The Mech Touch

Chapter 7084: Applying Damage

Requests like the one made by Harry Kaikkonen kept pouring in over the course of the day.

The mech designers all wanted to come up with impressive mech proposals, but it was difficult to cook impressive meals with ordinary ingredients.

It was not impossible to do so. A great chef should always be able to draw out the full potential of the most basic of ingredients.

The issue was that Journeymen rarely if ever reached this impossible standard. They still needed access to good tech and materials in order to elevate the performance of their mech concepts.

This was why they continued to knock on Gloriana’s door and inquire about the possibility of making special accommodations.

Her answer to these requests was relatively simple.

The negotiations between the Larkinson Clan and the Cybernetic Empire had not yet concluded, but there was a lot of CE tech that the former had no chance of obtaining.

The Cybers understood the value of their advanced tech quite well and made it as difficult as possible to exchange them. Gloriana did not think it was a good idea to make too many assumptions before the Larkinsons secured anything concrete.

She rejected most requests when it came to borrowing CE tech.

Fortunately, she did not put up excessive barriers when it came to borrowing tech from the Red Association or one of the two independent colonial alliances.

“You can borrow the proprietary fire breathing mechanism that makes the Dracoloid model so great at close quarters combat, but think carefully whether you can justify its addition. It takes up a considerable amount of internal space and runs out of propellant quickly. Do not tunnel vision on function. The theme is also important. A fire-breathing dragon mech simply works because mech pilots already have a strong ability to visualize this method of attack. If you try to do the same with a humanoid mech, it simply will not work as well because humans are not able to breathe fire under normal circumstances.”

The differences were not too big, but any tiny shift could mean th4 difference between victory or defeat.

Another interesting proposal that the Larkinsons received was permission to use small amounts of superdimensional matter.

“Since we are starting off by designing first-class mechs that are exclusive to the Larkinson Clan, I see no reason to keep superdimensional technology out of the equation.” Sara Voiken calmly argued. “Generous use of low-grade superdimensional matter or sparing use of mid-grade superdimensional matter can make a large difference in the survivability of our standard mechs. We should at least consider the use of superdimensional alloys to strengthen the protection of our cockpits.”

She made a valid argument. It was not as if the Larkinson Clan made extensive use of low-grade superdimensional matter. The use of mid-grade stuff was a bit more problematic, though.

“We will need to discuss this with the matriarch.” Gloriana stated with a serious expression. “Personally, I am inclined to approve the use of low-grade superdimensional matter in generous quantities. The material has too many inadequacies to be used as the foundation of an armor system, but it can be used as a supplement to defend against most incidental attacks. Forming an additional layer of armor out of low-grade superdimensional matter is a cost-effective idea.”

“What about the use of mid-grade superdimensional matter, Gloriana? We do not need to expend this resource on too many mechs. The Premier Fleet can only field so many machines. We owe it to our soldiers to provide them with superior protection.”

Ves was inclined to agree, but he knew how much the Larkinsons burned through their reserves of mid-grade superdimensional matter.

His wife knew as well.

“I will not support it for the time being. Our reserves are dwindling at a rapid pace. There are too many uses for it. Many of our expert mechs can benefit from an armor system that is partially made out of superdimensional alloys. For that reason, I cannot permit any further expenditures of mid-grade superdimensional matter unless our reserves have grown larger than ever.”

That disappointed the defensive specialist. The EdNet graduate had come back to realspace with many ideas on how to design a machine that could shrug off any damage with superior armor systems and alloys.

“For now, you need to make do with low-grade superdimensional alloys. Most of them still offer superior performance to transphasic alloys, though the differences are much smaller than we would wish.” Gloriana stated.

That might not remain the case for long. Material scientists were already hard at work trying to experiment with different combinations and proportions of superdimensional and normal materials.

Low-grade superdimensional matter was the hardest to work with due to its inferior qualities. It produced a lot of problems when attempting to blend it with other materials, but that was what made this challenge so exciting.

Humans did not believe that low-grade superdimensional matter would remain worthless. Even if its foundations were trash, the fact that it possessed genuine superdimensional qualities made it useful.

The researchers just needed to discover a viable method to produce a good result.

The Red Cabal had already proved that it was possible to elevate the properties of mid-grade superdimensional matter by ‘half a step’.

If red humanity could develop a similar trick that worked on the most abundant variety of superdimensional matter, then that would go a long way into making superdimensional tech more accessible to rank-and-file mech pilots!

As the Larkinson mech designers continued to buzz over their upcoming proposals, Ves reviewed the suggested tweaks and changes that Dulo Voiken wanted to make on the Riot Mark III design.

