• ameancow@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    So many games and movies ignore both the weight of the ammunition required to fire one of those things for more than 3 seconds, and the weight of the batteries required to spin the barrels. You would need more than even a power-suit, you would need some kind of frame on self powered wheels… a “vehicle” of some kind.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      Technically, it could be done. Someone did the math from the scene in the movie Predator. He could carry a weapon that heavy, including the ammo and batteries. It would be about 40kg for the gun and 25kg for the ammo. That’s very high, but not absurd, as long as he’s carrying almost nothing else. It could fire for 45s without running dry. And if you limited it to reasonable bursts of say 3s, that ammo would last a while.

      It’s not practical, but it’s possible.

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        It probably would have been more of a ground asset in the last century or when dealing with invisible aliens. I can’t imagine how excited a drone operator in the modern climate would feel seeing a dude lumbering through a field carrying a heavy weapon.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          OTOH, if you’re trying to create an outpost near the enemy lines, maybe it makes more sense to have a soldier carry the minigun you want to use at that outpost through the jungle, rather than risk using a vehicle to deliver it.

          A soldier lumbering through a jungle with a big weapon is a target, but a helicopter making a delivery, or a truck making a delivery is going to be a much bigger and more visible target with fewer things to hide behind.

    • luciferofastora@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      I suppose a Fallout style power armour would have an energy source built in that could power the motor as well, and the weight of the ammo backpack would balance the weight of the gun, obviously assuming that the armour can properly distribute that weight so it’s not directly carried by the human within.

      Still, limited ammunition is a buzzkill in the kind of context you’d give a player that gun: We want the power fantasy, dammit!