[Spaceships] SS Mecha vs. HT/UT Tanks, and 'ships vs. jets

[Langy]

Any situation where one-hit-one-kill weapons exist reguardless of amount of armor. If man-portable anti-tank weapons that can blast through a tank's frontal armor in one hit are commonplace, then a mech that can dodge better than a tank but carry the same payload is definitely preferable to a tank.

If you don't need to carry the huge payload of a tank, a battlesuit would be even better than a mech.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Langy

Any situation where one-hit-one-kill weapons exist reguardless of amount of armor. If man-portable anti-tank weapons that can blast through a tank's frontal armor in one hit are commonplace, then a mech that can dodge better than a tank but carry the same payload is definitely preferable to a tank.

If you don't need to carry the huge payload of a tank, a battlesuit would be even better than a mech.

Right. If you can't shrug off incoming fire, your choices are basically "dodge" and "hide." Presumably "dodge" will favor the mecha given what we think about them (although if the weapons in question are zero time of flight, like lasers, even "dodge" might be irrelevant). That leaves "hide." If this is "hide behind something," then smaller battlesuits or mechas might be advantageous. However, if one needs to rely on careful shaping or large heavy power plants to produce enough ECM to hide the fighter, the tank could be advantaged.