The Mech Touch

The decision for the Golden Skull Alliance and more specifically the Larkinson Clan to attack the strongest and most modern mech divisions of the Sundered Phalanx generated a lot of controversy!

The Hex Army should have been amply capable of stopping or at least stalling these elite Fridayman mech units.

Why should the Golden Skull Alliance work so hard and crash against the strongest elements of the enemy?

This did not sound like a favorable course of action! There were plenty of other alternatives that the Golden Skull Alliance could pursue.

For example, the Larkinson mech pilots heavily favored battle scenarios where they could get in a position to quickly mow down larger amounts of inferior mechs.

The Gauge Dynasty still fielded plenty of aged mech models that had yet to receive their Red Ocean-standard updates or replacements.

While it was true that the outdated mech divisions might not be as easy to defeat as they appeared due to the prevalence of battle-hardened veterans among their ranks, the absolute disparity in raw power and technological sophistication could not be overcome with guts and experience alone!

As long as the Larkinson mech legions gained an opportunity to advance towards the weakest elements of the defending troops, they would certainly be able to cut through the defensive lines like a hot knife through butter!

This was generally seen as the most favorable way to set up a victory. After all, as long as one side was able to deliver such a smashing blow that 10 or 20 percent of the enemy troops folded in quick succession, disarray and confusion would quickly spread among the surviving troops!

The Sundered Phalanx would have to scramble to plug the gap in their defenses lest the Golden Skull Alliance mechs attacked their exposed sides and rear.

Yet instead of pursuing this slam dunk strategy, General Verle instead told his men that they needed to get ready to collide against the sharpest edge of the enemy defense forces.

Though the prideful Larkinsons possessed a lot of confidence in their meteoric rise in strength, the reputation of the Sundered Phalanx was not for nothing!

Anyone who developed at least a passing interest in the Komodo War knew that the Gauge Dynasty's military branch had performed the best against the Hex Army.

Whereas the forces of the other coalition partners such as the Blue Cavalry and the Fortune Legion often struggled with lack of funding, resource shortfalls and shaky supply lines, the well-funded and well-organized Sundered Phalanx suffered none of these problems!

Since the Gauge Dynasty occupied a favorable territory that was out of the reach of Hexadric Hegemony, the Gaughers managed to retain their full infrastructure and industries throughout the Komodo War.

This not only gave less pressure to the Sundered Phalanx, but also ensured that they received the most support out of all of the other Fridayman military organizations!

This time, the Hex Federation and the Golden Skull Alliance's decision to invade Pima Prime and raze its fifth planet to the ground meant that they would have to fight elements of the Sundered Phalanx in their peak condition!

Even if the attackers had the benefit of possessing a lot of sensitive and valuable intelligence on their upcoming opponents, a strong mech was still difficult to defeat even if all of its strengths and weaknesses became exposed.

General Verle understood exactly what kind of thoughts the Larkinson mech pilots entertained at the moment. He knew that they needed more of an explanation in order to undertake this task with greater enthusiasm. The pep talk he gave earlier was not enough to overcome their instinctual dread at the prospect of fighting against veteran mech troops.

"Do you think that mech divisions such as the 6161th Nidin Vergers are stronger than us?" He asked in a judgmental tone. "You should all be well aware of your own strengths. I won't say anything about the enhanced training results of the MSTS or how you are able to deepen your mastery of your mechs through the new deep exchange tech introduced by Mr. Hempkamp. Our greatest and most pronounced advantage has always been our mechs."

General Verle issued a mental command to the MSTS that caused the emblems of both the Larkinson Clan and the Gauge Dynasty to appear behind his floating form.

The familiar symbol of the Larkinson Clan inserted a lot of warmth and patriotism in the hearts of the gathered mech pilots. The head of the Golden Cat always reminded them that they were part of the same family!

The symbol that stood for the Gauge Dynasty was a lot more impersonal in comparison. As a reference to the name of its dynasty, the Gaugers shaped their emblem into a half-circle that went from green to red.

"Our clan and the Gauge Dynasty are not the same." Verle stated the obvious. "We are still a fleet-based organization more or less while the Gauge Dynasty is part of a large, multi-territorial second-rate state. The differences in wealth, tech, resources, population, mechs, servicemen, mech designers are too great. A direct collision between us both will instantly cause us to become crushed."

Despite these ominous words, the general began to grin.

"However, the chance that the Gaugers will pool all of their mech forces in Pima Prime is virtually zero. This is because the Gauge Dynasty has far too many burdens. Their territories are rich and abundant, but that means that each of them needs to be garrisoned by mech troops. If you look at the Sundered Phalanx as a whole, then you will notice that 95 percent or more of its mech units are still stationed in the Komodo Star Sector. Do you know why? The foundation of the Gauge Dynasty still remains at home!"

