The Mech Touch

In the Hex Army, knight mechs played a supportive function. Aside from providing a mobile bulwark that provided some much-needed protection for offensive mechs piloted by women, they also offered an array of support services.

In line with the general Hexer preference for shock attacks, the knight mechs piloted by the boys accompanying the superior gender usually offered various defensive or utility benefits.

Direct defensive boosts entailed measures which directly improved the defense of surrounding mechs such as projecting a radial shield, emitting an anti-energy particle cloud or launching deployable cover.

Indirect defensive features comprised of features such as powerful directional scanning arrays that could defeat most ECM measures or putting up a stealth field.

One detail that Ves already knew was that the Hex Army actually didn't exhibit an endless variety of mech models. Unlike the Friday Coalition which adopted different doctrines and battle traditions for every partner, every mech division and every mech regiment, the Hex Army only used around less than a couple of hundred mech models for its entire lineup!

A hundred sounded a lot to a single mech force like the Living Sentinels, but the Hex Army comprised millions of mechs, each of which fought across a battleline stretching an innumerable amount of light-years!

For such a huge and critical mech military to exhibit so little diversity, especially considering that many mech models were merely variants of each other, was staggering to Ves! As someone who was used to the high degree of autonomy adopted by the mech regiments of the Mech Corps, he simply couldn't imagine what it would be like for the regimental commanders to lack the ability to choose their own mech models!

"The Hex Army adopts the same mechs throughout its entire lineup for good reasons, Ves." Gloriana told him. "We don't ascribe to the belief that we need a million different mech models to confuse our enemy or throw them off-guard. We believe in the might of our superiority! We press our attack with the only mechs that are necessary to break through enemy lines!"

The Hex Army's mech regiments mostly adopted the same set of mech models depending on their overall role. Assault regiments fielded one common pool of mech models while scout regiment fielded another common pool of mech models!

The advantages of this were obvious. Using the exact same mech models across thousands of different units meant that it was a lot easier for the Hex Army's logistical services to supply the same spare parts and replacement mechs. The economies of scale increased the efficiency of these efforts by a very significant margin over the Friday Coalition's own logistical operations!

From a design standpoint, Ves was aware that the mech models adopted by the Hex Army all represented the culmination of the best Hexer mech designers. The matriarchs only accepted the best, and the designs that met their approval were constantly being iterated and improved upon by dedicated teams of Masters and Seniors!

Instead of spreading the expertise of many Masters and Seniors across tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of different mech models, pouring all of their attention to less than five-hundred mechs resulted in highly-optimized mechs that performed admirably on the battlefield!

That said, the lack of variety also led to a number of disadvantages. The Fridaymen probably analyzed each and every mech model to death and figured all of their weak points.

Though it wasn't easy to exploit the weak points of highly-optimized mechs, the lack of surprises offered by the Hex Army really hampered some of its operations!

Ves realized the Hex Army was too predictable!

Of course, there were other organizations like DIVA who specialized in subterfuge and special operations, but the main Hexer force was a huge and powerful exobeast who only knew how to charge in one direction: forward!

In contrast, the various military organizations of the Friday Coalition were scattered because they were divided among the six partners. The Gauge Dynasty's Sundered Phalanx adopted a completely different set of mechs from the Carnegie Group's Fortune Legion.

Together with the fact that their mech regiments were highly individualized, the Friday Coalition often managed to surprise the rigid Hex Army with its new and unexpected mech models.

That said, the performance of those new mech models were inconsistent, and even the best Fridayman mechs couldn't compare to the Hexer mechs in terms of optimization.

Which approach was right and which approach was wrong?

Ves couldn't answer such a huge and profound question. As a mech designer, he vastly preferred the diversity model adopted by the Bright Republic and the Friday Coalition. These states offered many mech designers the opportunity to distinguish themselves by expressing their design abilities to the fullest extent. This was also the mainstream approach chosen by many states.

However, the Hex Army chose a different path, and it wasn't in his place to challenge this decision. All Ves could do was to accept this reality and figure out a way for his mech to best slot into this paradigm.

Right now, Ves noticed a clear need that the Hex Army's current lineup failed to address.

"The Hex Army already has an energy resupply mech, though." Gloriana said. She manipulated the projector with her mind, causing it to display a 'fat' support mech. "The Good Boy 77S is the predominant landbound energy resupply mech. It's a heavy mech, but doesn't feature a lot of armor for its weight class. While slow, vulnerable and defenseless, it carries a huge amount of high-density energy cells. It can supply an entire mech squad if necessary!"

"...'Good Boy'?"

Gloriana blinked. "What's wrong with that? It's called that way because every female Hexer pilot is appreciative of the energy resupply it offers. They always thank the mech by calling it a good boy, hence it adopted this name."

"..."

He truly didn't know how to respond to this story. Weird Hexer naming conventions aside, the so-called 'Good Boy' was indeed very good at its job.

Yet its holes were also glaringly obvious.

