The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

The Giant Killer was by far the strongest and most expensive mech design in development. None of the other five mech designs could match the extravagance that Ves wanted to lavish on the Penitent Sisters.

Despite the formidable firepower that Ves intended to integrate into the Giant Killer, he and Juliet had to make several compromises over the course of the design process.

This wasn't a big deal. With how much money Ves invested into the design, the Giant Killer still possessed enough armor and mobility to be useful in space.

There were two downsides that Ves and Juliet weren't effectively able to address.

The Sarun rounds were so big and massive that the Giant Killer wasn't capable of carrying a lot of ammunition. It also cost a lot of energy to accelerate these rounds at very high speeds.

The other downside was its range constraints.

Kinetic weapons generally fared worse at longer ranges, and this was especially the case in space. Each additional millisecond it took for a round to travel from the barrel of a gun to its intended target lowered the chance that it would actually hit the mark.

When this interval increased to five seconds or longer, the chance of hitting any somewhat agile mechs in space was practically minimal!

This meant that the Giant Killer did not excel at long-range sniping. It might do okay against huge capital ships, but there was no way it could realistically hit an enemy mech that was aware of the threat.

"This mech isn't so stellar up close either."

As a cannoneer mech, it did not possess any inherent melee combat capabilities. While Ves could supply it with a backup sword and a modest buckler, its fighting capabilities at point-blank range simply couldn't match that of a melee mech that was five times cheaper!

Therefore, the Giant Killer had to be deployed in combination with other mechs in order to prevent enemies from getting too close.

In particular, cannoneer mechs such as the Giant Killer were known to perform exceptionally poorly against light skirmishers!

"The Giant Killer works best against resilient but relatively immobile targets." Juliet summed up. "It is also a capable siege mech against starships and space stations."

"The Transcendent Punisher is even better at performing this role."

"True, sir, but the Giant Killer can be deployed in flanks and far away from our fleet. It can also be deployed in atmospheric conditions, though don't expect too much of its aerial capabilities."

That was still better than the Transcendent Punisher which was basically a turret that could move at crawling speeds!

While atmospheric combat was not as important as spaceborn combat to the Larkinson Clan, Ves recognized the Giant Killer had a lot of potential if deployed on a planet.

While the mech's underpowered legs meant that it moved slowly on land, as long as the local gravity wasn't strong enough, it was capable of flying in the air!

Sure, the Giant Killer wouldn't win any races, but its powerful and expensive flight system was more than capable of lifting its heavy bulk for a decent amount of time!

This was quite a challenge to Ves, but Juliet excelled in implementing these kinds of features. Her mobility-oriented design philosophy allowed her to propose solutions that made sure the Giant Killer was able to fly as fast and nimbly as possible in space and under atmospheric conditions!

During one design session, Juliet revealed something important to Ves.

"I've been speaking with Commander Chancy and some other Penitent Sister mech pilots. They're not accustomed to piloting cannoneer mechs. Our ranged mech pilots will need to undergo additional training in order to pilot a mech like the Giant Killer. It will take months if not years to get used to its characteristics."

"Do you think this will be a problem?" Ves asked.

"Not necessarily. Our mech pilots are very skilled and cannoneer mechs are pretty similar to rifleman mechs. The Giant Killer is relatively easy to learn but difficult to master. It's just that it is too unwieldy to fit in the Penitent Sister combat doctrine. Our mech pilots prefer to pilot mobile, assault-oriented mechs in battle. We like to be aggressive and want to punch our enemy hard. If we can outflank our enemy, then that is even better."

"The Giant Killer is not supposed to be a burden." Ves replied. "I know its design is somewhat at odds with the mobile fighting style of the Penitent Sisters, but the firepower it possesses is more than worth it. As long as your mech pilots are able to gain the Superior Mother's help, then I can scarcely imagine the results!"

His body shook with anticipation. He couldn't wait to see the Giant Killer in action at its full strength. When the Penitent Sister battle network engaged with both the mech pilots along with their living mechs, the resulting amplification should not be as simple as 1 + 1.

"This will definitely produce a lot of synergy!"

In fact, Ves even believed that it would open an entirely new door with regards to empowering his mechs!

Though the requirements were strict, as long as his mech pilots were cohesive enough, they should each be able to employ fully-powered battle formations in battle.

His ultimate ambition was to provide a signature mech to every mech force aside from the Living Sentinels. The Giant Killer was just the first of its kind!

"Hopefully, Ketis will advance to Journeyman soon. As long as she solidifies her design philosophy, she's qualified to design a swordsman mech that will massively empower the Swordmaidens."

It was enough to design one signature mech for each mech force. While Ves could design additional mechs that synergized well with battle networks, he was a bit reluctant to do so. The biggest downside to employing battle formations was that they rapidly drained the mental endurance of mech pilots. Once the Penitent Sisters or the Swordmaidens unleashed their power, they became too weak to continue the fight.

This was why the Larkinson Clan had to make sure the battle formations were used at the right time. If the enemy wasn't finished off by the time the battle formations lost steam, then a lot of Larkinson mechs would turn into sitting ducks!

As Ves devoted much of his remaining time on his mech design projects, he also paid enough attention to some other developments.

One of the most important issues facing the Larkinson Clan was how it intended to expand its fleet.

For now, the Larkinsons were done with acquiring sub-capital ships. It possessed enough combat carriers to cross through multiple star clusters.

What truly mattered to Ves and his clansmen was acquiring additional capital ships. So far, the clan hadn't made any solid moves in this regard, but this was not the wisest decision.

As Ves entered a compartment that was claimed by the Larkinson Clan's new Naval Design Department, he entered a smaller office occupied by its department head.

Vivian Tsai had adjusted well to her new job. She had joined the Larkinson Clan without issue and had even hired a bunch of shipwrights and naval engineers to form a design team of her own.

Her desk lit up with various projections of design schematics. As Ves passed through the entrance and took his seat, the chief ship designer looked up from her schematics.

"Ah, welcome to the Naval Design Department, patriarch." She greeted. "We've been hard at work trying to come up with some viable ship design concepts in the past few months. We have explored enough ideas now that we could use your input on which of them we should flesh out. The sooner we complete a design, the sooner we can place an order at a shipyard that is along our route. Do take into account that it typically takes a year to build a decent-sized capital ship. You need to plan ahead in order to prevent our fleet from lingering in a star system because we are forced to wait until we have received our order."

Ves nodded in understanding. "I'm aware of that. This is also why it's important for us to obtain our capital ships as soon as possible. If we wait too long, we might have to delay our passage through the beyonder gate. I want to avoid this outcome. Anyway, let's proceed with the ship concepts. Introduce them to me. Start with what you think is the most essential capital ship we need to add to our fleet."

The former Majestic Tealer took a deep breath. Ever since she accepted the officer to become the highest-ranking shipwright of the Larkinson Clan, she assumed a lot of responsibility.

Her work would define the Larkinson fleet for decades and centuries to come! Each capital ship she realized would play a very important role. They determined how the Larkinsons lived, fought and moved in space.

She waved her hand, causing all of her incomplete schematics to disappear. Instead, a different and more presentable ship design appeared in view.

As Ves studied the schematics, he immediately realized that they depicted a large and bulky capital ship. The proposed vessel was clad with an abundant amount of armor, and also incorporated some very unusual elements that he had never seen in a starship design.

"What am I looking at, exactly?"

Vivian smiled. "I think that both of us agree that the first capital ship we should acquire is a fleet carrier. We need a solid combat-oriented capital ship that can not only carry mechs, but also offer solid cover in areas where there is no cover in sight. The Gorgoneion is designed to meet the Larkinson Clan's most acute combat needs."

"Hmmm.." Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin as he tried to glean more details from the Gorgoneion's draft design. "If I'm reading it correctly, this fleet carrier has a lot of mass."

"That's correct, sir." Vivian nodded. "The Gorgoneion is explicitly designed to resist damage. In her normal configuration, she boasts decent all-round damage resistance."

"She has another configuration?"

"Yes. See here." Vivian pointed at the strange sections that contained a lot of huge mechanical parts. "These parts allow the Gorgoneion to 'unfold' her exterior and form a solid, directional barrier in space. The simplest way to describe this function is that the Gorgoneion is able to transform from a moving ship into an immobile wall or fortification."

"This.. sounds quite intriguing. I can see how that can be useful, but what makes this wall configuration worth the trouble?"

"Right now, our fleet is fairly mobile, but we don't have a ship that can offer defenses comparable to the Gorgoneion. With this fleet carrier, we have an answer against enemies that are faster than us and determined to lock us in battle."

She tapped the projection. The depiction of the Gorgoneion shifted in form as her armor plating shifted in place.

In some areas, the heavy plating left their original positions. In other areas, nearby plating layered on top of each other in order to beef up their sections.

What was particularly notable to Ves was that all of the shifting resulted in a wall that was anything but simple.

Their transformed Gorgoneion not only featured a good amount of bunkers, but also featured small gaps that served as gun ports. These clever holes in the wall allowed a lot of ranged mechs to fire their weapons behind almost complete cover.

Ves was very impressed by the thoughtfulness of this configuration!

"This looks quite impressive. I can see that there are some downsides to this wall configuration. It offers some defense against attacks from the side, but it doesn't offer any protection against attacks from the rear."

"That is unfortunately the case. It is better not to engage the wall configuration if we are attacked from multiple sides. The Gorgoneion in this mode fares best if the enemy attacks from a single direction."

Ves grimaced a bit. "Once our enemies are aware of the characteristics of the Gorgoneion, they will make sure to attack us from multiple angles."

"That is possible, but the fact that the Gorgoneion is able to increase the difficulty of attacking our fleet is already valuable in itself."

"Hmm. You have a point. How many mechs does she carry?"