Yeah, so basically it's the mech equivalent of the Main Battle Tank Thread. Those of you who use mechs, mecha, titans or any mechanised armour in your army that moves on legs and/or has arms, post here and tell us about them. Discussion of mechs and their designs are to be encouraged. We like pictures, but we like OC more!
Definition of a "Mech" - because some people were getting confused:
Broadly, the tank thread requires that the vehicle in question moves on tracks or wheels (or antigrav or magic, if you're so inclined) and doesn't have arms or a head. If you have a land-based vehicle which doesn't meet those criteria, it can probably got here.
As far as this thread is concerned, a "mech" is any sort of armoured fighting unit with some kind of human-like characteristics. If it moves on (any number of) legs then it is definitely a mech. If it moves one tracks but has arms then it is probably a mech. "Mech" is not defined by size and can include anything from a human-sized robot to a fifty-foot Gundam to one of those AT-ATs from Star Wars. A mech may be piloted, remote controled, or have its own AI. In short, if you think what you have might be a mech, then it can probably go here.
And before anyone says, we are most likely perfectly aware of how infeasible mechs would really be in real life. Chill out and recite the MST3K Mantra.
Despite their extensive use of light power armour, the Ularn Interstellar Federation currently has no mechs in the Ularn Space Navy Marines. However, numerous foreign intelligence offices have managed to glean details of a Reasearch and Development Initiative currently in progress known as Project Heinlein. Apparently an effort to respond to the heavier power armours adopted by other space nations, the subject of the project appears to be a humanoid suit of armour roughly 3.5m tall with the pilot fully encased in the torso. Heavy armour of the kind usually seen on the Dragon Main Battle Gravity Tank protects the torso and limbs along with an Electronic Countermeasure Suite comparable to that found in a fighter plane. A gravitic jump-jet enables the unit to leap across the battlefield in a series of vast bounds while raining fire from weapons attached to the hardpoints on its shoulders and forearms.
Common armaments are heavy machine guns, missile launchers and anti-armour weapons. In addition, smoke, flare and chaff launchers supplement its defence along with an array of claymore mines attached to the unit's legs. As well as being useful as a hard-kill countermeasure against missile attacks, these mines can be devastating against infantry at close range, making a common tactic being to drop in right behind a squad of infantry in cover, blast them with a mine and then jump out before the enemy can react.
Unfortunately, the prototype unit is far from invincible. When jumping it is fast and manoeuvrable but highly vulnerable to enemy AA defences. On the ground it can bring its full firepower to bear but is much slower and lightly armoured than a tank. As a result, the best tactics is to maintain a practice of constant, small jumps, keeping the unit on the move but at the same time staying below the altitude at which AA fire can become effective.
(So in other words, I'm still doing the lineart for this thing but I hope to have Heinlein Mini-Mechs/Heavy Power Armour Suits in action by my next RP and they'll pretty much act like this. Images will appear when I finish them.)
