bombs and explosives with little risk to the wearer could prove useful. Finally, I feel like if they could get close enough, they could be used as an anti-armor unit to take out tanks. After all, a normal ground soldier with the right weapon can take down a tank on foot, they did this in World War II.

[@happydemon3038]

By the video's logic, those would be even worse. Since you would now need a whole mechanic team for each and every power armour, and if a servo busts in the middle of combat, now you have a nonfunctional limb to lug around. The armour would only work for a limited time, until the enemy compensates with more anti-armour weaponry, even to the point of every soldier having a rocket launcher.

[@fishchips7435]

@@happydemon3038 Power Armor would be great as a sort of of specialists or special forces role. Assuming the Power Armor can take small arms fire like an APC and the user can carry heavy items much easier they could fill in alot of support roles and bring them much closer to the front and in places where a vehicle couldnt get in. Just my thoughts on how power armor could be practical.

[@Uncle_Smallett]

Maaan... look at actual wars, please. There are 5 whales: 1. Logistics 2. Enough numbers (lead to 1) 3. Maintainability (lead to 1) 4. Simple to learn and use 5. Cost to lifetime value (lead to 1) All hightec mumba-yumba stuff usually sucks all 5, but whale 1 sucks every time. Nobody build complete doctrine of use for this stuff and operations at all, so it always "unicorns".

[@AttiliusRex]

Just to answer the idea "withstand rpgs" Low end RPGs have +500mm of penetration against steel armor, if hitting without an angle Even against composites we talk hundreds of mm so its not feasable to make human sized armor HEAT protected

[@eu29lex16]

What fuel would you use for that power armor ? Gas ? Also, fusion is out of the question, no one is crazy to waste so many resources on such a expensive and dangerous type of generator which would easily harm the pilot with radiation and/or people around him.

[@Felipevije]

the armored core way of doing mechs seams to solve a lot of problems. it can walk slow but can go dramatically fasted hovering slightly above ground

[@WukongTheMonkeyKing]

I remember a video a few years ago, that redesigned a mech based on the most obvious flaws. Legs are less stable than wheels, which is less stable than treads. Arms carrying weapons are good, but better is integrated systems. Mounted, with simple joints like an elevator and swivel. Upright torsos are less stable and larger profile than prone torsos. Put it all together, and the tank is a natural evolution of the mech. Sort of like how crabs are a recurring shape for evolution.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

I was gonna say "well that leaves you with a tank", and then I clicked "show more" to see you end with that lol.

[@rahmadrenaldi2624]

Look up guntank. That probably what you had in mind.

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

Although I can see the merit of weapons being mounted on external hard points since most catastrophic explosions come from the ammo the vehicle carry it self A good example being Russian tanks in Ukraine

[@AdmiralBlackstar]

I once had that exact discussion with someone when discussing how to improve Pacific Rim mechs. We got to "Tank with a torso-shaped turret" before it dawned on us what we did.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:20 - Chapter 1 - What problem does a mech solve ? 2:50 - Chapter 2 - The many problems of mechs 10:10 - Chapter 3 - Bipedalism & you PS: Humbly request Cloning or Exoskeletons for the next episode

[@atkelar]

I was like... "After you feed your soldiers McD, they WILL need the mechs to fight" 😁

[@dirkellis9212]

Maintenance would be a nightmare I can tell you that

[@Brownyman]

The civilian use of mechs would be far more likely than military applications IMO.

[@Me__Myself__and__I]

True. Once technology reaches a point where they are practical and cost effective they could be useful in things like construction. But they probably wouldn't be "mechs" because that point we'll have autonomous robot technology that will eliminate the need for a human pilot, thus they would not be mechs but just large construction robots.

[@Ratkill9000]

Usually both things happen at the same time. Usually the civilian market gets things, then the Military makes their changes to use in combat. Other times it's the other way around.

[@Wolf-oc6tx]

@@Ratkill9000 In fact if we get construction mechs there will likely be an armed version for combat engineers and either way I trust human pilots computer controlled.

[@sebbescott]

I have always considered the Goliath from StarCraft to be the most feasible bipedal combat walker, relatively small infantry support anti-aircraft platform with light cannons for ground fire support. Just a way to lug ordinance where tanks can't go, not designed for a peer to peer engagement, just to shoot down the pesky aircraft bullying the marines on the ground

[@isabeluelmen9727]

Yeah, an anti-aircraft gun is possibly one of the better uses of a bipedal mech because of the higher vantage point and less surface area from above.

[@michaelmusker7818]

​@@isabeluelmen9727 The Goliath doesn't really make sense in a real world military context as its function assumes you're moving ground forces through an area in which you have not first established air superiority. This simply isn't how wars are fought by any nation that could afford to splurge on what is basically just a really expensive truck mounted anti-air device that likely costs more than a squadron of fighter planes needed to do the job better.

[@Prtvsh]

I've always imagine the functional use of mechs as an exoskelet, serving primarily to increase the carrying capacity of a normal human. This allows relatively great variation in protection or in use of the tools to be attached to such a structure, usable in extreme conditions. Quite a nice example was in the movie Edge of Tomorrow or in the Fallout game series.

[@shadowfiresword]

A very small mech (think something slightly larger than the ironman suit) would also be very useful for clearing operations in urban environments. It grants a soldier protection if not immunity to small arms fire, in addition to protection from gas leaks or fire based attacks (think molotov cocktails). The big issue currently imo is fuel usage and weight distribution, boston dynamics has already shown how quickly leg controls can be improved in a relatively short development time. Most likely in the next twentyish years when battery storage becomes more advanced from all the solar panel development being planned you'll then have light enough power source that can run for an extended enough period for military usage, but that'll be a ways off.

[@EinherjarV]

But then it's an Exosuit or power armour, not a Mech. Btw Edge of Tomorrow( liked that movie) was based on a manga called All you need is kill.

[@korrisandwalker6466]

The movement argument makes me think of an anime that addressed this issue with putting wheels on the mechs feet. Basically Gundam on skates 😂 "Code Geass" or something like that.

[@stephenmalvar1169]

There's this Mecha called "Arm Slave" featured in Full Metal Panic (manga and anime). Prominently used in warfare, they just stood around 8 to 10 feet tall.

[@EmeraldEyesEsoteric]

MechWarrior for SNES used them well. They were deployed to various planets to fight other Mechs. The legs are indeed a weakness. If you stepped on a mine or the enemy blew up your legs you would be immobilized. You would then have to rely on the jump jets and shutdown from overheating.

[@Erkle64]

So the problem that mechs solve is mechs? 😆

[@EffigyOfCorrectOpinions]

@@Erkle64 Nah, the problem is people not really understanding the lore of Battletech. Mechs rose to popularity due to complete planetary bombardment becoming really bad for: 1) wanting to use a planet after battle; 2) wanting to be alive in general. Proxy war rules came around similar to the international treaties we have now and battlemechs filled a very specific, useful niche of "much more agile tank".

[@Kyzrath]

@@EffigyOfCorrectOpinions Let's not forget the craziness of Jacob Cameron.

[@abrakablam628]

@@Kyzrath *Cue the 80s music*

[@CanadianFabe]

@@EffigyOfCorrectOpinions "War had become a sport,and to some a god damn national past time" - Tex of the black pants legion

[@CrazyKZ_productions]

if i recall in titanfall the "titans" were meant as an "all in one" platform, in a universe where you only have like few hundred of them in a colony , having a couple titans could fit the role of excavator , bulldozer , tractor , and so on. so i think it would be used as an all in one platform for heavy machinery.

[@BlackcountryhistoryhunterBCHH]

cavalry generals said this about tanks in ww1 and look how that turned out

[@jesuscross9]

Your last point about tanks carrying tools for Mechs to use, made me think of something my step father once said to me. He saw me all geared up for work with my duty belt with gun, taser, handcuffs, pepper spray, baton, and radio. He says they should hire guys to follow cops around and carry all of their equipment for them. He says then the cops won't have to carry all of that. I said "dad... they do hire guys to carry that stuff... they're called cops." Lol

[@KyleDevy]

I'd be concerned too, why would a postman need all that gear?

[@DragonKingGaav]

“Get yourself a drink and a snack"

[@overdoseproductions9011]

Issac Arthur?

[@tim_the_traveler]

Funny enough, the Command and Conquer 3 game actually has it's own good example of why the good guys of the game cut back on using walkers in general. If you look threw their findable intel threw out the game, they have a description for a vehicle called the Mammoth Tank which was a 4 legged walker in the previous games, but was since changed to have treads, and the lore says the faction did this because of the dangerous vulnerability of the legs themselves and how their enemy were finding ways to exploit these weaknesses to take out these supposed super tanks with ease.

[@rogerwilco1777]

yeah as much as i wish the mechs in mechwarrior could work, i still think one good leg shot is all it would take to topple almost any mech.. the games simply get around this by not letting you completely destroy a leg, your speed gets cut and you limp around.. in real life that leg can 100% come off and you'll need some pretty impossible gryo's to keep that thing from turning into an expensive scrap pile.

