Is the Landmaster practical?

[Star Fox Runner]

After really thinking hard about it, I don't think the Landmaster would be practical as a military vehicle. Though it may look awesome, it would be highly ineffective. Here are the reasons.

1. The cannon does not rotate. The main gun is only capable of moving up or down, it can't rotate like a real tank would. And in Star Fox Assualt, the rotation is VERY slim, only able to aim around the front side of the tank. In order to aim at a target out to the side or behind, it would have to rotate the entire body of the tank, so that would cut down it's maneuverability quite a bit.

2. The hover ability. This thing isn't called a TANK for nothing. It's heavy, very heavy. Because of the size and the amount of armor it has on it, the jets on this thing are too small and there are not enough of them to make that thing hover as high as it does. And even if they do, the amount of fuel it would have to expend to get that much energy behind it just wouldn't be enough for long time use on the battle field.

3. Even if the Landmaster IS light enough to hover like that, it must mean that there isn't much armor plating on that thing to weigh it down. It would basically leave it with the armor of a WWII era Sherman Tank, or quite possibly even less than that. Even if force field shielding is involved, once those shields go down, that thing is a sitting duck. One shell or energy blast, and it's gone.

What do you all think? Can you find any other problems or give an argument that refutes my theory?

[Blaze the Sage]

Honestly, I think the armor issue is a bit of a null point. I may be wrong, but aren't most Star Fox universe Combat vehicles like that? The defenses are handled by the shields. Once they go down, the ship crumples pretty quickly.

That and I can't help but suspect there may be a G-diffuser involved somewhere.

[Vulvokunvrii]

well there IS a current tank that acts like the land master in this way: the tank (i forgot the name, i want to say its swiss or swedish)'s gun cannot rotate and it is really low to the ground.

[The Shaper]

For low gravity planets it would actually be a formidible combat machine, but aside from that it wouldn't work too well. Unless all that fancy metal is just for show and is very light.

[Blaze the Sage]

There's also the possibility of some futuristic super-strong-super-light material.

[Shinigami]

and though the shield point has been made; lets not forget how dense they're supposed to be. a regular shell from one of our own, modern day tanks wouldn't really get off so much as a scratch unless focused on one specific point to weaken them. Though anything hitting the landmaster with enough force to weaken the shields could cause a splitting earthquake on the inside, probably.

and second - the cannon may not rotate, but in assault this little weakness is nullified by the fact that the landmaster (the refitted design, that is) itself can turn on a dime and fire at a target; probably due to some type of mounted thruster system (not counting the booster engine at the back) that we don't see because graphics slightly lacked back then.

so all in all..yeah, I think it has a chance at being practical; as slim as it may be.

[Asper Sarnoff]

No. In all its renditions shown over the franchise, the Landmaster is not a practical design for a combat vehicle.

First of, if one shall estimate its weight based on the data provided below, it will be insanely heavy. Compared to the over 44 tonn of ARV I drive around in, this is almost twice as long, over twice as tall and a lot wider. Add to that its armor is considerably thicker, and even if made out of light sci-fi composites, it'd easily exceed the weight of any tank ever produced on earth, save perhaps the German Panzerkampfwagen VIII "MAUS" prootypes, which weighted in at roughly 200 tonne. No normal roads would be able to support it, and with a track system like that, its ground pressure would be enourmeus, I'd get bogged down and get stuck everywhere but on solid rock. And without a raised first wheel, its ability to climb over obstacles are reduced significantly.

well there IS a current tank that acts like the land master in this way: the tank (i forgot the name, i want to say its swiss or swedish)'s gun cannot rotate and it is really low to the ground.

You're thinking of the "Stridsvagn" 103. Taken out of service some years ago in favor of the Leopard 2.

That's not really a tank mind you, it belongs to a class of combat vehicles dubbed "Tank Destroyers". Built on tank chassises, but often lacking a turret and having a significantly larger main gun than the donor tank. They were very popular during WW2, but some are still in use to this day.

[Robert Monroe]

Remember that the Landmaster isn't a "tank" in the traditional sense, and is more of an Anti-Aircraft gun on wheels. Its designed to be fast, light, and shoot down flying things, rather than fulfill the role of a traditional tank.

[Star Fox Runner]

Remember that the Landmaster isn't a "tank" in the traditional sense, and is more of an Anti-Aircraft gun on wheels. Its designed to be fast, light, and shoot down flying things, rather than fulfill the role of a traditional tank.

