Here's the interview with SciFi Shenanigans mentioned at the end of the vid: www.sfshenanigans.com/2019/04/15/sfs-episode-95-isaac-arthur/?fbclid=IwAR1S6M2y9BT3vIw080jMhwzyI72bqy7kSHmi4qScZ0knOkPTMvCkEU6FFdI

"The First Rule of Warfare: Every Rule of Warfare is the First Rule." -General Isaac Arthur

the day we finally discover the second rule of warfare will be a turning point for this channel

The first rule of warfare, There are no second rules of warfare, only first rules.

That "#1 rule of warfare" joke always makes me at least smile.

It starts with mining or exterior service power suits, not weapons. When a man finds himself compelled to physically go out into hostile settings like on the surface of a planet or moon with a killer environment, one has to be physically protected from whatever that environment throws at it, That suit must also provide environmental control and radiation shielding. They would also have to have sufficient strength to actually get needed tasks done. A complete feature set would likely be provided by machinery that is too heavy for people to physically carry around and so we head into the realm of power-armor all without even thinking about war. Then when there are two or more people in the same universe, there's always the chance they would fight and if they are already in their power-armor.... :-)

The First Rule of Warfare is, we don't talk about the Second Rule of Warfare.

Battletech also included a partial neural interface helmet early on. That seemed to be abandoned later on. Still Pacific Rim had their neural interface. I remember wondering how you could control a giant mech without somehow tapping into someone's brain. A full body monitor rig seemed like the only option. Then the Kinect came out and the question seemed a little silly.

I always forget that before Isaac became a science KZfaqr, he was in the military. Firsthand experience is always one of the best sources to cite!

26:45 is my interpretation of why Nier Automata's protagonist is a cute girl robot. They ran out of proper combat robots, so the military conscripted people's sexbots for their war.

Power Armor Little League Baseball Only on ESPN 8! THE OCHO! Back to you, cotton.

"Don't bring a knife to a gunfight." But your enemy cannot pull a trigger if you disable his hand.

you had me at Giant Robots & Power Suits

I love that Battletech addresses so many criticisms in this video, as well as other common arguments against using mechs. One strength of that universe has always been justifying its mechs and making them seem believable as they can be, even going so far as to having a 'Space Geneva Convention' banning orbital bombardment so we can have extensive ground combat at all. I mean that's not to say I think mechs would ever be effective, but I do love a universe that helps me deceive myself into believing that for an afternoon of chucking dice.

Gundam lore is pretty well developed. The technology that necessitated and developed into those big humanoid suits was, in no short order, thanks to the development of a nigh-magical, compact, high output power source and the characteristic exotic particles they emit. ah. always enjoyable to re-live those fascinating creations.

I'm surprised he didn't cover the other uses of Mecha. They're probably the best option imaginable when it comes to disaster response. Since something with legs would have a lot less trouble navigating through a ruined environment. And unlike tracks. You can decide where the footfalls land precisely. To not crush survivors or further weaken the structure you're traversing. Plus arms, especially humanoid ones. Are ideal for clearing debris. , They like horses, would be ideal for use in crowd control as well. Making them useful for police. And if in spider configuration, legs could also be used to scale buildings. Making them good for rescue operations on high floors that ladders cannot reach. When it comes to combat though. Outside of urban environments. I don't really see much practical use.. especially if they're huge.

Military Beancounter: "I don't know... Project Gundam is impractical tactically, financially and tecni-" General: "GIANT! WAR! ROBOTS!" Several nearby Congressmen nod in agreement while the crowd cheers. Nearby protester puts down anti-war sign: "Dude! Wait!" General: "What do you want, hippie?" Protester: "Uh, well, war is evil and all... But I really like this idea... Can we do something like a battle arena where there'd be, like, almost no collateral damage? OOH! The Sahara! It's big enough to let off small nukes! Small ones, to keep fallout to a minimum." Beancounter: "Well... It would keep costs to a minimum, by not having to build an entire army of them... AND, it would be a cheap way to disarm the nuclear arsenal. Recycling the nukes we have for both power and ammunition... Let's do this." Everyone cheers.

@13:00 - Rule #1 of Warfare: Always Bring a Posse of Killer Cyber-Panthers.

During the Cold War I served with the Royal Artillery in BAOR using the M107. We truly were 20 mile snipers.

Giant robots just are not practical war engines... Or are they? *Hey Vsauce, Michael here*

If Battletech is any indication, a swarm of small, cheap LRM boats will eat giant mechs for breakfast.