[@ix8750]

Yeah although it was actually a tank in the first game too, only in Tiberian sun was it a quadrapedal walker that replaced the cannons with rail guns but then again it was named the Mammoth MKII but in command and conquer and command and conquer 3 it's just refered to as a mammoth tank. I think what actually happened wasnt that the brotherhood of Nod was taking out the legs easily with tricks but when Electronic Arts bought out Westwood studios they simply wanted to maximize profits so they forced GDI to make cheaper units in their sequel.

[@christophergreen6595]

"The good guys". Nah. BROTHERHOOD OF NOD.

[@christophergreen6595]

@@ix8750 lolol :p

[@sigh-cosis]

The thing that pissed me off in C&C3 was EA removed the Wolverine, Titan, and Mammoth MKII with the in-universe reason being high unit cost and easily exploited by Nod, but then EA gave GDI the (hugely inaccurate) Juggernaut and Nod the Avatar mech and the Redeemer in Kane's Wrath.

[@xpeterson]

There needs to be a skit about Hoth fighters heroically speeding out only to find out the AT-ATs use treads instead…

[@Anthony_Gutierrez]

The half tank half humanoid ones in the old armored core games were pretty sick. I basically had a tank with arms and two massive cannons on the shoulders.

[@jothegreek]

Νο

[@seanbrown7083]

Lowkey sounds awesome but it isn’t likely irl 😭

[@timothymorgan1175]

One of my all time favorite Mecha anime is Patlabor. It was a late 80's anime. It was set in the late 90's,and the Mecha,called Labors, where originaly made for big scale construction projects, but with new technology comes new crimes. That's where the Patrol Labor,or Patlabor,comes in. The show focuses on the 2nd division of the Police Force that takes care of Labor crimes.

[@IIITheDeadGamerIII]

I could see mechs being useful for mining operations.

[@cgRui34]

Rescue as well. i.e. a fire or earthquake scenario

[@vincentb2175]

A civilian mech actually makes a lot of sense to me. Could easily replace a front-end loader, forklift, tree puller, etc. The problem with military mechs is that we don’t have any civilian counterparts that exist, which only becomes more problematic when you put armor and weapons on it.

[@ajm2872]

A civilian mech would still probably be designed to roll, either on tracks or on wheels. Giving construction equipment the 1:1 dexterity of a human hand would be a game changer, but making it walk around would waste energy and decrease stability.

[@vincentb2175]

@@ajm2872 legs are helpful in navigating the 95% of the land terrain on earth that both tracks and tires can’t go.

[@ajm2872]

@@vincentb2175 Maybe, but in that case, an engineer would still probably want 4+ legs to distribute the weight and increase stability. The bipedal shape just isn't particularly strong or stable unless it's ultra light.

[@realmofrandom3696]

non-bipedal mechs, or spider mechs, solve a lot of those issues such as the height of the vehicle which is fixed by allowing the torso to sit much closer to the ground because the legs are off to the sides rather than directly underneath. the weight distribution is also remedied by having a much lower center of gravity for the same reason already mentioned, it would also have much more contact area with the ground because it has multiple legs and multiple feet, and because the feet would be spread farther away from each other they could be much larger without fear of the feet hitting each other.

[@noppornwongrassamee8941]

Last I looked, the military was testing a "mule" robot to assist soldiers in the field by carrying stuff so the soldiers don't have to while still being able to follow said soldiers through off road areas that infantry could go. There's videos on KZbin about it. It's not hard to imagine such a robot being scaled up big enough to have a driver's compartment. At which point it'd be a mech. Then you start sticking guns, armor, and turrets on it... And that's basically how you would end up with a military combat mech.

[@nuked7145]

You should do a video on the feasibility of Thunderbird 2. Seriously. A nuclear powered, VTOL capable, hypersonic, stealth cargo plane, with removable inserts. It would be the most impressive aircraft ever developed combining all the modern cutting edge technologies into one!

[@pluck8913]

I believe that yes, mechs will be a thing eventually, but not super big ones. Instead it will look more like the ones on Pandora, (Avatar series). Mostly it would be for allowing the soldier to carry more gear and heavier weapons. They would also be more armor for humans.

[@kingmarco11]

Mech gladiator fights would go crazy

[@DoctorInk20]

I believe some things are meant to remain a fantasy, but if you had to have bipedal mechs, I'd imagine it'd turn out more akin to the _Aliens_ Powerloader than the Megazord. Then again, forklifts can be pretty deadly, so what do I know? The best theoretical design I've seen for battle mechs is from the _Heavy Gear_ series. They're not the towering Gundams, but rather squat, chunky 12-ft tall affairs with big, broad, caterpillar treads for feet for travelling long distances at greater speed, although they can walk in a normal biped fashion.

