Battletech in World War I

[Straha]

Let's suppose that a year before Arch-Duke Ferdy gets shot an assorted cluster of Clan Omnimechs, complete with blue-prints, repair equipment, extra weapons, blue prints, extra ammo AND loyal German pilots show up in Germany. Moltke, after realising what these things are decides to keep it an in-house secret so that other nations (aside from, maybe, Austria-Hungary) don't know what has just fallen into German hands. So, after everything else runs its course and WWI begins, how would these Mechs change the War?

[Adrian Laguna]

A smart German commander would leave them as a back-up rather than using them at the beginning of the war. So as the German advance stalls and the fighting begins to become inmobile, the mechs come out crash through the enemy trenches and possibly help the Germans win.

However a real German commander would most likely use them to gain an advantage at the start of the war. However, the element of surprise is eventually lost and various mechs are lost to artillery barrages. They might help them win the war, but I doubt it.

[Adrian Laguna]

I don't mean to say that real German commanders aren't smart, just that they are under certain political pressures (both military and civilian) which would probably prevent them from using those weapons as trump cards to use in the event that the actual armies couldn't do the job themselves.

[Zor]

Somehow, i don't see ww-I Germany being able to make spare parts for said mechs. How Many Mechs and of what type?

Zor

[Straha]

Somehow, i don't see ww-I Germany being able to make spare parts for said mechs. How Many Mechs and of what type?

Zor

Which is why I said they come with them. A cluster=~5 Trinaries which each equal ~3 stars which each equal ~5 Mechs. So the Germans would have 75 mechs of various size/weight/speed to deploy as they wish.

[Stark]

If kept in reserve until later, wouldn't the mechs have problems with the broken terrain between the lines of trenches? I wonder what the reaction time on WWI artillery is...

[Thirdfain]

The mechs would slaughter the enemy. The beasts have pretty short range weapons, but the armies in WW1 didn't have antitank weapons until much later. Additionally, mechs are canonically pretty good with broken terrain, not to mention far, far more reliable than armored vehicles of the era.

Oh, and the reaction time on the arty would not be great- not enough to act in an anti-armor role against machines capable of moving at 70 kmh.

Fritz marches through Paris in the shade.

[Darth Wong]

They would sow chaos and confusion the first time they arrive, but countermeasures would be quickly devised. Landmines, traps, etc. And there's no telling how much of a .50cal HMG barrage those things can take before somebody gets the pilot.

[Antares]

I guess in open field they would have a problem with artillery (if we take the ingame ranges of B-tech weapons serious)

However in "close-combat" scenarios like in cities, B-tech weapons range would be sufficient and they could take advantage of all the buildings and other obstacles due to their fast moving speed.

There was not a single heavily armored combat vehivcle in WWI, that could sustain a speed of at least 60km/h, i suspect.

Additonally, i would only use them defensivly such that you can combine them with other troops more easily and keep them as long as possible in a good shape. They should only take out the targets that normally requires an enormous amount of conventional material (=troops + equipment).
This will keep supply ways short and also make it possible to use them at different points "at the same time". Even the slowes mechs could move through Germany within 2 days on streets and flat terrain if no further infrastructure like railways is available.
Using them on your well known terrain could also mitigate the risk of loosing them to luring and traps.

Meanwhile one can use the saved troops for defense in offensive actions which will clearly be an advantage.

If i would use them offensivly, then i would deploy them only at night using hit and run tactics. The mechs sensory will make it possible to evade enemy forces and strike whereever you like within a certain distance (depending on mech speed)

Weapon equipment should only be based on energy weapons. Not a single ammo based weapon should be used. Even though the tracking system of mechs might limit the effective weapons range particles and photons just dont stop after about 600m.

I guess the mechs will defentily change the wars outcome.

[MKSheppard]

The mechs get killed by artillery firing point blank over open sights, and then by anti-tank rifles firing
tungsten cored bullets.

[MKSheppard]

Additionally, mechs are canonically pretty good with broken terrain

Bullshit. That's a myth by mecha fanatics; the real
reason people are so efficient at moving over broken
terrain is that they are only 2-3 feet wide, versus 20
to 30 feet wide for a tank.

[MKSheppard]

Patrone SmK Kurz 7.92 mm

Spitzgeschoss mit Kern, a steel cored rifle bullet designed to be fired from a standard Mauser infantry rifle. It was the German answer to the tank in World War I. At the time, British tanks sported 8 mm of face hardened armour all round, and the "K" bullet could penetrate a maximum of 12-13 mm at 0 to 100 metres (0 Degrees inclination). This gave the "K" bullet a 33% chance of penetration with a direct hit on an oncoming tank. As every soldier in a front line position was issued 10 rounds of "K" bullets, there would be a large number of these armour piercing projectiles hitting the target. As a result, "K" bullets accounted for a large number of tank crew casulties, and vehicle losses in the early days of tank warfare.

[SAMAS]

They would sow chaos and confusion the first time they arrive, but countermeasures would be quickly devised. Landmines, traps, etc. And there's no telling how much of a .50cal HMG barrage those things can take before somebody gets the pilot.

It would depend on the design of the mechs. A Madcat, eith it's WWII Bomber-esque cockpit would get it pretty badly, bit with some of those designs, the head/cockpit isn't all that visible.

Plus, there's the matter of return fire.

