043. Design me a Mech

June 2992, New Oslo

Design me a Mech of 150 tons or more. It must be useful.

Defiance Vehicles and Defiance Automachines looked smugly at Defiance Battlemechs. 

"I told you sloped armour was more effective!" The voice of Defiance vehicles was smug. 

Defiance Battlemechs looked irritated. 

The other members of the Heimdall Thinktank just shook their heads.

The arguments between the two research heads of Defiance Industries had become something of an entertainment factor.

Defiance Vehicles, conducting her research into the historical vehicles of ancient Terra. Questioning why did these people have their designs... so pointy? Why were the fronts of a tank at such an acute angle? Well, it was to bounce shells off as well as maximising the armour available in that given direction. 

Which, in the modern era, was no longer relevant as armour would ablate all damage away. Or rather in the 'Modern era' which had just passed and not in the current 'Retro era'. 

Why bother with armour-facing design when there was no longer a need to(?) being the thought when BAR armour had been invented. 

Which, was why Battlemechs were so blocky, with so many flat surfaces. It not mattering very much when autocannon was autocannon. When laser was laser. When standard armour was standard armour. An efficient enough shape to fit the myomer and inner structure, wasting as little armour as possible. For every kilogram of the stuff on every mech, added up to megatons in time.

Then.

Then, everything changed. 

Retrotech with their heavy, dense shells emerged. And all of a sudden, it wasn't economically feasible to counter them with standard armour, not when they were so cheap, not when they were so readily available. 

The paradigm had to change. 

Thus, entered the Krupp-Standard Armour, laminating hard brittle standard armour with malleable-steel for maximum protection in the face of retro and modern ammunition. Itself a compromise in terms of protection against both systems. But... good enough. 

Good enough, in fact, to reduce the impact of everything below 60mm in calibre to zero. Nada. Zilch. Bringing balance back to the battlefield... for a very brief moment. 

The researchers were not satisfied, of course. Unwilling to accept a situation where everything was slightly worse. Given how, this new armour was less protected against Standard modern armaments.

A dissatisfaction that got even worse when Sabot ammunition entered the picture, one that penetrated straight through this soft armour to do the same amount of damage as retro ammunition did to standard armour. Resetting everything back to where it had started. Especially effective because so much of modern designs used vertically flat plating to maximise internal volume!

Sure, the standard retro-shell was ineffective against this armour, requiring the use of Sabot shot. Which had the knock-on effect of making retro-cannon less effective against infantry and thus exosuits, since there was no longer high-explosive in every shot. But for Battlemechs and Vehicles? That was cold comfort. The Social Generals, with their influence, didn't care about infantry after all. It was their mechs were less effective now. Needing to be shepherded for vital offensives instead of striding forth like the gods of war they used to be. 

A lesson learned by the regiments that had been decimated on Kalidasa. The Archon's campaign had gone on for a year now, and it had swiftly become apparent that all his promises weren't going to amount to very much at all. The changes to weapons, then armour, then weapons again created yet more problems for Lyran regiments. Lyran Regiments that were being fed into this killing field for very little gain. Entire regiments of Exosuit infantry spending themselves taking just a single Cradle, of which there were hundreds on-planet. Armoured forces too afraid to push less they be sandblasted down to nothingness through sheer volume alone. 

Problems, in other words, that needed to be solved. 

One that required further research.

Further research into historical armour design that had raised a very simple fact. 

Ancient Terrans were not stupid. 

They had, in fact, designed their ancient vehicles with the aim to be as effective as possible for the lowest cost possible. Vehicles that were designed to take into account every possible aspect of the battlefield. 

It was not that they did not build 100 ton tanks because they were unable to.

It was because they were limited by their logistical chains. Rail width, bridge weight limits, road carry weights, transportation restrictions on weight, weather, seasons, environment, crew requirements... all of these were factors that needed to be taken into account. Design factors were not 'how do I get as many big guns on this vehicle as possible cheap', but 'how do I design the most effective machine with 20 different restrictions.'

The genius of scarcity, in other words. A need to compromise and still deliver.

Engines as effective as possible for weight. As few crew as possible, while remaining effective. Guns able to destroy enemy armour and nothing more. Ammunition as light and effective as possible. 

All of this came down, for those in this room, to a single, still relevant factor in this age of fusion energy. 

