Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27144409-20160125035940/@comment-25936766-20161127182651

HighCastle67 wrote:

1- Again, in real life, they're gonna be the only big things on the battlefield. Even in the future, they would still be highly complex, high-maintenance, high-budget machines that would be difficult to deploy in large numbers,

2- Without any opposition, the same could be said for a tank.

3-Even though they have some pretty destructive weapons, they aren't the only ones wrecking a city.

4- Weapons like hollowpoints are banned in warfare, but not police use, because it guarantees that that person will die. In a world where you're trying to prevent that, Gundams are kinda useless. 1-Complexity, maintanance and budget required varies, and cost generally decreases as the item becomes more common. It's the same as with anything.

Look at cars: When they were made even the cheapest one was worth a fortune to even make, let alone maintain. Now, practically everyone and their dog has a car, and the only ones that are worth any fortune to maintain or even just buy are the top-qualiy supercars designed to show-off. Maintenance can vary but unless your car sucks it isn't too high, and most cars are made simple-enough for most people to learn without it taking years.

2-Except tanks break down just by moving. Even modern tanks do. Not to mention, far slower, and many commonly-used weapons, even these days, can easily blast them without any soldier needing to be in the area. Mechas at least have (normally) higher speed and (often) agility to avoid them.

3-"Pretty destructive"....depends. Some have what is esentially just normal (laser) rifles and energy blades without enough firepower to blast a city. Others, mostly the ones piloted by most Ace Pilots, do have more destructive firepower. (And let's not mention Moonlight Butterfly).

4-....Castle, read what you're saying. If Hollowpoint bullets almost-guaranteed you could kill someone, they would also be banned for police use. Because everywhere in the world, the police, even in the most extreme situations, tries to not even fire at the criminal.

They try their damnest to not kill someone. At most, inmobilize them, and since a normal bullet alone is enough to kill someone directly or indirectly, hollowpoints are unnecesary. There's a reason they are allowed for police use, but it's not the reason you just gave.

Here's why Hollowpoints are banned, even by the US: They are unnecesary. Militaries follow the idea of "minimum suffering". Weapons must achieve their purpose, and nothing more. Weapons are meant to incapacitate if not kill quickly, not maim and torture. Maiming someone beyond a "normal wound" is unnecesary, especially if they are already incapacitated.

Guns were designed to kill, at least inmobilize, as efficiently as possible and with the least pain. Hollowpoint bullets amplify the damage,  yet when a normal bullet is more than enough to kill, Hollowpoint becomes worthless when combined with their impracticality compared to them.

Their only real advantage is the low chance of overpenetrating someone and hitting someone behind the target. Which is pretty much the only reason they are allowed in domestic law enforcement, though even then they are still not meant to be actually used if possible.

During a war, however, you're not trying to prevent people from dying. What you're trying to prevent is causing more suffering unnecesarily. Mechas are irrelevant in this aspect, since they would just be another weapon of war, no different from tanks and cannons (or in Gundam, soldiers).