At which point does a Power-Armor stops becoming simply super-armor and becomes a full blown Mech?
Is there a tin-line between Mechs and Power-Armor or is there a substantial difference I'm unaware off?
You can sit down in a mech
>>44151497
Do your arms fit in the limbs of the armor? If yes, then it's power armor.
If you use a control interface, it's a mech.
>>44151497
I'd say once the pilot is entirely contained in the torso it's no longer armor. You have to at least reach the knee and elbow joints.
>>44151522
aaaand /thread
>>44151540
Oh yeah? What if it's just my mind/soul/whatever that's inside of it?
>>44151497
There is a substantial difference.
Mechs, you see, are for special-snowflakes.
Power-Armor is for the real soldier.
Now give me 50 push-ups.
![ieDSma8[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/f2pmoQg.png "ieDSma8[1].png")
>>44151522
>>44151543
Tanks are classified as armor.
>>44151639
Then it's a robot and you're an abomination.
Since this thread is here... what about Dreadnoughts?
Are they Mechs or... something?
>>44151639
Then you're a Dreadnought, o ancient and venerable battlebrother
>>44151522
But Brother.
I am sitting down right now.
Exosuit/skeleton: Basically just a suit with maybe some strength etc boosting. The former is often a space suit.
Power armour: Moves with the body and enhances everything you do, while armoured and usually providing weapons. Unlike a suit it will usually need power.
Mech: capable of moving independently of the pilot. You don't need to move corresponding muscles to move it and it doesn't need a human form.
Borders between these are a bit fluid.
>>44151670
Well in that case I'm going to get in my medieval plate mecha.
Don't be a twat. We both know that's a different definition than the one being discussed in this thread and you're not being cute mixing the two up.
>>44151639
Mech. The mind/soul is using a control interface. Unless you're possessing it. Then you're just possessing a robot.
>>44151684
Impossible, since the first calling card for one being a Dreadnought is typing in all caps.
Dreadnoughts you see, where never outfitted with a key to turn off all caps, lest we may never fail to identify the speech of an honourable one.
>>44151682
Mech.
>>44151722
I'm not mixing up anything. I'm saying that it's all armor.
>>44151731
THIS ONE SPEAKS THE TRUTH. IN LIFE I NEVER TALKED LIKE THIS. IF IT WEREN"T FOR THE FACT THAT I SERVE THE EMPEROR I WOULD CONSIDER MY ENTOMBMENT A FATE WORST THAN DEATH.
>>44151659
inSIDE a mech.
>>44151497
One is worn, the other is piloted.
>>44151497
Usually it is a question of size. Power armor is small enough to fit into and clear buildings for example.
>>44151714
Aren't the mechs in battletech incapable of moving without a pilot, something about relying on a pilots sense of balance to stay upright. I think Imperial Titans need someone to be plugged in for them to work too.
>>44151753
Rush now honorable spirit of vengueance.
I shall turn off your main servo units and systems and inject you with an extra holly dose of sonanbulim, so that you may rest and preserve your mind for battle.
>>44151540
Not sure thats a fair line to define it upon. Is the power-loader from Aliens a mech or power armor, or something in between. What about some of the armor in Infinity? Some of the smaller suits don't have manually controlled limbs and instead are slaved to smaller apetures, whereas some larger versions do indeed have directly controlled limbs.
I think the defining point has to be what the intended purpose and method of control are. If it is meant to be used as basic infantry, and it is controlled more akin to a suit of conventional armor then it is simply a suit of powered armor. If it is meant to be used in a much more lethal role, much larger, mounts much heavier firepower, or any preponderance of the above factors, combined with a cockpit style or other unconventional control system for a suit of simple armor, then it would probably be considered a mech.
In Battletech for example, Elemental armor is very large compared to standard infantry or other types of armored power suits, but is still considered a type of power armor because of the method in which it is controlled, armed, and utilized. http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Battle_Armor
>>44151740
No it fucking isn't. Armor is a military term to denote ARMORED VEHICLES. Tanks are vehicles which possess armoring,
We are talking about personal armor.
You twat. I told you not to be a twat and you went ahead and did it anyway. Twat.
>>44151709
What is this, a 5mm miniature?
>>44151497
Probably design ideas in use, maintenance and logistics required. Power armor is designed to enhance infantry, but you still use them for holding ground (especially urban areas). Mechs are designed to be cavalry enhancements, and function like a supertank would.
