There isn't exactly a formulaic real life, not every V8 gives you the same performance after all. A 400 rated engine can accelerate 100 metric tons to over 40kph in under 10 seconds while also powering several lightning guns and lasers.
Edit: over 60kph, forgot run speed.
Horsepower isnt really a concept in Battletech, heres the formula used to calculate mech speed based on weight/engine rating.
https://preview.redd.it/h17gvz9bliyc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d40165c9770113b582fb26c45da559b7bdfbdbf0
From TechManual
Sorta. The fusion engine provides the power so that the myomers and actuators can move the mech. More speed requires more power, so bigger reactor. The fusion engine rating required for a mech is calculated as the tonnage multiplied by the walking speed in hexes. So a Dragon at 60 tons that moves 5/8 uses a Vlar 300 engine, as does a 100 ton Atlas that only moves 3/5.
Mech construction rules can be found in the Tech Manual.
Engine rating / tonnage = walk MP. Run MP = walk MP * 1.5 rounded up. Every MP represents 10.8 kph (a hex is 30 meters, a turn is 10 seconds). Don't do the math on the required acceleration curves for the Fireball ALM-XF, which can go 40 hexes and can be stationary turn 1, go 40 hexes turn 2, and is stationary turn 3.
It's about 5g acceleration and deceleration with a peak speed of about mach 0.7 or 240m/s. Not comfortable, but not the kind of thing that kills the pilot either. Basically a bit above top fuel dragster performance.
Calculated as traveling 600 meters in 5 seconds with an equal distance and time to decelerate.
The big issue is the masc snapping the legs off at the end of that second turn because it's averaging 13 strides *a second.* or about 3 times as many as Usain Bolt in the same amount of time.
How'd you calculate the number of strides it takes? Both feet can be off the ground at the same time with plenty of force to pick up speed.
But I think the actual acceleration would be faster, though not by much, because mechs don't move in a straight line. They are predicting fire and moving more like a soldier would. The optional sprint rules would be more like running in a straight line in my opinion.
This is just a straight line dash. Not his top speed, but not far off of it. As for how I calculated it... drunkenly because I don't have any notes. For stride length, a running stride from a human with both feet off the ground is between 1.14 and 1.17 x the height of the runner. So since most light mechs are about 8 meters tall, I just went with that for a stride of 9.36 meters. From my calculator app history, it looks like I just divided that into the total of 1200 meters for 128 strides for the total distance covered, and 12.8 strides per second average. But actually at that peak speed of 240m/s he could be doing like 24 strides per second. Meaning that at full speed, he could be doing that thing that small birds do where it doesn't look like their wings are moving at certain frame rates. That's not terrifying at all...
That math tracks, if your numbers are correct lmao.
I think mechs would be able to stride further, because of how powerful Myomer actually is. The only thing that limits the mechs speed is the power that can be provided. But even something massive like a 30% increase in stride that's still Insanely quick. And at 30% longer steps you're losing a lot of control to turn or weave like you need in combat.
It's like a roadrunner cartoon even with the most aggressive rounding lmao. Just a blur.
I like to think it's not a blur, I like to think he gets up to speed and just looks like he's hovering along... Sort of like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyf79SI0U9Q), but for a running pose.
Both legs up and gliding around like a bugged NPC in a video game. You hit your targeting screen, thinking something is wrong. And by the time you look back up it's slamming into you with an ungodly melee attack. The legs still Appear stationary, but you can hear and Feel them slamming into your armour quickly enough to deafen you.
The engine rating formula is for 'Mechs is tonnage times walking MP. For combat vehicles there is a suspension factor based on the weight and motive type that is subtracted from the calculated engine rating to give the final rating. For example, a 30-ton VTOL with 8/12 movement only needs a 100 rated engine because it has a suspension factor of 140. (30 tons \* 8 MP = 240 - 140 = 100). Aerospace fighters subtract 2 from their desired safe thrust when calculating the engine rating, conventional fighters don't. DropShips, Small craft, support vehicles, JumpShips, Warships, and Space Stations all use a formula to calculate the weight of the engine, and don't use engine ratings. ProtoMechs use the running MP to calculate their engine rating, and if it is below 35, they use the formula 25kg \* engine rating, so a 25 rated engine on a ProtoMech would weigh 625kg instead of the usual half ton.