“I do not fully understand what you are going for when designing this frankly absurd take on an expert spearman mech, but I do know that Rosa Orfan will be relying heavily on a tier 3 Destroyer spear as the primary source of her damage output. Wielding a high-tier Destroyer weapon is a separate challenge all on its own. The two of you have made decent attempts to accommodate this weapon systems, but there are still a number of shortcomings that I think should be changed before you finalize the design.”

Both Ves and Gloriana gathered in front of Dulo while studying the Riot Mark III design.

The design so far was very close to completion. Gloriana had worked hard to convert the expert spearman mech into a full first-class superdimensional expert archemech, one that could easily be upgraded to an ace mech by replacing a number of archemetal components if Rosa Orfan managed to break through in the near future.

A number of red highlights appeared across the arms, the shoulder, the upper torso, the legs and other parts.

“These parts need changing the most.” Dulo said. “The proportions and lengths need to change in order to better complement a spear style that makes good use of the special properties of a Destroyer weapon. In order to do the tier 3 Destroyer spear justice, I have specifically taken courses on Destroyer technology.”

“Destroyer technology is exclusive to the Terrans. How much do you know?” Ves skeptically asked.

“The mechers do not have a full understanding, but they know enough to be able to model how it works more or less. I think there are very few mech designers who understand Destroyer technology more than anyone else in the Design Department. What you need to know is that physical force is important, but not as much as with solid alloy speartips. A Destroyer spear is a weapon that relies much more on the high concentration of Destroyer particles to serve as the main source of damage. It is therefore vital to satisfy two conditions: prolonging the moment of contact, and preventing the spear from backlashing against its own wielder.”

Gloriana studied the sections that Dulo wanted to change and saw the logic in most of the suggestions.

“I see. These changes will decrease the amount of physical force that the Riot Mark III can exert with his arms and upper torso, but they will also increase his ability to control his weapon.”

Dulo nodded. “The precision and ability to maintain sustained pressure against enemy resistance is more important than the ability to generate a large amount of physical force in short bursts. Mind you, this is the opposite when it comes to wielding a naked alloy blade. When wielding such weapons, it is all the more important to be able to thrust the spear forward and punch through enemy defenses to the greatest possible extent. There may be other factors in play such as the frequency of stabbing attacks and the recovery speed of the artificial muscles and so on. In this case, I think the Riot Mark III can perform best if he can consistently keep the speartip in contact with his enemy.”

Against weaker opponents, it was not necessary to pay attention to this as the Destroyer weapon usually penetrated straight through enemy defenses.

That did not work against a tougher opponent, especially those that possessed superior defensive capabilities.

The best way to crack such a tough nut was to keep the dangerous end of the Destroyer weapon in contact with the enemy.

The contact or close proximity of an unshielded object would instantly draw the hostility of Destroyer particles. The latter would definitely generate a lot of volatility that would begin to annihilate the surface components of the target.

“Super physical strength is not completely useless to a mech that wields a Destroyer weapon.” Ves noted. “It can be used to plunge the tip of the Destroyer spear deep into the interior of a phase lord or warship. By punching through the surface defensive layers, the weapon can do critical damage against vital parts or organs.”

“You are not wrong, sir, which is why I do not suggest we weaken the Riot Mark III to this extent.” Dulo replied. “However, prolonged contact is much more reliable than repeatedly stabbing an enemy when trying to overcome azure energy shields. I have witnessed plenty of battle footage of Terran mechs able to strip the energy defenses in record time by relying on their Destroyer weapons. Even if more and more people are developing countermeasures against enemy transphasic energy defenses, it will take years at best for these solutions to become more widespread.”

The EdNet graduate continued his presentation. He suggested numerous other small tweaks that could make a significant difference when combined with the rest of his order.

“You should think of adding a physical shield.” He suggested next. “My suggestion would be to add a slender tower shield that is tall on the vertical axis and short on the horizontal axis. This will not provide much cover to other mechs that may have reasons to shelter behind the Riot Mark III, but that is not the latter’s job.”

The projection changed to show a relatively simple slender tower shield with rounded edges.

“Interesting.” Ves remarked. “It is too much, though. The Riot Mark III is designed with two-hand spear wielding in mind. Adding in a tower shield no matter how helpful it seems also comes with additional complications.

The relatively hefty bulk of the Riot Mark III grew even more unwieldy with the additional slab of metal in his hands.

The added burden exerted more stress on the arms and joints. The arm wielding the tier 3 Destroyer spear also suffered a lot. The Riot Mark III was not able to stab enemies with as much force as possible, and his control would also suffer.

“I agree with my husband.” Gloriana backed him up. “The scope of these proposed changes are too large. Save it for the Riot Mark IV. I think that our clan will be in a much better position to improve the mech further.”

That answer disappointed Dulo, but he did not fight back against this judgment. “Well, it was worth a try. I shall reluctantly keep my more radical ideas at bay. If finishing the Riot Mark III Project is still our highest priority, then I will limit my suggestions to quick and easy fixes.”

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