The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3944

Chapter 3944 Firestarter Project

Ves was thinking about how he and Gloriana could approach Venerable Isobel's expert mech design project.

Different from the C-Man Project, the expert mech that he tentatively named the Firestarter Project was not an upgrade of an existing machine.

This was one of the distinctive conditions of any expert pilot who broke through while piloting the Quint.

It was not worth it for the Larkinson Clan to make the Quint exclusive to any mech pilots. Its unsurpassed versatility and incredible compatibility with different kinds of mech pilots made it suitable for it to continue its pilot mentorship function.

Ves never thought about upgrading the Quint into Venerable Isobel's exclusive expert mech.

This meant that the Design Department had the luxury of designing a new expert mech from scratch without any old baggage.

The downside to this was that Venerable Isobel did not enjoy a head start into developing a close partnership with an existing mech. Venerable Vincent was much better off in this regard. _{frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓}

It was hard to say which of these cases were better. They both came with their respective advantages.

In any case, Ves already made a few design choices in his heart. Designing a simple and straightforward expert rifleman mech was out of the question.

In his opinion, the Star Dancer Mark II that he and Gloriana designed for Venerable Brutus was a bit too boring. Aside from its exceptional evasion characteristics, Brutus' machine did not stand out on the battlefield.

While it was not necessary for expert mechs to look imposing and capture everyone's attention with their dazzling performance, Ves did not want his work to be dull.

Right now, he saw an opportunity to flex his design abilities. The Firestarter Project would probably require more involvement from him considering that he was the closest thing to an energy weapon specialist in the Design Department.

Although he was not a genuine enthusiast in energy weapons, his mastery in luminar crystal weapons inevitably forced him to play an outsized role in this upcoming expert mech design project!

Ves therefore did not plan to let Gloriana take the lead on everything. He still wanted to implement his own vision for Venerable Isobel's expert mech.

In order to help facilitate his discussions with Venerable Isobel on this technical matter, Ves used his comm to activate a projection where he used his fingers to draw a basic wireframe model of a proposed expert mech.

He started off with drawing a basic humanoid mech shape before adding a crude representation of a fairly large rifle.

"This is how I imagine the initial form of the Firestarter Project." Ves explained. At its base, it is nothing more than a spaceborn mech paired with a rifle, which is no different from what you are used to. Of course, the Firestarter Project will be made out of highly-quality materials and components which you aren't able to see right now. Its overall parameters will be at least as good as the Minerva if not better due to all of the extra funding at our disposal."

Venerable Isobel quietly studied the extremely rough and preliminary draft design. She did not understand the significance of all of the subtle design choices that Ves had made when drawing the lines, but she piloted enough rifleman mechs over her career to pick up a few basic details.

"This looks like a slim and maneuverable rifleman mech. Will there be any problems with going lighter, sir?"

"That is a good observation, Isobel. While I previously said that the rules don't necessarily apply to expert mechs, among other machines of its class, details like this can make a huge difference in how your machine is able to fight against other machines. Before we go any further, let me ask you this question. What kinds of opponents do you most want to defeat?"

The bedridden expert pilot remained silent for a few seconds in order to gather her thoughts.

"I… know our clan mostly needs its expert mechs to defeat opposing expert mechs. That is what I was initially aiming for as well, sir. It's just that compared to expert mechs, the monsters and alien vessels we have been fighting against lately are even more difficult to defeat. The previous battle won't be the last time we fight against massive enemies, right?"

Ves reluctantly nodded. "The Red Ocean is a lot more diverse than the Milky Way. It will probably take at least a couple of centuries for the Big Two and all of the pioneers to wipe out enough indigenous aliens to minimize subsequent encounters against them to the greatest degree."

"If that's the case, our clan needs an expert mech that is much better at destroying massive targets from a distance than any of our existing machines at this level. Of the ranged expert mechs in our clan, none of them are best suited for this job. The Amaranto is mainly a sniper machine that is best at taking down enemy mechs and crippling key components of larger targets, but its firepower doesn't lend itself well to mass destruction."

That was true. Ves wasn't surprised that Venerable Isobel could tell this much. As a ranged specialist, she had made a lot of preparations for the future and studied the properties of all of the existing Larkinson expert mechs.

"The Everchanger can fight like an adequate ranged expert mech, but using its rifle is merely a means to an end to the hero mech. It is not the best in sniping enemy expert mechs and it isn't particularly good at destroying other difficult targets."

A hero mech like the Everchanger was never best at a single fighting style. That wasn't the point of this versatile expert mech. Ves was already satisfied with its basic battle performance. Venerable Joshua was more than capable enough to employ its strengths against the vulnerabilities of different opponents.

However, the downside to emphasizing versatility over power was that the Everchanger was lacking in raw firepower.

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