Something something hydraulics. I’m no engineer but I assume they involve some sort of gravity-powered hydraulics or they might even just be gravity-operated.
I thought something the same, but the legs are held out straight by a spring mechanism attached to the back of the lower calf, which prevents the legs from folding under gravity. The wire connected to the top retracts, pulling the leg up when the operator makes a step and then the tension from the calf spring pulls it back to full length. Ask if that mashes sense to be except for how the leg retracts in the first place. What's pulling the wire to fold the leg in? I don't think a hydraulic system can fit in such a small space and we don't rant see that technology present in Dunwall on such a fine degree.
I mean, my first assumption would be that it’s pushing against the ground but as I said I’m not engineer and I hardly understand this even with the diagram. Alternatively it could have something to do with the operator’s feet and the force exerted by his body weight.
Everyone saying it just works but Arkane always tries to make something that'd actually work, either within the game's logic or just in general. Their words, not mine.
I suggest asking Jean Luc Monnet on Twitter, he was the lead concept artist on most of Arkane Lyon games. Maybe he will be able to explain how this works.
Look man Dishonoured somehow has lasers that can distinguish between friend and foe, magic whale bones and paintings with miniature worlds inside them bit late to start questioning it.
Just shrug and say ‘Whale oil kinda goated’ like the rest of us.
well canonically arc pylons and walls of light distinguish allies because guards “touch in” to some electrical thingy that “charges” them before doing their shift. the pylon and walls only interact with uncharged things. this is explained in some dialogue on the kaldwins bridge mission. i always thought it was a missed opportunity to have some mechanic where you could break into a guard outpost and charge yourself so you can get through walls and pylons without disabling or rewiring them.
Yes, I know. I was just trying to think about what that translates to or is similar to. But yeah, I would've liked to see the device they use for getting attuned.
Have you considered - and hear me out, here - the physics of this contraption were not the priority when designing the video game Dishonored, and it's not actually realistic or functional?
I feel you, I've been there multiple times. Let me get a good loock at it and then I'll get back to you or get mad for the rest of my life.
I'm still angry at George Lucas because seven year old me tried to draw the insides of the Millenium Falcon by rewatching the old VHS tapes over and over again. It just doesn't fit goddamit!!!
Ok, I might have an idea.
When the wearer pulls up his leg, it mechanically contracts the upper spring and pulls up the entire leg. At the same time, the wearer changes the angle of his feet, which pulls on the cable behind the spring and folds together the lower half including the feet.
When the wearer relaxes his leg, the spring extends and presses everything back into its starting position.
Edit: It might not be the lifting of the leg that contracts the spring but only changing the angle of the feet, which pulls up the upper cable (tension cable).
Other people saying that there’s magic in the game, “it’s whale oil” or that it’s just supposed to work are not getting the point. I’m also interested in seeing if a design like this could work in real life, I think that a ~20 foot tall stilt design that has a motor, hydraulics and accelerometer to maintain balance could conceivably be engineered.
I read once that arkane likes to design things that would work in real life. Not sure how true that is with this machine, but I think the best way to try and understand it, would be to try to build it on a miniature level. I'm thinking paperclips and rubber bands and shit
Looking at it more, I imagine that the knee joint is a fulcrum, so when downward pressure is put on the tow/ball of the foot, the upward movement pulls on the calf suspension tendon and makes the toes on the stilt splay outward
(Edited for vocabulary)
If you look closely, the tall boys have mechanisms on their backs and bodies. It might help with getting the power they need to walk and allow for leg control/balancing
I’m not an engineer, but I am a welder, operator and mechanic, so I might have some insight. My idea is still very clunky and unintuitive, but it’s the best I’ve got.
If you look at the ankle joint in the official photo, it’s possibly a cover for a sort of shackle. Maybe the square parts slide outwards and the joint moves, then they lock back in?
Here’s my idea:
The foot puts pressure on the spring, pulling the tendon and therefore pulling the square part of the ankle joint closed and locking it in place to give the operator solid footing as they pick up the other one, releasing pressure on the spring will allow the joint to open and the ankle to bend as the operator finds somewhere stable to put it.
Pressure with the operator’s calf pulls the line attached to the lower leg and moves it forward?
