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Is a future where wars are waged with Gundams possible?
- Thread starter AnansiThePersona
- Start date
Why scan the parts with cameras when they can attach something like an NFC chip on each piece? Would cut down on a lot of expense
Essentially do what Ubisoft did for Starlink
While that would solve the weight issue, you'd still have to deal with mechanical complexity. All those moving parts makes breaking much more likely.
But then what was already more effective than bipedal robots on higher gravity is now even more effective as well.
Novels mostly because they don't have to show it. But still, every single war spaceship is fiction in made up, so there isn't really a truthful depiction either if it depends on technology that may never exist.
There's a funny remark in Hyperion (or Fall of Hyperion, one of those two) describing how the equivalent of movies in that future make space warfare seem up close because it isn't cinematic to show reality on visual fiction, so even people of that future have misconceptions of how warfare looks like between space ships thinking that you can actually see the enemy ship.
Space has no air resistance the size wouldn't matter as long as you have suffient thrusting force on it.
At that point, a couple boosters and a good gun would be all you need. AI swarm fighters and ballistic or missile weapons in space. Closer to Halo than Gundam.
Not only would the smaller size cut down on logistics requirements, but you can fit more into something.
I'd figure a weird space fighter pod with thrusters in all directions would be more effecient for space dogfighting... if there is such a thing as space dogfighting and ships aren't just pelting each other from obscene distances.
That's what talking about specifically Hence thrusting force (impulse). You are more likely to be able to fit in a engine that can produce such a thrusting force in a larger vehicles say a combined cycle gas turbine.
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Yup. It's very unlikely it could exist in reality when Gundam had to make an excuse for it to happen.
Everyone here ignoring my point about how space colonies could be real though.
Australians better start building some bunkers.
Australians better start building some bunkers.
From what I hear, The Expanse is hard science fiction, so it's not too surprising.
Now that I think about, most popular sci fi properties to feature space warfare are on the "softer" side of sci fi. Star Wars is straight up space fantasy.
Fuel becomes a problem then. We currently mainly have large space crafts for two reasons. Engine effiency increases with large engines and you get can more complex in terms your engines (it's why a power plant is more efficient than your car). You can incorporate more than one thermodynamic cycles of a heat engine for example. Second problem is storing fuel as unlike if your on earth there isn't free oxygen, there isn't easily acquired fuel, that all needs to be on hand and stored somewhere. That limits your range unless your only planning on travelling in one direction.
Unmanned is going to be more optimal definitely (assuming you have computers smart enough for the task), but small vs large is a lot more complex. Larger (in mass terms) vessels means more Delta V, which is significant both in a tactical and a strategic sense.
Good lord no.
Those things would be so heavy and slow that and impractical that the army who shows up with those loses by default.
Those things would be so heavy and slow that and impractical that the army who shows up with those loses by default.
Trump probably got all excited when Miller told him about his own stompy killer robot, but the project was canned when early assessment found him lacking the brain power needed to pilot a Gundam.
Real space combat will be more like submarines than WW2 aircraft carriers or tank battles. Weapons will have ranges far far far beyond visible range, and will be almost impossible to defend against. The challenge will be firing your weapon without giving away your position, or the position of your projectile, so stealth and sensors are your most important tools.
If you're losing a space fight, you won't even know it, because you'll be dead and didn't see it coming.
The Expanse is close to this, but they still allow for "cowboy" pilots and brave tactics to defeat incoming missiles.
If you're losing a space fight, you won't even know it, because you'll be dead and didn't see it coming.
The Expanse is close to this, but they still allow for "cowboy" pilots and brave tactics to defeat incoming missiles.
Pretty much but ultimately it just makes far more sense for plenty of vessel to go far larger if economically possible think air craft carriers but requiring to carry far more resources. The distances in space to go anywhere meaningful are humongous and unless you expect a completely smooth and straight trip your going to need fuel. As well as all sorts of stuff considering the distance and time required for a restock.
The requirements of interpanetary vs orbital combat are of course completely different. Then the requirements of interstellar combat would be completely different once again. The longer the distance, the larger you need to be just to reach there and still have fuel/remass to burn. No disagreement in that sense.
Imagine you're a soldier on the frontline, the out of nowhere you see this.
Yeah as has been said, the Expanse is the only show or movie to come even close to getting spaceship combat right, taking acceleration and everything into account. They act more like battleships than dog fighters, which makes a lot of sense if you think of it.
Small exosuits or slightly larger tanks with alternative locomotion (think spider tanks, legit saw a seminar once upon a time talking about why they could be useful) are far closer to real than anything Gundam related.
Future of nation-state warfare is almost certainly electronic. Cyber warfare, unmanned robots and aerial drones etc.
Gundams ain't it I'm afraid.
Future of nation-state warfare is almost certainly electronic. Cyber warfare, unmanned robots and aerial drones etc.
Gundams ain't it I'm afraid.
If they were as large as they are in the shows, it would be physically impossible for them to move as fast as they do in the shows in real life without breaking.
