The Mech Touch

Though Gloriana had the final say on the expert mech designs projects this time, she did not intend to spread herself too thin. There were some projects which interested her more than others. It was already strenuous for a single Journeyman to devote his or her time on one expert mech design, let alone six or seven at once.

For this reason, she adopted the same project management model that Ves liked to use. While she still grasped the highest authority on the projects, she did not intend to meddle too much in the projects she assigned to other Journeymen.

Though Ketis was still too new of a Journeyman to be trusted with a major responsibility, her passion and her emotional connection towards the Decapitator Project was clear to all. Gloriana made the right choice to put Ketis in charge of it. There was no way that the swordmaster would screw up something so pivotal to the Swordmaidens!

In order to achieve the best possible results, Gloriana even put down her jealous and competitive streak. Every mech designer in the Design Department was an asset and the only way to fulfill her ambitions on these projects was to leverage their specialties to the fullest!

Ves was watching her carefully all the while. If she showed no management ability or let her biases overrule common sense, then he had no qualms about seizing back control even if she was his wife.

He was happy that he did not have to resort to this ugly option. No matter whether it was the right choice, the bad blood that would form between them would be enough to douse their enthusiasm and prevent them from putting their all in their expert mech designs.

The Design Department may be his kingdom, but it was not good if there were no good leaders aside from him. Every lead designer possessed enough design ability to be able to lead a major project on their own, and Ves intended to bestow them more autonomy in the future as the amount of mech designers working for the LMC expanded.

After Ketis outlined her overall intentions towards the Decapitator Project, Gloriana took over again and introduced the fifth project.

The projection changed to show the outline of a spearman mech.

"Venerable Orfan is an expert pilot that has not been as prominent as the others lately, but she is still a powerful presence on the battlefield in her own right." Gloriana introduced. "She is just as avid of a duelist as Venerable Dise, and she longs to pit herself in battle against other formidable expert pilots. However, her fighting style is different from that of our Swordmaiden expert pilot, and her expert mech reflects her choices."

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Compared to the previous expert mech design, the one on display right now was bulkier and looked as if it was much more ready to absorb enemy attacks.

"The Vanguard Project centers around a mech that can lead the charge and advance boldly against the enemy." Gloriana explained her vision for this project. "While this expert mech is not a true lancer mech, it can function as one with its potent straight-line acceleration afforded by its robust flight system. When it is finally locked into a brawl, its lateral mobility might not be able to catch up with more nimbler expert mechs, but its multi-layered armor system which includes Unending alloy will provide it with enough of a buffer to launch unrelenting attacks without risking immediate defeat!"

Unending alloy might be incredibly tough, but it was not an omnipotent material. It could still be heated up to insane temperatures if it was continually hit by energy attacks. This was why Gloriana chose to thicken and add multiple layers to Venerable Orfan's expert mech.

While this would inevitably increase its bulk and reduce its agility, it could withstand the most punishment out of all of the expert mechs aside from the Bulwark Project!

The Vanguard Project was an all-out assault mech that eschewed flanking and clever maneuvering in favor of enhancing its breakthrough potential. The Larkinsons desperately needed this kind of mech to punch through prepared lines and overcome the defenses of prepared enemy expert mechs.

Rina Orion raised her hand. "Won't this expert spearman mech become too sluggish to duel against other melee expert mechs?"

"It is not meant to fight like the Decapitator Project. Instead of relying on agility, timing and skill to outduel an opponent, the Vanguard Project is explicitly designed to trade blow for blow and force enemy expert mechs into brutal clashes that will hurt both sides. With the Unending alloy layer applied to Venerable Orfan's expert mech, we have great confidence that it will come out on top against any second-class opponent!"

This was not an indictment against Venerable Orfan's skill. The Vandal expert pilot would probably lose out in a duel against Venerable Dise, but she was no slouch when it came to her spearmanship.

There were nonetheless situations where the Decapitator Project was less suitable in certain matchups. If it faced a powerful expert pilot that matched or exceeded Venerable Dise's skill, then the duel might get dragged out for a long time.

This was not what the clan wanted to see. Its mech doctrines were all geared towards explosive action and crushing the enemy as quickly as possible. As the Battle of Reckoning had already shown, the Larkinson mech pilots were prone to losing steam when they weren't able to beat their opponents quickly.

The Vanguard Project was called this way because Gloriana believed that Venerable Orfan could break these kinds of stalemates in the direct and arguably the stupidest way possible.

"Even stupid solutions have their place." Ves whispered. "This is the best possible role for a shortsighted expert pilot like Venerable Orfan."

The best way to solve the Gordian knot was to cut it in half!

Gloriana evidently agreed with this direction, so her plan for the Vanguard Project was to load it with plenty of defenses and damage mitigation modules. It was an expert mech that emphasized toughness over finesse.

Once she finished explaining the Vanguard Project, she moved on to the last expert mech design project.

The projection of an expert spearman mech design made way for a more slender and fragile expert mech.

Every expert mech shown so far did not excel at ranged combat. Though Venerable Joshua was able to fulfill this role due to his flexibility, he did not excel at it like those who lived and breathed marksmanship like Venerable Ghanso and Venerable Brutus.

