Timeline for Plausible reasons for Hovertanks
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 23, 2023 at 21:28 | vote | accept | Kyyshak | ||
| Apr 18, 2021 at 14:36 | comment | added | Justin Thyme the Second | @John Dvorak Good point. it is my understanding that surface effect hovercraft work best on terrain that has a high 'surface tension'. If the surface is not cohesive, like sand, they tend to lose too much energy in moving the particles instead of maintaining the air pad. F=ma, and too much mass of the sand moving takes tots of energy. | |
| Apr 18, 2021 at 3:41 | comment | added | John Dvorak | Hovertanks would even have trouble over loose sand. Not only the same force that pushes them down still applies, it now applies in a way that doesn't compress the sand, but merely tries to push it aside any way possible. Including upwards, and around the edges of a newly formed hole. | |
| Apr 17, 2021 at 20:54 | comment | added | John | @Vikki-formerlySean relevent mythbusters episode, youtube.com/watch?v=kAimDLp5TmA remember the force is the same but it is spread of a gigantic area. meaning the pressure is miniscule. | |
| Apr 17, 2021 at 20:19 | comment | added | Justin Thyme the Second | A true ground effect hovercraft can not go over a chasm. It follows the ground. Take it over a cliff, and it drops like a stone. The typical 'coyote-road runner' scenario. | |
| Apr 17, 2021 at 8:47 | comment | added | Peter Cordes | Can a hover-tank move through brush / light trees? A tracked tank can, with enough torque to flatten stuff like that in its path. (high "thrust" / torque but high drag). But a standard hovercraft only pushes on air, low drag / relatively low static thrust. Or are you picturing vastly higher thrust for horizontal movement, to go along with whatever keeps it off the ground? So it can go up steep hills as well? A hover-tank has different terrain limitations than a tracked tank, but I don't think a superset of its capabilities. This would be a better answer if you mentioned downsides. | |
| S Apr 17, 2021 at 5:41 | history | suggested | T.J.L. | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Apr 17, 2021 at 4:44 | comment | added | Trioxidane | @Vikki-formerlySean it depends. Especially with upgrades that make the wind swirl when passing whatever can push on the air and the pressure will be spread out/gone to the side enough that they won't trigger. Hovercraft with skirts are the same. There is a nice mythbusters episode about those. Of course there are limuts to this in weight, but many mines might not trigger. Also magnetic mines might not trigger as the vehicle is too high. | |
| Apr 17, 2021 at 2:33 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Apr 17, 2021 at 5:41 | |||||
| Apr 17, 2021 at 2:24 | comment | added | DKNguyen | @ths If you have tech that can make a hover tank, the next stage is to stick legs that just have to drag the tank along the ground rather than support it followed by a mecha with hover units on its torso and limbs to offset the weight so it can walk like a true mecha would. Rule of cool. | |
| Apr 17, 2021 at 0:03 | comment | added | Vikki | If your hovertanks work by blowing air downwards (like real-life hovercraft), wouldn't that still produce enough ground pressure to set off pressure-triggered landmines? | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 20:15 | comment | added | ths | hovercraft are however terrible in uneven terrain. i'd like to see a hovertank climb up a mountainside. | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 18:24 | comment | added | Paul TIKI | That's fair. I'm just saying that it needs to be addressed by the appropriate amount of more handwaving. | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 16:11 | comment | added | GrumpyYoungMan | @PaulTIKI The scenario is already handwaving enough lift to keep a 50+ ton tank off the ground (!), handwaving enough additional thrust to make it accelerate faster than a conventional tank isn't much of a stretch. | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 15:22 | comment | added | Paul TIKI | Maybe, maybe not. Sir Isaac Newton has some very definite things to say about bodies in motion and all. Changing direction at speed is difficult when you have no traction. Not impossible to deal with, but it has to be accounted for. | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 11:53 | comment | added | GrumpyYoungMan | Related to this is speed and maneuverability. Since there's no ground contact, both are limited only by the power of the thrusters and the wind resistance of the hovertank. Incoming artillery fire? Just zip right out of the impact zone. | |
| Apr 16, 2021 at 10:05 | history | answered | ThisIsMe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |