Another thing look at capital ship combat in Wars its slow and generally involves said ships pulling along side each other and fighting 'age of sail' style

And Star Trek doesn't do this?

Correct!

Many times Trek ships engage at ranges beyond 'Maximum Magnification' view range.

This thread remembers me of ...

hahahaha that was great

Many times Trek ships engage at ranges beyond 'Maximum Magnification' view range.

No, they constantly engage at close range just like Star Wars ships. And you know why? Because the people making those scenes know that battles are more interesting visually when you have both sides visible on screen at the same time. You might be able to find occasional examples of long-range fights just because of the sheer number of hours of TV and movies in the Star Trek franchies, but the clear default is close range.

Ultimately, no sci-fi show is going to do a 'realisitic' portrayal of space combat (if you can even apply the term 'realisitc' to something which doesn't exist) because it would just be boring. Yeah, in Star Trek they have sensors which can detect enemy vessels, in real time, way beyond visual range, so there's no reason that they couldn't also target enemy ships at that range. They could probably do this in Star Wars too, it's just that it wouldn't look very cool at all. Who wants to see a bunch of spaceships just shooting off into nothingness?

@Devotedknight, yea that's how I think of it, ST tech is hands down superior to SW, however, the Empire is like the Dominion, there is no way the Feds could stop by themselves because of sheer amounts of ships.

And, really, do you think we've exhausted the evolution of armor?

No, but that has nothing to do with my point. No matter what your armor is made out of the giant anime robot will have weaker armor than a tank. This is simple geometry, the giant anime robot has much more surface area to protect, so a given weight of armor will be much thinner compared to that same amount of armor on a tank. The only way the giant anime robot can even come close to the armor of a tank is if you arbitrarily declare that the giant anime robot gets advanced super-armor while the tank is limited to a few sheets of soggy cardboard.

It has everything to do with it. Is armor going to remain as chunks of metal bolted to a frame? How about the energy-based armors that are used in CE Gundam series (among others). Tank powerplants are going to be too small and confined to handle the amount of power output needed for that kind of armor. (Not talking about shields here, although those do show up in some MS designs.) It probably won't be around for a while in our world, but there is no reason to believe that it will never happen.

agree. and there is the protection offered by greater speed and mobility and the fact that most tanks and mobile suits get one-shotted by the weapons a suit carries.

There is no advantage in speed and mobility except because the author thought giant anime robots are cool. In reality the joints wouldn't be able to survive the load imposed by those quick maneuvers, armor would have to be stripped down to almost nothing to keep weight under control, and on anything softer than a paved and reinforced road it would just sink into the ground and crash.

Maybe with our current tech, but again, no reason to assume that it'll remain that way. Also, tanks have already been demonstrating that we don't need a paved and reinforced road for several-dozen-ton warmachines to use. Load distribution.

Plus there's also the profile issue. A giant anime robot needs to constantly run and dodge because it's a huge target for everything within a several-mile radius. A tank with equivalent firepower can use terrain for cover and only expose itself to the target it just shot and killed.

Mobile suits are frequently seen using terrain for cover. Stand-up fights only tend to occur in space, and even then debris is extensively used for cover when available.

Why would anyone need to target joints?

That was your original argument for why mobile suits would be inefficient: vulnerable joints.

Three: versatilty: mobile suits were designed for surface to air combat (submarine and zero G variants also) all your slow thank can do is drive around a bit at limited speeds and would have trouble engaging arial targets.

And you know what? This is really ****ing stupid. There's a reason we don't build submarine helicopter tanks in the real world. Adding on all that "versatility" means that no matter what a giant anime robot is doing it's carrying around obscene amounts of dead weight. So now its armor and weapons get even more pathetic to make up for it, if you can even build something that doesn't collapse under its own weight before it reaches the battlefield.

He said variants. Build a basic design, then make a version that does underwater combat, another that is suited for desert, another for space. You know, like real-world military hardware. Never has a mobile suit (or mobile armor, for that matter) been able to change into more than one alternate mode.

Five: Its a bloody anime series, not an episode of future weapons on the discovery channel!

Then why are you talking about it and trying to defend how practical it is? Just like every other annoying anime fanboy you only get out the "but it's just fiction" excuse when it helps you "win" the argument.

Same reason others are trying to defend the practicallity of Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and whatever other series/movies were brought up in this thread. And that excuse is hardly unique to anime: it's ubiquitous to all science fiction.

This thread remembers me of ...

Welcome to Corporate America! This so reminds me of meetings with clients and bosses.

Who are we talking about?

@Devotedknight, yea that's how I think of it, ST tech is hands down superior to SW, however, the Empire is like the Dominion, there is no way the Feds could stop by themselves because of sheer amounts of ships.

Well the empire has a whole galaxy to draw resources from. I think that the Borg could win against the Empire. Though the thought of Borg Sith gives me night mares.

"We are the SITH! Prepare to be dominated, and then there will be Peace!"

The Shadows and the Vorlons could defeat the Borg!

Well, me pappe told me once,

"Some people say potatoes, others say tater!"

Many times Trek ships engage at ranges beyond 'Maximum Magnification' view range.

No, they constantly engage at close range just like Star Wars ships. And you know why? Because the people making those scenes know that battles are more interesting visually when you have both sides visible on screen at the same time. You might be able to find occasional examples of long-range fights just because of the sheer number of hours of TV and movies in the Star Trek franchies, but the clear default is close range.

Yes they do!!

First episode of TNG has the enterprise firing torpedoes at the Q energy web thing beyond view