And yet in Star Fox 64, it is used to take a whole freakin' train! Once again, the idea doesn't transfer well into reality.

But now that I think about it, we ARE talking about a game that involves talking animals that can fly fighters in space, so I'm pretty sure the designers threw realism out the window a long time ago. LOL.

[Shinigami]

^That is also very true. XD

[sjrathbun812]

In my opinion, the assault Land Master was fine except the problem with it was you have four wheels, and no treads. In 64 you had good wheels and good treads, but in this one....It's not that it effects the gameplay so much as in reality it would be a very big problem. Suppose Fox fell in a hole? how would he get out? He would be really slow if he got out at all, and in the mean time, he's a sitting duck! Though in the game, it's totally unrealistic about it and it's not a problem like it should be. Also, in V.S. it's funny how it takes a billion shots if you're using a rocket launcher, to destroy the tank. But when you use a machine gun, it takes two seconds to destroy it. There are sill many good additions to the land master though. Like say hovering. And oh, now that I think about it I guess fox could get out of that hole since the tank has hovering, but sill. It shouldn't have the problem with the treads in the first place. Over all, I think a good tank from our army would be much better.

Except that it doesn't have hyper cannons or hovering and it can't barrel roll. So I guess there are advantages and disadvantages.

Also @ Asper Sarnoff, were the hell did you get that cool pic? It looks awesome!

[Blaze the Sage]

The Landmaster specs? I've seen them before, in a Star Fox text-commentated Let's Play. My best guess is that it's out of the official Player's Guide.

But yeah, gotta say though. That thing is MASSIVE. It's quite literally the size of a small house according to those specs.

[LoneWolf]

Nope. But it's cool.

[Star Fox Runner]

But yeah, gotta say though. That thing is MASSIVE. It's quite literally the size of a small house according to those specs.

I just thought of something, if the Landmaster really is that big in Star Fox 64, and it's tiny compared to the supply train on Macbeth, DEAR GOD HOW BIG IS THAT TRAIN???????

[DoctorAllosaurus]

No, not at all, but when have fictional video game vehicles ever been practical. I mean just look at the Metal Slug, I'm supposed to belive that thing can actually jump as high as it does?

[LoneWolf]

I just thought of something, if the Landmaster really is that big in Star Fox 64, and it's tiny compared to the supply train on Macbeth, DEAR GOD HOW BIG IS THAT TRAIN???????

You ever seen a German Dora Gun?

[Robert Monroe]

I just thought of something, if the Landmaster really is that big in Star Fox 64, and it's tiny compared to the supply train on Macbeth, DEAR GOD HOW BIG IS THAT TRAIN???????

Fucking huge.

Now you know why the Landmaster is so tough for something not meant to be.

[DZComposer]

Docs say 24m long, 8.5m tall as dimensions on the Landmaster.

I'm thinking the documented dimensions for the Landmaster are wrong. I think someone forgot to convert feet into meters, and no one noticed. You can tell in-game that the damn thing is not 30 Ft. tall. If you take those numbers as feet instead of meters, the dimensions are much more reasonable. Slightly shorter in length and slightly taller than an M1A1 Abrams tank (26ft long x 8ft tall).

[Sluggsnipa]

The armor could be a Iorn-Aluminum alloy,or titanium.

Making it light.

[sjrathbun812]

It is just a video game, so that makes it more reasonable in my opinion. Plus, it's not one of those video games that is trying really hard to be realistic. :trollface:

[Robert Monroe]

Docs say 24m long, 8.5m tall as dimensions on the Landmaster.

I'm thinking the documented dimensions for the Landmaster are wrong. I think someone forgot to convert feet into meters, and no one noticed. You can tell in-game that the damn thing is not 30 Ft. tall. If you take those numbers as feet instead of meters, the dimensions are much more reasonable. Slightly shorter in length and slightly taller than an M1A1 Abrams tank (26ft long x 8ft tall).

To be fair it does say SPACE meters But what, you don't wanna drive around a tank the size of a house? :D

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

Well the Landmaster is only a small tank. There might be larger tanks in the Cornerian arsenal. Most likely the Landmaster was designed more as a frontal assault vehicle.

[DZComposer]

To be fair it does say SPACE meters But what, you don't wanna drive around a tank the size of a house?

Except that in-game, the Landmaster doesn't match the size of any buildings, and is only slightly taller than the characters. And before you talk about "space" meters, that's the same unit character heights are given, and they aren't 8m tall.