On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 7:01 PM, Brandon Cope <[email protected]> wrote:
> --- On Wed, 1/13/10, Kurt Feltenberger <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Legs would be weak points in the design. > > The treads on a tank are far more vulnerable than legs. > > > Also, we were > > debating the HAAM Mk.2 suit on one of the Morrow Project > > lists some time back and I brought up the question of ground > > pressure. All that weight focused on a very small "foot" > > would make for a very high ground pressure and thus poor > > ability to traverse most terrains without being bogged > > down. > > Some of the ground pressure problem could be alleviated by having larger > (wider) feet. > > For certain terrain, special footgear ("snowshoes" could be worn. > > I think you under estimate the problem. A modern MBT (an M1, T80, t72, that sort of thing) has a ground pressure of about 12 or 14 psi. A human, standing still, not carrying half his weight in equipment, is about 8 or 10. Walking, the peak load is two times that, running, it's even more. A tank's ground pressure doesn't change when moving on level ground. The sort of mecha people seem to be talking about will be hundreds of psi, and will only be able to work on pavement. The only justification for meca is "you think they're cool". -- David Scheidt [email protected] _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
