The Mech Touch

Optimizing the subordinate mechs for kinetic ranged weapon usage came with a lot of consequences.

It would impose a standard that many customers would probably abide by. Their success and failure on the battlefield would depend in large part on the weapons they employed.

"We believe the tradeoffs are worth it." Jovy confidently said. "There are three advantages to pairing the Swarm Project with kinetic ranged weapons. First, the mechs are fast and relatively fragile, so they are not that suited for long, drawn-out engagements where energy weapons generally hold an advantage. It is much better for the Carmine mechs to enter the battlefield, fight intensively for a short period of time before rapidly disengaging from the battlefield in order to repair and resupply. If we had chosen to make the subordinate mechs large and bulky, then an argument could have been made to favor energy weapons instead."

"You can make a similar argument for pairing heavier mechs with kinetic weapons, Jovy." Ves pointed out. "Most heavy artillery mechs tend to favor physical projectiles over energy beams."

"Yes, but there are additional factors at play that we will not get into. The second advantage to pairing our subordinate mechs with kinetic weapons is that they will not exert a large drain on the energy reserves of the Carmine mech. Our designs will have greater leeway to channel more energy into other functions such as the flight system and the hyper shield generators, thereby increasing their overall survivability. Pairing our mechs up with energy weapons can quickly drain their energy reserves and force them to return to base earlier anyway."

This argument partially depended on the power of the energy weapons. The cheaper human starfighters tended to put a lower cap on the firepower of their energy weapons in order to moderate the energy consumption and the heat buildup of the craft in question.

However, Ves didn't really want to limit the firepower of the Carmine mechs too much. It would be too difficult for them to make a substantial impact on the battlefield if they behaved like little more than oversized fey.

"What about the third advantage?"

"The sheer variation of choice of high-attribute ammunition. One of the main characteristics of Lord Richard's work that has earned him a group of devoted fans is how his mechs and kinetic weapons can easily respond to different situations by picking and choosing the most appropriate ammunition types for their missions. A fight against alien warships at long range will call for heavy kinetic rounds that can produce electrical disruption effects upon impact. A fight against alien phasefighters may merit the use of lighter rounds that can be fired at a more rapid rate or short-range canister rounds that can inflict spread damage. The additional effects generated by the use of specific exotics and hypers means that the combinations are virtually endless."

This was the real value to using kinetic ranged weapons. There was a huge variety of projectiles available. Although most customers did not really put too much thought into selecting the kind of ammunition they wanted to employ, their choices actually had a huge influence on the outcome of their battles!

By inviting a mech designer known for developing a lot of exotic ammunition for kinetic weapons into the design team, a lot of Carmine mech pilots would gain an easy way to increase or specialize their combat performance.

This was especially important as so many subordinate mechs would probably get sold and used that it was impossible to upgrade and customize all of them according to the desires of their users!

Since Carmine mech pilots were permanently bonded to a single Carmine mech for the rest of their lives, they could not easily upgrade their combat effectiveness by switching to a better mech. They had to wait until a mech designer or mech company became available to upgrade their existing Carmine mechs, and that could only happen if the clients found a way to cover for the expenses, which probably wouldn't happen all that often.

Upgrading a Carmine mech in order to increase its performance was impractical for most Carmine mech pilots.

In lieu of upgrading the mech itself, a much more convenient way to increase their combat power was to switch to using better high-attribute ammunition!

The cost of these superior rounds was undoubtedly greater, but it should still be within a tolerable range as long as they did not make use of overly scarce materials.

The extensive variety of damage types and additional effects that characterized Lord Richard's work reminded Ves of his own work in luminar crystal weapons.

Many of his ranged mechs were armed with luminar crystal weapons. One of the more notable features of these alien-derived armaments was their ability to switch their damage types by swapping out their attack phase crystals.

The two different weapon systems obviously possessed a lot of similarities, but differed in numerous key details.

Luminar crystal weapons were more cost effective over the long run as long as the guns as well as their corresponding attack phase crystals remained intact. However, they were difficult to repair and also troublesome to mass produce. Their cost was also on the higher end as they relied on good materials to form good luminar crystals.

Although Ves personally preferred to equip his first commercial Carmine mechs with luminar crystal weapons, the alien nature of their underlying tech held them back. If the Carmine mechs attained mass adoption, then it became crucial that as many aspects of the design remained as transparent and easy to work with as possible.

Ves could not escape the fact that the organic Carmine System in itself was a huge pain for clients to maintain and take care of, but there was no way to avoid this burden.

If he wanted to make life easier for his future clients and customers, then he had to make sure that the rest of the subordinate mechs could easily be serviced, repaired and upgraded by any technical crew.

