Mech legs for vehicles

[Broulder]

Exactly what it says on the tin, so you can make walker vehicles/mechs.

Maybe because they’re not wheels, they should let you pass over fences and such without damaging them?

[joxer]

Robocraft inspired suggestion?
[sup][sup]If rail walkers OP enuf, Why not implement Plasma drones?[/sup][/sup]

caterpillar tracks are already in the experimental btw

[troll_from_behind]

Maybe EVEN Battletech?
Can’t beat the mechs.

[RADIALTHRONE1]

Wait, so are we somehow going to beat Japan in the race to build giant battle robots?

[Shopkeeper]

Post-apocalyptic survivors in New Englamd are a crafty bunch.

[Kadian]

Wait, so are we somehow going to beat Japan in the race to build giant battle robots?

CDDA plays in the Future. It also contains POWER ARMOR, flying Spheres of Metal (>all kind of hacks and eyebots), and it already has ‘small’ Walkers (The feared Chicken Walker: The Northrup ATSV, a massive, heavily-armed and armored robot walking on a pair of reverse-jointed legs.) ; I don’t see a problem with finding Mech-like Legs for Vehicles, hell, you could even reverse-engineer the Legs from the Chicken Walker and build them, just in bigger, in order to put them on the vehicle.
After all, we ARE playing survivors which can, with only minor issues, build Death vehicles, given the materials and tools (And food I guess, because you usually need a loong time for finishing bigger mobile Bases.), so why not?

There are, however, a few problems I can see: It will be hard to move a vehicle with legs ; it will need a lot of practice before you can move such a vehicle without issue), and once you crashed into something or fell over, it might be the end because the vehicle couldnt stand up again on its own. Those legs might also be rather slow, so you might have to accept a max speed of 40 km/h or so…

[Coolthulhu]

After all, we ARE playing survivors which can, with only minor issues, build Death vehicles, given the materials and tools (And food I guess, because you usually need a loong time for finishing bigger mobile Bases.), so why not?

There’s a giant leap between a big truck with many engines and a walking robot.
We have big trucks now, but no walker robots bigger than a horse (Big Dog isn’t car-sized).
Survivors in DDA don’t have access to most of the modern tech, because a great deal of that requires something you could only find in a factory.

Survivors can’t even craft an AK-47.

There are some exceptions, such as crafting manhacks (a recipe both quite useless and totally unrealistic). This is an argument for removal of those recipes, not for allowing high-tech stuff.

Also, walker robots would be quite pointless at the moment. How would they differ from wheels?

[joxer]

Also, walker robots would be quite pointless at the moment. How would they differ from wheels?

OP hasn’t confirmed or denied my suspicious, unfortunate as it may be.

Walking on walls out the question- They could be ‘useful’ if a form of rough terrain is implemented. Which ofc would be after significant progress is done on z-levels anyway.

from a technical point of view- They could latch onto either of the 9 tiles around them instead just the one directly below that a wheel is supported by.

[Kadian]

[quote author=joxer link=topic=10615.msg238208#msg238208 date=1434910212]

[spoiler][quote=“Coolthulhu, post:7, topic:9891”][quote=“Kadian, post:6, topic:9891”]Also, walker robots would be quite pointless at the moment. How would they differ from wheels?[/quote]

OP hasn’t confirmed or denied my suspicious, unfortunate as it may be.

Walking on walls out the question- They could be ‘useful’ if a form of rough terrain is implemented. Which ofc would be after significant progress is done on z-levels anyway.

from a technical point of view- They could latch onto either of the 9 tiles around them instead just the one directly below that a wheel is supported by.[/spoiler][/quote]

Your quoting there is amazingly weird

[quote=“Coolthulhu, post:7, topic:9891”]There’s a giant leap between a big truck with many engines and a walking robot.
We have big trucks now, but no walker robots bigger than a horse (Big Dog isn’t car-sized).[/quote]

I always thought our Chicken Walkers are >at least< as big as a human, if not slightly bigger. Take 4 of those Chicken Walker Legs and put them on something bigger and it would be able to move yourself as well as at least a little bit of loot around.

It’s not like you have to BUILD them yourself, just cut them off from a Chicken Walker and weld them to a very small vehicle (2-4 tiles maybe), wire them up, and with a lot of trial and error you could manage to move them with the help or Joysticks or something like that.

[joxer]

Your quoting there is amazingly weird

What’s my self appointed title on this forum brah D:< ( on the left there )
[sup]Apologies i’ve fixed it :F[/sup]

[SiegeLion]

I don’t see how pulling the legs off a Chicken Walker (or a larger mech if they were implemented) would be too unreasonable. With the correct knowledge in Mechanics and Electronics it doesn’t seem impossible considering most of it is already built for you, no advanced crafting required. It’d obviously only be reasonable for it to be a recipe learnt from a really high level book though, and still difficult to learn at that.

As to why, well why not? If you’re going to build a gigantic deathmobile you may as well give it legs. Then we wait for someone to build Howl’s Moving Castle.

If this were to ever be implemented it probably falls under the “If someone makes it then it’ll be considered” category, since it’s not really necessary for anything more than aesthetics unless it allowed vehicles to ignore things like shrubs. No more exploding from lightly brushing up against a small bush.

[dragonlaggin]

Seems pretty damn reasonable. Only if they are limited to a reasonable speed for a walker.

[SiegeLion]

I can almost imagine someone building a millipede and scuttling along at a thousand Mph. It’s the best thought I’ve had in a long time.

[Onisuzume]

Well, with BattleTech the practical limitations are something around the 320km/h, if memory serves me right.

[Logrin]

Well…couldn’t we just install legs from chicken walkers/tripods? Or for that matter turn power-armor into an enclosed cockpit that protects the driver from gunfire?

I don’t think legs would be graceful enough to tip-toe over fences but it would be neat if they let you move vehicles like you move your character–instead of driving them.

[Broulder]

Being able to move sideways is a pretty good idea, having a limited speed also makes sense. But I think the legs should be craftable with high enough skills (I mean come on, we can craft nukes) and have a variety of types.
Now someone just needs to code it.

[kevin.granade]

There’s a pretty huge difference between a robotic leg that can support a few hundred lbs (chicken walker) and one that can support 1,000+ lbs (most any survivor vehicle).
Plus it’s not the mechanical part of the leg that’s super hard to make, it’s the control and feedback systems that mostly keep legged robots from being a reality, and if you pull the legs off their body you lose all that integration.

Mininukes aren’t a good example, if you have enough fissile material lying around, it’s keeping it from detonating that’s the hard part.

[Muaddib]

Eh, you can build a nuclear bomb with a three-story building, a jackhammer, ductape, around 50 volunteers willing to die for your cause, some lead pipes and a bit of dynamite.

Mech legs will be a bit harder.

The only logical way how to fit it in CataDDA is to make mech legs a collection of pre-made vehicle parts that can be found inside a lab. That way it just becomes like some pre-made part that you put onto your vehicle.

Also, I’m probably on the NSA watchlist now.