Balled Vehicles

[Combine Crusier]

It isn't quite what the first idea to spring to a persons mind is.
You people that don't have optical mice have balled mice, the same kind of goes here.

Instead of using wheels the idea of this vehicle would be to use balls which would be moved by a series of rolls.

IE: Motors connected to 2 rolls on the sides and 1 in front and 1 behind the ball, moving the side rolls in one direction would move the ball in that direction which would move the vehicle.

This form of movement would allow a vehicle to actually STRAFE and would necessarily have to turn it's chassis to move in the direction requested, this would allow your vehicles front (the most heavily armored area (normally)) to take the damage which would be better than getting hit in the side.

It may not have the best energy to movement ratio but it certainly has it's advantages.

[Sirbomber]

Instead of using wheels the idea of this vehicle would be to use balls which would be moved by a series of rolls.

Ouch. That would hurt.

[Psudomorph]

Strafing vehicles... I think I like that idea. Come to think of it, the ability to dodge really does seem to be something that is missing from the OP combat system.
Granted it would be virtually useless for panthers and tigers, but it might be good to give some of the smaller vehicles the ability to reduce the enemy's accuracy by staying in motion.

Really you wouldn't even need a ball drive, since the vehicles have turrets anyway, they could drive on their normal wheels while spinning the turrets to stay in contact with the target.

I wonder how much of an advantage moving while attacking would actually confer on an OP vehicle... Would enemy turrets still be able to track it more or less as effectively as before, or would there be some loss of accuracy?

For the ball drive specifically, I would personally worry about how much dust and dirt would get sucked into it. Would you be able to keep one clean enough not to get jammed in the middle of battle?

[Freeza-CII]

I dont think this is such a good idea.  Why a Ball the when the wheel is so much easier to use.  The only advantage you get from the ball is being able to move in any of the compas directions.  How is the ball going to stay in the Vec.  Is there any suspention.  How does this improve the unit any.

  Straffing is a FPS/Simulator thing lets keep it out of a RTS.

You people that don't have optical mice have balled mice, the same kind of goes here.

I have a touch pad

[Hooman]

Considering how often I have to clean my ball ... mouse....   I question the feasability.

Also, wouldn't ball wheels only really work on smooth terrain, and maybe even risk falling out if the thing hit a bump or was jolted, say by explosive weapons fire. I think the turrets are already good for this, and the armour probably isn't much of an issue, at least not in a game. Although, it would be nice if the unit speed didn't degrade from just any damage being done so you could actually keep the speed to dodge once you got into a battle.


Edit: Also, think of all the horrible jokes if you ever lost a ball.  <_<  

[Fenrisul]

In harsh environments the concept of a sphere-drive is pretty much useless because you can't actually attach any rigid objects to the sphere without compromising its movement ability...

The best reference I can think of is from the Asimov movie-take I, Robot w/ Will Smith in it.  All the cars utilized sphere-drive and seemed to do it with magnetic charge.  So the wheel itself was castered into place but free to spin in any direction based on a charge applied to a "node" on the wheel.

*edit*

There ya go.

[Flameoftheabyss]

I have a better idea:
Have a vehicle that's just a remote-controlled ball.

Just like that.
I can't remember where I first saw this; we do have actual prototypes existing. I saw a demo of it about a year ago, I think.
It would move very well on sandy or snowy terrain, due to its design.
Would be very good as an exploring vehicle, or maybe even for light skirmish purposes (maybe as an alternative to OP2's Scorpion).

Does anyone remember what it was called? I can't seem to find the pictures either.

[Fenrisul]

It would also _fail_ on hills or any other kind of incline

[zanco]

Thank you people and Thank you Combine, but it seems the idea of having a vehicle with  balls... Ahem ... is not yet to be included, maybe if you were to think of a better design, that would work.

But I do understand where you are heading to. You want a vehicle that would be able to go in any directions rapidly. In this sense the idea of having some kind of hovercraft sounds much better. In any cases, I don't think a plain old U-turn is that bad and also  military units can just turn their turrets.