The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2268

Chapter 2268: Comprehending Heavy Mechs

Once he got his morning routines out of the way, he decided to follow up Master Willix's advice and view some heavy mechs up close.

His first choice was to observe one of the few heavy mechs he was familiar with. He boarded a shuttle that brought him to the Princely Jackal. Aside from bringing Lucky, he also invited Zanthar Larkinson to look at some big mechs.

The adolescent student eagerly accepted the offer, not that he had any choice. Ves would have dragged him in the shuttle by the collar if he refused. Developing unhealthy fascination for illegal superweapons was a very quick way to get on the bad side of the Big Two!

Once the shuttle arrived at the Princely Jackal's hangar bay, Commander Rosa Orfan-Larkinson greeted him with a lazy wave.

"Hey kid. So what brings you here today?"

"I'm not here for an inspection or anything. Nor am I here to discuss official business. I just want to take a good look at the Akkara heavy mechs assigned to this ship. I always respected Professor Velten as a Senior Mech Designer. She gave me some very valuable advice and taught me how to manage design projects. It is only proper for me to study a portion of her legacy. Right now, I'm designing my own heavy artillery mech, so I'm hoping to acquire some useful insights."

"Huh." Commander Orfan's face lost some of its joviality. "The old professor was one of the bedrocks of our mech regiment back in the old days. She deserved more."

"She deserved more." Ves echoed. "At least she lived a long and peaceful life."

Professor Velten was already more than 150 years old, but her lifespan had already reached its limit when Ves had been drafted by the Mech Corps. A botched life-prolonging treatment operation supposedly led to her deteriorating health and mental state.

Though she lived longer and made far more accomplishments than ordinary Brighters, Ves found her fate to be very tragic. She even lost one of her Journeymen who was supposed to continue her research after her passing.

Ves learned a lot of lessons from her. He not only learned to value his time, but also cherish his opportunities. When he grew older, he did not want to regret the mistakes he made when he was young!

The small group crossed the hangar bay headed to the adjacent mech stables where dozens of mechs were safely secured. They stopped in front of the machines that Ves wanted to visit in person.

Technically, the Akkara was a heavy cannoneer mech. This became evident due to the myriad of rapid-fire laser and heavier ballistic cannons mounted to its quadruped frame.

The formidable mech featured no flight system to speak of, but its appearance lent itself well for both landbound operations and use in space as a bunker mech.

Not everyone understood the difference between an artillery mech and a cannoneer mech. To be honest, the differences were rather nuanced, mostly because the pioneers of mech design applied their own labels to similar concepts.

In short, a typical artillery mech excelled at outputting damage at medium but especially long range. Their armament could range from anything, but their firepower was always very strong.

Landbound artillery mechs were typically capable of attacking targets outside of line of sight, mostly by lobbing shells over tall structures and other obstacles.

They were very vulnerable at closer ranges and possessed virtually no defense against melee mechs. They possessed slow to average mobility but their inadequate armor despite their heavy frames were not designed to resist sustained attacks.

A cannoneer mech played a different role on the battlefield. They were capable machines in both long and medium ranges and mostly wielded large-caliber weapons that were attacked by line-of-sight.

This mech type was more suited to heated battles as they possessed slightly more armor and mobility, allowing them to perform at least some viable maneuvers on the battlefield.

That did not mean it was a good idea to allow them to soak up enemy fire. Cannoneer mechs were also poor in melee combat as their strong but unwieldy limbs simply couldn't move fast enough.

In any case, whether the Akkara model of the Flagrant Vandals fell under the definition of artillery mech or cannoneer mech was not important to Ves. What truly mattered was that the Cat's Paw fulfilled the same role as the Akkara. Mostly.

"What a big mech." Zanthar exclaimed as he looked straight up at the large and imposing mech.

"That's the point."

The mass of the Akkara was around four times greater than a typical medium mech. Its expanded height and girth significantly expanded the big mech's capacity, allowing it to mount over dozen different weapons.

Ves briefly immersed himself in his memories. He had seen Akkaras mechs in action during plenty of battles between the Flagrant Vandals and whatever enemy stood in their way. Vesians and pirates all suffered dearly against these heavy cannoneer mechs.

Thick plates of armor protected the mech against retaliation. Since the budget of the Akkara was very generous, Professor Velten was able to make her Akkaras withstand quite a lot of damage against its typical foes. This was no glass cannon that fell apart after suffering a few hits!

When Ves looked at the dormant Akkara, he tried his best not to focus too much on the details. Instead, he viewed the impressive machine from a holistic perspective and tried to see if he could perceive what Master Willix hinted at during their previous consultation session.

He developed various thoughts, some of which he felt were useless. Only a few stray thoughts merited more attention from him, but the problem was that these idle ideas usually led to dead ends.

Even though Ves was in the process of designing his first heavy mech in the form of the Cat's Paw, he felt as if he came no closer to understanding the essence of heavy mechs.

Maybe other people could point him in the right direction.

"What do you think about this Akkara, Zanthar?"

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