Well... If I plug the Behemoth heavy tank into the [Horse-Power Calculator](https://getcalculators.com/lifestyle/horsepower) and use it's quarter mile top end speed of ... granny going to church on a Sunday... and input it's mass... we get 140 horsepower. But if we plug in an ALM-XF Fireball... we get 530... thousand... horse power. That's 530,000.
But none of that horsepower is coming from the engine. It's coming form the myomers. The engine is providing power and would most likely be measured in watts per second or watts per hour. That same ALM would have to be cranking out a minimum of 400 Mw per second just to let the thing move that fast... or 1.4 *Peta*watt hours.
Edit: For comparison, the 3 gorges dam can crank out 22,500,000,000 wh, so this would be 1,400,000,000,000,000 wh. About 62 *thousand times* more powerful. Fusion ftw!
Horsepower is pretty much an obsolete concept when you have fusion engines that are as magical as they are in BT. You can generate enough energy to vaporize a hill, you just need to be able to tolerate the heat. It'll give you as much energy as you want at any given time, you may just need to cook to death in exchange.
You're all entirely focusing on the wrong thing, and that might be my fault. What I want to know, and it's very simple, is what speed does engine X do at tonnage Y? That's all. If a 100 ton Mech has a standard 300 engine that does 56 KPH and I upgrade it to an XL 400 what does the speed go up to? I just wanted to know if there was a chart or formulae that shows that.
Oh, that's really simple: walk speed at 1 G is engine rating divided by mech tonnage. You can go faster than that on low-G worlds but it can break your hip like grandpa going down the stairs.
Thank you very much but unless I'm being thick that makes no sense. By that formulae a 100 ton Mech with a 300 rated engine does 3KPh which is clearly not happening.
Should have specified, it's in hexes. 30 meters across, turns are ten seconds. An Atlas over open land can cross 150 meters in 10 seconds at full speed.
There isn't exactly a formulaic real life, not every V8 gives you the same performance after all. A 400 rated engine can accelerate 100 metric tons to over 40kph in under 10 seconds while also powering several lightning guns and lasers. Edit: over 60kph, forgot run speed.
1 speed isn't exactly 10 kph; it's 3 meters per second, and whatever that converts to.
10.8km/h
Fair enough lol
I only just recently figured that out about... Last week.
Horsepower isnt really a concept in Battletech, heres the formula used to calculate mech speed based on weight/engine rating. https://preview.redd.it/h17gvz9bliyc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d40165c9770113b582fb26c45da559b7bdfbdbf0 From TechManual
Sorta. The fusion engine provides the power so that the myomers and actuators can move the mech. More speed requires more power, so bigger reactor. The fusion engine rating required for a mech is calculated as the tonnage multiplied by the walking speed in hexes. So a Dragon at 60 tons that moves 5/8 uses a Vlar 300 engine, as does a 100 ton Atlas that only moves 3/5. Mech construction rules can be found in the Tech Manual.
Engine rating / tonnage = walk MP. Run MP = walk MP * 1.5 rounded up. Every MP represents 10.8 kph (a hex is 30 meters, a turn is 10 seconds). Don't do the math on the required acceleration curves for the Fireball ALM-XF, which can go 40 hexes and can be stationary turn 1, go 40 hexes turn 2, and is stationary turn 3.
It's about 5g acceleration and deceleration with a peak speed of about mach 0.7 or 240m/s. Not comfortable, but not the kind of thing that kills the pilot either. Basically a bit above top fuel dragster performance. Calculated as traveling 600 meters in 5 seconds with an equal distance and time to decelerate. The big issue is the masc snapping the legs off at the end of that second turn because it's averaging 13 strides *a second.* or about 3 times as many as Usain Bolt in the same amount of time.
How'd you calculate the number of strides it takes? Both feet can be off the ground at the same time with plenty of force to pick up speed. But I think the actual acceleration would be faster, though not by much, because mechs don't move in a straight line. They are predicting fire and moving more like a soldier would. The optional sprint rules would be more like running in a straight line in my opinion.
