Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
I believe the Kuratas can be controlled remotely at least. You also have to wonder about any bystanders being hit by paint cannons and such.

I imagine that this will be more of a remotely-telecast event than one with live spectators to begin with. Though a pity that Suidobashi basically said "You guys go organize this and we'll show up", without even any sportsmanship to offer to help co-organize/co-host/co-sponsor what would essentially be a groundbreaking event in the field of robotics, international relations, and competitive sports.

Megabots tried to Kickstart on this idea a while back, planning to build 2 bots and host an event, but it never got off the ground because of the high cost. I do believe that giant robot fighting would very much be like the Oculus case from an investor standpoint - too risky to invest in without proof of success, but everyone will want to chip in once the "first" of whatever it is has launched.

I doubt we'll be seeing this fight anytime soon, sadly. Though I'm curious to see how much "list-tailoring" will go on in the mean time.

In a way, I wish it would be heavily choreographed. A ballet of awesome mech fighting that made sure it wouldn't end too soon with some lucky shot, just pure destruction poetry until one bites the dust.

And I would love to be there as a spectator so freakin' much.

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
JAPAN ACCEPTED! THEY ACCEPTED!!!




IT'S ON! IT'S FETHING ON!!!!!

Oh man, so cool!

I'm warming up by watching BattleBots, and you all (in the US) should be too (Sunday nights, ABC, I think only 3 episodes left in the 6 episode season!)

 RiTides wrote:

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
JAPAN ACCEPTED! THEY ACCEPTED!!!




IT'S ON! IT'S FETHING ON!!!!!

Oh man, so cool!

I'm warming up by watching BattleBots, and you all (in the US) should be too (Sunday nights, ABC, I think only 3 episodes left in the 6 episode season!)

Gah, I love BattleBots. I keep forgetting that that show exists... What time is it?

 Grey Templar wrote:
My prediction is the japanese put a bunch of melee stuff on their bot, but it gets knocked over by the huge paintguns on the American one before it closes.

Watch it deflect projectiles with a giant sword

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
My prediction is the japanese put a bunch of melee stuff on their bot, but it gets knocked over by the huge paintguns on the American one before it closes.

Watch it deflect projectiles with a giant sword

Watch someone come up with Void Shield generators for this.

 Enigwolf wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
My prediction is the japanese put a bunch of melee stuff on their bot, but it gets knocked over by the huge paintguns on the American one before it closes.

Watch it deflect projectiles with a giant sword

Watch someone come up with Void Shield generators for this.

I was actually thinking, how would some sort of EMP device work against the Kuratas? It seems to have several electronic components.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Enigwolf wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
My prediction is the japanese put a bunch of melee stuff on their bot, but it gets knocked over by the huge paintguns on the American one before it closes.

Watch it deflect projectiles with a giant sword

Watch someone come up with Void Shield generators for this.

I was actually thinking, how would some sort of EMP device work against the Kuratas? It seems to have several electronic components.

Both of them have electronic systems in some form, the MegaBot itself isn't entirely analog. So.. We'd have two giant walker-shaped pieces of metal with pilots that are throwing sticks and pieces of their instrumentation at each other from within their cockpits?

And now back to our regularly scheduled warzones...

So how long till we get Titans?

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
So how long till we get Titans?

The moment they're not an even bigger waste of military budget than they are points.

Oddly enough, the advent of weaponized lasers will probably make tanks, including walking ones, a viable military weapon again. Airplanes are basically the ideal target for a military laser, and they're really trivially easy to disable as they aren't exactly built to take a hit. Planes have always survived by not getting hit, and with lasers its not possible to avoid being hit.

Mechs and such are held back more by our pitiful battery technology than any lack of practical use or any other shortfalls in technology. Walking tanks would be much more useful in modern urban warfare than conventional tanks as they can avoid getting stuck much easier. And they can handle a much wider variety of terrain.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Oddly enough, the advent of weaponized lasers will probably make tanks, including walking ones, a viable military weapon again. Airplanes are basically the ideal target for a military laser, and they're really trivially easy to disable as they aren't exactly built to take a hit. Planes have always survived by not getting hit, and with lasers its not possible to avoid being hit.

Mechs and such are held back more by our pitiful battery technology than any lack of practical use or any other shortfalls in technology. Walking tanks would be much more useful in modern urban warfare than conventional tanks as they can avoid getting stuck much easier. And they can handle a much wider variety of terrain.