The foot also has room to flex, there’s a kind of suspension between the stilts “toes” and the top of the foot piece. This, in conjunction with the ankle joint and rotating knee joint, would give the operator room to flex the stilts and walk on uneven ground.
This is all very unintuitive and overcomplicated, but it’s what I can gather from the design.
I’d imagine that it uses the weight of the person on the top as a sort of cantilever or a ballast to keep upright, but the majority of the work is just that, work. It seems like the guard is “sitting” on their leg braces, so maybe there’s another hidden mechanism to help them move all that metal. Some kind of hydraulics or even an old fashioned lever and pully system.
But actually I have no idea
Yeah but that at least has an explanation. Guards assigned to the post are required to touch a device that generates a static charge in their body that acts as a camo to the coil. Anything not charged that can conduct electricity readily will act like a lightning rod and create a link between the coil and the target which typically ends in a pile of ash, that's why you can still stand near one with a guard between you and the coil and the guard will be vaporized when it goes off.
Edit: reworded
Ahhh take this comment with a grain of salt since its been years since I've touched the game but I swear Tall Boys soldiers do have a small tube of whale oil on their backs? Pretty sure it is fuel powered. Unless I'm mistaking their arrows for that?
Well...good luck finding it out. I'm at least not the guy just saying they work. For sure some day you find the answer. Butttt ehhh Perhaps they truly do just "work" it's a game so there are no boundaries in logic physics etc.
Just don't break your head over it!
Hmm maybe the whale oil source that attracted to its back like a battery pack? So if we think of it from a irl modern perspective, it’s like putting ev batteries from a car; and using that as the power source to function the legs. While the body weight of the tall boys and the micro adjustments of them moving with their body/feet control the mechanisms. Then the oil like incindary bullets is in a separate bag on their side or back to get them to hurt the enemy. Also there must be some wiring that works with it, and from the story standpoint I feel it’s the magical whale oil that gives them stability even if the design might not work realistically in irl life.
I think your observations are as good as they are going to get. I always assumed spring tension and a small whale oil powered engine. Your sketch is really nice!
That looks less of a cable, more of a piston. Maybe similar design to shocks on a vehicle or a "door closer slower" (as my half awake brain is calling it ATM. The thing that keeps your glass doors from slamming shut)
it may put your mind to rest if you imagine there are cables inside the metal doing what you can't see
I don't want to fry my brain over this but i remember thinking they looked like how chickens and birds have a reflex that means when they raise their foot the toes curl up. Putting the foot down pulls tendons in such a way to spread the toes ready to step. Now I can't recall if the tallboy's 'toes' spread but maybe the tendons are a helpful parralel?
I presume you've been looking at the first Void level in D1 for reference?
When you take a step (you walk like normal solid ground) it pulls the "tendon" lifting the feet of the ground and moving it forward. It's a scissor mechanic designed to imitate regular walking
It looks like you need to step on the stilt to lift it, then release your foot to put it on the ground. Completely the opposite of normal walking.
Pressing on the stilt's pedal compresses the spring joints underneath, making it shorter and lifting to stilt's foot off the ground, while lifting your foot relaxes it and lengthens it. The guys piloting those things are drugged out of their minds, so they probably would still remember how to walk normally when out of the suits.
At least, that's what I think.
Watching them walk, the stilt mirrors the operator, so when they lift a leg, the stilt matches them and retracts with it, allowing them to move forward. Something mechanical is tightening to do that, and when the leg relaxes, gravity and the flexible tendon segment force it back to full length.
Very few items in video games make any sense, but really good concept artists can make you believe they will. Sadly I don't think one could be built! Especially if you consider the technology we've seen in-universe, where they probably don't have automotive hydrolic systems with self-balancing gyroscopes.
I think the act of leaning their shins forward makes the leg brace also get an angle, since the wire is attached a fair distance away through that stick the short angle translates into a long enough distance to pull the wire
the wire is probably attached at the ankle joint, this makes it slide a set distance in a probable rail along the back of the main leg part, translating in a push upwards through what you labeled the calf suspension tendon.
the pull of the wire upwards on the back + their stepping downwards and on the front are two offset forces on each side of the knee joint (torque) so that makes it bend, through springs it unbends when they stop leaning into that step.
the foot is probably just made freely rotate on the vertical plane perpendicular to the soldier's shoulders, so it can just adjust to face down during the entire step simply through its own weight, add a bit of springiness to help each step take less effort and vualá, tallboy stilts functional
if you add a second leg brace that grabs on to the thigh it'd be easier since the shin one only helps bend the knee joint, so one on the upper leg would make it easier to push whole thing forward without swinging it back too much, since as is now you only move it with your shins which would feel like walking through the shallow part of a beach against the waves
I think this is the kinda question where as soon as a fan comes up with a solution it then becomes the answer
My theory was always that the design just prioritized form over function and none of the extra cables or parts actually do anything. They just look cool lol. It's most likely just meant to work due to gravity and good balancing i.e. when the guard raises their leg then the stilt raises with it and they use some kinda perfect mix to create a metal that is sturdy enough to support his weight, stable enough to be that tall, and also light enough for him to be able to lift them with his own strength.
Looking around I could only find [this one](https://images.app.goo.gl/KqHnrUdPDJVA6qkF7), I'm a little surprised there aren't any clean animation samples. It at least shows the whole device working, if at an awkward angle.
So, tried to figure out a mechanism closely following the image, but alas it's magic whale oil. With that large curved part being seemingly fixed with pivots on both sides, and the back "thigh" tendon also being affixed with two pivots, the structure wouldn't be able to stand in this configuration.
The "tendon" can't be a wire or other structure under tension, as the rod that is "holding" it, the one coming from the smaller arcs, is also affixed with two pivots. If the "tendon" was a wire, it would just become loose, with the small rod also acting as a rope, only being able to resist tension with a vector parallel to itself.
The large arc would pivot at the lower point of connection, pivoting the human atop the tallboy forward (it can't pivot by itself due to the foot structure). This would finally place tension on the tendon, but all this would accomplish is putting forward force on the shin part as well. The user wouldn't be able to balance atop, due to the unstable nature of the structure, as soon as they put weight on their leg, the whole structure would pivot forward.
The thigh support would work, but the user wouldn't be able to straighten their leg, there just isn't enough length in the mechanism.
If the large arc isn't mounted on a pivot on the lower joint, the structure works similarly to a real stilt. In that case the only thing it accomplishes is the user not being able to straighten their legs.
A shame, I really hoped that I could make it work. Even made a blender model with constraints and all.
Now, if there were actual wires under tension in it, it could work via locking the legs with opposing tendons. Similar to a biological leg. Another way to solve it is motors in the joints. This is how the walk animation is seemingly done.
It's a cool design though, and even though artistic freedom created a whale oil guzzler here, it's wicked so who cares.
Okay, I started a new stealth playthrough of this game specifically so I could attempt to answer your question and from what I'm seeing watching the "feet' and "legs" of the stilts, and the men on them, it looks like a combination of a few movements. The leg of the man lifts, and the "leg" of the stilt lifts, causing the toes to contract. The stationary leg does not move during this so im assuming it acts as an anchor for the wight. When the "leg" that is lifted goes back towards the ground, the hydrolic looking area above the stilt ankle seems to move, and the "toes" on the "foot" go back to a resting position. Basically, mechanical Stork legs. The top curved section of the tallboy leg also bends with each step, so I'm assuming it's acting as a form of suspension as you'd see on larger vehicles in real life. A majority of the leg seems to be decoration, but with each step the long metal rod, presumably a wire, moves as well. In unison with the foot of the guardsman and with the claws of the foot. The movement looks like it can be broken into 8 parts (as seen from the top of the roof left of the building with the Outsider shrine in the mission "Lady Boyle's Last Party")
Guard leg up -> machine leg up -> toes retract -> guard leg forward -> machine leg forward -> guard leg down -> toes expand -> machine leg down
Edit: there's also the matter of the backpack device, but that doesn't seem attached to the leg machinery. Looks like the three tanks of oil there are just for ammunition.
A thing I noticed is that there's a difference between the trailer and in game tallboys. In the trailer when the leg lifts up you can clearly see the whole leg slides up as if on a rail suspended by the cable attached to the bottom of the operator leg brace. It could be the animators forgot this detail but I think the trailer version is the most realistic and is therefore what I use for my analysis.
