From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 254 GAT-X303 'Sacred Shield'

"Boss, the ATT squadron has arrived."

Amber, who was discussing follow-up combat plans with others in the forward camp command center, paused the meeting and walked out immediately after hearing the report from his subordinates.

As the remaining imperial troops retreated to Ptolemaic City, the coalition forces began to advance the front after receiving support from the remaining elements of the post-planetary garrison.

After taking control of the two satellite cities of Ptolemaic City, we also obtained a lot of supplies. Although ammunition and most of the oil still needed to be transported from the space elevator to the front line by transport troops, it was still better than before. A lot.

At least the forward camps deployed by the coalition forces on the outskirts of two satellite cities can be connected to the city's water supply system, allowing the mobile bathhouses to achieve 24-hour unlimited supply.

Hot baths may seem ordinary, but being able to take a comfortable hot bath at the end of the day is very effective in relieving fatigue, and can also improve the sleep quality of soldiers.

It is quite helpful to improve the overall morale of the coalition forces.

The current forward base was re-arranged according to Amber's requirements, and the source of his camp layout ideas actually came from an army general of the Royal Army of the Star Dragon Empire.

This general, known as the 'Wall of Sighs in Land Warfare', still has his own thing for defensive warfare and camp layout.

It is also a product of United Dynamics, but it has not been completely finalized.

The purpose of pulling it aboard Rubion 5 was to conduct actual combat tests, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of main battle tanks and heavy multi-legged combat vehicles, and at the same time evaluate the combat effectiveness of the new plasma cannon.

That is the light multi-legged chariot. After the combat intensity gradually escalated, it began to become more and more useless.

In the original timeline, both the Federation and the Empire stopped the production of light multi-legged combat vehicles, and the corresponding establishments in the army also existed to consume inventory.

But their protection and firepower can basically only bully infantry units.

These two new vehicles are also part of the first batch of equipment produced by United Dynamics based on the needs of Atlas after being acquired.

After seeing that there were so many accompanying air defense and field air defense units under various coalition forces, Amber was actually dumbfounded.

When Amber walked to the back door of the temporary camp, he happened to see a huge convoy slowly driving in, with many friendly units watching curiously.

If the Empire's penetration team wants to conduct reconnaissance, they must climb over the high ground in front of the forward camp that is covered with observation posts and automatic sentry guns.

The current location of the two large forward camps is 65 kilometers away from Ptolemaic City in a straight line. They are both located behind the mountain forest suburbs and cannot be directly detected through visual inspection.

The second part of the convoy is thirty heavy-duty trailers, and the trailers behind them are large units modified with camouflage tarpaulins-15 main battle tanks and 15 heavy-duty multi-legged tanks.

He had always thought that the coalition forces lacked these units, which was why the air defense was so poor, and he could not react at all when being bombarded with tactical nuclear bombs.

Although their lighter mass allows them to be airdropped with orbital paratroopers for fire support, their maneuverability is pretty good.

Whether it's the 'actual combat' experience after coming to this world or the experience summed up by players in previous games, one thing has been verified.

The air defense units of each army were also pulled out and deployed dispersedly. After setting up a large number of field radars and battlefield surveillance radars, an airtight air defense network was formed.

In particular, the 'Iron Cavalry' medium-sized multi-legged chariot was developed by Amber as a 'high priority' project after browsing United Power's 'technical reserve'.

And as the firepower assigned to infantry units becomes stronger and stronger, even bullying infantry units has gradually become a 'dangerous activity'.

In the first part, the 'Lynx' wheeled chariot is responsible for opening the road and guarding, and the 'Iron Cavalry' medium-sized multi-legged chariot is switched into mobile mode.

Now it seems that it has nothing to do with the equipment, it is purely a question of food.

Their main guns have completely abandoned electrothermal chemical cannons, and instead use more powerful electromagnetic reconnection cannons or new plasma cannons with triangular translucent barrels.

The entire convoy, except for the batch of supplies they carried, was roughly divided into three parts.

The last part is the five HCPs wandering around the convoy on guard.

Proudly produced by GIAT Group, the first trial assault HCP of the GAT-X series - GAT-X303 'Sacred Shield'.

This model, this name, and its own memes have been spoiled by players in the game.

Even Amber took the time to ask the people at GIAT about the core meltdown operation code of this HCP.

The response was that the initial opcode was indeed '2887'.
However, they said that they were randomly selected and had no special meaning, and that the pilots could modify them themselves after getting the machine body.

When the entire convoy slowly drove to the material and equipment distribution area, with the help of the surrounding construction machinery, the unloading operation began.