I imagine that in the future, airplanes are going to be used more for C4I and over-the-horizon engagements at stand-off ranges where lasers will have dissipated too much to be able to cause sufficient damage. But I agree with your sentiment about mechs - it's partly the ability to power the vehicle and the difficulties associated with the articulation.

 Enigwolf wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Oddly enough, the advent of weaponized lasers will probably make tanks, including walking ones, a viable military weapon again. Airplanes are basically the ideal target for a military laser, and they're really trivially easy to disable as they aren't exactly built to take a hit. Planes have always survived by not getting hit, and with lasers its not possible to avoid being hit.

Mechs and such are held back more by our pitiful battery technology than any lack of practical use or any other shortfalls in technology. Walking tanks would be much more useful in modern urban warfare than conventional tanks as they can avoid getting stuck much easier. And they can handle a much wider variety of terrain.

I imagine that in the future, airplanes are going to be used more for C4I and over-the-horizon engagements at stand-off ranges where lasers will have dissipated too much to be able to cause sufficient damage. But I agree with your sentiment about mechs - it's partly the ability to power the vehicle and the difficulties associated with the articulation.

Weaponized lasers will only get more powerful with time, and there are some pretty hardcore limits to how big airplanes can get and how big of weapons they can carry.

Lasers will also make missiles less and less viable. Meaning we go back to unguided indirect ordinance.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Enigwolf wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Oddly enough, the advent of weaponized lasers will probably make tanks, including walking ones, a viable military weapon again. Airplanes are basically the ideal target for a military laser, and they're really trivially easy to disable as they aren't exactly built to take a hit. Planes have always survived by not getting hit, and with lasers its not possible to avoid being hit.

Mechs and such are held back more by our pitiful battery technology than any lack of practical use or any other shortfalls in technology. Walking tanks would be much more useful in modern urban warfare than conventional tanks as they can avoid getting stuck much easier. And they can handle a much wider variety of terrain.

I imagine that in the future, airplanes are going to be used more for C4I and over-the-horizon engagements at stand-off ranges where lasers will have dissipated too much to be able to cause sufficient damage. But I agree with your sentiment about mechs - it's partly the ability to power the vehicle and the difficulties associated with the articulation.

Weaponized lasers will only get more powerful with time, and there are some pretty hardcore limits to how big airplanes can get and how big of weapons they can carry.

Lasers will also make missiles less and less viable. Meaning we go back to unguided indirect ordinance.

That is true. I also did forget that lasers were used in trialed 747's as potential anti-ICBM weapons...

 Grey Templar wrote:
Airplanes are basically the ideal target for a military laser, and they're really trivially easy to disable as they aren't exactly built to take a hit.

A bird? A Plane?



Or is this a tank that just happens to fly?

Aircraft have been built to withstand damage rather than avoid it, in the past, but I concede it's increasingly a lost art.

There are still a lot of failure points on that Warthog. Any of those bombs or missiles its carrying, bore a hole through the wing into the fuel tanks, blind the pilot, etc...

 Grey Templar wrote:
There are still a lot of failure points on that Warthog. Any of those bombs or missiles its carrying, bore a hole through the wing into the fuel tanks, blind the pilot, etc...

Yes, but the same is true of a battleship, and I can assure you that those were built to withstand punishment. But luck a shot into a magazine (Hood), sever the right fuel line and cripple it's rudder (Bismark), deactivate all firefighting gear on the ship while simultaneously setting electrical fires from end to end (Roma) or simple pound it to death with torpedoes (Yamato) and same result.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
There are still a lot of failure points on that Warthog. Any of those bombs or missiles its carrying, bore a hole through the wing into the fuel tanks, blind the pilot, etc...

Yes, but the same is true of a battleship, and I can assure you that those were built to withstand punishment. But luck a shot into a magazine (Hood), sever the right fuel line and cripple it's rudder (Bismark), deactivate all firefighting gear on the ship while simultaneously setting electrical fires from end to end (Roma) or simple pound it to death with torpedoes (Yamato) and same result.

The difference is that a battleship has meters of armor, not centimeters. No laser getting through that.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
There are still a lot of failure points on that Warthog. Any of those bombs or missiles its carrying, bore a hole through the wing into the fuel tanks, blind the pilot, etc...

