So, I've been reading a few space adventure novels recently and the difference in fighting is pretty much either using mechs or starships. So here's the question, are mechs more effective than starships? If a Mobile Suit fought against a Tie Fighter, X-wing, Jackal, or small-class fighters from Eve Online, would it have an advantage equal to the obvious difference in cost? Personally, I can't see it happening in space combat. It'll be way harder to pilot and maneuver in space unless you have an omni-directional propulsion system and unfixed weapons have the risk of getting lost mid-combat. I also think it would be harder to carry a lot of ammunition in a mech. You also have to think about what they would be fighting. I find it hard to believe a mech can confront a battleship grade starship. In planetary combat, smaller mechs like Knightmares or Titans sound far more realistic but are still questionable.
The thing is, huge starships are slow AF. They can't just dodge attacks nilly willy like a mecha could. And you didn't even mention mecha that uses long range weapons too.
Don't know the starship you are talking about. But here's the thing, mechs will be harder to control in space but they provide more range of variety of attacks. And they are more flexible. While starship are basically giant planes. And from what I know dodging is a hard skill in them. Okay my brain ain't working but I go for mech
It depends on the scenario, I suppose. Size is definitely something to consider, but say we have a mech fighting against a ship that's about its same size, sort of like a person on foot against a person on a bicycle. The person on foot can reach out with their arms and legs, spin around, dodge out of the way, feint more easily, and throw things. The bike has got less manoeuvrabilty (which further decreases as its speed increases), but like you said, there's more ammo since more can be carried, and a good 360° targeting system can make up for the bike's comparative sluggishness (no need to be able to spin around quickly if your cannons do). Generally speaking, I believe mecha would be more useful in close-quarters combat, say if there's a fight going on in a tightly-packed asteroid field or a cramped cave system that requires precision, versatility, and the ability to interact with the environment (push away debris, push off surfaces, contort in order to fit in/through places). When it comes to open-field battles, I think battleships of different sizes would be used as needed (dreadnoughts, fighters, scouts, and more) due to the need for more ammo winning over the need for more manoeuvrabilty. Mecha may also be used for non-combat situations specifically. Moving cargo, for example. I think they'd come in handy for things like repairs, too. Shipyards would be an ideal place to make use of mecha, especially in places where the latest automatic ship-building machinery isn't available. Just get a couple mechanics/engineers to get a mecha driving license, then set them loose on whatever spacecraft needs a new riveting or whatever. I feel that it'd be cheaper, LOL.
To make mech's work better than fighters in space they often have to give them technology that they don't give to the fighters for some reason. Like being able to immediately come to a dead stop. It's hard to discuss past that because each story uses different propulsion tech, etc. As for ground combat, with the same technology tanks are superior in open combat. They can carry heavier armor for their weight, can cross unimproved ground that an equal(or even significantly lower) weight mech couldn't. As for combat in cities and rough terrain like mountains, you'd need to imagine a reason why infantry anti-tank missiles wouldn't eat them up. Maybe energy shields or something. That 'quality/quantity' energy shield could just as easily be mounted on a tank, but not individual infantry. Squad or platoon energy shields might be possible. TL;dr Anything super heavy on tiny legs punches through most surfaces. Thin arms/legs can't carry much armor. Anti-tank missiles go 1900 mph, so running at 100mph...
No. Mechs are bad. Like, I love gundam. Gundam is great. Gundam is love. Gundam is life... But when you think of practicality, mechs just suck. Ground combat? Tanks, anti-air missles, jets, bombers... There are tons of things that can do the mech's job much better than the mech can. The mech is just a gigantic target that costs absurds amounts of money for no meaningful payoff. Even if you need a gigantic weapon for some wild reason (I can't see why when nukes aren't gigantic), you can probably make a very big tank instead of a mech... Or a battleship in case it's for sea combat. Space combat? Cruisers can carry a lot of smaller spaceships inside them, which Mechs cannot... And on that note, you'd probably need gigantic cruisers to carry the mechs. The small spaceships would be much more mobile than the mech and much more effective at direct combat... The mech could surely bring some gigantic weapons with it alright, but the small spaceships could bring nukes, and the big ones could bring giant guns too, making the mech's advantage pointless. As for melee combat... Look, there is reason people stopped using swords and shields and started using guns. Melee combat is not useful in modern warfare. Mechs are all about their romance. Practicality is not a thing when we talk about mechs. Like, seriously, did you see the battle between the Kuratas and the Big Mech from the US some time back? The entire fight was staged, nobody could be inside the robots because it was too dangerous, and the costs of repairs were absurd and they needed days to fix the robots in-between fights... Moreover, even carrying the mechs through the sea was already a hellish job because the salty environment was going to rust the mechs. And what happened afterwards? The US Company went bankrupt, even though it got funding from NASA and the like to get their mech done, they still went bankrupt after making 2 mechs. That's how bad mechs are on a financial and logistical standpoint. ... Honestly, the best use for a giant robot would probably be to pick up trash. I can't imagine anything else that would be able to make use of a gigantic body like that.