Also, I personally liked the way the mechs were controlled in "Avatar," where the cockpit had an armature of multi-jointed levers strapped to the wrists and ankles of the pilot, so that the mech's limbs moved with the motions of the pilot. I like that method best because it seems like the most practical. Better than old-fashioned buttons and joysticks and doesn't require surgery or a lack of morals like the brain transplant.

when you mentioned the exosuit from aliens, an old anime popped into mind called patlabor. the mechs in that worlds started out as industrial purposes and evolved to counter forces to combat crime from those mechs. with power gen in the carrier trucks came into play as well in that series.

SFIA Rules of Warfare: #1 Don’t encourage the enemy to shoot at you 4:02 #1 Always outnumber your enemy 8:09 #1 Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight 21:35 🤣

Guy in tiny tank "wow those 80m tall robots are easy to hit I can take it down from 70 miles away. Guy in giant robot "what's shooting at me, I cant see anything"

Before I continue with the video, I'll briefly lay out my thoughts. Giant robots are for the most part, impractical. There are some niche scenarios where they could be superior to a tank or something, such as rough terrain navigation, on the move weapon stabilization, easily swappable weapons, and the ability to lean around obstacles and the like (also possibly martial arts like movements depending on the mech), but their complexity pretty much cancels all of that out. Power armor on the other hand would be far more useful. Assuming we even have a reason to still include human combatants on the field that is. Infact, power armor may be a requirement just to stand a chance on the battlefield of the future. Or you could just make a small flying robotic super tank and call it a day.

I think the strong point of (humanoid) mecha is flexibility: They are basically excavators and bulldozers if you give them a shovel, but they can also place fortifications, wield knives, or swap to a suitable ranged weapon at a moment's notice. While a tank can be converted towards various purposes, it often requires a fairly long time to implement. Basically, a mecha is best suited for engineering tasks while still being suitable for combat. Anyhow, you might want to check out Patlabor, which focuses upon slice-of-life coverage of law enforcement. With mecha, of course. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aJNjeJN1mtWVfmg.html

While they are suboptimal for actual warfare, i do expect to see those mechs in sport events. I mean giant robot gladiator fights sounds way cooler than some guys running around with a ball.

Can't wait for my MJOLNIR armor.

I just butt dial-watched this video, those are the real wonders of technology :) Kept wondering where that voice was coming from. Now actually watching it!

There is only one thing you need to know about giant robots: _"Living here in Jersey_ _Fighting villains from afar_ _You gotta find first gear in your giant robot car_ _You dig giant robots!_ _I dig giant robots!_ _We dig giant robots!_ _Chicks dig giant robots!_ _Nice."_

I remember playing a modded game of Civilization IV that had giant mechs as a unit. In the description, it said that even though they kept falling over and took tons of people to make them walk, no one ever suggested giving them treads instead of legs because legs were just too cool.

And this is why i love WH40k since they actually have a good reason for useing knight and titian class walkers.... Their mechs design wise were never meant for combat but instead were primarily used originaly by collonists for labor porposes during the stellar exedous some 20 plus thousand years prior to 40Ks time. Simply put human war walkers are retrofitted contruction and mineing machines repurposed for military applications since there really isnt anyone left alive who remembers what they were originally used for or how they were originally made.

Isaac Arthur: ONE OF THE MOST DISAPPOINTING MOMENTS IN MY LIFE WAS WHEN I FOUND OUT GIANT ROBOTS WERE TOTALLY IMPRACTICAL.

Exo squad... I watched that show more then any other growing up... I even have a box of action figures in storage I gave to my kids a couple months ago and showed them the show for the first time. It's weird revisiting something after 30 years and a month later it coming up on one of my favorite channels. With nothing in between... Thank you for the episode.

If nothing else, I can definitely see them popping up in arena battle matches as mentioned. Mech pilots being treated as professional athletes. Well more like I imagine them being treated more like pro gamers since I doubt people would be in the robots themselves... Unless we regress to gladiatorial arenas and watch blood sports for entertainment.

Ah, the relief of removing body armor, be it after mission, or after a melee in the more ancient stuff is totally palpable, though plate armor and arming garments are a magnitude worse than even missions humping 2000 rounds while wearing full battle-rattle in an Iraqi summer. I am in love with this channel, by the way. I so glad my love of sci-fi and world building led me here

11B here. Artillery is great when you need it, a God send honestly. Hooha!!

Loved the twist you added to your "Space Warfare" intro!

The 7th episode of Evangelion is the perfect demonstration of why a robot on a chord is better than a nuclear powered one

The idea of one guy with lots of robots looks pretty good 'cause you could send just one guy to get the job done. Harry Harrison did it nicely in "The men from P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T."

24:15 The titans of the Mechanicus WILL march!

