In the field you may not have that option, for instance in an invasion situation and the terrain we have the option would be nice to have, and the pilots need to be trained to know how much the machine can climb, when I say sheer cliffs I guess I should elaborate that its just about bigger then the mech itself. Also the dart is like a drill, I just cant remember the word for it, its meant to anchor the leg and once secured the other legs find purchase and anchor themselves before climbing. As for why this feature and not some other one, is that it frees logistics in some areas, for instance, what if the enemy has orbital superiority and gets word from their troops that aircraft are airlifting mechs here the cords to their landing spot, if you spot em drop hell on em. Of course if the mechs get spotted its moot, but its an added stealth factor that prevents ships in orbit from spotting them right away. Doubly so when we get underground highways set up, means they just need to get into a general area and find locations of advantage to rain their payload upon the enemy.
Edit: The best word I can find for what Im talking about is a spike.
I see what your getting at and you do raise good points. Airlifts can appear on long range radar but a mech on the ground can hide behind the terrain. I think a better example would be the AT-TE from Star Wars the Clone Wars and I remember a scene where the the 501st are assaulting a fort on top of a cliff and they have their AT-TEs climb with the infantry. For traversing, rough terrain it will work, but with underground highways, GDI could use Nod's Drill Pod system to have the mechs surface on top of the cliff by turning the Drill Pod into an elevator.
Granted, when GDI is the one doing the invading, it wouldn't be an option. But when GDI is invading, try to gain orbital superiority should be the first thing they do. Once orbital superiority is secured, they can drop mechs in Drop Pods at any location on the surface that is clear of AA fire or drop Zone Troopers to clear those AA Batteries so that much heavier Drop Pods can bring in much heavier equipment.
I gotta ask, would it be possible to make a MAC gun satellite? Like in halo, so far the ION cannons have range problems, using a MAC gun sat would extend that range, with a really big gun, like seriously its ridiculously large gun. Since we are more geared towards facing against the Scrin who likely have massive capital ships. It be a surprise for anyone who finds out we went back a step from laser orbital weaponry to big fucking gun in space.
GDI does have Ionic Railgun Satellites (Railguns with a shell of Ions/Plasma) and this technology is used on their capital ships.
So for cheap MAC cannon satellites isnt a spaceship its a satellite with gun, maneuvering thrusters and a targeting computer V.I. A cheaper alternative to building a whole ship with a crew and other complex systems to function. A project for whenever we get orbital capability. Although their static nature does mean that they can be shot at and they wont be able to get out of the way. But still fun giant gun in space to blow stuff up when you dont got the capability of a fleet on your side.
After Year 5, just before the Relay is activated to survey the next system for another colonization wave, GDN will deploy a basic Ion Cannon and Ion Railgun Sat Defense grid on Shanxi which is something like 20-28 satellites. The Navy can afford this due to all of the mining an interstellar civilization has access to and GDI's advanced Fabrication technology. It doesn't need eezo so the Navy can sprinkle these satellites on all of their colonies.
Its cool, and as for the ion cannon I can understand the uses of it, but its range is still heavily limited since apparently ion cannons after a distances starts to lose its strength. MAC cannons can be dodged after a distance. But still deliver a heavy damaging shot while ion cannons are cooling off, or charging up.
The Ionic Railgun, the rapid fire of a Railgun with the (sort of) penetrative power of an Ion Cannon. GDI still uses a few Ion Cannons for shielded capital ships while the Railguns deal with the smaller ships. Also Particle Cannons have something called a neutralizer, that neutralize their charge as they exit the barrel, keeping the stream straight and thus prevent it from diffusing from similar charges repelling on another. I'll still defuse due to the particles bouncing against each other, but by that point the beam would have reached any vessel in medium-long range.
Honestly, if the GDI had the tech for it, they'd likely be looking into making long-range spaceborne laser systems for defense, especially if they've puzzled out that the Prothean barrier tech (which I'm assuming is Mass Effect based) doesn't seem to stop lasers. Admittedly, the fact that they don't seem to think that ME barrier tech is useful for ship-grade shielding (seeing as they've yet to figure out shielding that can stop an Ion Cannon shot) might make that less of a priority.
The shield they tested was based on the shield of a Prothean APC, so it makes sense that it would not scale well. It uses eezo which is sort of in short supply as they only found 1 system that is abundant in it (
Source) so right out of the gate, an ME shield is going to be expensive when compared to their Firestorm shields which doesn't need eezo but is an energy hog. 2nd, Firestorm shields are able to tank an Ion Cannon shot. 3rd Crystal shields can put a ship in Stasis momentarily so that they become invulnerable for a few seconds so they can tank a volley of shots. Compared to what GDI has already, ME shields seem lackluster. They admit that it only cost a fraction of the energy of a Firestorm to power it and that it was able to stand up to several Ionic Railgun shots. But overall, their 1st generation shield is not up to par with what they have that had several decades worth of development.
Also GDI does have the Carter-class Corvette which is basically a Protoss Void Ray to take out enemy strikecraft and torpedoes that can damage ships too once sufficiently charged up.
Yeah, but its all in underground hangers in mountains and have a rail system for replacement guns if they are destroyed. heh just added that bit in, makes sense how did the guns get there in the first place?
You'll have the option to make the Skystrike Artillery in the future which is basically a what you are suggesting. You'll need to build a large power plant, like Geothermal, Thorium, or Hydro electric to power it tho.
@Warmach1ne32 collective RL military design, and conflict experience have shown that completely unarmed APC designs are unwise. Firing ports are not an acceptable replacement. None of today's nations make unarmed APCs.
Yep. APC s by their very nature tend operate in contested areas where thy can be fired upon. Without an integral weapon system(even an open mount for a 50 cal. or equivalents), the moment that the APC gets pinned by an ambush, it will die very quickly. Having a weapon allows some engagement in a kill zone, giving the APC a chance to mitigate/avoid any follow on in an ambush.
Of course, having an version for logistics might work. At that point however, you would be better off finding a place to mount a heavy machine gun still. Most scenarios that require an logistic vehicle to have armor also implies that there are enemy force targeting the vehicle(and/or the convoy). At that point, you either have local hostile forces which can be fought off(and/or deterred) by any weapon system that the APC has mounted or the incoming fire can not be retaliated against(eg precision bombs) at which point the armor is likely reducing mobility and the chances that the vehicle can avoid getting killed.
Thanks for the reminder, forgot to add a weapon.
