The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3758

Chapter 3758 - Splitter Project

Of the 'second batch' of Journeymen to enter the Design Department, the Voiken siblings attracted the most attention.

Hailing from a family of mech designers, Sara and Dulo Voiken grew up preparing for their eventual careers in the mech industry since they first learned to read.

Sara was definitely the most valuable among them due to her defensive specialty. There was hardly any mech that could forgo the advantages that she could bring. Ves actually found it regrettable that there was only one of her at the Larkinson Clan's disposal. There were many mech models that lacked the defensive strengths that she was able to add to a mech design.

Her brother's design philosophy was not as widely applicable as hers, but his work on the Rigid Spine and the Transcendent Charger showed that he was able to add powerful new melee mech models to the lineup.

Compared to the Voiken siblings, the pair of Journeymen from the Ochre Mirim Star Sector did not stand out in this design round. This was odd considering that both Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone possessed strong foundations due to being taught by a genuine Master Mech Designer.

It was not their fault. Janassa Pellier may not have led any design projects on her own this time, but she had lent her aid on a bunch of melee mech designs, the most prominent of which was one of Ketis' pet projects.

Tifi Coslone only led a single mech design project herself, and she tried to make the most of this opportunity to impress her colleagues of her strengths.

She stepped forward and presented her work.

"The Splitter Project is called this way because of its incomparably powerful physical strength. I have applied my specialty to the fullest when designing its arms and internal architecture. While my solutions have caused my axeman mech model to become bulkier and less mobile than ideal, it should not even have to rely on outmaneuvering its opponents. I have always found that as long as my work possesses enough overwhelming strength, it can break through almost any enemy arrangements."

With a specialty like hers, axeman mechs were one of the best mech types for her to demonstrate her capabilities. They benefited more from possessing greater strength than other mech types such as slender swordsman mechs or light skirmishers.

The latter two did not purely have to rely on brute force to defeat a tough opponent. They usually preferred to dance around their opponents and strike their sharp weapons at an enemy machine's weak points.

The Splitter Project obviously gave up on this possibility so that it could maximize its frontal combat capabilities. Its main use was to throw itself onto a relatively static enemy line and hack away with their two-handed axes and their powerful mechanical strength!

"The characteristics of the Splitter Project's offensive capabilities make it relatively simple to pilot." Tifi continued. "Its agility and range of motion are not the best, but its reaction and attack speeds are relatively decent. A good mech pilot will be able to use this axeman mech to duel a swordsman mech in terms of skill. However, the point of the Splitter Project is not to outfight an enemy, but to overwhelm the opposition and make all of their measures invalid!"

She pointed towards the rear of the mech that she had fabricated. "To that end, I made sure the Splitter Project possesses enough mobility to keep up and pursue retreating enemy units. My work might not be fast, but it is still mobile enough to keep up with enemy units. Its decent acceleration properties also allows it to reposition itself fairly easily on the battlefield."

"What about its defenses?" Gloriana quizzed. "All I have seen is how well your Splitter Project performs when it is on the offensive. However, its armor does not look formidable enough to withstand the same amount of damage it is inflicting."

Tifi nodded seriously. "I made sure not to hollow out the defenses of the Splitter Project. I invited Sara Voiken to help me address this shortcoming. She hasn't been able to help me as much as she would have liked due to her busy time schedule, but her limited contribution has strengthened my axeman mech's defenses to a more adequate level. I wouldn't say it is good, but it is tougher than it looks."

"What is particularly important to the Splitter Project is that I have applied an armor system that is particularly good at resisting physical attacks." Sara Voiken commented. "This will give our new axeman mech a small advantage in melee combat, primarily when attacked from the front. The pilot should take care not to get attacked from the sides or rear. I did not have much room to work with, so the defenses outside of the front are not that good."

Sara could have done a better job if had more room to work with and if she was able to spend more time on the project. However, Tifi wanted the Splitter Project to possess incomparably powerful direct offensive capabilities. Piling it up with armor and other defensive systems not only ate up a lot of capacity, but also weakened its offensive parameters in other ways.

Giving another mech designer a lot of leeway in a project was not always a good idea. Depending on their design philosophies and their specializations, their solutions could actually conflict with each other.

Tifi and Sara's respective specialties didn't overlap that much, but there were definitely a lot of areas where one could directly weaken the other's efforts.

Since defense came second to offense to the Splitter Project, Sara was only able to apply her work to the outer portions of the mech. She was unable to add much of her internal defensive solutions to the mech because that would displace the special design elements that Tifi used to amplify the physical might of the axeman mech.

Fortunately, both women had come to an accord on this division. Their relationship would have become a lot uglier if they vehemently argued that their solutions should take priority!

Tifi continued to present the characteristics of her work. The mobility of the mech was a little above average, which befitted an offensive melee mech well.

"The Splitter Project performs at its best when it is fighting against stationary enemy mech formations, but if we ever face a more elusive enemy force, it should be able to catch up to most medium mechs. I can't say how well it will perform against alien assets considering that they come in so many different varieties, but I would argue that our new axeman mechs will fare better against them. Their powerful axes can hack into thick hull plating with greater ease than swords."

"What is the endurance of your design?" Dulo Voiken asked. "It looks like swinging that two-handed axe all the time will quickly drain its energy reserves."

"The staying power of my work is relatively decent. It is not fantastic and it indeed goes down faster if it is performing intensive actions, but it is worth it as hardly any defensive line can withstand that much strength." Tifi answered.

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