There are some interesting videos online that explain why there's a physical limit on how fast things can move once they reach a certain size. Look up something along the lines of "if you had a stick that could reach the moon and you pushed it what would happen" or something like that.
Basically the atoms in the object move by affecting the ones adjacent to them, but it can only do that as fast as the speed of sound, so if you try to move something REALLY BIG at or faster than the speed of sound (pretty sure if you analyse the size and scale of the Gundam and it's movement in the shows it's easily breaking the speed of sound) you'll eventually break the material the object is made of, no matter what it's made of.
I probably butchered that, but it's something like that. I think one of the examples I saw is why giants (like 100ft tall humanoids) would moved incredibly slow because of this limitation or else their limbs would break off.
There are some interesting videos online that explain why there's a physical limit on how fast things can move once they reach a certain size. Look up something along the lines of "if you had a stick that could reach the moon and you pushed it what would happen" or something like that.
Basically the atoms in the object move by affecting the ones adjacent to them, but it can only do that as fast as the speed of sound, so if you try to move something REALLY BIG at or faster than the speed of sound (pretty sure if you analyse the size and scale of the Gundam and it's movement in the shows it's easily breaking the speed of sound) you'll eventually break the material the object is made of, no matter what it's made of.
I probably butchered that, but it's something like that. I think one of the examples I saw is why giants (like 100ft tall humanoids) would moved incredibly slow because of this limitation or else their limbs would break off.
Imagine you're a soldier on the frontline, the out of nowhere you see this.
Pretty sure that mech just killed or maimed its pilot with that turn.
Imagine you're a soldier on the frontline, the out of nowhere you see this.
Real talk, the future of warfare would be Armored Core before it would be Gundam, and that should worry everyone.
This is more to do with area/volume ratios. The strength of bone is proportional to its cross section (m²), whereas the mass of flesh that bone has to support is proportional to the volume of flesh (m³). If you scaled a human to be 2x as high, the bone cross-section would be 4x as big, but the volume of flesh would be 8x as big. This is why an elephant's legs are so wide relative to their length, whereas a gazelle's legs can be so thin.
My thought is that they'll basically be disposable. Accelerate enough to get there in a reasonable time frame, drop a payload, and if they can accelerate back good If they can't well, there's always ramming it into anything there. Now the larger it is, the more fuel it will need, the easier it can be detected, the harder it is to carry(and ship). Though, at that point, you might as well use multi stage missiles.
My reasoning is that anything they'd be used against is going to have point defense, and that makes it a numbers game more than anything else. You might be able to carry 50 larger unmanned attack drones, but 100 smaller ones may get the job done better, and the fuel costs wouldn't be as great despite the larger distances we're on about because once you've accelerated, you don't need to keep accelerating to overcome drag, as its (basically) nonexistent in space.
At any rate, we're also going to have to talk about scale. How large is small? I'm thinking somewhere north of an f-18,quite a bit larfer than a predator drone,simply to be able to mount as many weapons as possible while being capable of carrying an engine that won't tear apart its frame in use. Basically fuel, engine, payload, computer, and that's it.
My thoughts on ship to ship combat in space looks a lot like ship to ship combat on an ocean, with the addition of another angle of approach much like aircraft would have. Exchanging broadsides of missiles or driven mass a la the rail guns like the Navy has, written much larger.
Even drones with payloads would be a stretch at that point, as most combat is going to be over long distance. Far enough that you can't see them and they can't see you, except via more active systems.
Oh you're right that's true as well. That reminds me I have some videos in my YouTube watch later list I need to get around to watching that are about the size limits of dinosaurs and how the oxygen levels of prehistoric Earth don't tell the whole story. /rabbithole
More stable, still easily broken. We use treads and wheels because they're easy to replace and harder to fuck up while being capable of going over most terrain.
I can understand your reasoning but I was honestly expecting something along of ICBM's in space (obviously they wouldn't be called ICBM's at that point). Without having to take into account all the factors in the navier stokes equations like you would on earth programming the guidance system for such a thing becomes trivially easy and honestly I'd expect we be using nukes with these a well. You'd build custom use distance etc for these missiles and fire off as many feasible mathematically to ensure a hit. You wouldn't even bother with small targets as if you can find and take out their base of operations the battle is pretty much done. Obviously it'd be more difficult in places like asteroid belts etc.
I think most giant robot fans know how redundant and/or ineffective giant robots would be in real life.
Maybe with the exception being the ones that are controlled via direct motion systems like stuff from G Gundam or the plethora of super robots out there. Because really, you're pretty much fighting as a giant human at that point.
Maybe with the exception being the ones that are controlled via direct motion systems like stuff from G Gundam or the plethora of super robots out there. Because really, you're pretty much fighting as a giant human at that point.
When Char asks why the Zeong doesn't have legs near the end of the original Gundam, a mechanic replies, "those are just for show to the brass" or something to that effect. I think it's a pretty funny way to say, "we can't sell real robot toys unless they have legs".
Not that much more difficult; asteroid belts are incredibly sparse. This is because space is ridiculously, absurdly, unfathomably big.
LOL I forgot about that
I mean yeah but comparitively more difficult in comparison to well the rest of space.