Armour to maximise protection for the least weight as possible.

Which had led to the argument of Defiance Vehicles with Defiance Battlemechs. That of the idea of 'angled armour' to increase protection. An increase to the greatest possible degree for the least amount of weight. 

Taking a flat plate, standing upwards, with a thickness of 10 millimetres. Angled just, even slightly to the left or right, and suddenly that thickness increases. No more material, no more weight... and yet, there was... more.

Magical. 

Despite this, many of the Battlemech manufacturers had defended their designs. Had defended what they thought as the perfection of machine form. The way their machines resembled human forms... and yet, there were weaknesses everywhere. 

Too many flat planes.

Defiance Battlemechs had finally accepted this truth, the data from Kalidasa and their own experiments were final. There was no arguing with the numbers... but then pointed his fingers at Defiance Vehicles. 

Flat planes were not just a Battlemech issue! 

Defiance Vehicles produced the Manticore! The Manticore tank as an example (and not singling anyone out, clearly) was filled with absolutely... 100% flat surfaces. The sides may be slightly angled, but only to the side, none of them save the medium laser turret and the tiny mantlet were angled... and that was only because they were round.

Maximum effectiveness of penetration for anyone using Retro-weapon systems. 

Vehicles were simple for those in the room to handle.

Angle. 

Angle everything! 

Which, of course, ran into the problem of the Panther WW2 tank. An absolute monster of angling... yet the crew inside was cramped because when one angled armour, one cut into internal volume. A box made of perpendicular, straight sides had maximum volume. A box with every plate parallel had no volume at all.

A redesign was necessary and, again, they were taking their cues from the ancients. The Leopard 2 was a good mix of angling and armour, with an adequate gun. 

Cheap enough for every corporation to create for militia defence. 

The problem was offensive assets. 

Offence, Defence, Mobility, all must work in conjunction to create the perfect offensive unit. 

The Super-Heavy Battlemech unit that they, in the Heimdall Thinktank were charged with producing. 

Which is where the conflict had arisen. Was a simple Battlemech, even a new one, the best option in this new Retro era? What with it likely being several times the cost of something half its weight? Especially with the issue of armour, and how to design it to survive in a retro-cannon rich battlefield.

Hell, angling only worked if you turned to face the enemy. Easier for vehicles... but for Battlemechs? It was, clearly, an issue that required further research.

Further compounding the problem... was that every aspect that it might achieve... was already done better elsewhere or useless in this era.

Mounting truly enormous artillery? Why not just use a cheaper, retro-asf in the same vein of the Razorsquig, but useable in atmosphere? 

An armoured colossus to crack Cradles? It would be attritted from range no matter the armour, unless one was using them in Smialy level numbers. In other words, useless.

A boarding machine with four legs that could smash into a Cradle to deliver a mass of Exosuits? Again, attritted from range.

A larger Atlas? Probably cheaper to produce two Atlas' and, again, attritted from range.

All of these options, in another time and place, could have been highly effective. When the battlefield was that of light conflict, of constant low scale battles. Where 'large' battles, involved at most a few hundred mechs. Where such a machine, any of the above options could have changed the battlefield in any company or even battalion scale conflict.

Now?

It would be shot to pieces before it could even take a single step. 

The words of Huu Eggers, the largest single investor, but more importantly, the greatest visionary of his age. Were themselves pasted onto the walls of every room.

Design me a Mech of 150 tons or more. It must be useful.

Useful being the keyword here. In 2992, Battlemechs were definitely less useful than their Automachine Counterparts without some revisions to armour and armament. Not if they wished to continue their traditional doctrine of taking damage to dish it out, a battle being effective asset management of their armour, structure, heat, mobility, and weapons. Especially when it came to cost. A Locust at 1.5 million c-bills, could instead purchase 30 Smialies. Enough to kill it ten times over.

With that in mind, the scientists, the researchers, the analysts, the hundreds of individuals from a several dozen companies seconded to the Thinktank, from all over the Lyran Commonwealth were stymied. Frustrated. Two weeks spent thinking about this issue, debating the path forward, all for naught.

Then one voice cut through the room, a ray of sunshine, of hope. 

"Um. Don't LAMs count as Mechs? He didn't specify Battlemechs right? It's even in the name... Land-Air-Mech."