At 01:56 PM 8/1/98 -0400, arromdee@inetnow.net wrote:

The problem is that you're confusing anime physics and real physics.  In
real physics, even the futuristic versions of humanoid mecha would be too

weak

to move, by the square/cube law.

If you're going to assume that large humanoids are possible at all, you may
as well assume they can be built with 1940's technology.

	Actually, this is not entirely correct. The US Navy developed a walking
truck with four legs that worked _well_, and was intended for heavy duty
use in the deep jungles of Vietnam where wheeled, tracked, or air cushion
vehicles were unable to go.

	The only reason it was never used, was that it was _originally_ designed
in the expectation that it would be powered by a thermo-electric nuclear
battery, one where a red-hot (heat, not radiation) chunk of nuclear
material would heat a thermocouple, and generate power.

	Trouble was, between the beginning of the design process and the finished
walker, attituded had gone from the optamistic belief of a reactor in every
home and every car with an atomic battery, to 'I wouldn't touch nuclear
power with someone else's hands.' And the design wasn't convertable to an
internal commbustion engine, so it was scrapped.

	Pity, that..

	Still, all the design work remains intact, and some of it is on the web.
If anyone's interested, I'll dig up the URLs for you. It could be useful to
the story.

	Edward Becerra




	"Dreamers may die, but the Dream is eternal.."