There's no real need to rehash why mechs don't work but what is the ideal jungle support vehicle then?
>>64754746>but what is the ideal jungle support vehicle thenHelicoptersBut I know you're asking about ground vehicles, and the answer is that this is one of two environments where legged vehicles are theoretically superior to wheeled or tracked options (the other environment being especially steep mountainous terrain, which also includes rock walls ie for amphibious landings). These vehicles would most likely not be bipedal - four or more legs simply makes the most sense for stability, mobility, and flexibility. In especially dense jungle you could theoretically have a vehicle with many prehensile limbs, like an octopus or perhaps an octopus with 20 thin tentacles spread across all aspects of its body, allowing it to move vertically and horizontally through tree canopies, both allowing for ambush tactics and avoiding ground impediments. But that's way beyond current technology, and probably too niche to ever happen even in the distant future.>inb4 tards come out of the woodwork to say tracked vehicles are all you need for any rough terrainNo, they fucking are not. Dense jungle is completely impassable for all modern ground vehicles. Deep Amazon settlements are often accessible only by river or air. Let's take a bulldozer as an example, as it will be better at traversing jungle than any tracked military vehicle. Would that bulldozer be able to get through pic related? Yeah, it would, albeit slowly if you're not using defoliants. But how about multiplying that picture times 100? How long would it take the dozer to push through? That would be about half a mile, and if the terrain isn't flat, it will be even worse. And if you do try to push through, maintenance will be harsh, especially in hot humid jungle. You'd be advancing at a russian's pace, which is several times slower than a snail's pace.The only feasible option for armored vehicles in such an environment, is something with legs.
>>64754746B-52
>>64754949A legged vehicle of comparable weight to a tracked vehicle is going to have a reasonably comparable width and is thus going to be similarly awful at traversing dense jungle terrain, except that the mech is tall enough to have serious stability issues that will be aggravated by the mech's greater height causing it to run into branches that destabilize it, which a lower height vehicle would simply drive underneath. The mech is also, due to the aformentioned height induced stability issues, going to be far worse at simply ramming its way past trees and other foliage. The only time legs start being an advantage is if the ground surface becomes so uneven that tracked vehicles simply can't move over them without exceeding their maximum climbing angle or tipping over, but said obstacles are also liable to collapse under the mass of a legged vehicle and cause dangerous stability issues unless the vehicle is so light that it is well below the weight of the lightest traditional armoured vehicle. Practically speaking, if the terrain is so challenging that a tracked vehicle can't traverse it, then no large ground vehicle will be able to navigate it at a reasonable speed regardless of what form of locomotion it relies on.
>>64755200>but said obstacles are also liable to collapse under the mass of a legged vehicle and cause dangerous stability issuesThis, half of climbing up steed slopes is tangibly feeling when they're not stable. This is why mules are decent for mountainous terrain, they're alive, they have nerves that let them know what they're walking on and how to fine tune their weight distribution instinctively.Hell this applies to soft jungle terrain too, and while you could argue a robust set of pressure sensors paired with AI magic could make it work, why make this slow, vulnverable, overly complex system when you could just load 100 small drones with AI magic and have them perfectly avoid all trees while effortlessly striking targets at 100+ knots.
