The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3446

Chapter 3446: Public Performers

Relying on the Diligent Ovenbird to pump out homegrown carrier ships was not a realistic solution.

Sure, the Larkinson Clan was awfully short of carriers and would settle for any rustbucket that could hold mechs and fly in space, but the Larkinsons had at least some standards!

In order for the Diligent Ovenbird to help increase the mech capacity of the Larkinson fleet as quickly as possible, Vivian Tsai and the Naval Design Department had already developed an extremely basic, barebones carrier that could hold just twenty mechs. _{free𝑤ebnovel.com}

Ves and the others studied the projection of the vessel that was officially classified as a light carrier.

"…To summarize, the Jhamper-class light carrier is not built for defense, mobility, support, carrying capacity, self-sufficiency or longevity." Vivian Tsai finished her short presentation. "What our new ship design does excel at is saving costs, using up less materials and speeding up construction as much as possible. The ship design is a stopgap that can solve our most immediate needs, but don't expect anything more out of it. We should replace any Jhampers we add to our fleet with proper combat carriers at the first possible opportunity."

Compared to the second-class starships that the Larkinsons owned before, the Jhamper was a step back in almost every possible front. Some Larkinsons even looked disgusted at the thought of putting their precious mechs and crews inside these flimsy death traps.

Yet what else could they do? Without any additional carriers, a lot of Larkinson mech pilots had no choice but to stay back and cheer for the lucky ones that did get to pilot one of the few mechs that were available for deployment.

"The Jhamper is… a good ship design." Ves said, not wishing to disparage Vivian's work. "As a mech designer, I understand the constraints you are working under. A good design is one that fits the needs of the client, not one that performs better than older works. Given our many difficulties, a ship design that imposes the least burden possible on our supply and construction conditions is definitely the most appropriate choice."

Vivian looked a little more at ease after hearing this. "Thank you, sir. I am not proud of the Jhamper, but it is a decent carrier that can serve us well in the first years of our stay in the Red Ocean. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on obtaining proper carriers in the following months and years."

"I have a possible suggestion for us to obtain a batch of starships quickly." Director Raella Larkinson unexpectedly announced.

Everyone in the virtual meeting room directed their attention to the head of the Larkinson Clan's competitive mech circuit.

Her presence here was more of an afterthought so far. Compared to greater and more fundamental issues such as financing and carrier procurement, sports entertainment ranked quite low on everyone's list of priority!

It was therefore a complete surprise that Raella of all people had a potential solution.

Though Ves was skeptical, it wouldn't do to shoot her down right away.

"Let's hear it, then."

The woman grinned. "All of you fellows are thinking about obtaining ships the old-fashioned way by buying them, but that's not the only way to get a ship. Have you ever thought about participating in contests and winning them in order to receive ships as our rewards?"

The Larkinsons all looked surprised.

"You can earn carrier vessels by winning contests?"

"Definitely! Just look at these contests that I have looked up in the last few days."

Raella projected a montage of footage that depicted various different contests. There were massive competitive matches that pitted hundred mechs against each other. There were smaller duels between two different champions. There was even a clip that displayed a spectacular design duel.

What each of these competitions had in common was that the top finalists were entitled to receive starships, and carrier vessels nonetheless!

Ves sat up straighter as he saw that the top 3, top 5 or other groups of finalists received a varying amount of combat carriers for their efforts.

The higher their ranking, the greater their reward! A better result either allowed a contestant to obtain a higher-quality starship or a greater quantity of hulls!

The first-place winner of the massive mech battalion tournament even won a brand-new fleet carrier!

Seeing that every Larkinson in the virtual meeting became enthralled by the attractive prize pools, Raella continued to illuminate her fellow clansmen to the opportunities that she thought was worth exploring.

"What you all need to understand is that the Vulit Central Star Node is not just a collection of shops and tourist attractions. It's a gathering place of billions of second-raters, many of whom are bored and want to be entertained. Then there are all of the mech pilots who are chafing under the restrictive rules that prevent them from conducting any live practice sessions. Then you have all of the pioneers who are worried about whether their mech forces are strong enough to fight against their rivals. All of these factors combine in a perfect storm where there is a large demand for competitions."

Many of the Larkinsons present in the meeting didn't put much thought on this angle. What Raella just said made a lot of sense.

Competitions weren't solely about entertainment, especially in a complex location like Vulit. Clever entrepreneurs had analyzed the possibilities and seized their chance to build arenas and hold competitions that attracted enormous crowds of paying spectators!

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