[@zeliavoss]

I've always thought of my car as a mech with actual utility. I get in it, my movements determine how it moves, and I get from A to B in ways people in the 1700s would consider an impossible fever dream.

[@jackkraken3888]

I like how they limited the mechs (usually connected by a giant power cable, very limited battery life etc)in Neon Genesis Evangelion, it gave them a realistic feel.

[@Uncle_Smallett]

Nope. Still nothing realistic.

[@paybacksuper3670]

Eva is not even mech to begin with.

[@jackkraken3888]

@@paybacksuper3670 shh don't spoil it.

[@Alex.Holland]

@Lord Winter battletech and gundam both use fusion reactors, theres probably some neutron waste but its not radioactive like fission bombs or reactors.

[@thorveim1174]

@@Alex.Holland yup, battletech fusion reactors even shut down without issue when destroyed, them going nuclear and exploding like bombs is a big rarity, and the onlyshielding they have is against the heat they produce, not any radioactivity that isnt there.

[@andreanatsuminadeau5608]

Mech in combat is ludicrous but I think they could have some usefull applications in building, maintaining, reparing stuff like infrastructures.

[@evilwelshman]

Realistically, I suspect rather than the modern battlefield, a realistic mech would serve more paramilitary or policing roles. They would be on the smaller side rather than the giant skyscraper ones seen. It would need less armour, as it would mainly need to be able to handle small calibre weapons (e.g. handguns, rifles); solving the weight issue. Similarly, being deployed for only short periods rather than for prolonged engagements reduces its power needs. As for why, it is potentially very intimidating while likely more socially acceptable than say.... the government deploying a *_tank_* onto its own civilian population. They have a height advantage; making it more difficult for opposition to find cover while out in the open. Also, its greater range of movement may make it fare better in urban environments, where tanks have traditionally performed very poorly due to their main gun's limited elevation (meaning, people from upper floors can attack it while the tank can't attack back, for example).

[@greenanubis]

Would better blend in with the populace, lol. I do agree, psychological part of its human form is probably the only part of it that might have a real purpose. Thats what Simon indirectly said: if/when we make them it will be for entertainment. Still, military use is a stretch... Even as a propaganda tool, there is far cheaper options.

[@Tiniuc]

Yeah, and a human sized police robot is also a possibility.

[@LizardVideoDude]

Although I suspect a populace subject to *mechs policing them,* while less in-your-face offensive than tanks rolling down the street, they would still see it as an escalation of the "police state." The "bad apples" might escalate, using heavier-caliber weapons (like .40-caliber rifles, which pack a HELL of a punch), armor-penetrating rounds, or even grenade launchers. Even without that, once past the intimidation factor, a single mech of that size would be easily brought down by just a couple guys with some experience/combat training getting in close (a real mech would be slow and clumsy compared to a person) and busting up its weak points (like Simon mentioned in the video) with suitable hand-held tools or weapons. Having multiple mechs would help counter that, but at that point you've got a mechanized army marching around civilian areas. Kinda loses the acceptability factor there.

[@alistairgrey5089]

I'm not sure where you got your information from about tanks but you've been misinformed. Modern tanks can effectively engage anything that isn't very close to it. The main gun can tilt up to 45 degrees making it very possible to hit upper floors. And even if you are high enough up that the main gun can't hit you, the secondary weapons can. Tanks have a problem in urban environments more because of a lack of mobility, the fact that a bomber could be hiding very close to the road, and the restrictions on using the main gun in a populated area.

[@evilwelshman]

@@alistairgrey5089 45 degrees is generally not enough elevation to hit higher floors when moving through narrow streets in an urban environment. I've seen this repeated commented upon by military commentators, veterans, as well as observations from the current Ukraine conflict. It's why infantry remain the bedrock of urban combat and why they are frequently stated as needed to closely support tanks in urban scenarios in particular, specifically to clear out the surrounding buildings due to their vulnerability from being fired upon from upper floors.

[@lordMartiya]

Speaking of the power problem, in "Gundam: Origins" that's what almost got the development of mobile suit (that and the waste of propellant when using the mobile suits in zero gravity) canned by none else than Gihren Zabi, the local superweapon fan. He changed his mind because the head scientist told him they were on the verge of solving it with an ultra-compact fusion reactor (and the AMBAC system for the movement in zero gravity) and they just needed to build the test machines, but it was a close thing.

[@pakde8002]

Yes obviously mechs would need to be powered by a small nuclear reactor to be practical on Earth or on other planets. They make more sense on planets without a breathable atmosphere and lower gravity because a human would already need to suit up. By being "suited up" inside a mech it would allow greater freedom of movement than inside a space suit trying to operate a vehicle. But the most obvious type of mech would be a remotely controlled robot.

