"Anti-Mech infantry" Topic
57 Posts
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| CorSecEng | 24 Nov 2011 6:25 p.m. PST |
I really don't see a leg targeted trip hazard working against a large mechanized walking biped. How does an infantry man carry a wire capable of stopping several tons of force? It also has to be anchored in a way that will match the force applied. Maybe in a military base you could have anti-mech defenses installed but not in an urban environment on the fly. Maybe with High tech wire like the nano tube stuff they want to make space elevators out of. Still driving a spike into concrete a few feet will not hold up. You'd have to get inside a building and attach it to the load bearing steel frame. Possible multiple points of contact on both sides. Might as well add charges to drop the building on it while your in there. Lets add Anti-missle laser systems into the mix and now what do you do? Rail Gun sniper firing at the cockpit might work. Mech targeted landmines would be affective but you'd need a lot. A tank is always on the ground. Mechs have space between each step. Now you have to sense the presence of the mech and detonate instead of just on pressure. Quad based mechs will probably be more likely over time. Much more stable platform. Hmm the railgun sniper gives me a cool idea as well. The sniper carries the rifle and his spotter has a generator strapped to his back. Rail guns take a lot of power and even into the future they will need some sort of power plant. |
 Legion 4  | 24 Nov 2011 8:37 p.m. PST |
I don't see tripping a Mech … when you can just damage or destroy a leg with a variety of ranged weapons similar to what is currently available or those coming in the(near)future … |
| infojunky | 24 Nov 2011 11:29 p.m. PST |
I was driving around town today, Mechs over 5 meters or so are in for a world of hassle here. between all of the trees being cut to accommodate shorter vehicles, and power and phone lines cris crossing every street. Then the is the lack of cover as the 5 meters is pretty much max for buildings. And that I live in a bowl with hills having very unstable facings, Armor in general is kinda hosed. With those parameters infantries job is to spot and call artillery fire on mechs much larger than say 5 to 8 meters. |
| Lion in the Stars | 25 Nov 2011 3:46 a.m. PST |
In the US army, there is a trained AT rifleman per squad, plus dedicated AT weapons at the platoon level, I seriously doubt that you'd actually see organized anti-mech troops at anything over a platoon per battalion, if they aren't just part of the regular AT platoon. I would consider Mechs just another annoying kind of AFV, and add a couple days to the AT gunner school for anti-mech *specific* tactics. |
| Legion 4 | 25 Nov 2011 8:00 a.m. PST |
Yes, as I said in my previous posts, a US ARMY Infantry Platoon has a number of Anti-Armor assets organic to their TO&E. Mech or MBT … it's still a big target. And again, as an infantry officer, one of my most powerful assets is my radio … I can call in FA, CAS, Gunships, etc., etc. … I may be wrong, but I don't see much of a paradigm shift from AFVs as targets vs. Mechs as targets. In our games, the smaller Mechs(referred to as Dreadnaughts) about twice the size of a man, were handled just like a AFV. If the Infantry AT weapons don't get'm … an MBT or FA will … |
| typhoon2 | 28 Nov 2011 10:37 a.m. PST |
I like the idea of anti-magnetic mine Zimmerit on mechs… My own mechs for Dirtside II come in two flavours; the 'Dreadnaught' one-man power-armour things, backing up infantry, and the traditional 'Battletech' two-legged monsters. These latter are used solely for AA (crouch down until the air warning goes off and then stand clear of ground obstacles with a 360 degree arc of fire) or rocket artillery (crouch down to reload and stay out of sight, then stand and let rip). Obviously specialists would not be needed to tackle these critters, any more than an anti-tank platoon is needed for engaging contemporary rear-echelon vehicles. However, a couple of points are pertinent to simulation of anti-mech infantry (as opposed to gaming them, in which case who needs justification?!). Everyone assumes two legs for the Mechs. Four or more would make life a little more difficult for the grunts. In urban environments the mechs are hemmed in by tall buildings which presumably they can't climb or jet-pack onto. Infantry above them would be nasty but if a mech's head or torso is the same height as the third or fourth storey windows then said mech is a pretty good platform with which to engage those pesky footsloggers. Any ground vehicle that isn't AA-capable is unlikely to be able to fire at such steep angles but the mech has no problem. Finally, I suspect that engaging legs with sniper fire and the like could be a little difficult when those legs are in constant motion. As a soldier I was taught to engage the largest part of the target, in order to maximise the chances of a hit, even though hitting the legs would cause more disruption as they casevacced the victim. Legs ain't easy targets… |
| Lion in the Stars | 28 Nov 2011 10:58 p.m. PST |
Part of the 'constant motion' issue may be resolved with relative size. A truly huge mecha (like the Appleseed gunspiders) has large targets on the legs, but you also get large periods of time when the legs aren't moving much. Timing is everything. |
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