BIG, EXITING NEWS.

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Want to see any more of this?

Yes.
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Andy, you're annoying. Find some freeway to play in.
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Total votes: 37

MOrab46019
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Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by MOrab46019 »

Starship Tropper the book is on its way. Fussion power that's the way to go. LOL. Heck Hammer Slamers hover tanks and combat cars I can see before the power armor tropper.
Mike Taylor

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Mike Taylor »

Major Fury wrote:They've already started testing. There was a story 2 nights ago on Techlive (TechTv's news show) about how so far they've built exoskeleton legs and are testing them. The problem so far is you have to strap 100lbs of batteries to your back and if they run out of juice you get to hump all that stuff back to base under your own power. BTW, that 100lbs would be in addition to the 75lbs or so normally carried by your average infantryman.


They'll find a way to reduce that weight and up the useful charge through refinements in battery technology. Remember the massive battery packs that used to power portable phones back in the eighties? Now look at today's cellphone batteries.
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NMI
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Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by NMI »

Play nice!

A post from this thread has been removed for not playing nice. The entire thread will be removed next. Attack the subject, not the person.


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Mike Taylor

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Mike Taylor »

Yeah, they will probably be restricted in some way or another by their supply lines. I could see them acting in support of standard mechanized infantry, or as defensive units, however.
Shin Kenshiro

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Shin Kenshiro »

Andy's powerloader concept is interesting, but there are the gaping holes of reality present in it.

What kind of fuel does it run on?

Kevlar and titanium plating good, but that much weight now completly negates its effectiveness in any kind of wet terrain (see jungles, rainforests, beaches, tundras) and rocky terrain as well. Though I'm sure these walking tanks would be quite the terror on open fields or just standing on top of a hill.

Speed....is this thing just supposed to move at 1/2 mile per hour? While we're on the turtle factor, what happens when this thing falls over?

If a regular flak jacket costs 300 dollars and won't stop anything (Think strapping a bean bag to your chest for those of you who never wore one), a regular mini-gun used on the UH-60 Blackhawk costs about 10-20 grand. (Don't believe me? M16A2 rifles are 1500 each for the US military, MP5's can run you 5k) Add in the motors required that have enough torque to move this armored behemoth as well as gyros that are mil-spec'd to handle frontline combat and I'm doubting your 100k price tag.

Ferry it in a jeep? Cool idea....how does it get into the jeep? Current exo-skeleton designs aren't exactly reknowned for their flexibility. Once it's in the jeep....how does it get out? Fall?

I'm curious as to how this metal monster would work out, but I'd hate to meet it in an FPS.
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GhostKnight
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Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by GhostKnight »

Mike Taylor wrote:They'll find a way to reduce that weight and up the useful charge through refinements in battery technology. Remember the massive battery packs that used to power portable phones back in the eighties? Now look at today's cellphone batteries.


Battery technology only improves about 5% per year. Cell phones have reduced battery size by using less power, not technical improvements of the batteries.
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GhostKnight
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Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by GhostKnight »

What about making this the heavy weapons expert to assist with regular and heavy infantry? 2-4 per platoon (1 per squad or every other squad), armed with a SAW or better weapon with a whole lot of ammo, and a light automatic grenade launcher?

How about anti-riot work? Thrown stones shouldn't hurt it (much) and it could carry much heavier non-lethal devices. Not to mention that CS gas and such shouldn't affect it. Add in the great benefit to politics (much less civilian damage) and a morale breaker to the rioters (invulnerable and probably won't kill them, so nothing to complain or get fired up about) and you have a winner.
Shin Kenshiro

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Shin Kenshiro »

Lt Col Andy Reddson wrote:
Shin Kenshiro wrote:Ferry it in a jeep? Cool idea... How does it get into the jeep? Current exo-skeleton designs aren't exactly reknowned for their flexibility. Once it's in the jeep....how does it get out? Fall?


Loading ramps. Don't ask dumb questions. :x

Shin Kenshiro wrote:I'm curious as to how this metal monster would work out, but I'd hate to meet it in an FPS.


Actually, singularly they'd probably be no threat. It's COLLECTIVELY they present the danger.
And level it.


