As a mech designer, Ves acquired a fascination for adapting mechs to the unique characteristics and preferences of mech pilots.
Spending lots of time with Gloriana and learning a couple of tricks of her trade deepened his appreciation for custom mechs.
High-ranking mechs were all personalized by definition. The configuration of all of their customized aspects resulted in a unique machine that was extremely unlikely to exist in any other place or time.
What further differentiated them was that their mech designers exerted a large influence on the design style and the traits of the mechs in question.
Every expert mech and every ace mech existed as a unique marker in the long history of the mech industry.
As Ves, Patriarch Reginald and Master Benedict continued to stare at the spotty image of the Neo Amadeus, they began to make all kinds of associations based on their backgrounds.
Master Benedict frowned in frustration. "This capture is taken at extreme range. While I can understand why it is difficult to get within this range of the most sensitive combat asset in the Pima System, I would have appreciated it if the spy could get 20 percent closer or brought a larger sensor. I could probably discern at least twice as many details if that was the case."
"It is already a miracle that the spy could grasp this window of opportunity." Ves said. "Getting any closer will likely trigger the ace pilot's vigilance. There will be no second attempts."
"A shame."
Obtaining a fuzzy image was better than nothing. The Gauge Dynasty had done a good job at hiding their latest trump card.
"I think it might be best if we start from figuring out the mech designers who participated in the ace mech's development." Ves spoke. "Who designed the Neo Amadeus?"
Master Benedict smirked. "I can answer that. I'm quite familiar with the design styles and design philosophies of the Masters of the Friday Coalition. I can identify the distinctive characteristics of at least three Masters. For a machine of this caliber, at least two more Masters are also involved, but I believe their work is applied to the internals of the Neo Amadeus."
The new Master Mech Designer paused for a moment as he carefully evaluated the design of the ace mech.
"There are plenty of Masters in the Friday Coalition, but the amount in the Gauge Dynasty is not as big. Of this group, only a small proportion have the seniority, experience and competences to lead the design of an ace mech. As such, I am fairly confident about the identity of the lead designer of the Neo Amadeus."
"Who is it, Benedict?"
"Master Ishi Veldam, otherwise known as the Multi-Armed Designer."
Ves recalled the information he read about the Gauge Dynasty's eminent mech designers.
"Master Ishi Veldam was more than 280 years old and had become one of the most senior surviving mech designers of the Friday Coalition." Benedict said with obvious familiarity and respect in his tone. "Her prestige was great and she had designed so many different mechs that she has made a considerable mark in the Sundered Phalanx. She has always specialized in designing offensive melee mechs, most particularly ones that wield multiple weapons at the same time."
Benedict waved his hand, causing the central projector to display a sample of the Multi-Armed Designer's work.
Patriarch Reginald quickly became intrigued as the commercial and military mechs on display all wielded at least two weapons in the same hand.
Most of them wielded swords but there were also ones that carried a combination of axes, maces, picks and spears.
One of Ves' personal favorites was an expert mech that wielded a pair of morningstars.
The skill and control required to pilot such a mech was stupendously high!
In fact, this was one of the common themes of the Multi-Armed Designer's work. Her mech designs all demanded greater skill and mastery over weapons in order to make the most out of their expanded options.
As far as dual-wielding mechs went, the ones designed by Master Veldam are certainly the best and most advanced that Ves had ever seen!
"Dual-wielding mechs is not what Master Veldam is famed for." Benedict told the other two. "The actual reason why she gained her extra moniker is her successful research and implementation of quadruple-armed and sextuple-armed humanoid mechs."
The projected slideshow changed to display all manner of larger and odder mechs.
What immediately stood out was that the humanoid mechs all featured four arms or six arms!
More limbs meant that the mech was able to wield more weapons at once!
When these powerful monsters could unleash their full potential, they could easily overwhelm multiple conventional melee mechs at once!
Of course, the downsides were also obvious. The frames of the multi-limbed mechs needed to be considerably larger and more massive in order to support so many additional arms.
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