I never really considered Battle Mecha to be all that feasible for the reasons mentioned. But the point about its intuitiveness to untrained users is something I have never thought about and its feasibility in sporting combat is also fascinating. A stellar episode as always.

Someone should put together a list of your "first rule of combat" sayings.

I feel like you missed someone of the advantages with the traditional mecha, like the fact that having legs instead of wheels and tracks makes you way more able to deal with all kinds of terrain. Also a pretty big advantage of having arms and hands is versatility since you can lift almost everything meaning that a mecha can be an extremely versatile machine. Plus like a lot of mecha aren't exactly human and in Gundam they often have more than 4 limbs because that's just useful. Some look superficially human but really they're not.

When you want to take a nap but then Issac uploads.

Could have done the entire video entirely using the Battletech universe. There's tanks, hovercraft, power armor and giant mecha all participating in planetary invasions. Hey, would be super cool to do a video series tackling specific futuristic franchises. Is that planned?

I remember when I saw the first Iron Man movie the two things that struck me is that Tony figured out the two things needed for power armor/robots. 1st A power source (arc reactor) and 2nd) A computer smart enough to run it (Jervis). Your comment about power source got me thinking about that.

Honestly, as a fan of mech suits, I've noticed much the same as you. In marking out the advantages of a humanoid robotic suit from exosuit to mecha, I've noticed that they seem to mostly shine in space and low G conditions with hazardous terrain. You can cover over joints and moving parts with some kind of rubber, possibly even pack them with a form of gel to capture things like silicon dust that would otherwise get caught up in axles and rotors. They would be perfection for construction on the lunar surface or orbital activities (since they won't limit movement like the balloon-like space suits of our modern era), and may even prove more versatile than a rover if you can make them in mass for the population, since nothing's stopping you from giving it a means of low G rapid movement like thrust assisted jumps, strides, or just put a set of wheels on the base that you could work on when you get back. I would agree that their warfare capability is determined by how cheap they are to make, how common they are, ease of use. But it's often the cheapest and most effective means that gets deployed rather than big expensive projects to mitigate the risk and reward of potential loss. Sure, it's like sending everyone out to the desert with their trucks and strapping a machinegun to the bed... but that's not an entirely ineffective tactic. I could easily see a resistance force on a pre-terraformed mars being made up of civilian mechs upgraded with standard or shop-made weaponry, especially if they have access to a means of production to fabricate blueprints. I think they might be pretty impractical as far as 1g planets under a relatively heavy atmosphere, aside from industrial situations. They'd basically just serve as hardsuits and hazard suits on our homeworld, but they could flourish with low oxygen, low gravity environments, especially when trying to balance mobility, protection and a multi-purpose platform.

I cannot wait till the space whales and bioships episode this summer ^^'

So I wasn't the only one watching Robotech before school

I think the 'First rule of warfare' running gag on this channel is my favorite thing on all of youtube.

Some of the BIG questions that I still have after watching this are: Weight and how that affects locomotion. Weight and how that affects terrain accessibility (PSI on terrain). As always, very good content and thank you for all of the great entertainment! Love the channel!

ITS A GUNDAM! Every Leo pilots last word.

next, do a video on Sexy aliens

It's eight in the damn morning.

Can't click thumbs up enough times! awesome as always! Arthursday is the best day.

What do yo think of the Starship trooper version of war-armor. They use exoskeletons for mobility and mostly hit-and-run missions, and do use high-ordinance mini-nukes. Nice video!

You dig giant robots! I dig giant robots! We dig giant robots! Chicks dig giant robots!

Robert Heinlein's book Starship Troopers is about power suits, mecha! the "Mobile Infantry" I actually liked that description in it because its one of the few stories outside standard mecha franshises like Battletech, Robotech (and alot of other anime/manga) etc, that uses Mecha or robot suits. They didnt use this part in the movie though (sadly), except for mentioning and teasing about it in the movie "Starship Troopers 3". Just a hint. The book is alot of fun! ;)

A good book featuring humanoid robots is "all you need is kill", which is also the "edge of tomorrow" movie is very loosely based of. The book goes into a lot of detail about the interaction between the pilot and the vehicle, highly recommended.

If anyone is interested in more giant robot action, I recommend looking into the Lancer RPG, by Massif Press. Currently in Kickstarter, though they have a already have a free version of the rules available. It's a rules-lite mech RPG, where you can play pilots of the titular Lancers, having battles for any number of reasons across vast epochs of space. It's made by Tom Parkinson Morgan (aka "Abbadon"), the writer and artist of the webcomic _Kill Six Billion Demons_ , and he provides all the amazing art for the project. As such, it has its own visual style that is unique, yet reminiscent of classic mech series.