[wautd]

I think their psychological effect alone would be devastating for WW1 troop morale. The Germans panicked when they first encountered tanks. Imagine the effect when they see bigass mechs running towards them

[Plekhanov]

I think their psychological effect alone would be devastating for WW1 troop morale. The Germans panicked when they first encountered tanks. Imagine the effect when they see bigass mechs running towards them

The first time out there would be major panic in the ranks but a few people would keep there heads & keep on firing, once the troops see that Mechs aren’t all that difficult to stop the terror effect would be much diminished in future engagements. Those serving in the trenches faced a great many horrors they dealt with those & they’d handle the mechs as well.

[Thirdfain]

Additionally, mechs are canonically pretty good with broken terrain

Bullshit. That's a myth by mecha fanatics; the real
reason people are so efficient at moving over broken
terrain is that they are only 2-3 feet wide, versus 20
to 30 feet wide for a tank.

Regardless, throughout Battletech literature, mechs move through heay terrain and up and over hills and mountains.

[HemlockGrey]

Their effectiveness would dimish later in the war but in the early stages they might be just the thing the Germans need to break the French lines and capture Paris.

[Thirdfain]

Their effectiveness would dimish later in the war but in the early stages they might be just the thing the Germans need to break the French lines and capture Paris.

Precisely. Early on, the French have no anti-tank weapons- and bear in mind, some of these machines are capable at moving 50+ kmh while firing accurately.

[Dark Hellion]

Accurately is not a term used to describe anything Btech mechs do. Their accuracy is appalling, coupled with range, this would make them quite easy to kill once you figured out how weak they really are.
The main thing would be psychological effect and the abundance of AP weapons that some varients field. This would be very effective in the opening stages of the war.

[PainRack]

1. Where are the technicians to repair the mechs? Not to mention, reload the beasts after a mere 3 minutes of combat? And after a hard day of firing those pesky lasers, to load up on liquid coolant? Methinks that you need to mod the OP to include them.

They would sow chaos and confusion the first time they arrive, but countermeasures would be quickly devised. Landmines, traps, etc. And there's no telling how much of a .50cal HMG barrage those things can take before somebody gets the pilot.

Wolves on the Border...... Natasha Krensky noted that rifles could not hurt mechs, unless it damaged sensitive communications and sensor antenna. Game mechanics for their equivalent of .50cal also suggest likewise, although the difficulty of scaling between Btech and Mechwarrior weaponery is inconclusive.

Although, one should note that at sustained rates of fire , Clan MGs may fire up to 24 rounds per sec. Cyclic suggest 4800 rounds per second, as per MG and AMS calcs.

Bullshit. That's a myth by mecha fanatics; the real
reason people are so efficient at moving over broken
terrain is that they are only 2-3 feet wide, versus 20
to 30 feet wide for a tank.

Question? Do we take in physics, or do we go full SOD and take situations? There are ample historical situations in Btech where they could and did go through broken terrain.

Accurately is not a term used to describe anything Btech mechs do. Their accuracy is appalling, coupled with range, this would make them quite easy to kill once you figured out how weak they really are.
The main thing would be psychological effect and the abundance of AP weapons that some varients field. This would be very effective in the opening stages of the war.

Accuracy is rather poor, compared to modern day tank gunnery. But I suspect they would be better than WW1 and WW2 accuracy, considering the speed at which mechs get destroyed in some battles.

[MrAnderson]

They would sow chaos and confusion the first time they arrive, but countermeasures would be quickly devised. Landmines, traps, etc. And there's no telling how much of a .50cal HMG barrage those things can take before somebody gets the pilot.

Wish I had my BT books. There was no consistency to determine how powerful mechs are.

By the game the MG of the game can damage a mech. By the Star League sourcebook when the first mech was built its less than inch thick armor stopped with no damage at all main gun tank rounds from contemporary a MBT of the era.

So which has greater authority? Game data or storyline data?

[Batman]

By the game the MG of the game can damage a mech. By the Star League sourcebook when the first mech was built its less than inch thick armor stopped with no damage at all main gun tank rounds from contemporary a MBT of the era.
So which has greater authority? Game data or storyline data?

BT weapons have abysmal range, projectile weapons have no recoil worth mentioning and ammunition weights completely incompatible with their stated calibres, and their armor weight is a joke. Wether you take the game data or the novels BT 'Mechs are outclassed by just about any force that's advanced enough to have internal combustion engines.

[Typhonis 1]

Hmmm I see the mechs helping the Germans at first , then once the fear and shock go down.Once Pierre and Tommy realise the damage they can do to a mech . Then the advbantage will be gone

[Lancer]

They would sow chaos and confusion the first time they arrive, but countermeasures would be quickly devised. Landmines, traps, etc. And there's no telling how much of a .50cal HMG barrage those things can take before somebody gets the pilot.

Wish I had my BT books. There was no consistency to determine how powerful mechs are.

By the game the MG of the game can damage a mech. By the Star League sourcebook when the first mech was built its less than inch thick armor stopped with no damage at all main gun tank rounds from contemporary a MBT of the era.

So which has greater authority? Game data or storyline data?

general rule of thumb is to go with the story data. Games have to have this pesky detail called "balance" in order to be successful. Unless you want to believe that in Starcraft, a marine can shoot down a Battlecruiser, and in Halo, a pistol outranges and is more accurate than an assault rifle with a drastically longer barrel.

[AdmiralKanos]

And what if the story data makes no sense? They describe the armour in sufficient detail for us to state that there's nothing about it which would make it orders of magnitude stronger than any known metal.