That was right! Though the Sundered Phalanx most certainly developed a formidable reputation, their numbers weren't endless.

"The reason for this is obvious. The leaders and the most important stakeholders of the Gauge Dynasty all reside in the Komodo Star Sector as well. They are already rich and successful and have a much greater interest in protecting their existing assets as well as the territories they have recently conquered from the Hexers. To them, the colonization of the Red Ocean is a secondary concern, at least for the time being."

The implication that General Verle tried to make was that even if the Sundered Phalanx was strong, its forces in the Red Ocean weren't necessarily the same due to lack of resources and attention!

"Consider this as well. As part of a state, the Gauge Dynasty must spend its revenue and resources on all kinds of obligations. I won't talk about their spending in the old galaxy. In the Friday Colonies alone, the proportion of money that they have invested in developing their colonial facilities and infrastructure is greater than what they have spent on expanding their military strength. Do you think all of those mines, factories, shipyards, warehouses, commercial facilities and more are cheap? No! Each of them require massive amounts of labor, capital and time in order to be built! Do you think the Gaugers have that much labor and capital left to expand their mech forces?"

Pima Prime had developed almost just as much as Davute over the years.

In the case of Davute, the cost of building up the port system was spread among many different independent pioneering organizations.

In contrast, the Gauge Dynasty pretty much carried most of the burden of developing its exclusive port system. While plenty of private parties from the dynasty had also invested their own wealth, the point was that money spent on civilian infrastructure ultimately took money away from other spending priorities!

General Verle hammered home his point. "One of the most crucial inferences we can make from the intelligence leak is that the Gauge Dynasty has pursued a strategy of growth over defense in the Red Ocean. The idea behind this is simple. If they spend 90 percent of their available funding and resources on building up their colonial military, Pima Prime, Rotes Cewma and New Rammes will fall horribly behind in terms of industrial capacity. What that means is that they will hardly be able to produce anything while rival colonies are able to produce an abundant amount of mechs, starships and value-added goods."

Few mech pilots ever took classes that involved economics or territorial development, but the story was easy enough for them to follow.

"In order to prevent their colonies from becoming economically marginalized, the Gaugers are forced to spend over 70 or 80 percent of their available resources on civilian infrastructure." The general continued. "This means more money on factories that cannot contribute to a fight as opposed to mechs and defensive fortifications that can actively hurt us. The strategy adopted by the Gaugers isn't that bad, actually. As long as their colonies are able to hang on for the first decade, their local industries will develop so quickly that they will become self-sufficient and profitable. This allows them to ramp up their military production and quickly expand their colonial military strength. However, all of this will be for nothing if a powerful enemy strikes before the colonies have reached this stage of their growth."

In other words, Pima Prime and the other colonies were currently at their most vulnerable!

The Gaugers could have spent more on bolstering their defenses in the short-term, but that would cause them to lose the race in the long-term. The inability to give up on the latter meant that the dynasty had to allocate its limited resources in a risky manner.

This was also why the Gaugers transferred a lot of existing mech divisions with outdated mechs to the Red Ocean. They attempted to reduce the burden of local military production as much as possible so that more factories could devote their production on building up the local infrastructure.

While not all of the mech pilots understood the economics behind it all, they were still smart enough to understand the gist of General Verle's message.

"In conclusion, the Sundered Phalanx units stationed in Pima Prime are not as strong as you think! Compared to the spending pattern of the Gauge Dynasty, we have invested a far greater proportion of our budget on military production and development. After all, we are not burdened by the need to terraform planets, build up expensive colony settlements and raise an entire industrial production chain from scratch. We were free to use much of the windfall profits earned by the LMC on commissioning new carriers and replacing our older, more budget-friendly mechs with newer machines where the production cost is a much lesser concern!"

Compared to the Friday Colonies, the Larkinson Clan was much smaller and demanded less infrastructure spending.

The downside of that was that the Larkinson Clan was also a lot more vulnerable to predation!

It was therefore essential for the Larkinsons to spend a much higher proportion of their revenue on military spending.

"There is also another factor that you should be aware about." General Verle continued. "Unlike the Gauge Dynasty that is able to stash as many mechs as they want in their star systems, our main fleet is limited by the amount of mechs we can carry. Since we are unable to pursue strength through quantity, we have fully focused on maximizing the quality of every individual mech. Each of our mech models should perform significantly better than their counterparts in the Sundered Phalanx. Our knight mechs can withstand more hits. Our rifleman mechs output more damage. Our light mechs fly faster. While we are unable to match the scale of Pima Prime's defensive forces, we do not need to do anything about it. The Hex Army already has this covered. All we need to do is take over the burden of defeating the Fridaymen elites. Is this too much to ask?"

"No!"

"That is right! We are stronger than any of them! Whether we take up the fight against the Nidin Vergers or any of the other five modern mech divisions, a crushing victory is the only acceptable outcome!"