According to Stellaris they [Giant Death Robots/Mega-Warforms] are most useful, if you are a robot yourself...

man no nod to "Robot Jox" THE movie on future states using Gladiator style combat to settle conflict, or "Crash and Burn" for big industrial robot discussion?

Mining. Boring old mining, driven by some nerdy geology major. That's what your mechsuit-bots get used for. Digging through the rubble of a clumpy asteroid, presorting silicates from ferroids from platinoids, just plunking the rocks into bins. I guess that don't make for an exciting show, huh?

I figure you'll probably always want someone with an actual brain on the ground, in case the enemy jams you or something like that.

*All you need are* *THE GREY KNIGHTS !!!* *The Emperor Protects.*

23:54 Isaac Arthur not only gives you a reason for Gundams to exist in the future, but why kids would be piloting them as well.

I think Isaac would really like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

I always kind of pictured the evolution of Mecha starting out with large clunky heavy machinery, designed for engineering duties. Sort of like how we had tracked bulldozers and tractors before we built tanks. I kind of wonder about the first person who looked at a Holt (now known as Caterpillar) traction engine and said, "That's great, it can go almost anywhere but, what if we put a gun on it?"

first rule of warfare: The indexing system for the rules of warfare is broken and needs debugging.

"The only thing cooler than wearing power is having a pack of robo-panthers or cyber-hounds with you"

All this talk about the first rule of warfare reminds me of Sun Tsu's first rule: " To win without fighting is best". I think a video on the future of warfare that examines how technology may eliminate the need for warfare (particularly from the perspective of a former soldier) would be interesting.

3:07 I had the "Falcon" Aerial Attack-500 E-frame toy as a kid. Don't know how many hundreds of hours of fun I got out of that thing.

Well, tall does have one other big advantage you skipped over. Greater line of sight. If point defence gets shrunk down enough you might have one or two giant robots hanging around your tank brigade shooting missiles, RPGs and even artillery shells, using their hight to let their sensors see them coming sooner or over tree lines and terrain. If it's effective enough it might even bring back large tight formations because you'll want to fit as much fire-power under that protective umbrella as possible. Of course this might exclude the humanoid aspect so they could end up as a mobile tower on four or more legs. I'll be honest that was something I expected a little more discussion of here, the advantages and disadvantages of legs compared to wheels that might lend to us having what looks a bit like and acts like a modern tank or other vehicle but scuttles around the battle field on six legs.

Love the shout-out for Michael A. Stackpole. Brother and I grew up on his Rogue Squadron novels and comics, while my Battletech buddy grew up on his Battletech books.

I would like to recommend my two favorite books on the subject of power armor(not giant robots) John Steakley - Armor Joe Haldeman - The forever war

So you're basically proposing Supreme Commander A combat mech commanding an army of robot soldiers and vehicles.

As a former FMF grunt, big equals dead. Part of why we unassed from tracks the second we thought there were bad guys. I'm alot happier with how I can move and where I can get cover on foot than in a ten+ foot tall metal box. 60ft tall robots would get pasted by fire from *everywhere* on a battle field. The bigger the target, the more armor it needs to survive long enough to shoot back. The more armor it has, the bigger it is. Endless loop. Shape charges, apsdf, and other weapons tech advances faster than armor tech and is *always* cheaper than protection needed to defeat it. Again, endless loop. Edit: it should be noted this is a well understood concept in military circles. An excellent example is Heinleins starship troopers. What makes them effective is extreme mobility and comparatively small target silhouette. Even then, if they go to high or stand still for any length of time they get smeared as easily as an aluminum can.

I know Legends of Dune aren't the fan's favorites, but I really enjoyed the Cymeks (brains in big animalistic/insectoid robot bodies).

Mister Arthur, I love your videos, but I grew up on Transformers, Macross and Battletech, and will love big bots until the day I die, and I WILL write giant robot fiction! Kudos on mentioning Micheal Stackpole.

It occurs to me that the best weapon to use in classic Dune would not be a knife, but a gun. You'd just press that gun right up against their belly and fire. That would even account for the potential of wearing armor under the shield, at least better than a knife would.

23:48 brings to mind Armored Trooper VOTOMS. It didn't look like the dudes in the mechs were any kind of elites, and the opening scene to one of the series was basically Operation: Overlord. With mechs instead of soldiers.