Power armor is the only practical mech—if you consider it as a mech—since its primary purpose is providing infantry with protection.
Imo, space wars will be a lot more boring and stealthy than the fictions make it to be. Instead of single mech, we'd have swarms of drones that are modular and capable of building bigger structures. No manned vehicles at all, I mean there could be remote piloting but manned ones are just impractical. 70% of the war would be about jamming each other's equipment or some other techs. Most heavy fire power would be on stationary space stations. Mechs like in anime could just be a commercial variant for the nouveau rich. At most a single specialist squads to just be sure if it ever comes in need. Simply put, the cheapest way to victory is the one we'd probably go after.
depend really~ btw the comparison is laughable~ which one more useful artillery, tank, infantry, aircraft, ship? mech or spaceship can be anything on fic but imo mech is more toward ground or on planet err planetary stuff while spaceship on space battlefield duh~ talking about mech they can be interesting mobile rapid artillery, no this cat not only talking about humanoid mech cuz imo it like dofus~ the Zoid mech~ mech can also act as tank, just rolling through enemy defense~ on space battlefield tho..... no idea~ military spaceship imo mix of navy ship and aircrafts~ the big one act as battleship (long range heavy firepower) or carrier~ the smoll one well just aircraft on space..... they can act as planetary bombardment for long range target big shot defense tactical important stuff but kinda useless when enter atmosphere unless it smoll~ what cha gonna do? bomb all the surface? smash with it body? planet is big surface~ mostly long range battle... like shot into stuff that only seen on radar or something~ drones is good to repel missile but for energy based stuff such as gravity cannon dunno
Way far into the future the ones that they call drones could be very very sophisticated. From how our nano tech is evolving, drones at the size of a basketball could do hundred times more stuffs than our current iss. I wasn't talking just about AMS capability, but the over all modular use. Say it's like nano bots ver10.0 from the big hero 6 movie. It could assign particular group of drones to specific jobs. Like how our own cells evolved from single cell to multi-cells which then allocated to different roles. Tad bit more flexibility than that.
Space combat in fiction is generally pure fantasy regardless of if it is with or without mechs, most of the time it relies on space not really behaving like space. I'm not convinced that "real" space combat would involve dogfighting in the first place except in very rare cases, and even if it would it would likely be using some sort of drones rather than manned crafts. Simply because I assume both sides would spot each other far too early for it to get to that point. Even for ground combat mechs just seem like they would be too costly and overengineered to serve any real purpose. I'll admit though my favourite story involving mechs is Patlabor, so I'm biased toward stories actually depicting them as impractical.
And don't forget, what is a missile but a drone that is suicidal? One reason I can possibly think of mechs in space is their possible "motor on limbs" that allow them to direct thrust in all directions. But then, if they do that, you'll be having a mech with limbs that are going to bend into all sorts of weird positions lol. Legs pointing above your head anyone? The 2nd reason I can think of might be if there was a control system that interfaces directly with your brain and your brain is used to thinking in terms of humanoid shapes so it's easier to control but I kind of see this as a "poor man's fighter training" where you can't train pilots properly and have to toss teenage kids into the cockpit. The "intrinsic instinct" would be important for conscript pilots to be able to even fly. Of course, any properly trained pilot would have them for breakfast.
ah yeah that remind this cat about Warhammer 40k, some artastes? ride on missile lol also Ball Tank from gundam seem good idea.... rolling on space if too big gun
Would the giant metal space whale that has lasers strapped to it and also is somehow powered by nuclear fission or some shit win against a robot that has a gun that prob shoots a super weak laser? Mechs are idealized because robot. Thats it. Robots are cool btu guess what? SPACE SHIPS ARE FUCKING BETTER!!! LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO