The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The new type of warship that appeared in front of Soryan was called the Guerilla-class space gunboat, characterized by its simple structure and complete functions.

First of all, its appearance is very concise, lacking many of the cumbersome facilities of Imperial ships. Secondly, this type of ship boldly uses a new product from Ulan Huda, the Full-Intelligence Core. This product can be understood as an efficient processing core similar to the Black Iron Core, but it is mainly used on ships to greatly improve the level of automation and reduce the number of personnel and unnecessary servitors. However, it is not an Abominable Intelligence and does not have independent operating capabilities. Bangura even declared that even if a sample were taken to Mars for inspection, absolutely no problems would be found, because its characteristic is the removal of many traditional burdens. Soryan guessed that Ulan Huda had learned something from the Mechanicus Forges of the Leagues of Void-Faring Kin, but since Bangura dared to say so, there should be no major issues.

Finally, the design of the hull breaks away from the traditional Imperial design thinking, using a full-support structure scheme common in the Leagues of Void-Faring Kin ships. This scheme saves more materials and space than the Imperial keel support structure scheme, but the overall defense strength has not decreased. The only disadvantage is that the damage resistance will be relatively reduced, unable to withstand being riddled with holes and still able to persist. However, this shortcoming is tolerable for a system defense ship, after all, the combat range is small, and the surrounding area is full of bases, making it easy for the crew to be rescued after abandoning ship.

And all this design is for one purpose.

"Can you imagine? I didn't believe it before I saw the specific numbers. The cost and man-hours of this frigate are only half of the Imperial standard system frigate."

Hearing Soryan's words, Farzad looked surprised.

"So... cheap? Will the performance be too poor then?"

"I had this idea too. Look."

Soryan raised his hand, and a holographic view was projected onto the glass, showing a detailed structural diagram of a Guerilla-class space gunboat, with rows of data indicators next to it.

"Four heavy railguns, eight heavy ion missiles, four anti-aircraft turrets... the firepower is decent enough."

At this time, Mark suddenly asked:

"Why use railguns, an uncommon weapon in the Imperium, instead of lasers or plasma?"

"Well, the designer's explanation is to ensure the ship's speed. Look at its cruising speed, which reaches the level of a frigate, and the turning ability is even more excellent. This is thanks to its powerful engine power. If laser cannons and plasma cannons, which are energy weapons, are used, a large amount of energy would be needed, and the characteristic of energy weapons is that if the power is small, the weapon's power is also small. Then it would be difficult to make trade-offs in attack power and mobility. After all, the ship's capacity is limited, and the reactor output is naturally limited. But for system defense ships, speed is definitely very important, which determines their assembly efficiency and tactical arrangement when invaders appear."

"What about the Imperium's other kinetic weapons?"

"The Imperium's ship-borne kinetic weapons are generally large, and the power of small-caliber ones decays severely. In addition, the projectile speed is not enough to pose a threat to larger military ships. For this 230-meter-long ship, the Imperium does not have very suitable kinetic weapons. Therefore, the designers of the Ulan Huda ships decided to use the Leagues of Void-Faring Kin railguns. The technology of this weapon is also very low in confidentiality, and it can be bought with money, but it has strong penetration, fast projectile speed, and more importantly, the energy consumption is much lower than that of pure energy weapons. Another point is that it is cheap and easy to manufacture. The complex crystal cutting of a large laser cannon alone is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, not to mention plasma weapons."

"I see, no wonder the cost and man-hours of this ship are so low, and there are very few crew members, only two hundred or so people are needed."

"Don't underestimate them. Once the number increases, it will be a force to be reckoned with, at least within the system."

"Oh, why is a void shield installed? Wouldn't it be cheaper to remove it?"

"This is a trade-off in design. In order to accommodate the high-power engine, the armor at the rear of the hull has to selectively give up some protection. In order to improve the ship's survivability, a small void shield generator is installed, which is activated when the enemy may attack the sides and rear. After all, their role is to resist the enemy, not to be disposable suicide weapons. It is not accurate to describe it as merely cheap, it should be said to be cost-effective."

"I see, a very novel and bold design, but it can be seen that the designer has a deep understanding of the functionality of the ship. System defense ships need quantity, so the cost is minimized as much as possible, and the structure is as simple as possible."

"Yes, in the future, the defense fleets of the Natesan system, the Brakato system, and even the Grand Diocese will be replaced with Guerilla-class ships. Moreover, it has great potential for improvement and can be modified into a mine-laying boat or a smuggling interdiction boat. Its speed determines that it can do many things. In addition, it has very low requirements for docks. It does not even need to be specially produced by Ulan Huda. The three local shipyards in the Natesan system can simultaneously start construction of 36 ships at a time, and the current construction time is 16 weeks. It can be completed in 16 weeks, and this is just the beginning. Later, after the workers are familiar with the construction process, it can be compressed to 14 weeks."

"Lord Commander, is the shipbuilding capacity of the Natesan system so strong?"

Hearing Techsar's question, the surrounding company commanders chuckled. Soryan also smiled and explained:

"Since the Star Knights settled here, they have been working hard to develop the local shipbuilding industry. After all, it is always inconvenient to rely on forge worlds for everything. After sixty years of development, Natesan IV has completed a large orbital shipyard that can build all types of cruisers or super-large transport ships and merchant ships. Natesan V has also expanded from the original small civilian shipyard into a medium-sized comprehensive shipyard, which can currently build destroyers and frigates. In addition, a shipyard has also been built in the new colony of Natesan VI. The current scale is still relatively small, mainly for small and medium-sized civilian ships, and it will also be expanded into a comprehensive shipyard in the future. The vigorous development of the shipbuilding industry not only provides a strong guarantee for the Chapter's fleet, but also increases the number of industrial workers in the system. They are the real treasures."

"Lord Commander is truly far-sighted, no wonder he can restore the Chapter to such a prosperous state in such a short period of time!"

"Haha, I didn't think so much at the time, but later various changes pushed it to this step. And the most important thing is that there is neither an Administratum nor a Departmento Munitorum here."

Everyone was amused by Soryan's last two sentences and echoed in agreement. Even Mark, who was always serious, laughed and said:

"Not long ago, I heard a rumor that in the Loki sector, a world was attacked by Orks, and the local garrison fought until they ran out of ammunition and food. At this time, a force arrived, but not to send supplies or reinforcements, but to collect the tithe. They took away all the weapons and ammunition of the garrison and left. But afterwards, the Departmento Munitorum destroyed a large batch of weapons and ammunition on the grounds that the inventory was full... haha, just a rumor."

Soryan just shook his head at this and made no comment. Then he continued:

"Soon the Natesan system will formulate a thousand-ship plan to build a thousand Guerilla-class ships of various types to form a huge defense fleet, coupled with the Defender fighter swarm network, to prevent the enemy from threatening the security of the system with small forces."