On the subject of "Remote controlling robot/combat drones" and the idea of "Does the guy even need to be there" -- the series Gundam Wing approaches this with the invention of automated drone mobile suits called Mobile Dolls. The argument against them is that, by rendering warfare to automation or risk-free remote command, it removes the humanity of conflict and turns war into a meaningless pushing of buttons. Treize Kushrenada's concern was that, by by removing all risk to humans in waging war, it would become the go-to solution rather than the option only chosen when all other options failed. His stance was that combat must involve humans, because war must have meaning. If war becomes meaningless, humanity will ultimately destroy itself.

Power suits manned by cats, convinced that the opposition is mice. Small, deadly, and absurdly patient. Isaac, how would you feel having your cat outrank you?

yay! Space Whales are coming! are Dyson Sunflowers too?

Love the 40k references and Dan Abnet books are truly great.

Will Shinji get in the robot now?

kinda interesting how the original gundam actually answers ALOT of those problems, in very inventive and logical ways, from why humanoid form, to the dogfighting aspect of combats, all the way to the need for melee weapons.

Great episode as usual. I don't know if you mentioned this, but the primary reason for a big ass robot or tank might be to enable use of a mobile potent power and energy source, i.e. a nuclear reactor, on the battlefield. This because warfare involves delivering lots of energy to the enemy, and fission or fusion is at least six orders of magnitude better than chemical energy.

Finally!!!!! Been asking for this since I first saw Isaac Aurthur years ago. Finally he did it! Thank you!

Arthur talking about 40K brings limitless amounts of joy to my hearth.

You like Michael A. Stackpole?! You are truly a man of culture, Isaac. The X-Wing novels are what made me fall in love with the Star Wars expanded universe. They showed there could be EU-exclusive characters that were just as good (or better in some cases) than the movie characters. I never got that into the Battletech novels, but from what I read they seemed of similar quality.

In the original Gundam there were two plot devices which make the use of giant robots logical. Number one, such machines were used for building the large O'Neill cylinder space colonies. Secondly is the go-to McGuffin -- Minovsky Particles, which render RADAR and radio frequency communications unusable. Without that, it would be harder to justify some of the choices made by the military industrial complexes of both sides, namely Anaheim Electronics for the Earth Federation and The Zeonic Company for the Principality of Zeon.

Here's an idea for circumventing the power source issue. (until we figure it out) Wireless power transfer via short range masers. Put a battery onboard the power armor, doesn't need super high capacity, even half an hour is sufficient. On the back you have a replaceable, deployable receiver dish. When you need a recharge you ping the system and the local generator at your base fires a maser at a drone orbiting the theater, the drone bounces it to you and recharges your battery. A generator complex with multiple emmiters and a few dozen drones in the theater could allow a force to stagger recharges of multiple teams. (I say maser, but that's just what came to mind first...probably a better option)

Awesome video!! By far One of the best channels on YT, keep it up.

12:37 I see you let your cat meddle with your script again.

You forgot starship troopers by heinlein, not the movie adaptation. It featured "realistic" marine powered armor

Regarding melee combat with powered suits (particularly in the case of W40k), I would think that melee can become a very viable option in special and limited contexts, in tandem with ranged weaponry, if you can meet certain criteria (including the power supply). For example if your armor/defensive capability is good enough to sustain incoming damage while you close the gap and your melee weapon is powerful enough to disable or outright kill the target with a single blow. Now this doesn't really apply on open battlefields, so the environment has to lean towards CQC . If you have the capability to close a distance of a 100m in a couple of seconds then it's probably reasonable to assume that it's possible (from a position of cover) to be in melee range before your enemy could react in any meaningful way. If the target happens to be lightly armored with a very powerful weapons they will most likely die just from the impact of the collision alone. In terms of economics it could totally be viable to field melee vs. ranged if your defensive capability is vastly better than your enemies' offensive capability, simply because you could forgo expending ammo and drastically reduce collateral damage. A good example could be a scenario where a technologically superior army invades a world with a large standing army but with little to no capability to penetrate the invader's defense. Getting wrecked by having your face punched in would also act as a multiplier to morale damage. Even then, the need for melee in such futuristic settings (and in the examples I provided) would most likely (and overwhelmingly) be justified, as you put it, by "because we can" rather than it being the most viable or economical. And perhaps that might be the most undervalued justification; though melee combat has been outmoded for a couple of centuries it's still very present in media and culture today. Honestly, I would love to see an expansion of this topic pertaining powered suits, assuming power supply is a non issue, with a particular focus on WH40k. I think Tony Stark's suit's power req. is way higher than anything a typical powered suit from 40k would need, and despite the ridiculous fantasy of 40k I think there are a lot of things in it that seem way more plausible than most power armor in fiction.

*Subbed* after watching just this first randomly-recommended video! I look forward to seeing what other videos you have, if they are as in-depth and well-thought-out as this one.