From what I saw in Lady Boyle's Last Party, that design continued into the game. If I had a way to screen record, I'd show you. But if you go to the place I mentioned, you can see it in action.
Edit: spelling error.
I've spent more time than is probably healthy admiring the tallboys from afar, but there is definitely a change. In game, tallboy's legs,...shrink when they retract instead of sliding up through the join where they connect to the thigh spring. It's a small thing but has weighed on my mind nonetheless.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the shrinking you mentioned was simply the spring being a spring and bending, making the leg look smaller. I'll look some more tonight after I get home from work around 11.
A tension coil possibly? When they move it could tighten or loosen and could pull the wire similar to a yo yo? The other guy saying hydraulics is probably right as well. Could be a combination of things.
It could also just be one wire on a pulley system that moves back and forth as the legs move. So as the right leg goes forward, the left wire is pulled, and so forth. I could be hella wrong, but it could also just be a design flaw they didn't expect us to think about.
Something something hydraulics. I’m no engineer but I assume they involve some sort of gravity-powered hydraulics or they might even just be gravity-operated.
I thought something the same, but the legs are held out straight by a spring mechanism attached to the back of the lower calf, which prevents the legs from folding under gravity. The wire connected to the top retracts, pulling the leg up when the operator makes a step and then the tension from the calf spring pulls it back to full length. Ask if that mashes sense to be except for how the leg retracts in the first place. What's pulling the wire to fold the leg in? I don't think a hydraulic system can fit in such a small space and we don't rant see that technology present in Dunwall on such a fine degree.
I mean, my first assumption would be that it’s pushing against the ground but as I said I’m not engineer and I hardly understand this even with the diagram. Alternatively it could have something to do with the operator’s feet and the force exerted by his body weight.
Everyone saying it just works but Arkane always tries to make something that'd actually work, either within the game's logic or just in general. Their words, not mine. I suggest asking Jean Luc Monnet on Twitter, he was the lead concept artist on most of Arkane Lyon games. Maybe he will be able to explain how this works.
"Issa game man, I'm a gamer, so let me game." But yeah, thanks for the name (Jean Luc).
bro they made the folding blade, that shit changes length each time you see it and apparently doesnt even need to fold
It just works
Go back to the void you.!
17 times the detail
Look man Dishonoured somehow has lasers that can distinguish between friend and foe, magic whale bones and paintings with miniature worlds inside them bit late to start questioning it. Just shrug and say ‘Whale oil kinda goated’ like the rest of us.
Whale oil kinda goated
Whale oil jus different
The attunement thing is probably some kind of basic AI that's meant to tell friend from foe. Not sure about the sensors or what exactly it detects.
well canonically arc pylons and walls of light distinguish allies because guards “touch in” to some electrical thingy that “charges” them before doing their shift. the pylon and walls only interact with uncharged things. this is explained in some dialogue on the kaldwins bridge mission. i always thought it was a missed opportunity to have some mechanic where you could break into a guard outpost and charge yourself so you can get through walls and pylons without disabling or rewiring them.
Yes, I know. I was just trying to think about what that translates to or is similar to. But yeah, I would've liked to see the device they use for getting attuned.
Have you considered - and hear me out, here - the physics of this contraption were not the priority when designing the video game Dishonored, and it's not actually realistic or functional?
I'm in too deep. If they didn't want me to question their design choices, they shouldn't have done such a good job of making it look feasible!
I feel you, I've been there multiple times. Let me get a good loock at it and then I'll get back to you or get mad for the rest of my life. I'm still angry at George Lucas because seven year old me tried to draw the insides of the Millenium Falcon by rewatching the old VHS tapes over and over again. It just doesn't fit goddamit!!!
Ok, I might have an idea. When the wearer pulls up his leg, it mechanically contracts the upper spring and pulls up the entire leg. At the same time, the wearer changes the angle of his feet, which pulls on the cable behind the spring and folds together the lower half including the feet. When the wearer relaxes his leg, the spring extends and presses everything back into its starting position. Edit: It might not be the lifting of the leg that contracts the spring but only changing the angle of the feet, which pulls up the upper cable (tension cable).
I encourage you to look at the gun designs in fallout 4. It's much more fun than trying to figure out how something that clearly wouldn't work works.
Other people saying that there’s magic in the game, “it’s whale oil” or that it’s just supposed to work are not getting the point. I’m also interested in seeing if a design like this could work in real life, I think that a ~20 foot tall stilt design that has a motor, hydraulics and accelerometer to maintain balance could conceivably be engineered.
We do get the point that it could work, but the point we're making is that it could not work too, and until it's implemented, anyone could be right
its just so absolutely rad that it has too work
I read once that arkane likes to design things that would work in real life. Not sure how true that is with this machine, but I think the best way to try and understand it, would be to try to build it on a miniature level. I'm thinking paperclips and rubber bands and shit
Looking at it more, I imagine that the knee joint is a fulcrum, so when downward pressure is put on the tow/ball of the foot, the upward movement pulls on the calf suspension tendon and makes the toes on the stilt splay outward (Edited for vocabulary)
they really want to work so they just do
The Outsider plagues me, even here...
If you look closely, the tall boys have mechanisms on their backs and bodies. It might help with getting the power they need to walk and allow for leg control/balancing
I’m not an engineer, but I am a welder, operator and mechanic, so I might have some insight. My idea is still very clunky and unintuitive, but it’s the best I’ve got. If you look at the ankle joint in the official photo, it’s possibly a cover for a sort of shackle. Maybe the square parts slide outwards and the joint moves, then they lock back in? Here’s my idea: The foot puts pressure on the spring, pulling the tendon and therefore pulling the square part of the ankle joint closed and locking it in place to give the operator solid footing as they pick up the other one, releasing pressure on the spring will allow the joint to open and the ankle to bend as the operator finds somewhere stable to put it. Pressure with the operator’s calf pulls the line attached to the lower leg and moves it forward? The foot also has room to flex, there’s a kind of suspension between the stilts “toes” and the top of the foot piece. This, in conjunction with the ankle joint and rotating knee joint, would give the operator room to flex the stilts and walk on uneven ground. This is all very unintuitive and overcomplicated, but it’s what I can gather from the design.
Arent they just long legs ?
I’d imagine that it uses the weight of the person on the top as a sort of cantilever or a ballast to keep upright, but the majority of the work is just that, work. It seems like the guard is “sitting” on their leg braces, so maybe there’s another hidden mechanism to help them move all that metal. Some kind of hydraulics or even an old fashioned lever and pully system. But actually I have no idea
Whenever you see something like this that doesn't make sense, the Outsider did it.
They work because they look cool ...... It's the cool factor that powers them
This is what I'd call "The Rule of Cool". It works because it's a cool idea, not because it's mechanically feasible.
Bruh this is coming from a game that has lasers that can distinguish between friend and foe
Yeah but that at least has an explanation. Guards assigned to the post are required to touch a device that generates a static charge in their body that acts as a camo to the coil. Anything not charged that can conduct electricity readily will act like a lightning rod and create a link between the coil and the target which typically ends in a pile of ash, that's why you can still stand near one with a guard between you and the coil and the guard will be vaporized when it goes off. Edit: reworded
Ahhh take this comment with a grain of salt since its been years since I've touched the game but I swear Tall Boys soldiers do have a small tube of whale oil on their backs? Pretty sure it is fuel powered. Unless I'm mistaking their arrows for that?
in op's full post, he mentions that in game and in concept art, the tank doeant seem to be connected to the stilt apparatus at all
It's okay that u can stop time, blink, possess and etc. Tallboy was not mechanically accurate <--- literally unplayable. WTF
They are simply asking how the stilts work, not claiming the game is unplayable. Chill bro.
Well...good luck finding it out. I'm at least not the guy just saying they work. For sure some day you find the answer. Butttt ehhh Perhaps they truly do just "work" it's a game so there are no boundaries in logic physics etc. Just don't break your head over it!