[@douggaudiosi14]

Cool story bro

[@solastro5595]

Gundam UC timeline

[@lordMartiya]

@@pakde8002 That was before they even thought of sending them on Earth. The idea was for the mobile suits to be part of Zeon's covert build up, thus they started developing the existing mobile WORKERS, humanoid flying bulldozers used to work both in space or in the colonies with a single platform, to carry weapons (mostly nukes) and have space fighter-like performance... And ran in the fact existing battery-powered workers weren't powerful enough and wasted too much propellant for movement.

[@lordMartiya]

@Sakata Gintoki Not the propellant problem. That was solved with the AMBAC system.

[@fezenclop]

I do not know a lot about other iterations of mechs, but in Battletech, the Battlemech is an evolution of machines made to do labor like, as stated, moving heavy things. But where a crane can lift something into the air, a mech can lift it and move it across terrain. Also, fusion power (still not reality, but neither are mechs) is used to power them. This universe of stompy machines took time to come about, not 'lets build something that walks and shoots at you.' So, mechs are something that, over time, a little by little, can come into use by the military. However, not all at once.

[@Illitha]

I was about to make a thesis objecting this entire video because I love the big stompy robots

[@blackc1479]

Everybody loves big stompy boys. (If they don't, you should likely keep an eye on em) I'd say my biggest gripe with most mech designs is making em bipedal. Yes, acknowledging things like battletechs backstory, I get that you can in universe have adequate balance to use two legs, but why stop there? Wouldn't a quadraped (or more) be more stable? Yeah, possibly harder to pilot, but way harder to knock down, either via impact or even its own weapon recoil? I know battletech explained it as a mobility thing, since agrimechs etc could still be multi limbed, just not as agile. But that doesn't hold too much water for me. They proved the neural feedback would work for non humanoid walkers. Why not fund a whacking great spider bot, or general grevious. Hell, even the Cain robocop was able to adapt to weird ways to move.

[@phaze6495]

@@blackc1479 Battletech did have quadraped mechs when it first came out with detailed designs but with every old game it was reworked and they disappeared

[@blackc1479]

@@phaze6495 let me guess, those were the same designs that got "appropriated " into the monogram Robotech models? I remember a couple of quad kits from the mid 80s. (Wish to God somebody could get those molds/rights and re-release em. I remember I had the whole mech bay diorama that would be worth a stupid amount today)

[@phaze6495]

@@blackc1479 actually robotech was before battletech it was going long before harmony gold bought the broadcast rights and then butchered the series.battletech only stole 4 designs from robotech one of them the Goliath was a quad. Interestingly it was harmony gold not the japanese creator that tried suing fasa . When fast went belly up the new ip holder junked alot of designs as well as sauna net

[@lorefreak94]

I think it is likely that the first realworld applications of mechs would not be for combat but instead for construction and utility in non hospitable environments such as underwater, Antarctica, or the moon.

[@Klarpimier]

I think mechs can be useful for things like construction and exploration, especially remote operated mechs

[@mattm8870]

you mean robots.

[@valor1omega]

@@mattm8870 Beat me to the replay, lol

[@leeroyloke8415]

The Method-2 example aside, what about covering powered armour and powered exoskeletons for human-sized spaces or close-quarter environments? The uses of mechs in this video covers open-spaced environments where conventional vehicles are already in use. But not the human-sized, close quarter spaces said conventional vehicles have trouble working in.

[@KMDRG]

What ever happened to the Kuratas? From what I've seen, it was the closest a functioning mech got to a mech in sci-fi. It even had an onboard targeting system that operated based on where the piolet was looking

[@mouserr]

it got into an embarrassing fight with an american mech and both had to hide in shame afterwards

[@KMDRG]

@@mouserr I just watched the fights again, they were mostly evenly matched. Kuratas had more advanced weapons and maneuverability, and Eagle Prime had more mass and horsepower. I would have loved to see either one go beyond their little tournament, but Megabots ended up going bankrupt not long after the show ended and they sold Eagle Prime at auction. The website for the Kuratas does seem to exist, but doesn't load, at least for me

[@PotatoBandana]

What problem does a mech solve? My love. My anger. AND ALL MY SORROW!

