modular tanks and ships

[Anopheles]

My idea for future tanks (and by extension spaceships) is to have a tank/spaceship 'mini carrier' designed to get the modules to site.

 

The mother tank (just imagine 'or spaceship' so i don't have to keep typing that) contains, say, 6 mini tanks which can all have different roles (ecm, scout, assault, artillery,anti personnel etc) controlled by ai or one or more humans based in the mother (a safe distance away or cloaked).

 

Because of the lack of pilot they can be small, easily replacable and (if we are going for realistic physics) faster and more manoevreable.

[Anasasi]

This, in theory will be entirely feasible! 

Probably nearly from the get go - give or take the few weeks it takes to get off the ground!

Essentially, you want to have a carrier, and I have seen this idea float around several times and all have had wonderful ideas as to how to go about this. Though, it will be interesting to see how people do go about it in the live game. 

If you are talking AI, that may take a little more time than expected, but I presume someone will end up writing something to do it in the long run.

Live pilots would still be viable though. Human sacrifices are always needed.

Edit*: Sorry if I didn't fully understand where you were coming from. 

[ATMLVE]

This isn't exactly a modular idea, more so carrier/transport, but still awesome nevertheless. Really cool and good idea! A mothership, cloaked in orbit, with a bunch of pilots each controlling a ship or tank on the surface, safe from destruction. Would be super awesome for sure! And I can see this as definitely being a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Right up until you get jamming or atmospheric interference.

 

I'm be running tanks on the ground, like they should be

[Thokan]

Inb4 the Culture

[Anopheles]

Inb4 the Culture

Oooh... tiny rubik cubes of death!

 

Hmm, may have to be bigger than that. I hope they make 1 cube engines so this is possible.

[Xtreme]

Is there any advantage of building objects which don't fly? 

A tank may look cool...but a ship is faster, probably better armed and very much superior

[HUB Universal]

This is basically a drone carrier/control ship, with drone pilots on the carrier. Drones could be air, space or land depending on how you design them.

[Thokan]

Is there any advantage of building objects which don't fly? 

 

A tank may look cool...but a ship is faster, probably better armed and very much superior

 

Yes, indeed, air superiority will surely be the most important factor in large scale combat. However, there will as surely be places where a flying ship can't go, and surely people will try to counter the air superiority. Ground vehicles will have their place, but most assuredly not in the way ships have.

[HUB Universal]

I would think that with engine limitations, that ground vehicles with have superior armor. Engines need a lot less power to keep a vehicle a meter above the ground than to become airborne or achieve space flight. So, for the same amount of power, you could have significant more weight.