this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2024
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No, I think tank tracks and wheels are more vulnerable than armored mecha legs. There are just problems with weight distribution and terrain, but those will be solved at some point by advancements in materials and move by wire software. We'll probably see Star Wars like 6 legged tanks first and later 4 and 2 legged mechas.
I think tracks with a variable shape is more practical. Mecha with legs are vulnerable to falling over too easily when they lose a leg, especially with only two. I mean, the best would be a hovertank, but technology isn't quite there yet.
Either way, a bipedal mech will lose out on nearly everything except cool factor versus a tank. Especially in cost.
The problem with tracks is, they are made of exposed complex small parts that can be damaged more easily than anything else on a tank. To make them more sturdy means you have to upscale them, but then the tank becomes heavier and also much slower, because centripetal and centrifugal forces would become insane at speeds tanks drive. The tracks don't go in a circle after all, but centrifugal force wants to make them.
A walking tank can still limp with part of a leg missing, but a tracked tank will be stuck the moment one part of the tracks fails.
And wheeled tanks need lots of space to turn.
This is why the next steps in tank evolution will be legs or hover, but hover has exposed air intakes and exhausts and needs too much energy for the forseeable future. Legs, however, do not.
Also legs may give the opportunity to jump. That would be an enormous advantage over current tank propulsion.
And how are delicate, long legs not a worst and more vulnerable target that tracks?
you can add armor to legs, but not to tracks.
Can you?
How simple do you think would mech legs be?
One option is if you can reduce the need for armor by being able to detect and dodge missiles and shells. You’d theoretically be able to react much faster with legs in short bursts.