>>44151798
BUT I DON"T WAnnan.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It's a question of how it's gonna be used.
Power-Armor would basically apply to foot-infantry or similar roles.
Mech would function more as heavy artilhery or mechanized infantry.
We are basically talking about foot-soldiers VS tanks here, except we add a layer of servos and metal to each. In the case of Tanks, we add legs that is.
A Soldier in power-armor will fullfill all the roles previously assigned to him plus some, since the armor would bleed into other combat roles. In the Fallout universe for instance, it's in the lore that the Americans designed power-armor to curb stomp the chinese in all out infantry warfare, but it was so sucessfull that American Power-Armor was also often used to curb stomp the superior Chinese tanks. This is a good example of Power-Armor functionality bleeding over into Mechanized Infantry.
A Mech would be a mobile, albeit impratical (this is my personal opinion, don't get offended), substitute to the tank. But nothing would stop a Mech from entering the trenches and stomping enemy infantry or using whatever small arms is has for that purpose.
The line is tin.
I think this is why in 40k, Space Marines eschew the "tatical" warfare of today in favor of rushing in teeths bared and trying to beat the enemy with brutality. I think that at some point, tatically clearing rooms becomes obsolete when your enemy can soak up whatever you throw at him thanks to armor and the only thing you can really do is try to cut his head off with a magical axe.
>>44151930
Such a great spirit of vengeance.
When he wakes up he will be furious and even more vengefull to kill the enemies of the Emperor.
Makes me proud to be a TechPriest. I get to watch the great ones become angrier. It seems like it was 24 cycles ago, when he was still a blob of injuried and bloodied Space Marine carcass screaming for a sacorphagus.
>>44151837
It is the evolution of armor. Effective armor became too heavy to put on the human frame or on a horse and so it gets put on vehicles instead. Modern soldiers still use personal armor in the form of ballistic helmets and arguably cameo fatigues.
>>44152012
Maybe he had a particular nice dream about two sisters of battle. Twins, maybe.
>>44152067
So you get it. Tanks are not personal armor. We are discussing personal armor. So tanks are not what we are talking about and mixing up definitions is twat like behaviour.
Mechs have cockpits and user interfaces.
>>44151497
That's a pretty impressive replica suit of T-60 armour. Cosplay is amazing these days.
>>44152067
Now I''m curious what an exo skeleton for a horse would be like.
>>44152421
>t-60
Thats T-45 mate
>>44152756
Would look like a giraffe.
>>44151785
Battlemechs have a gyro system that'll keep the thing standing, but it can't tell if a motion is something to be countered or not without tapping into the pilot's balance with the neurohelmet.
>>44153310
>Have an exo skeleton for the horse
>The fram is mostly the back on around the legs to help it bear greater loads, namely the powered armored knight and the armor the horse is wearing
>Still able to gallop like it was nothing
Well I have a setting I need to go make.
>>44152067
Wow what twat.
>>44151543
>once the pilot is entirely contained in the torso it's no longer armor.
What about something like a Gear from Heavy Gear? The pilot's head is in the head of the mecha, but they clearly still use a system of joysticks and pedals to control the machine.
>>44153673
If it's driven like a vehicle, it's a mech.
>>44151682
Someone answer this.
>>44154106
Someone did.
>>44153307
Could be either. T-60 is just updated T-45.
>>44154106
already been answered
To use a reference appropriate to this site, a Dreadnought's casket is like the plug on a neon jello evangelist mech.
>>44151682
I suppose its really neither power armor nor a mech. Its more like a heavily armored cyborg, since the suit is really their body.
>>44154132
>>44154152
You need to be alive to pilot a Mech.
A Dreadnough is more like a giant weaponized life-support system that utilizes a dead marine's brain and soul as a central processing unit and machine spirit, respectively.
If anything it's a cyborg or a robot.
An a Dreadnough is not a vehicle, it's sentient. So it's not a mech.
>>44154137
No, look at the chest plate. Clearly T-45.
Git Gud pleb
>>44152756
>>44153310
>>44153489
>>44155145
>>44154631
>You need to be alive to pilot a Mech.
They are alive. You need to be alive to be interred in a dreadnought.
>An a Dreadnough is not a vehicle, it's sentient.