That meant that it was better to skip out on luminar crystal technology. The Larkinson Clan may be well-equipped to produce, repair and maintain the abundant amount of luminar crystal weapons in use, but that did not apply to other groups!

Lord Richard Brownstone's design philosophy was a lot easier to work with on this level. The kinetic weapons themselves weren't anything special. Any generic first-class, second-class or third-class kinetic weapon could be used to fire any appropriate high-attribute round for the caliber, weapon type and tech level.

Ves looked more and more intrigued. "Let's schedule a meeting with Lord Richard as well. How long will it take to bring him over? I would prefer to talk to him in person, but if the delay is too much, we can chat by remote."

"Lord Richard Brownstone currently resides in the Brownstone Principality. Since the Rubarthan Pact has to bridge the Red Ocean Union in order to enter the Terran Alliance, it will take at least several weeks for the Rubarthan mech designer to arrive in New Constantinople VIII, and that is assuming he boards a fast courier vessel equipped with a modern superdrive."

"That's too long." Ves frowned. "Since our project needs to deliver 6 mech designs within half a year, a week is already too much of a delay."

"This is not an unacceptable circumstance in my opinion." Jovy shared his own thoughts. "Lord Richard's work is much less tied to the mech frame than what is typically the case. We can start our work in advance and wait until he has arrived before he begins his own work. It shouldn't matter too much if he arrives late as his obligations are not as demanding as that of Lady Romanda."

The Survivalist made a good point. Ves thought for a moment before he made a decision.

"Then allow me to hold a brief discussion with Lord Richard before we invite him to New Constantinople VIII to hold a more elaborate talk. I do not want to call him over just to waste time by concluding that he is not a good fit for the Swarm Project. We could have spent that time to examine and invite another Rubarthan mech designer."

Jovy briefly frowned. "I shall see what I can arrange for you. Do note that your Carmine System should still remain confidential. You are not allowed to leak any direct information about it to third parties. Even if it is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain total secrecy over the Swarm Project, the longer it remains in the shadows, the less likely that enemies such as the cosmopolitans will take action to sabotage our endeavor."

The mention of cosmopolitans instantly made Ves' blood boil. He still hadn't forgiven Master Xieliq Quan for his bizarre assassination attempt!

"I know. I will try my best to control the information I reveal to the man in our upcoming call."

They talked about a few other related subjects before they ended the meeting.

Since time was of the essence, Ves already had an appointment to meet with Lady Romanda Devos later in the evening.

It was quite fortunate that she was not only present on New Constantinople VIII, but also willing to meet with Ves on short notice!

Just before Ves was about to get teleported back to the surface of the planet, Vector Loban briefly held him back by touching him on the shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Please make a good effort to recruit Lady Romanda." The Transhumanist quietly said. "There are other Terran candidates that we can choose from if she rejects your invitation, but I would prefer it if that does not happen."

"I have no intention of botching this recruitment attempt, Vector. Why are you going out of your way to plead for Lady Romanda in particular?"

"I have an exciting design application in mind that has the potential to transform the Carmine mech even further. If you have managed to get her onboard the Swarm Project, then I intend to hold a long discussion with her about combining our design philosophies to develop a joint design application."

Ves raised his eyebrow as he thought about what the two Seniors could produce together.

"You want to turn Lady Romanda's ultra-large cockpits into partial or fully organic systems?"

Vector nodded. "That is a rough description of my idea."

"Won't that make the subordinate mechs a lot more difficult to maintain and produce? A lot of mech outfits simply aren't equipped to service biomechs or cyborg mechs."

"I do not think it is that great of an obstacle in the case of the Swarm Project. There are biomechs that are highly capable of repairing and maintaining their own organic parts and systems. People only need to give them enough space and resources to conduct their own repairs."

"Well, if you truly think this is a good fit for the Swarm Project, then you are free to explore the viability and practicality of this design application. Just make sure you come to me with a proposal before working on it any further. Turning the ultra-large cockpit into a fully organic thing is a really big deal for many people, especially when it occupies half of the torso!"

Although the complexity of the subordinate mechs would become much greater by incorporating a lot of organic elements to the design, the tradeoffs may be worth it, so Ves did not rule out this bold suggestion right away.

He still remained a bit ambivalent on how much of his Carmine mechs should be organic as opposed to metallic. The more organic parts he added to their design, the less people were able to work with it in any capacity.

"It is not too serious of a setback if my idea is unworkable." Vector reassured Ves. "I still need to explore the potential benefits further. I see great promise in fully organic cockpits, but I need to conduct more research before I can make more solid claims about the benefits."

"Take your time, then. I look forward to seeing what you have in mind."

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