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The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2741

Chapter 2741 - Heavy Firepower

Not every mech design project was as convoluted and difficult as the Devious design.

The other two Hexer mech designs yielded much more straightforward results during the tests.

For example, the new communications mech codenamed Cherub completely matched the expectations of its designers.

It was just a simple unarmed auxiliary light mech that didn’t carry much except for a decent set of sensor, communication and ECM systems.

They weren’t very good, honestly. There was only so much quality that Ves could afford for a mech with a design budget of 55 million hex credits!

If this was all, the Hex Army would never adopt the Cherub. Affordable or not, its performance parameters were too poor to counteract all of the difficulties on the battlefield. The inability to transmit signals under heavy jamming was an outright failure for a communications mech designed for the battlefield!

Yet neither Ves nor Gloriana showed any dissatisfaction with this simplistic mech design.

They watched on as the Cherub succeeded in transmitting complete data packages over various distances under extremely heavy interference.

In order to simulate the toughest possible environment the Cherub model might encounter, Ves rented some special signal interference devices the size of shuttles. When multiple of them activated all at once, the entire testing area became filled with an abundance of disruptive energy waves that visibly discomfited any human inside!

However, whether it was short-ranged communications or long-ranged communications, different Cherub mechs always succeeded in exchanging messages back and forth!

The mech was even capable of transmitting messages even when there was a source of spiritual instability nearby.

Glows and force of wills hardly affected the integrity of the signals being transmitted. This was because the communication signals largely passed through a sub-network of the Superior Mother.

The exact mechanics behind this phenomenon was actually a bit more complicated than it sounded. Ves had to put careful thought in how he designed the sub-network and how to keep the Cherubs connected even in the face of several circ.u.mstances.

He even made sure to encrypt the transmissions so that a spiritually-s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e entity wouldn’t be able to decipher any intercepted messages in a short amount of time.

The only shortcoming that disappointed Ves was the relatively low bandwidth of the communication network.

"The limited bandwidth that our Cherubs have access to will largely confine the transmissions to highly-compressed footage or data logs."

Any information was better than no information at all. Even a few pages worth of material was enough to increase the response times of crucial reinforcements or provide more warning time to units that were about to be attacked.

Ves looked satisfied at the results. "The Cherub is not a flashy mech, but one that can serve a very useful purpose."

"That’s the case with most auxiliary mechs." Gloriana affirmed. She was quite happy with the results as well even though she didn’t feel challenged enough when she worked on this project. "If the Hex Army isn’t able to counter enemy expert mechs directly, then we can at least provide it with a better means of staying in touch with different units. Better communications will lead to better and more timely commands. Hopefully, that will prevent some needless casualties and deliver some much-needed victories."

While the Cherubs could definitely change the course of a lot of battles, there was only so much influence an auxiliary mech could exert.

In massive conflicts like the Komodo War, clever stratagems and brilliant plans could only do so much to affect the overall trend.

Most large-scale clashes turned into grueling battles of attrition where the side with the tougher mechs, biggest guns and more skilled mech pilots gained the upper hand.

As auxiliary mechs, the Blinding Mech, Cherub and Devious weren’t capable of achieving an instant, substantial impact.

There was one mech that might be different, though.

When Ves and Gloriana moved to a different part of the testing facility, they witnessed a handful of thick and sturdy ranged mechs lining up while bringing their massive cannons to bear.

As a cannoneer mech, the Giant Killer had to be able to carry larger caliber weapons that introduced a lot of heft.

It took a lot of strength for the cannoneer mechs to carry their massive Samheim gauss cannons on land.

The few times it attempted to engage its flight system and lift up in the air, the results weren’t pretty. The Giant Killer flew so slowly and ungainly that any decent ranged or aerial mech was capable of defeating it with ease!

Gloriana looked disgusted. "This mech is awful in the air."

"I think it is best to remove the flight system or limit its flight capabilities for repositioning purposes only." Ves concluded.

It was too easy to take down the Giant Killers when these sluggish mechs attempted to fight in the air. They flew like flying pigs. Even if their elevation granted them a favorable angle against their targets, it simply wasn’t worth it to expose them in such an easy fashion.

At least on land the cannoneer mechs could take cover and hide its presence behind natural or artificial terrain features.

Still, the fact that the mech was designed to accommodate multiple environments meant that it didn’t really perform that well on land either. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

As the Giant Killer prototypes showed what they were capable of in the testing grounds, Ves felt they were merely serviceable. While they didn’t perform too badly on land, there were better alternatives on the markets.

"True landbound cannoneer mechs are faster, more energy efficient and possess a higher damage capacity." Gloriana pointed out.

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