"it" is a combat walker that interfaces with the life-support sarcophagus containing a still aive (if barely) space marine.
Dreadnoughts were in the past (back when they were considerably more common and not ancient relics) capable of being piloted by regular dudes being plugged in more conventionally. They're mechs.
>>44151522
>>44151497
This. Mechs are a vehicle you drive, Power Armor is something you wear.
>>44155173
>>44151497
What's the difference between a Exosuits and power armor?
>>44155240
either nothing or one is unarmored
>>44153386
That seems more like explanation for the sake of justifying mechanics or storytelling rather than explanation for the unavoidable truth tho. Fucking robots can balance themselves and move forward, we could today make something like that with enough money.
>>44155240
I'd argue that exosuits cover non military uses like hazardous environment suits and power armor is purely for military stuff. Thus power armor is a form of exosuit, but not all exosuits are power armor.
>>44151816
>Is the power-loader from Aliens a mech
Yes.
The thing that makes it power armor is if it acts like a suit of armour which is powered.
>>44151731
But what if it's a sneaky beaky Dread?
>>44153489
A rural world biking chapter you need to invent?
>>44155677I WOULDN'T KNOW. I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE, BECAUSE THEY ARE THAT SNEAKY. I BET THEY ARE ALL VERY HANDSOME IN THEIR TECH COFFINS. BUT I WOULDN'T KNOW. HAVING NEVER SEEN ONE. SNEAKY.
>>44151670
Tank "armor" is not the same as infantry flak/Kevlar "armor". We don't really even use armor in modern military jargon except to refer to tanks and other vehicles
>>44152067
Man, that guy was right, you really are being a twat.
>Tanks are armor
>Tanks are armor
>lol tanks aren't personal armor and I know that, I was just conflating meanings for lulz
>>44151497
>Is there a tin-line
>tin
Did you intend to do this, or am I too easily amused?
>>44155240
I always thought that Exosuit is the general term for motion assisted external skeletons you don, ranging from simple things like some added mechanical supports for your legs that already exist, to shit like the power loader from Aliens, and everything in between. The limit would become somewhere along where you actually no longer wear the thing, as opposed to simply enter it and sit down in it's control cabin/pod/whatever.
Whereas a Powered armor is a specific type of Exosuit, that is intended for personal protection in combat situations, and generally, is roughly human sized, because as it gets bigger, it becomes more and more like a mech, to which the term Powered Armor is no longer really fitting, as Mechs tend to be far more than just that. A Walking Tank is more fitting term for them than Powered Armor.
So in short, Exosuit is the umbrella term under which shit like Powered Armor, and stuff like the Power Loader from Aliens, and mere mechanical supports for people who have trouble walking for example, go, whereas Powered Armor refers only to exosuits intended for personal protection and combat duties.
>>44156383
To specify, the picture in the first post, would still be a Powered Armor by my classification, whereas pic related, would be more akin to a rather small mech.
Is this a mech or power armour?
>>44156487
Where do the legs go? Are you curled up like a Tau crisis suit or standing upright?
Do you operate it like a vehicle or armor, basically.
>>44156487
Dancing on the line.
I'd say that the final cut off point between a Mech and simply a big suit of Powered Armor, is when the pilot has his or her's body confined inside a cabin or control pod, where they can be semi comfortably and be able to move their limbs about (instead of being curled up into a ball or some shit). Simply put, if the limbs of the user extend into the limbs of the mech/suit, or outside of it like in your pic, or picture related, it's still technically a Powered Armor.
But again, the line between big PAs and small mechs is pretty blurry.
>>44156555
The legs go in the legs.
>>44156487
>Hardsuit
Power armor.
>>44156611
I'ma say power armor then.
>>44151497
Powered armor is worn, Mechs are piloted.
>>44156611
wouldn't that be approaching bad space marine art levels of fucked up anatomy?
>>44156916
Looks fine to me.
>>44151497
I'd consider it power armor if the joints are roughly where the wearer's owns are.
>>44156977
I guess maybe, I dunno, it still looks really fucked whenever I try and imagine it. I mean they could fit their legs down there, but they seem really prone to snapping off or being wrenched from the pelvis whenever the thing moves.
>>44157570
I think the artist fucked up the scale of the reference guy. You can see the legs are supposed to be able to reach down further.