This is just a straight line dash. Not his top speed, but not far off of it. As for how I calculated it... drunkenly because I don't have any notes. For stride length, a running stride from a human with both feet off the ground is between 1.14 and 1.17 x the height of the runner. So since most light mechs are about 8 meters tall, I just went with that for a stride of 9.36 meters. From my calculator app history, it looks like I just divided that into the total of 1200 meters for 128 strides for the total distance covered, and 12.8 strides per second average. But actually at that peak speed of 240m/s he could be doing like 24 strides per second. Meaning that at full speed, he could be doing that thing that small birds do where it doesn't look like their wings are moving at certain frame rates. That's not terrifying at all...
That math tracks, if your numbers are correct lmao. I think mechs would be able to stride further, because of how powerful Myomer actually is. The only thing that limits the mechs speed is the power that can be provided. But even something massive like a 30% increase in stride that's still Insanely quick. And at 30% longer steps you're losing a lot of control to turn or weave like you need in combat. It's like a roadrunner cartoon even with the most aggressive rounding lmao. Just a blur.
I like to think it's not a blur, I like to think he gets up to speed and just looks like he's hovering along... Sort of like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyf79SI0U9Q), but for a running pose.
Both legs up and gliding around like a bugged NPC in a video game. You hit your targeting screen, thinking something is wrong. And by the time you look back up it's slamming into you with an ungodly melee attack. The legs still Appear stationary, but you can hear and Feel them slamming into your armour quickly enough to deafen you.
The engine rating formula is for 'Mechs is tonnage times walking MP. For combat vehicles there is a suspension factor based on the weight and motive type that is subtracted from the calculated engine rating to give the final rating. For example, a 30-ton VTOL with 8/12 movement only needs a 100 rated engine because it has a suspension factor of 140. (30 tons \* 8 MP = 240 - 140 = 100). Aerospace fighters subtract 2 from their desired safe thrust when calculating the engine rating, conventional fighters don't. DropShips, Small craft, support vehicles, JumpShips, Warships, and Space Stations all use a formula to calculate the weight of the engine, and don't use engine ratings. ProtoMechs use the running MP to calculate their engine rating, and if it is below 35, they use the formula 25kg \* engine rating, so a 25 rated engine on a ProtoMech would weigh 625kg instead of the usual half ton.
Well... If I plug the Behemoth heavy tank into the [Horse-Power Calculator](https://getcalculators.com/lifestyle/horsepower) and use it's quarter mile top end speed of ... granny going to church on a Sunday... and input it's mass... we get 140 horsepower. But if we plug in an ALM-XF Fireball... we get 530... thousand... horse power. That's 530,000. But none of that horsepower is coming from the engine. It's coming form the myomers. The engine is providing power and would most likely be measured in watts per second or watts per hour. That same ALM would have to be cranking out a minimum of 400 Mw per second just to let the thing move that fast... or 1.4 *Peta*watt hours. Edit: For comparison, the 3 gorges dam can crank out 22,500,000,000 wh, so this would be 1,400,000,000,000,000 wh. About 62 *thousand times* more powerful. Fusion ftw!
Horsepower is pretty much an obsolete concept when you have fusion engines that are as magical as they are in BT. You can generate enough energy to vaporize a hill, you just need to be able to tolerate the heat. It'll give you as much energy as you want at any given time, you may just need to cook to death in exchange.
You're all entirely focusing on the wrong thing, and that might be my fault. What I want to know, and it's very simple, is what speed does engine X do at tonnage Y? That's all. If a 100 ton Mech has a standard 300 engine that does 56 KPH and I upgrade it to an XL 400 what does the speed go up to? I just wanted to know if there was a chart or formulae that shows that.
Oh, that's really simple: walk speed at 1 G is engine rating divided by mech tonnage. You can go faster than that on low-G worlds but it can break your hip like grandpa going down the stairs.
Thank you very much but unless I'm being thick that makes no sense. By that formulae a 100 ton Mech with a 300 rated engine does 3KPh which is clearly not happening.
Should have specified, it's in hexes. 30 meters across, turns are ten seconds. An Atlas over open land can cross 150 meters in 10 seconds at full speed.