The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2003

Chapter 2003 Design by Role

When Ves began to expand on the draft of the Hexer mech with Gloriana, they encountered a lot of initial difficulties.

Second-class mechs were more powerful than the mechs he was used to designing.

Even so, there were several tiers of second-class mechs, ranging from the cheapest economy models that were only modestly better than his Bright Warrior to the ultra-advanced premier mechs that were within throwing distance to first-class mechs!

A vast spectrum existed between the two extremes. What a newcomer like Ves ought to do was to dip his toes into the water by entering the shallow pool first.

Instead, he dove head-first into the ocean by tackling a mech design that was meant to be on par with the military mechs of the Hex Army!

Having participated in the development and maintenance of the mechs of the Bright Republic's Mech Corps, Ves knew that there was a significant difference between private mechs and government-funded mechs.

Right now, this meant that Ves abruptly had to work with a category of mechs that was a bit too much for him to grasp!

The insane performance parameters of the components made available to them blew any third-class mech out of the water! With each component performing several times better than their third-class equivalents, Ves found it very difficult to estimate the overall performance of his draft in a real setting.

Additionally, many of the components that used to take up a lot of space were suddenly smaller and lighter. Sensor systems, mech engines, power reactors and more came in both bigger and smaller models, providing mech designers with a plethora of options to choose from! Ves soon became unable to see the forest from the trees as he was unable to determine which components he should include in his mech design in a miniaturized form or keep them at full size!

Gloriana placed her hand on his forearm. "Calm down, Ves. I know this catalog of components can be overwhelming to you, but that doesn't mean your old approach is wrong. You've always centered your design choices around your vision. This time should be no different. Ignore the flashy features of all of these components and just choose something by going down a list of priorities."

He sighed. "That's the problem, Gloriana. I initially conceived of my concept when I didn't have a clear picture of how a military mech ought to perform."

"You watched the battle footage of our mechs in action, did you not?"

"I did, but that was from an outsider's perspective. Now that I am exposed to the full might of second-class mechs, I am a bit less certain on what to go for with our Hexer mech."

A brief silence ensued as Ves massaged his forehead while Gloriana fell into thought.

"You have me, Ves. You don't have to shoulder all of the burden alone. In our past design projects, you've taken the lead all the time. Maybe you should relinquish some more decisions to me this time. I'm a lot more familiar with these advanced components than you, and I have a much better grasp on the level of performance that is expected of this kind of mech."

She was right, though Ves noted an issue. "Aren't you incapable of designing non-custom mechs?"

"I wouldn't say I'm incapable. I just don't prefer it. It's not a problem for me to take care of these general problems, but I still need you to help complete this design."

"Okay."

They began to go back to the drawing board in a sense and reviewed their current mech concept. The vision that Ves had come up with was fine, but the technical details needed some refinement.

"So you're still going with a landbound knight mech?"

"Yes." Ves nodded. "It's what I'm most familiar with and it's the simplest mech type by nature. I thought about designing a rifleman mech instead, but they are often spread out throughout the battlefield or placed in the rear. What I want is a mech that can support the female Hexer mech pilots up close."

"That is sound reasoning. I agree. What else?"

"I'm not sure whether to emphasize the defense or mobility of my mech. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and I'm not sure which one I should choose. Prioritizing defense is good if my support mech is deployed in defensive battles, while prioritizing mobility makes my mech a lot more useful in offensive actions."

The same applied to third-class mechs. His Blackbeak may not be the most ideal defensive mech, but its relative mobility was so good that it could keep up with offensive mechs when they went on the attack!

However, Ves confidently designed the Blackbeak because he was very familiar with the way that third-class battles were being fought. His father was a mech pilot and his entire family regaled him with many tales of mechs in action.

The same rules didn't apply to the higher classes of combat. Second-class mech battles were very different due to the higher levels of performance and added versatility of the main pieces.

A second-class knight mech was often not 'just' a knight mech. They often incorporated at least something extra to make them stand out from the competition. It was like the gimmicks that Ves used to add in his mech design in a much stronger form.

The question now was what kind of capabilities he could add to his Hexer mech.

"What kind of features do existing knight mechs in the Hex Army come with?" He asked.

"There are a lot of choices depending on the intended role of the mech. For example, defensive mechs often incorporate some self-repair functions to sustain its presence on the battlefield. They can also carry jamming arrays that can interfere with scans and targeting systems in order to prevent the enemy from targeting critical assets."

"What about offensive knight mechs?"

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