I'm not going to go after you for your "dumb questions" remark, because it was a valid question since no "jeep" (HMMV, Land Rover, etc) has been modified to have a loading ramp. Not to mention if the ramp was man deployable, the driver and crew of the jeep would have to endanger themselves getting out and setting the ramp up so they could waddle on down. "No, they'd park the jeep away from the firefight and then the armors would walk there!", great...but snipers will move once the quarry does, because now his hiding spot has been compromised. So when these behemoths hit the scene, the infantry will probably take fire from somewhere else. You have to be quick to do counter-sniper work.

I see these things doing fine a in Hue City environment, just not for counter-anything. They'd be great in an urban environment to just walk down the sidewalk nailing anyone who pokes their head out. As for not being a threat singularly, read up on some Medal of Honor awardees. The lone soldiers/Marines/seamen/airmen who remained behind with only a machine gun and saved the lives of their comrades by holding a single position with a machine gun so they could either escape or reform their lines and counter-attack. A trooper like you envision would be excellent on sentry detail....and much more likely to make it home.
Shin Kenshiro

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Shin Kenshiro »

weird....anyone else seeing their posts being doubled or tripled? My comp was showing my recent post on the first page and on the second. Just a quick check
suncrush3r
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Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by suncrush3r »

who cares...WHERE ARE MY TRANSFORMABLE FIGHTERS?!?!?!?

I want my veritech :x
majã lé huntas - unknown ancient quote

Orkses is never defeated in battle. If we win, we win, if we die then we'z dead so it don't count. An' if we runs away it still don't count, 'cuz we can come back tomorrer for annuver go, see? - anon
Shin Kenshiro

Re: BIG, EXITING NEWS.

Unread post by Shin Kenshiro »

Well, Andy wanted some ideas for off the shelf technology in order to create some actually decent power armor, so without massive searching on the internet, I'll just use what I know for a basic skeleton.

Frame: 8-9 feet tall (this will make the basic height 10-12 feet tall with armor) made out of aluminum alloy in a honeycomb manufacture (like aircraft wings) to ensure it's very strong structurally and still relatively light. Frame should look something along the lines of: a set of shoulders; a 2 piece spinal column with a rotary joint placed in between both pieces to allow the pilot to lean back up to 20 degress; legs placed slightly behind the spine as opposed to directly under it so that they can be placed behind the legs of the soldier crewing said armor; and feet should be designed as a circular plate about 1 - 1 1/2 feet wide to ensure a good weight distribution so the armor won't sink or get stuck in light mud easily

Joints: Hydraulic pistons for shoulders and elbows backed up by A/C powered servo motors (since A/C current provides more raw power than D/C) need to be rated somewhere along the lines of 50-100 lbs for shoulders and arms to allow for more controlled aim of any installed weaponry; 200+ lbs for the knees and hip for increased speed and to ensure it doesn't walk like a zombie as it most likely would with hydraulic legs (sure the bastard could tow an arty piece, but it would get there at the end of any war)

Powerplant: I'm thinking something along the lines of a diesel powered A/C generator rated at around 208 volts, but with an amp rating of at least 10-20 amps. For those not familiar with how electricity works, it's the amps that provide the raw strength (a human can survive 500-1000 volt shocks, but 0.01 amp is lethal). If the generator is mounted so it's exhaust is upward, it'll be easier to spot, but if you mount the exhaust low, you'll give all surrounding troops alot of carbon monoxide.

This is my initial idea of a realistic frame, everyone's welcome to add what they think would work in either the internal or external machinery. Have at it people. 8)
steelvoid

Unread post by steelvoid »

I remember A web site I saw a long time ago that the discovery channel had it was all about exoskeletons it seems that back during WWII somebody in the mechanics division got this great Idea that he could biuld a mechanized suit for his men to protect them and so that they could carry an entire load of amunition for there planes it was powered by a deasiel engine and had wings that were acualy hydrolic lifts for carrying heavy loads it also had ceramic plating so small arms (any thing under a 37 caliber bullet some of the details are a bit fuzzy) wouldent hurt the people inside it also had an independent oxogyn supply to deal with the nerv gas the only problem was balance was hard to maintain in side of the thing the project was canceled by the goverment makes you wonder though so this is actualy the second time the military is atempting this what I remember isnt exact and I know that becuase I swear the issue with falling over was becuase when you are carrying an entire load of missle's for a plane and fall over that tends to be dangerius but I do beleave that missles werent invented till after WWII so I might be getting the armerments wrong or time period not sure it was a while back.
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