Yes, but the same is true of a battleship, and I can assure you that those were built to withstand punishment. But luck a shot into a magazine (Hood), sever the right fuel line and cripple it's rudder (Bismark), deactivate all firefighting gear on the ship while simultaneously setting electrical fires from end to end (Roma) or simple pound it to death with torpedoes (Yamato) and same result.

The difference is that a battleship has meters of armor, not centimeters. No laser getting through that.

It's also size and sheer mass. The bigger you are toa degree means you can soak up more hits and not be combat ineffective. Also more room to spread out the critical and back up systems so one lucky hit does not disable the whole.

Battleship armour is massive but also the main strength is size, the ship can spread back ups, bulk heads, secondary systems and such.

Ie the Iowa, one of the greatest designs ever built of its type has at least 3 layers if fire control systems which can take over on the loss of one.

Grey Templar wrote:
The difference is that a battleship has meters of armor, not centimeters. No laser getting through that.

Actually there are places it's only centimeters. Sure, there are places it's 17 inches of class A. But then you might have deck armor only a few inches of class B thick, and super structure thinner still.

jhe90 wrote:
It's also size and sheer mass. The bigger you are toa degree means you can soak up more hits and not be combat ineffective. Also more room to spread out the critical and back up systems so one lucky hit does not disable the whole.

Battleship armour is massive but also the main strength is size, the ship can spread back ups, bulk heads, secondary systems and such.

Ie the Iowa, one of the greatest designs ever built of its type has at least 3 layers if fire control systems which can take over on the loss of one.

and then the manual sights.

You're right to a degree, but you'll find that there are still places that a pen makes you combat ineffective. or dead.

The Magazine would be a particularly bad place.

If this works I'd love to see people from different countries wip up their own giant robots.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
If this works I'd love to see people from different countries wip up their own giant robots.

Great way to drum up interest in science and math eh?

Id love to see international robot wars.

(also as a way to resolve disputes )

 Desubot wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
If this works I'd love to see people from different countries wip up their own giant robots.

Great way to drum up interest in science and math eh?

Id love to see international robot wars.

(also as a way to resolve disputes )

Welcome to the birth of real life G-Gundam

 TheDraconicLord wrote:

 Desubot wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
If this works I'd love to see people from different countries wip up their own giant robots.

Great way to drum up interest in science and math eh?

Id love to see international robot wars.

(also as a way to resolve disputes )

Welcome to the birth of real life G-Gundam

Hopefully they'll make a Unicorn for the MMII.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
I believe the Kuratas can be controlled remotely at least. You also have to wonder about any bystanders being hit by paint cannons and such.

Silence!

Some kid being hit in the fact by a 100mph paint-ball will only add to the drama !

Maybe Canada could join. Get the canadarm to throw garbage from space.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:
The difference is that a battleship has meters of armor, not centimeters. No laser getting through that.

Actually there are places it's only centimeters. Sure, there are places it's 17 inches of class A. But then you might have deck armor only a few inches of class B thick, and super structure thinner still.

jhe90 wrote:
It's also size and sheer mass. The bigger you are toa degree means you can soak up more hits and not be combat ineffective. Also more room to spread out the critical and back up systems so one lucky hit does not disable the whole.

Battleship armour is massive but also the main strength is size, the ship can spread back ups, bulk heads, secondary systems and such.

Ie the Iowa, one of the greatest designs ever built of its type has at least 3 layers if fire control systems which can take over on the loss of one.

and then the manual sights.

You're right to a degree, but you'll find that there are still places that a pen makes you combat ineffective. or dead.

The Magazine would be a particularly bad place.

True a hit to a such critical location is very bad, however the protection in those locations is also some of the thickest on the ship and often placed deep in the hull to ensure maximum protection.

My grandfather was on Royal Navy battleships and passing the thick main armour decks, water tight doors always shut tight, he said it was like a steel fortress. That was kVG V class and fairly modern not like the older Hood or Warspite. Those old ships make new ones look like tin cans.

 Desubot wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
If this works I'd love to see people from different countries wip up their own giant robots.

Great way to drum up interest in science and math eh?

Id love to see international robot wars.

(also as a way to resolve disputes )

Only a matter of time till we'll see huge mechs in international conflicts by the military.

 Enigwolf wrote:

Only a matter of time till we'll see huge mechs in international conflicts by the military.