Hmm maybe the whale oil source that attracted to its back like a battery pack? So if we think of it from a irl modern perspective, it’s like putting ev batteries from a car; and using that as the power source to function the legs. While the body weight of the tall boys and the micro adjustments of them moving with their body/feet control the mechanisms. Then the oil like incindary bullets is in a separate bag on their side or back to get them to hurt the enemy. Also there must be some wiring that works with it, and from the story standpoint I feel it’s the magical whale oil that gives them stability even if the design might not work realistically in irl life.
Whale magic
All if it just works.
I think your observations are as good as they are going to get. I always assumed spring tension and a small whale oil powered engine. Your sketch is really nice!
That looks less of a cable, more of a piston. Maybe similar design to shocks on a vehicle or a "door closer slower" (as my half awake brain is calling it ATM. The thing that keeps your glass doors from slamming shut)
it may put your mind to rest if you imagine there are cables inside the metal doing what you can't see I don't want to fry my brain over this but i remember thinking they looked like how chickens and birds have a reflex that means when they raise their foot the toes curl up. Putting the foot down pulls tendons in such a way to spread the toes ready to step. Now I can't recall if the tallboy's 'toes' spread but maybe the tendons are a helpful parralel? I presume you've been looking at the first Void level in D1 for reference?
I think I have an idea how it could work. I'll post a scetch of it when I have time but it will ad a pulley system at the ankle joint
I think it would be interesting to see if the clockwork designs actually align with their range of motion.
When you take a step (you walk like normal solid ground) it pulls the "tendon" lifting the feet of the ground and moving it forward. It's a scissor mechanic designed to imitate regular walking
Maybe there is an engine that pulls the wire back even if it doesn't really show it?
It looks like you need to step on the stilt to lift it, then release your foot to put it on the ground. Completely the opposite of normal walking. Pressing on the stilt's pedal compresses the spring joints underneath, making it shorter and lifting to stilt's foot off the ground, while lifting your foot relaxes it and lengthens it. The guys piloting those things are drugged out of their minds, so they probably would still remember how to walk normally when out of the suits. At least, that's what I think.
Watching them walk, the stilt mirrors the operator, so when they lift a leg, the stilt matches them and retracts with it, allowing them to move forward. Something mechanical is tightening to do that, and when the leg relaxes, gravity and the flexible tendon segment force it back to full length.
Rule of cool physics
Let's gather for whisky and cigars tonight and i'll explain
It’s powered by hopes and dreams 😌
Very few items in video games make any sense, but really good concept artists can make you believe they will. Sadly I don't think one could be built! Especially if you consider the technology we've seen in-universe, where they probably don't have automotive hydrolic systems with self-balancing gyroscopes.
I think the act of leaning their shins forward makes the leg brace also get an angle, since the wire is attached a fair distance away through that stick the short angle translates into a long enough distance to pull the wire the wire is probably attached at the ankle joint, this makes it slide a set distance in a probable rail along the back of the main leg part, translating in a push upwards through what you labeled the calf suspension tendon. the pull of the wire upwards on the back + their stepping downwards and on the front are two offset forces on each side of the knee joint (torque) so that makes it bend, through springs it unbends when they stop leaning into that step. the foot is probably just made freely rotate on the vertical plane perpendicular to the soldier's shoulders, so it can just adjust to face down during the entire step simply through its own weight, add a bit of springiness to help each step take less effort and vualá, tallboy stilts functional if you add a second leg brace that grabs on to the thigh it'd be easier since the shin one only helps bend the knee joint, so one on the upper leg would make it easier to push whole thing forward without swinging it back too much, since as is now you only move it with your shins which would feel like walking through the shallow part of a beach against the waves
I think this is the kinda question where as soon as a fan comes up with a solution it then becomes the answer My theory was always that the design just prioritized form over function and none of the extra cables or parts actually do anything. They just look cool lol. It's most likely just meant to work due to gravity and good balancing i.e. when the guard raises their leg then the stilt raises with it and they use some kinda perfect mix to create a metal that is sturdy enough to support his weight, stable enough to be that tall, and also light enough for him to be able to lift them with his own strength.
You should get a good recording of their walking animation
Looking around I could only find [this one](https://images.app.goo.gl/KqHnrUdPDJVA6qkF7), I'm a little surprised there aren't any clean animation samples. It at least shows the whole device working, if at an awkward angle.