Two brand new wheeled armored vehicles also parked in front of Amber, and a group of United Power and GIAT engineers carrying large and small bags also got out of the vehicle's tailgate.

After the leaders of the two companies saw Amber as the 'funder', they immediately came to say hello to him. Amber chatted with them for a few words, arranged the tasks for these people during this period, and asked them to wear combat exoskeletons like ordinary soldiers. After that, the engineers also went to their camp to make preparations.

After they left, the five 'Holy Shields' flexibly landed in front of Amber, raising a cloud of dust and kneeling on one knee in a 'standby posture'.

When the cockpit opened, five ATT team pilots also jumped out.

These people are among Atlas's HCP pilots, whose skills are second only to Murat and Louis' outstanding pilots. They are also the first members of the HCP team in the ATT squadron.

"Boss, we're here to report."

When the five pilots saw Amber, they said, 'Bang! 'Stand at attention and salute.

Amber reluctantly returned the greeting and said:
"Forget it if we advance to the camp, I won't say anything. But if you still salute me every time you get to the war zone, don't blame me for being rude."

The five ATT squadron pilots smiled sheepishly, and then immediately put their hands down.

"You've worked hard along the way. Take a good rest these two days. You won't have time to rest after entering the battle."

"Yes, Boss!"

Amber waved her hand and walked to one of the 'Sacred Shields'.

The 'fingertips' of the robotic arm are traditionally painted in the orange color of the test model, just like a manicure.

There are also many additional sensors arranged around the body. These sensors are not used to monitor the surrounding environment, but are used to monitor the body's own conditions and collect data during battle.

As an assault-type HCP, the 'Aegis' is similar to the Empire's 'Zealot' series in terms of overall height and combat weight.

However, due to the use of more advanced core skeleton design, subcritical reactors with higher output power, and electromagnetic muscle bundles whose energy conversion efficiency has also been greatly improved.

Therefore, the protective capabilities of the same quality are even higher than that of the heavy-duty fanatic.

This is just the performance data of the basic Holy Shield.

At the beginning of the development of the Holy Shield series, one of the most important design ideas was 'high scalability' and 'high versatility'.

Therefore, the Aegis series HCP can be deeply modified with a high degree of freedom according to combat missions, pilot habits, etc.

The five Holy Shields pulled aboard Lubion 5 are all heavy-assault configurations.

The additional additional armor and thickened laminated armor heavy shield make their total weight exceed 110 tons, and they have also become the HCP with the best protection performance currently.

The weapon racks on the back of the fuselage have also been replaced by new weapons containers.

When holding an electromagnetic rifle, mounting a plasma rocket nest or combat magazine on the outside of the mechanical foot, and mounting a shield on the shoulder, four additional pieces of weaponry can be stuffed into the weapons container.

Moreover, this weapon container not only has the function of storing weapons, but also keeps the stored weapons at a suitable maintenance temperature.

During the battle, weapons such as heavy particle cannons and electromagnetic reconnection cannons can also be forced to dissipate heat to increase their attack frequency.

Plasma heavy sword, heavy particle cannon, electromagnetic reconnection cannon x 2, this is the configuration currently chosen by the five pilots of the ATT squadron.

There is no doubt that these five Holy Shields have become the strongest HCP on this battlefield with full protection, firepower, and maneuverability.

But this thing is not without its shortcomings.

The heavier combat weight and the greater inertia brought by the high-thrust plasma propulsion array will put higher requirements on the pilots.

According to GIAT engineers, compared with other HCP models, the Holy Shield series has for the first time strict requirements on the physical fitness of pilots.

If other HCPs can barely drive even if their pilots' physical fitness is not up to standard, if the pilots in the Holy Shield series are not physically up to standard, then forcibly driving will become a suicidal act.
Although GIAT's HCP development team is already trying every means to reduce this impact, Amber estimates that a better solution is to improve the overall quality of the Atlas HCP force's pilots.

"If it doesn't work, just spend money to let them undergo some intensive surgeries or implant prostheses."

While Amber was drooling around Atlas's first HCP, appreciating it from all directions like an idiot, an armored vehicle from the coalition garrison also drove over.

A middle-aged man who got off the car and was dressed in a suit and ties, who looked out of place on this battlefield, immediately put on a smile and trotted over after seeing Amber.

After seeing the person coming, Amber was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect that the administrative deputy of the Rubian System Autonomous Government would come to him at this point.

"Mr. Sam? Why did you come to the advance camp in person? It's still a bit dangerous here."

(End of this chapter)