how would you design an analog mech? A diesel-powered, riveted-metal-plate

>>14904373
Punch card operated mechs would be so hilariously inefficient due to the nuance and precise movement required for such a mech. You would need stacks of cards crowding the cockpit, the pilot would have to rummage through them for the one he needs at any given moment, and it would only have an extremely limited amount of input commands that it could manage. The reason Gundam and other highly advanced tech series can get away with simplistic control setups is because of macros and how simple inputs can basically be hotkeys to precision input.

It's a novel concept and I could imagine a scene where the MC would desperately be using a hole puncher attempting to come up with a new punch card that could get him out of a situation through a strange unpredicted tactic, but it would have to be a comedic series to work with such logic that's disconnected to reality. These mechs would be slow and horribly inefficient, at only 4 meters tall you legitimately could take these mechs out with hooks and chains and tripping them hoth style.

First off it'll be huge, have you ever seen an analytical engine before? Far from volume efficient.

Next there'll be the regular precision checks because all the combat might knock some of the hardware out of place and that'd result in crippling calculation errors.

I'd probably try to move away from punch cards if only because they are a very shitty bottleneck but I didn't study hardware so I don't know how you'd do command inputs in a way that is easier than punch card chains.

...can you make an analog compiler? Christ I knew I should've paid attention to my courses.

>>14904373
big gears like Tale of Two Robots

>>14904455
I imagined that the cards would have been in their own separate and armored box mounted on the back of the mech, and perhaps a bit smaller so you could fit hundreds of them within.

I'm just trying to come up with a way to have mechs in a pseudo 19th century medieval setting for shits and giggles.

I do like the "making his own punch cards in the middle of battle" thing though. That would be radical.

And since it's fantasy, they'd move well enough.

Magic. Easiest solution.

>>14904494
I thought about this sci-fi medieval fantasy world awhile ago, and thought of "alchemy batteries". Wizards would inject magic energy into these clear capsules, and they would be used for power. I'm sure something has this already though.

yeah a wizard does it, so then the pilot just grabs the punchcard for Fire Blast and mashes it in, then he swaps it for the one for Wind Storm.
one punch card for attack
sell the punch card prop toy with effects parts to go with the toy

>>14904517
Yeah, I was thinking the punchcards could be used as part of an overall sequence of programming.

Like, Punchcard fifty-three is apart of program sequence four, which controls the left arm.

>>14904485
>analog compiler
What is that?

Is that sort of the same thing but without the cards?

I'm trying to keep it ridiculous yet somewhat reasonable so I figured microchips in Napoleonic sort of human kingdom would be silly.

Also, could point about the fragility of analog computers.

Hmm, this may not be that great of an idea at all.

>>14904556
Well the compiler is that thing that turns source code into an executable program. It's a bit complex to explain to a layperson but it's how you get from human readable stuff to the 0s and 1s of machine code.

I was just wondering out loud if there'd be a way to do this sort of thing with analog computers. Store text inputs in memory (memory was implemented in the analytical engine), convert to machine code, bunch of computer wizard nonsense.

Seriously, go read up on Babbage and his difference and analytical engines, the guy was way ahead of his time coming up with stuff that would parallel digital computers.

>>14904493
If you are going for pseudo fantasy and if you want to make it some degree comedic or over the top then don't worry about technical accuracy. Just establish rules that work in your universe and come up with bullshit that makes it believable by that logic, preferably leave it vague and "it just works." As long as it stays consistent you are fine.

Also have the cards in some sort of spring loaded loader on the hip or chest of the mech for easy access of the pilot to reach for and hand feed. This allows for situations where certain stockpiles of cards get damaged or won't feed allowing for tension caused by limited actions available. This also allows for near total loss of cards for max tension or the cockpit being flooded with cards causing the pilot to desperately rummage around for something good and putting in time of stupid or useless cards in desperation.

"WHY DO I HAVE A CARD TO MAKE THIS THING DANCE?!"

Isn't Gypsy Danger analog?

>>14904705
in true anime tradition they just use a weird euphemism for nuclear

I think the solution would be to cut out the idea of using a difference engine at all. Get truly analog, make everything cams. You don't need some universal computational engine, you just need to compute a small set of motions required for the mech to move around. And cams are great at very specific but very precise mechanical calculations.

What about the giant analog computer being a separate truck like Lgaim and Dougram

>>14904656
Why not punch cards that are the size of Yugioh cards and have them in a Yugi styled carrier thats wristmounted on the pilot, drawing and slapping the cards into the reader as needed

>>14905471
It depends how comedic he wants it. If he wants very larger cards would be best, if he just wants it over the top your idea would probably work better. I like the idea of the inefficiency of the system storing cards outside the mech, but it's up to OP what idea he likes more.

>>14905471
>>14905479
Good idea. I like that. Having a small machine to store and customize cards for the pilot, and then having a feeding mechanism between the pilot's legs in the cockpit sounds great.

