Nmenth's Research Lab: Mechs

[Nmenth 289]

It is the first Monday of October, so it is time for another article from Nmenth's Research Lab. This month, we will examine the Mechs in Command & Conquer and see how they compare with reality.

A new technology will be explored in Nmenth's Research Lab on the first Monday of every month. Return next month on the 5th when I take a closer look at Drones.

[Masonicon 19]

Does the use of Artificial Muscles made from Carbon Nanotubes can solves the problems that this suffers?

[Nmenth 289]

Carbon nanotubes have extremely high tensile strength, but because the tubes are hollow, they will buckle under torsional stress. Because of this, the joint itself would not be able to be made from CNTs, but If the joint was surrounded by CNT "muscles," they may absorb some of the torsional stress from the joint into the CNTs as tensile stress, where they would be more effective. However, this system would assume the joint is unpowered and just has to survive the stress. Just enclosing the joint in CNTs for additional strength alone would interfere with whatever system is actually supposed to drive the joint.

Making functional synthetic muscle from CNTs would be an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how possible it would be. Even assuming it was possible, it would be ludicrously expensive. Also, the CNT "muscle" would require a very complicated system to cause it to contract and expand, which would likely be very delicate and vulnerable in a combat scenario. I imagine a damaged CNT-based limb would be very difficult to repair too, so field maintenance would almost certainly be unthinkable and at the price they would demand, just replacing damaged limbs would be far too costly.

Even if you had infinite funds though, CNTs are not magical unbreakable materials and will still have their own limitations. If the size, weight, or speed of the mech is too great, the limbs will still rip themselves apart.

[TaxOwlbear 20]

Even if we had stuff like that, the question remains whether the walker would be better-suited for its job than a conventional tank, and in most cases, the answer is a hollow "no".

[Masonicon 19]

how about using Mechanized Walkers just for Self-propelled guns(even when it utilizes Carbon Nanotube muscles, Non-newtonian fluid for joints, and single-layer electromagnetic reactive armor plating for protecting mechanical legs, plus Nanotech-based repair system for CNT muscles) not to mention it doesn't need to be too big

Edited October 10, 2018 by Masonicon

[Nmenth 289]

4 hours ago, Masonicon said:

Non-newtonian fluid for joints

That doesn't even make sense...

None of it matters though, a normal vehicle will always be more cost efficient and less vulnerable. You are just throwing insanely expensive technology at it in an attempt to get it merely on par with a tank.

An Abrams tank costs about $9 million. With a bit of rough calculating, I estimate (with a high error margin, since some of those technologies haven't been developed yet) your proposed walker at about the same weight would cost well over one billion. Additionally, it would be slower (if it could move at all, since its joints are literally liquid), easier to spot, weaker, and have extremely high operational costs.