: There's a clear and distinct difference between power armor and mecha. Power
: armor is protection. It is meant to augment a person's strength and
: provide protection. Now that I think about it, power armor is supposed to
: give individual infantrymen the benefits that vehicles enjoy.

: Mechs... go in the opposite direction. They're vehicles, clear and simple,
: but they've been saddled with the human form and all the inefficiencies
: and drawbacks that come with it. And the benefit is... nothing.

: Like Leviathan, I can't see any advantages either.
: The one I hear the most is "Mechs can cross terrain that conventional
: vehicles can't." That is... patently untrue. You've got a shifting
: center of mass when you move and all your weight is on that small
: footprint. A Scorpion is going to cross much softer ground than a Mantis.

: So... can I hear your arguments for? I never tire of this debate!

I don't think anyone's arguing that mechs are better than conventional vehicles in all instances. Like you said, its footprint would mean it would be more prone to sinking in certain environments. But there's plenty of terrain that a tank simply can't go through unless trees are cut, bridges over gaps built, et al, that walkers can simply step over. Mechs *can* cross terrain vehicles can't. That doesn't mean that they'd be better in all instances, but that's an absurd argument I don't see anyone having.

While I suppose you would argue that they'd be more prone to tipping (and compared to a tread vehicle, they would always be more likely), look at how advanced our gyros are now on even consumer tech like Segways. These things would be pretty stable scrambling over obstacles even at speed. Obviously they're never going to let you run a Mantis across a map at 60kph for gameplay reasons, but that's another matter.

While I see the argument of MJOLNIR-clad humans in mechs as redundant... you can say that about Spartans in almost any vehicle. A Spartan will be more nimble and faster unencumbered, but A) mechs, tanks, and the chaingun on the back of a Warthog offer more firepower, and B) even with the presumed decrease in costs over the years and improved technology, it's clear the entire UNSC corps will never be fully or even mostly comprised of Spartans in the near term.