[@taemien9219]

The biggest issue with Mechs is its a solution looking for a problem. Outside of costs all the issues brought up here are pretty easy to work around. I got a chuckle when the video said that if you hit the arm, the weapons are disabled in that arm. What about the other arm which likely has symmetrical weapon systems? When you hit the main gun on a Main Battle Tank, it only has its mounted machine guns, and maybe a TOW Missile. As far as how vulnerable a mech is, that depends on its agility and ability to accelerate/decelerate. If it maintains parity by volume with a human being, then it likely may be able to mitigate incoming fire through movement. The saying goes, "Speed is Life". But no, making a mech isn't an issue. Technologies all currently exist even to make something akin to what you would see in the BattleTech universe (also known as the MechWarrior universe). In that universe, BattleMechs are usually powered by fusion reactors. That's one of the few technologies that isn't feasible. But can easily be replaced by a microfission reactor. Something we may see in future generation main battle tanks, especially once directed energy weapons become more common. The issue is what for? Why do we need mechs? What can a mech do that a tank, helicopter, fighter jet, self propelled howitzer, or hell even infantry cannot do? I think we need to think outside the box. More specifically, put away our murderous tendencies. Here's what a mech can do and do well that we don't quite have parity in current vehicles. Search and Rescue. Mechs can get into some nasty terrain that many other forms of transportation cannot. Usually a helicopter is used when you can't get a wheeled ambulatory vehicle somewhere. But helicopters require weather to cooperate and other atmospheric conditions. Helicopters also have limited range and can not go anywhere. But a mech can be easily transported by other means and than walk on its own.

[@juanmanuelc6644]

You said it on the first sentence

[@RoughGalaxyYT]

The most useful place for mechs that I can think of takes me straight back to Aliens, when Ripley was using the reasonably small loader mech. It works in an environment suited for the pressure generated by it's feet (steel/concrete floor) and also doesn't need to be weighed down by armor as it's a civilian application. Something like that could be battery-powered, especially with the advances in battery technology of late. There's even rumours of some companies researching/testing sub-critical mass nuclear batteries. I do think there's a place for mechs in the world, I just think that place is in the civilian/industrial sector, not the military one.

[@max-zv7sf]

I like the idea, but in all honesty a forklift or a crane arm would still be far more easy to maintain and pilot. I am a farmer, for moving 2ton bags of fertilizer or pallets of chemicals in the fields we use a fork crane linked to a tractor, so even in rough terrain today's solutions are plenty adecuate. I would imagine that in a tighly built space (ship, spaceship) a crane arm running on rails would be the most efficient loader/unloader.

[@xhagast]

@@max-zv7sf Perhaps. I was just watching gunners in Ukraine loading guns. It is hard. A small mech could be useful with even heavier weapons.

[@reservoirdogsbae9053]

I think one particular use would be in riot "control", the police force uses helmets and suits that make them unrecognizable as a person and intimidating so that protestors fear them and become less likely to become violent. Add mechs, and no one would think of rioting.

[@RandomGuy0400]

We do have mech-like things in that sector, they're just very specialized. The only thing that I can think of rn is the Atmosphere Diving Suit. It's used mostly by underwater welders repairing things like oil rigs and underwater pipelines... They even have little mobility/propulsion backpacks There are actually multiple different models/variations, but they can end up looking kinda silly...

[@schari8885]

Can you talk about power armor? Like the CMC power armors from Starcraft. Would it make sense to equipt much of your infantry force with it?

[@53kenner]

You mean that MEGAS XLR wasn't a documentary?

[@Pepius_Julius_Magnus_Maximu...]

That's cool and all but you forgot one thing, what about the Evangelion mechas? Can angelic meat mechas who ate from a magical tree of life exist?

[@olencone4005]

And where's my Veritech Valkyries?! I was promised transformable multi-mode mecha! :P

[@eddiehoplight2003]

I'd want a Xenogears, a giant mech literally made by god

[@CaptStarlight]

The closest thing to mechs in our real world, would be the walking spider excavator. Which are currently in use around the world

[@valor1omega]

That would be megabots actually, they have a true mech and had a fight against a Japanese mech already. Really fun to watch.

[@theetiologist9539]

The problem with mechs is that they’re extremely complicated for not that much benefit. There’s very little reason to use a mech over a drone or robot at this point. The technology would have to be at Halo levels for us to really be able to make something miniaturized and tough enough to be worth it so I don’t see it happening for a while

[@PeachDragon_]

I think mechs only make sense if we get the very specific technology present in battletech, it's the only franchise I've found where mechs are justified and coexist with tanks. If armor becomes so good that you need multiple weapon systems to slowly whittle it down big mechs with lots of guns suddenly make more sense than having 12 tanks focus fire on Targets. When 120mm is considered a secondary armament akin to a machine gun it becomes pretty hard to just make a bigger tank with a bigger crew when you could get the same result with a big mech piloted by one badass. In short, tanks are better than mechs because now armor isn't good enough to justify the vulnerabilities of mechs, but if armor became better than weapons again that would likely change. When you need multiple 380mm sabot to take down a medium mech it makes sense to just put a lot of guns on another mech, even if 12 tanks might be cheaper it takes way longer logistically to build and move 12 tanks than to build and move a mech. The only weapon that can kill in one hit is the gauss rifle and those literally don't fit in tanks. When a mech can take tank shells to the leg without much issue is when mechs start making sense, so long as armor is a last resort that often fails mechs won't have a place.

