The Role of Mecha Within Starborn
Like any tool or weapon of war, each classification of mecha fills its own particular niche. Possessing a sheer versatility that is all but unmatched by other vehicular technology, the mecha is a classic example of the "Jack of all trades, master of none" design. Most combat mecha tend not excel above the performance aspects of other, more traditionally role dedicated units. Mecha do, however, have a wide range of unique advantages, not the least of which includes their ability to adapt to almost any environment, limbs which offer increased agility and an unlimited range of fire, psychological impact on the battlefield, and their nigh legendary ability to operate in tandem with other weapons of war.Even when used outside of combat, mecha have an incredible array of important uses. The last century has seen the mecha used for countless construction purposes and heavy labor jobs. Having replaced most of the familiar staples of construction equipment, they can be found operating within thousands of cities and ships, but are still difficult to find in most of the remote colonies.
Contents
Control Methodologies
There are three main methods of control available to personal scale mecha. Biofeedback, Neural Mapping, and Direct Neural Interface.Biofeedback has the advantage of being the simplest method, requiring the most training, and having a few drawbacks in regards to reaction times. It is probably the most flexible of the three methods, being dependent only on the skill of the user. Biofeedback suits operate by noting the strength and determination with which the user is moving, and then amplifying these movements. This means there is a delay, slight, but significant, in any movement by the suit. Untrained users can be badly injured via their own actions while operating a biofeedback based suit. Most Biofeedback suits have very tight physical tolerances, and can only be used by the person they were molded for.
Neural Map suits require a much lower degree of training, but a great deal of time with the suit. It has the potential advantage of extremely fast reaction times. Neural map suits involve mapping all of a particular persons neural activity, and linking them to the appropriate action at a firmware level. There are two main routes to do this, one of which requires a great deal of time in a laboratory setting going through every possible motion and command sequence to develop a neural map, and the other involves the use of a biofeedback based suit that has adaptive software built in to it that creates the neural map on the fly, as it were. NM suits are designed and intended for one use and one user only. Another person -may- be able to use a suit intended for someone else if they fit inside, but the suit wouldn't work correctly, and may in fact be completely counter intuitive for the intruder - NM suits tend to develop quirks peculiar to their user. Long-term use of a NM suit results in incredible reaction times, the suit literally reading the mind of its user and acting on it long before the nerve signal even passes the hind-brain.
DNI, or Direct Neural Interface, is the third option, It involves some form of neuroprocessor, a software package that translates that persons neural activity into something that the suits computers interpret into activity. It does require surgery, has the possibility of combat damage resulting in providing direct electrical stimulus to the pilot's central cortex, the advantage of being extremely portable, and excellent reaction times.