The lack of dedicated Larkinson expert pilots caused a lot of consternation among the military leadership of the Larkinson Clan. Until expert candidates such as Taon Melin were able to overcome their next hurdle, the only dedicated ranged expert pilot that the Larkinson Clan could command was Venerable Davia Stark.

Though Ves felt annoyed at Venerable Davia's lack of interest in joining the Larkinson Clan, Gloriana did not seem to mind that much.

"Venerable Davia Stark is different from the other expert pilots we have discussed so far." The Hexer expert pilot began with a respectful tone. "While she is not a Larkinson, her life experiences and defeats she suffered have tempered her forbearance and wisdom. As the oldest expert pilot in our service, she may lack the brashness of her peers, but that makes her suitable to go on overwatch over our entire fleet."

The expert mech on display might not resemble the Bright Beam Prime anymore, but many of its principles were the same.

It was a purely offense-oriented mech. Just like Venerable Stark's prime mech, it lacked an Unending alloy armor system due to scarcity and only concentrated a relatively modest quantity on the main weapon.

It couldn't be helped. There was not enough Unending alloy to cover all of the expert mechs. Ves even felt tempted to return to the Nyxian Gap in order to hunt other statues of the dark gods, but that was a bad idea for multiple reasons.

Until he could find a substitute material that was both tough and spiritually reactive, there was no way the Larkinsons could outfit their subsequent expert mechs with prime mech capabilities.

"I am sure you have noticed the clear direction of this mech design. The Sentry Project is equipped with a powerful modified dual-type energy rifle that is based on a model that has served many Hexer expert pilots well. It can fire positron beams that are notable for their high penetration and single-shot power when empowered by resonance. It can also fire more efficient and rapid laser beams that can also be split to intercept multiple incoming projectiles."

This was a typical setup for energy-based rifleman mechs. Ves found it curious that Gloriana and Venerable Stark opted to leave out a kinetic option. Some opponents were much more vulnerable against physical damage than pure energy damage. While it was possible to equip the Sentry Project with a specialized gauss rifle, the entire design of the ranged expert mech was optimized towards maximizing its energy weapon capabilities.

Perhaps Gloriana was banking on the hope that future expert pilots would be able to fill this hole  in the Larkinson Clan's expert mech lineup. Ves agreed with her strategy. It was better to do one job well than multiple roles poorly. In any case, they could still rely on Venerable Joshua and the Chimera Project to take care of this when necessary.

His wife waved her hand, causing a projection of the Bulwark Project to reappear.

"During the Battle of Reckoning, we fought against the Corundian Giants, an elite Coalition Reserve Corps mech regiment that has adopted an unusual tactic of merging their ranged and defensive mechs together. During that same battle, the Shield of Samar and the Bright Beam Prime managed to utilize the same tactic, though their mechs weren't designed to mate with each other. Though there are many shortcomings to this tactic, the synergy it produces between two different mechs is quite great, so I intend to accommodate this mode of combat from the ground up this time. This will ensure the Shield of Samar will always be able to play a useful role if nothing else."

No one was ashamed at the fact that the Larkinsons intended to steal the gimmick of one of their defeated opponents. It was incredibly effective against opponents that did not possess overwhelming firepower and were not capable of closing in on the Larkinson mechs quickly.

While some might be able to argue that it was more effective to rely on bunkers or defensive ships to provide cover to ranged mechs, that came with its own downsides. Starships were big and valuable and no one liked to put them in harm's way.

The best use of this tactic was to deploy the combination mechs away from the main fleet so that they could shoot at advancing enemies from an angle.

This was also how Ves envisioned the Bulwark Project and the Sentry Project in battle. The different firing angle along with their isolated position could make it a lot harder for an enemy commander to choose how to approach and attack the Larkinson fleet.

Gloriana spent a bit of time on how to facilitate the integration between the two expert mechs. Despite the large flight system mounted on the rear of the Shield of Samar, Venerable Stark's expert mech should still be able to take position due to some targeted modifications.

Once the two powerful machines merged, the combination of the two would produce wonderful results!

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Not only would the Shield of Samar provide extremely powerful protection to the fragile ranged expert mech, but it could also lend its entire energy reserve.

In turn, the defensive mech was able to absorb a lot of heat due to its enormous mass and bulk. This allowed the Sentry Project to fire its potent rifle at a much higher rate without worrying about overheating.

The only complication was that Neither Ves nor Gloriana had a good idea of how the resonances of the two expert mechs affected each other. They might cancel each other out to some extent, which would result in weaker overall performance. This was something that only Master Willix could solve.

Gloriana finally ended her presentation. She clapped her hands and caused the projections to disappear.

"Well, that's it for our six projects. Do you have any questions? If not, I will announce which projects you will be working upon and issue your first assignments. Since we still don't know for certain which resonating exotics we will be working with, we will not be able to complete our mech concepts quickly. In the first couple of weeks, you will mainly be doing research in order to explore our options. Expert mechs don't follow the same rules as ordinary mechs. We can pack far more features in them so don't hesitate to suggest new ideas. Let us make our expert mechs bloom!"