[@juanmanuelc6644]

@@PeachDragon_ That's a lot of ifs.

[@net_spider]

The point of mechs is to have an ALL terrain vehicle that doubles as a soldier augment (ie. humanoid mechs allow the pilot to lift or move things a normal person wouldn't be able to otherwise). Problems include price tag, engineering problems (balance and speed) and fuel efficiency/storage. In most cases, its just better to have a tank or a helicopter. Its real use would probably be in line with being an augment/external prosthesis outside of war, kinda like the power loader from alien.

[@xealixcrowing7659]

Good vid. Love to see one on exoskeletons. Similar to Mechs but much smaller.

[@StfuFFS]

Exoskeletons ARE mechs. Just smaller versions. And in the anime backstories mechs all started that way.

[@OfficiallyEffective]

Would love a video on exosuits, they’re basically a reality now as well, will be getting used in warfare in the coming decades

[@rubiconnn]

@@StfuFFS This is the science of science fiction, not the science of anime.

[@dahken417]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare got these about as realistic as they could be, I think. To bad about...pretty much everything else in that game turning to a pile of poopy by the end.

[@XS69]

@@StfuFFS They are not. Mechs are vehicles that you are steering. Exoskeletons are a piece of equipment that you are wearing.

[@DarkSnideoftheRainbow]

While I generally agree with the video there is one major way in which the upright moment of mechs is superior to tracked or wheeled vehicles and that is maneuverability. The famous Czech Hedgehog or lesser known Dragon's Teeth anti-tank fortifications are simple yet incredibly effective devices capable slowing down or stopping a tank formation. A mech could simply walk around or over such a device. There verticality as well; although tanks have the ability to climb impressively high vertical ledges a mech would be able to easily climb its way over obstacles that tanks simply couldn't drive over without assistance. This means that mechs could potentially have a small niche in, for instance, urban combat where its lack of speed wouldn't be a spectacular downside and its greater maneuverability would be able to be put to good use.

[@Me__Myself__and__I]

That's probably not true though. A mech would be so heavy that climbing over obstacles would likely be impossible because the obstacles would collapse under the mech's weight. Regarding stepping over anti-tank fortifications, any benefit there would be completely cancelled by their standing up high and exposed which would make them easily targeted by smaller, easier to conceal tanks or other weapons from a long distance. Tanks approaching from a distance can be easily obscured by trees, single story buildings, small hills or even dust kicked up. Mechs approaching from a distance would stand out like a sore thumb and would have no cover.

[@Erkle64]

But if a mech is big enough to have these advantages it's already too big to stand without sinking into the ground.

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

You'd be far better off building a battalion of infiltrator drones to get in and among the obstacles and either detonate or deploy charges to blow a path through the obstacles. Ukraine already uses drones to drop mortar bombs on tanks and trenches. Low cost and mass producable

[@scythebergon418]

Simon would you like to rip apart Super soldier types aka gene splicing, muscles enhancers, Pain blockers ect. and programs from science fiction for lack of easy examples like Khan from star trek? I would love to watch that.

[@tomizatko3138]

Technically if the muscles enhancers change the composition of the muscles and bones (or even organs) like for example they turn bones from mostly calcium into a complex mixture of chystalic organic alloys and other type of alloys and the same for muscles than yes.

[@AdmiralBlackstar]

In the original TOS version of Khan, he was the result of eugenics, not genetic engineering. That was a retcon added later due to science marches on/genetics became the new H-bomb trope.

[@ManImTheVoid]

Well just saying, when a car falls over onto it's door or back you will get stuck. But if you give it arms it can flip itself back up.

[@ilajoie3]

I'm loving this new channel of yours Simon

[@ShadowMage]

I feel like a rarely discussed aspect of mechs in a battlefield role would be the intimidation factor.

[@lightworker2956]

Mechs would be super expensive and also big, easy targets. They'd probably get blown up by missiles / aircraft artillery before they could even reach the frontline. Unfortunately..

[@spectre111]

@@lightworker2956 Unless it was the artillery. Imagine an artillery platform that can cross rough terrain or step over obstacles while being high enough to shoot over their own forces while on the move. There are physical advantages to that even if its not your front line machine.

[@DarthVaderfr]

​@@spectre111that's just a less useful, heavier, non flying, and more expensive helicopter

[@spectre111]

@@DarthVaderfr How many helicopters can launch cruise missiles? Or carry a 105MM howitzer?