"Your Hex Army's so-called Good Boy might be lovable in the eyes of your Hexer mech pilots, but it's a slow, fat and juicy target for any Fridayman mech! It may exhibit the mass of a heavy mech, but it lacks the corresponding armor!"

"It's not meant to be fielded in the thick of battle." She said. "Most resupply mechs are like that. They are predominantly deployed in the rear lines or a reinforced forward position. They aren't designed to accompany the vanguard. Sure, they get taken out a lot whenever the Fridaymen sneak some mechs past our lines, but better for a Good Boy to go down than a more important female mech."

What? Ves couldn't help but be taken aback!

"Good Boys are deliberately designed to attract enemy fire?"

Gloriana nodded as if it completely made sense. "That's the other reason why they are called Good Boys. The Fridaymen consider it to be a strategic target because it provides a huge amount of support while boasting relatively inadequate protection. That always makes it the first target to be taken out. While it's a shame to lose a Good Boy, it is better for a male mech to go down first, because at least it gives female mechs time to respond and defend themselves against ambushes!"

What the hell?! Ves wanted to rub his ears in order to make sure he was hearing this right. This rationale sounded too ridiculous to his sensibilities!

"So the Hexers aren't just content to turn male mechs into cannon fodder, but also bait?"

"That's what Good Boys are for." Gloriana responded with a smile. "Don't worry, Ves. A lot of boys consider it a great honor to pilot such a crucial mech. Every mech pilot that falls while piloting a Good Boy receives posthumous honors. They genuinely deserve to be seen as good boys, and their families always receive generous pensions and other rewards as a result! Don't you think they're good boys for braving such risks?"

His face turned flat and expressionless. He tried his best to control his emotions. There was no point blowing up over this matter because it wasn't his girlfriend's fault the Hex Army treated their good boys like sacrificial lambs.

In fact, Ves became a lot more determined to promote his own vision for a Hexer mech! For the sake of all of those good boys, he had to show them what a real man could do with a sturdier mech at their disposal!

"These 'Good Boys' sound.. useful, but they can't take part in assaults, am I right? The female Hexer mechs always have to draw back from the front in order to resupply. That wastes valuable time and blunts the initial momentum of their opening moves. I think a mech that is designed to support Hexer assaults up close can be very useful."

"I think so as well." Gloriana nodded. "That's why I haven't rejected your initial suggestion. However, there are a few major issues hampering the practicality of your energy resupply mech. First, the capacity of the mech is limited. You want to design a medium offensive knight. Okay. That means that its armor won't be as thick as defensive knights in order to retain some mobility. However, now you want this mech to function as an energy supply mech as well, which means that much of its capacity has to be devoted to storing energy cells and energy transfer systems. Do you know how much space that takes? Good Boys are huge and fat for a reason!"

The same issue plaguing the striker mech also applied to his current mech concept.

Ves recognized the problem as much as Gloriana, but he possessed a different opinion on the viability of his latest idea.

"Gloriana, how much energy does a Good Boy carry?"

"A lot. Enough to give an entire mech company a second wind."

"Don't you think that's excessive?" Ves crossed his arms while adopting a skeptical expression. "Sure, the Good Boys are more convenient in many ways, but they are so fragile and vulnerable that they are often placed too far from the front. My mech concept is different in that it is designed to resupply friendly mechs while they are literally in the thick of the battle! Its role is different. Instead of giving friendly mechs an opportunity to replenish all of their spent energy cells, my mech will instead provide an immediate pick-up boost without requiring anyone to withdraw!"

This fell in line with the offensive doctrines adopted by the Hexers. They highly preferred to go on the attack and overwhelm the Fridaymen through brute force.

While this approach had its merits, the Fridaymen always tried to stall such attacks and force the Hexer mechs to waste their energy without yielding too many results.

Once the overenthusiastic Hexers lost steam, that was the time the Fridaymen counterattacked! The window of opportunity that opened up when Hexer mechs started to withdraw from the front in order to resupply was a very familiar pattern to the Fridaymen!

A lot of battles between the two sides turned against the Hexers because they were caught in an awkward situation where their mechs at the front were unable to resist a sudden counterattack!

Of course, the situation on the battlefield was often a lot more complex than the scenario that Ves had in mind, but there was no doubt that the lack of immediate resupply constrained the Hexer mechs to an extent.

"I'm not sure if it will work out the way you think it will." Gloriana eventually replied after considering his mech concept. "Your mech sounds useful, but the limited amount of energy reserves limits its utility. It won't be able to carry more than an eight or a tenth of the total energy capacity of a single Good Boy."

Ves smiled. "I'm already happy with that. My mech may not excel in any single area, but it provides numerous smaller advantages that combine into a very supportive package! Combining defense, mobility, energy resupply and an exceptional Hexer glow on top of that will result in the perfect accompaniment of assault mechs!"

The conventional benefits of his Hexer support mech already sounded pretty useful. Adding a glow based on the Idol of the Superior Mother would propel the value of his mech to another level!

He was sure that the Hex Army would not be able to resist such a useful package once his mech received an opportunity to prove itself in battle!