Hey /lit/. So I've been getting into /m/ recently and I was wondering if mecha would work well in a novel. Like a scifi world War or alien invasion type story. What's your opinion on it? Also got any recommendations for books that do it well?
If it can work in manga it can work in prose.
Given that mechs only exist because they look cool and wouldn't actually be any use in real combat, a book is unlikely to do them "well".
>>8262913
Sorry to say, contemporary sci-fi has always had stuff more towards space fleets and dogfighters, like something you would see in LotGH, and that would make sense.
Mechs in space don't sound all that practical, and would be more geared towards ground combat as most people would imagine, IE shit like Avatar and War of the Worlds
>>8262930
What if a writer was able to describe the mech in an interesting way and really paint a picture of how the mech works and operates so that the reader can really visualize it?
>>8262930
Nah dude bipedal weapons with all-terrain capabilities have limitless possibilities in the field, they're machines that can go anywhere a man can go, past the range of conventional transport.
>>8263086
Sure.
You're having to ask though so I'm dubious about your ability to do it, if that's what you're getting at.
>>8263439
Bipedal weapons would not have all-terrain capacities and are prone to mechanical failure and falling over, especially when shot at. "Traditional" mechs like those pictured are slow, lumbering, noisy easy targets. If legs are so great, why did we invent the wheel?
>>8262930
if they work based on some super magic technology I think they can be justified, but a fucking angel-winged robot can hardly exist in a book
>>8263453
>If legs are so great, why did we invent the wheel?
>>8263453
Legs are dynamic machines, we can go up stairs, over rocks, and change direction at a thought. Legs strengthen with use, not deteriorate. Is there a machine that uses wheels that can lift itself onto a raised platform and hold half of its body in the air using only the other half of wheels.
Also here's an essay about why mecha are stupid
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/geekend/sci-fi-rant-why-giant-mecha-robots-are-stupid/
and some people trying to seriously consider both sides then concluding that mecha are stupid
http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/10320/plausible-reasons-for-usage-of-combat-mecha
>>8263528
>Is there a machine that uses wheels that can lift itself onto a raised platform and hold half of its body in the air using only the other half of wheels.
???
of course there is
you can make something that does that just with a lego mindstorms kit
>>8263528
I'm a STEMfag and you sound like a fuckin idiot right now.
>>8263528
Everything in your post is mind-numbingly idiotic but I can only be bothered to address this part
>Legs strengthen with use, not deteriorate
That's because our legs are biological and not mechanical. Mecha do not have muscles.
>>8263540
Pic related
>>8263542
Then tell us about it my man, i'm obviously an idiot at these things but now that you're here we can get some answers.
What do you say?
Starship Troopers.
power armor exoskeletons > mechs
/m/ is for fun, the majority of western sci-fi is not fun. The modern western sci-fi that tries to be fun ruins itself with shallow romance subplots and other corn drama, and comes from /m/ (I'm looking at you, Pacific Rim)
>>8263575
This >>8263530 covers it.
bipedal mechanical legs are an awful idea. The wheel is the most efficient means of movement in terms of energy. Legs start, stop, start, stop which is an engineering nightmare. The energy it takes just to walk forward and do so while keeping heat in check with lubricants and coolant, without significant wear on moving parts, and while bearing a load is ridiculous.
Just use some wheels and throw a tread around them. A vehicle with treads, a low center of gravity, and high torque output (a tank) can scale a mountain. The grades they can climb are ridiculously steep, not to mention you can't knock over a tank or incapacitate it as easily as a bipedal mech.
the mechwarrior novels are fun, sadly most of the battles consist of "X shoots with Y at Z part, tearing off armor"
>>8262913
Mecha vs alien invaders is the primary storyline of "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The mecha in the story are more like elborate power armour rather than Evangelion type mecha but the story isn't bad.
>>8263575
what is that picture supposed to illustrate, exactly? a simple stair climbing robot can do that
what about a mecha that is evangelion type(with biological parts inside) ?
>>8263859
Faster than light travel is a standard trope of science fiction, both in genre fiction and the more literary works. Faster than light travel is borderline impossible if not outright impossible.
Mechs are at least possible, if a bad idea compared to just using tanks. Biological or purely mechanical, the only real issue is you need to justify why your heroes aren't just driving tanks.
And even that doesn't require much. You can just make up some synchronization tech that only works with humanoid machines to match the human body. The plot and characters are still what makes or break a mecha novel, not the mechs themselves unless you go full retard.
>>8263680
>light novel
>good
>>8262913
The only issue is visuals. The only reason mecha is so fucking awesome is because of looks. Unless you're talking manga, it's going to be interestingly difficult to write a book and include the visual description without making it either hard on the author or reader. It's a shame really.
>>8263086
Similarly, if the writer was able to describe an army going into battle using nothing but spoons in an interesting way that the reader can visualize, that too would be legitimate.
>>8264210
I disagree. Smaug and Drogon were awesome before their visual adaptations were released. If dragons can be awesome in written form, so can mecha. Just don't expect to make them awesome in a book for the same reasons they are awesome in a movie. So basically, focus on describing the mecha doing awesome things rather than just saying it looks really cool guys, trust me on this one.
