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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SKyOdin" data-source="post: 5209349" data-attributes="member: 57939">Note that I'm not specifically talking about purely humanoid designs, considering that the VSs I suggested earlier are only loosely humanoid. (Though, I have no problem with someone wanting to have very humanoid mecha designs.) A design like the VSs I linked to earlier has plenty of room for heavy front armor to protect the engine and pilot. Furthermore, the entire armor argument depends heavily on the power balance between armor and weaponry in the Fusion Age. There is no particular reason it has to be the same as weapons and armor of the modern day. The whole easy target argument is also a matter of terrain and other factors. However, I don't want to get too deep into this kind of discussion, because we are talking about technology that only exists in our imagination and possess whatever qualities we choose to ascribe to it. What really matters are the answers to the questions "Is this concept interesting?" and "Does this concept fit in with the other elements in the setting I am creating?"Science Fiction creators knowingly or unknowingly push the limits of plausibility and the laws of physics all the time. To cite an example that has been mentioned off-hand in this thread and the others, people ascribe completely implausible and downright magical qualities to nanotechnology all the time. Realistically, grey goo has no chance of destroying the Earth. Heck, the very idea of self-replicating nanomachines itself is pretty ludicrous. However, that doesn't stop the idea of nanotechnolgy from being interesting and a potentially very useful setting element or plot device. In any case, if I wanted to make mecha useful in a Fusion Age setting, it would simply be a matter of defining the technology in use in the setting such that they are practical. Just like nanotechnology, mecha are just plausible enough that it is possible to get people to accept them if they are done right and portrayed in a fashion consistent with the rest of the setting.Besides, I think it is way too early to right off mecha as wildly impractical. No one has even tried to make one in the real world, let alone test it in realistic conditions. When people actually do invent walking vehicles and they are passed over as impractical for military use, then we can say that as a certainty. Until then, we are just guessing.However, this whole thing does bring up a though. Garrowolf, while I asked about what weapons are in use in your setting, I didn't ask about stuff like shields, barriers, optical camouflage, holograms, or anything like that. What other kinds of military technology do you envision as being in use in your setting?</blockquote>

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