The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2513

Chapter 2513: Imaginative Shipwright

Projections of dozens of ship designs filled the work compartment. A dizzying variety of virtual starships flew around Ves as he tried to evaluate the vessels from a design and engineering standpoint.

The ship designs weren't too detailed, but the drafts and broad strokes revealed plenty for Ves to develop an overall impression on their designer.

As a fellow creator, he knew that every person possessed an individual touch. They developed their own habits, adopted their own preferences and favored certain solutions. As long as Ves was good enough, he could recognize these touches and understand a different creator's style.

While Ves was not too versed in ship design, starships were still machines. Even if their scale was on another level, much of the science and engineering was still the same whether he looked at mechs or space-faring vessels.

A few immediate properties stood out to Ves. Many of the ships projected in his view were distinct.

They seemed to deviate from the norm. Their exterior and interior were not very comparable to other ships, particularly the standard ones adopted by the mainstream.

"These ships look.. artisanal. They are unique, individual designs." Ves remarked.

Erander nodded with a smile. "Many capital ships are unique. Even vessels from the same series exhibit at least some variation due to updates in their design, the introduction of new technologies, changing specifications and so on. It is customary in our industry to treat each capital ship as precious, valuable and worthy of continued investment."

"That sounds similar to how my mech company aspires its customers to treat its mechs. We believe that mechs are alive, and should be treated with respect."

"I am aware. I admire your outlook. In the shipbuilding industry, your views are not exotic. Some of it is due to their size. We small humans simply can't imagine that ships that are taller than many skyscrapers are dull. Another factor is the great expense needed to build a single capital ship. They are the opposite of disposable products. It is not uncommon to see capital ships in the galaxy that are over several centuries old. As long as their owners maintain them well and keep their parts up to date, it is not impossible for these aged ladies to eke out another century."

Ves looked quite impressed. "It's hard for anyone in the mech industry to hang on to an existing mech that long. In fact, mechs that are in use for over twenty years are already ancient in many people's eyes!"

Talking to an engineer who specialized in another field was always interesting to Ves. Comparing his experiences to that of Mr. Tsai's allowed both of them to look at their work from a different perspective. Sometimes, contrasts produced the most surprising insights.

As Ves continued to exchange with the senior shipwright, he began to pick out and examine some of the more interesting-looking ship designs in greater detail.

"That's the Cunning Lizard, one of my draft designs." Vivian Tsai spoke out, breaking her long silence. "I designed her for clients who intend to travel to the Red Ocean like you. The Cunning Lizard can best be described as a carrier and mobile base."

"This ship looks.. Very complicated. I see she's made up of two distinct halves."

"The forward half of the Cunning Lizard is actually a sub-capital ship. This section contains plenty of living space and production capacity." Vivian became more engaged as she presented her work to someone who might be able to realize her work. "While that doesn't sound remarkable, the forward half exists to facilitate the operation of the rear half."

The rear of the Cunning Lizard was a lot bigger in terms of volume. Twenty identical sections lined the rear. They not only stretched far, but were also affixed to giant rails along the hull.

Ves grew puzzled.

"What is the purpose of these…"

"They are docking stations. Smaller sub-capital ships are able to shelter in them. The Cunning Lizard can even engage in FTL travel in this configuration, allowing the crews of the smaller vessels to transfer to other ships or mingle with each other in the common areas of the Cunning Lizard. This way, the normally-isolated crews and passengers of the sub-capital ships won't be cooked up by themselves!"

Ves looked quite shocked at this elaborate arrangement. He couldn't imagine how much effort Vivian Tsai had to put into her studies of FTL drive technology to accomplish such a great feat!

"The concept is still incomplete." Erander Tsai couldn't help but inform Ves. "Humanity has built ships like these before, but the technical challenges are immense."

"I can see the potential uses of this ship. It is a great solution to improve the livability of a fleet. However, is this the extent of the Cunning Lizard's role?"

"There is more." Vivian said. "The primary purpose of my ship design is to increase survivability, not comfort. Due to the extensive propulsion systems and FTL drives of the Cunning Lizard which allows for consecutive jumps, she can easily help a large number of sub-capital ships flee to safety! After performing two FTL transitions in quick succession, the rear section, which I call the Lizard's Tail, can be ejected from the Cunning Lizard. The latter possesses a smaller FTL drive that allows the most important half of the ship to immediately transition into FTL. The sub-capital ships that were previously docked with my ship can engage in FTL as well."

"What about the Lizard's Tail?"

"It's deadweight at this point." Vivian shrugged. "While the Lizard Tail looks big, I deliberately designed this section to be expendable. As long as your crew take out her strained FTL drives, only pure structure is left. Any enemies who are chasing us won't earn much of a profit from capturing this unimportant tail. Once the chase is over, you can easily build another Lizard Tail."

Ves had never come across a ship concept as unique and eccentric as the Cunning Lizard. Though the concept's logic was plausible, the practicality of this ship design left much to be desired!

"Although I'm not too familiar with second-class starships, the high requirements and sheer amount of variables involved is very considerable. Can this ship even work?" He asked.

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