[@ericlondon5731]

The ones in the Matrix series looked pointless to me. There where big guns in it's arms, and a lot of ammo, BUT the human in the middle controlling it could be killed off easily due to no personal armor.

[@arcturionblade1077]

They were originally meant for construction, I believe, hastily converted to military use. Humanity scraped together what they could in Zion. The more grievous mistake was arming mecha with machine guns when the EMP exists. Surely humans could've found a way to shield their mechs from the EMP blast or just used the mechs as personal EMP "suicide" weapons (the blast wouldn't harm the human inside, just shut off machines in the nearby blast radius; just manage the size of said radius, and boom).

[@Me__Myself__and__I]

The Matrix movie is one of the few (if only) places where such mechs might actually be more practical. In the real world we'll have autonomous robot technology before we'd be able to build practical mechs so they would never make sense. But in the Matrix world they are fighting autonomous robots (AIs) so you don't want to have your defenses run by autonomous machines when you're fighting autonomous machines. Having the human in there is necessary in that situation.

[@GrinningGnoll]

Armored Core style mechs would be plausible. Especially with tank legs.

[@sberry80]

Made correctly, a Mech could actually be pretty amazing in urban area's. Rural would just be too wide open. The weapon options would be pretty awesome. Full auto 40mm grenade launcher, rocket pods, gau 8a Avenger gaitlun gun, anti tank missles, etc

[@edgarhilbert4797]

Wellcome to the world of Urban Warfare Specialized thanks. they will the help of some urban warfare specialized drones, that prove, that this affirmation is nonsense. Note that it is double nonsense given that the flat field is opener and is easy to flight that in the City.

[@cyber_dragon_123]

Urban combat sounds like a good idea until you turn a corner to find a tank in point blank range.

[@jamesedwardladislazerrudo1378]

@@edgarhilbert4797 modern military nowadays prefer urban because has a good ambush areas than open plain fields like training ranges

[@Corlock78]

I think you're forgetting the ground pressure issue here.

[@colbyboucher6391]

@@cyber_dragon_123 Stomp

[@DedMan516]

I see mechs filling a role much like the Advanced Mobility Platform suits in Avatar or the original mechs used by the Humans during the Golden Age of Technology in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The mechs I've mentioned were created primarily for civilian purposes with interchangeable loadouts or tools the mech could pick up (drills, chainsaws, plasma cutters etc.) I imagine mechs in these roles would actually be quite practical as pilots in mechs could get more done in a shorter timeframe not being bound by the constraints of the tiring human body.

[@TheLoneTerran]

Probably be more worth while to take all the materials of a mech and use the innovations there to give a ton of soldiers some very bullet resistant armor.

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

Or pack of robot dogs that follow a soldier into Combat serving as additional gun platforms or for carrying equipment. Having a robot mounted with a 50cal on combat patrol could be a a pretty serious force multiplier

[@megatron8449]

@@AvoidTheCadaver or blade wolf. Something like him would probably work.

[@yusrisaadun5497]

Until engineer solved the problems on power source and the agility of a mechs,the closest we will get in the short terms is power suit like in edge of tomorrow movie

[@johnathanera5863]

Even if these problems are solved. Incorporating then into a tank will always make them more effective then mechs as described in this video.

[@typhoon1575]

Fusion reactor. Battletech style combat mechs could work if we find a replacement for myomer. The only real sci-fi tech they use

[@alex_spartan1805]

Power supply is the biggest problem. It needs to be powerful and portable in order to work. These issues are similar to the problems early submarines faced.

[@georgemetcalf8763]

Equip them with scaled-down nuclear reactors for power?

[@manupontheprecipice6254]

@@georgemetcalf8763 Mobile Suits from the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam franchise rely on a miniaturized version of a nucleur reactor. The only other timelines in Gundam that actually delve into their mobile suit power supply is the Cosmic Era (Nucleur Raectors and Battery Packs [last one is really dumb]) and Anno Domini (Solar Reactors).

[@scottabc72]

No the main problem is being useless compared to existing weapon systems

[@rickyal9810]

Fusion Engine

[@t1t0s89]

Interestingly you had one battletech mech in the early video. Nice to see the line backer.

[@Kyzrath]

Thought the same thing. Surprised they went with that instead of something more cliché, like an Atlas or Timber Wolf.

[@samuelarbon7569]

An accurate video and true with current tech limits, just the casual merger of a mech; basically a walking tank, and an exo suit. An exo suit is typically maybe 10 to 20 percent larger than a person. And is typically both armour and an muscle booster like a Spartans armour out of halo

[@RashaKahn]

You need a mech to fight aliens queens!