Thanks everyone.

>>14904485
>First off it'll be huge, have you ever seen an analytical engine before? Far from volume efficient.

>>14904494
Magic. Easiest solution.

Well, how about this? The ONLY form of magic is pocket dimensions (cf. Bags of Holding, in D&D and in Harry Potter), which transmit only a fraction of the weight and volume that they contain into the normal universe. This allows a mech to have enough space for complicated punch-card computers in its internal pocket dimension(s). Mech manufacturers with better pocket-dimension-making capabilities (better spells require research, and better wizards require training--or genius-level intuition can substitute for both?) can pack more stuff into their mechs.

Also, taking enough damage will damage the pocket-dimension enchantments' anchor points and cause them to fail, destroying the mech and horrifically killing the pilot in a grotesquely-twisting explosion of space-time. This also discourages manufacturers from packing too many pocket dimensions into a single mech, since too many space-time explosions in the same place can cause the area to become filled with alien geometries...

holy fuck fund this animu RIGHT NOW

>>14906293
>too many space-time explosions in the same place can cause the area to become filled with alien geometries...
This also means that large battlegrounds turn into Bermuda Triangles. Maybe the largest battleground of the last World War ended in a truce and a containment zone because the fabric of spacetime was weakened so much that eldritch horrors began to emerge from a rip in the continuum...

good question, i'd like to write a short story on something similar but don't know. unrelated but wasn't the galatica mostly analog with primitivish computers to resist cylon stuff?

>>14906311
The scientist-mages of most countries and companies are split between three big research efforts:
- Making pocket-dimension spells bigger
- Making pocket-dimension spells simpler (i.e., more stable and easier to cast, making mechs cheaper and more durable)
- Attempting to create wormholes

This last item is the cutting edge, and the only extension of pocket-dimension spells that has been found so far, but hasn't yet been made practical at mech sizes, as it's far too unstable and incurs a higher-than-usual risk of causing every spell on a mech to fail (like putting a Bag of Holding into a Portable Hole).

Cue one Newtype-esque prodigy that can take in the complex magical equations at a glance...

The robot in Nadia uses punch cards, doesn't it?

>Thread about creating an analog mech
>20 posts in it has become about a magic mech with poket dimension abilities

So basically the Kirby mech?

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>>14904373
Watch Xabungle.

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>>14904373
I'd take inspiration from a few sources; late 19th century battleships, French inter-war tanks, small economy cars. Rounded surfaces.

First off, I'm not justifying the engine power or why robots are used; just taking the aesthetics and the grit, so to speak.

So we can see a rough design here; riveted armour styled in a cuvrve pattern; the top of the 'head' can pivot upwards to allow for loading, greater access and visibility as well as acting as an escape hatch.

There's a crew of five on board. A commander/navigator, a pilot, two gunners (one for each arm) and a loader for the sponson mounted heavy gun. The arms would only be able to carry lighter weaponry; 40mm pom poms, etc while the main armament is mounted in the hull sponson. The pilot controls the legs and has a visor in the front of the chassis, while both gunners have vison slits either side to allow them to target. The commander controls their fire and communicates with other vehicles through radio or flags and the loader helps keep the main gun fed and acts as an assistant engineer to keep the thing running.

To emphasise the analog nature of the robot, each part requires a man to control it and the cramped internal structure is filled with men, hot machinery and ammunition. Lighter robots would also exist with a two man crew, with one gunner/commander and one driver, but they would only have machine guns or maybe a light cannon or anti-material rifle.

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>>14904373
>how would you design an analog mech?
Like this

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>>14909133

>>14904373
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kVMv_VGZ1I

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>>14904373
since using punch cards for everything the Mech does is silly, let's assume that movement, and more basic combat maneuvers and weapons can be used without punch cards(as there were plenty of surprisingly powerful analog computers in the real world that didn't need punch cards; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer ), with the Punch Cards instead being reserved for more potent weapons and abilities

as for the more Super Science aspects needed to allow for Mecha and other things of that nature, I'm thinking of coming up with a specific fictional justification; this all happens after this reality's equivalent of The War of The Worlds, with most of the new technology being derived from that of the defeated "Martian" Invaders, and with this technology Earth's Great Powers are now conquering new frontiers, not only on Earth(and beneath both sea and ground, and in the skies), but now the rest of the Solar System as well, but worryingly despite having explored most of the Solar System to at least some extent, the various empires of Earth have yet to find more of the Invaders anywhere, which leads many to worry, Will They Be Back?!?!?

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when did /m/ become so pleb?

>>14909906
>that giant woman in the purple dress because what is perspective

so it's not possible to make a story with one?

>>14912784
Of course it is.
>>14906293
>>14906311
>>14908952

>>14904373

That's freaking awesome.
Can I make a vidya out of it ?