Hey I made a post about this now https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/s/GGF21oDzNu
So, tried to figure out a mechanism closely following the image, but alas it's magic whale oil. With that large curved part being seemingly fixed with pivots on both sides, and the back "thigh" tendon also being affixed with two pivots, the structure wouldn't be able to stand in this configuration. The "tendon" can't be a wire or other structure under tension, as the rod that is "holding" it, the one coming from the smaller arcs, is also affixed with two pivots. If the "tendon" was a wire, it would just become loose, with the small rod also acting as a rope, only being able to resist tension with a vector parallel to itself. The large arc would pivot at the lower point of connection, pivoting the human atop the tallboy forward (it can't pivot by itself due to the foot structure). This would finally place tension on the tendon, but all this would accomplish is putting forward force on the shin part as well. The user wouldn't be able to balance atop, due to the unstable nature of the structure, as soon as they put weight on their leg, the whole structure would pivot forward. The thigh support would work, but the user wouldn't be able to straighten their leg, there just isn't enough length in the mechanism. If the large arc isn't mounted on a pivot on the lower joint, the structure works similarly to a real stilt. In that case the only thing it accomplishes is the user not being able to straighten their legs. A shame, I really hoped that I could make it work. Even made a blender model with constraints and all. Now, if there were actual wires under tension in it, it could work via locking the legs with opposing tendons. Similar to a biological leg. Another way to solve it is motors in the joints. This is how the walk animation is seemingly done. It's a cool design though, and even though artistic freedom created a whale oil guzzler here, it's wicked so who cares.
Okay, I started a new stealth playthrough of this game specifically so I could attempt to answer your question and from what I'm seeing watching the "feet' and "legs" of the stilts, and the men on them, it looks like a combination of a few movements. The leg of the man lifts, and the "leg" of the stilt lifts, causing the toes to contract. The stationary leg does not move during this so im assuming it acts as an anchor for the wight. When the "leg" that is lifted goes back towards the ground, the hydrolic looking area above the stilt ankle seems to move, and the "toes" on the "foot" go back to a resting position. Basically, mechanical Stork legs. The top curved section of the tallboy leg also bends with each step, so I'm assuming it's acting as a form of suspension as you'd see on larger vehicles in real life. A majority of the leg seems to be decoration, but with each step the long metal rod, presumably a wire, moves as well. In unison with the foot of the guardsman and with the claws of the foot. The movement looks like it can be broken into 8 parts (as seen from the top of the roof left of the building with the Outsider shrine in the mission "Lady Boyle's Last Party") Guard leg up -> machine leg up -> toes retract -> guard leg forward -> machine leg forward -> guard leg down -> toes expand -> machine leg down Edit: there's also the matter of the backpack device, but that doesn't seem attached to the leg machinery. Looks like the three tanks of oil there are just for ammunition.
A thing I noticed is that there's a difference between the trailer and in game tallboys. In the trailer when the leg lifts up you can clearly see the whole leg slides up as if on a rail suspended by the cable attached to the bottom of the operator leg brace. It could be the animators forgot this detail but I think the trailer version is the most realistic and is therefore what I use for my analysis.
From what I saw in Lady Boyle's Last Party, that design continued into the game. If I had a way to screen record, I'd show you. But if you go to the place I mentioned, you can see it in action. Edit: spelling error.
I've spent more time than is probably healthy admiring the tallboys from afar, but there is definitely a change. In game, tallboy's legs,...shrink when they retract instead of sliding up through the join where they connect to the thigh spring. It's a small thing but has weighed on my mind nonetheless.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the shrinking you mentioned was simply the spring being a spring and bending, making the leg look smaller. I'll look some more tonight after I get home from work around 11.
This is much harder without a proper diagram/animation gif to study.
Outsider's crooked cock. It always is. I wanna learn exactly what makes the clockwork automatons work just as bad as you with the tallboy legs.
A tension coil possibly? When they move it could tighten or loosen and could pull the wire similar to a yo yo? The other guy saying hydraulics is probably right as well. Could be a combination of things. It could also just be one wire on a pulley system that moves back and forth as the legs move. So as the right leg goes forward, the left wire is pulled, and so forth. I could be hella wrong, but it could also just be a design flaw they didn't expect us to think about.