The Mech Touch

The testing of the prototype intensified in the next few days. With several test pilots, the Deliverer continuously deployed into space as soon as it finished resupplying.

Though the continuous deployments quickly started to wear out the more vulnerable parts of the mech, this was exactly what Ves and Gloriana wanted. They needed to see how well the machine fared when put to constant use with only a minimal amount of servicing between deployments.

"While the pace of deployments is slower in Bentheim, most mechs are still forced to sortie once or twice a day." Gloriana commented. "Most mechs, especially commercial ones, aren't rigorous enough to endure continuous high-intensity combat. They're designed to be as cheap as possible while still offering an adequate level of performance in a couple of battles or a drawn out engagement."

Such mechs were designed to receive extensive servicing after a major engagement. In normal circumstances, this was often the case.

It was just that the sandmen race was too perverse. They attacked the Komodo Star Sector in continuous waves regardless of the amount of losses they suffered!

While this form of attrition warfare was extremely wasteful and would surely exhaust the sandmen in time, hardly any opponent could endure the constant pressure as long as it persisted!

Therefore, the requirements of every mech designed to participate in the Sand War had been raised. They needed to be enduring enough to match the rigor of military mechs!

Fortunately, most capable mech designers from the Bright Republic were already used to designing mechs that could take part in the Bright-Vesia Wars. They just needed to pay more attention to the endurance and integrity of their mechs in order to increase their longevity when put to constant use.

This was one of the strong points of the Bright Republic's mech industry. The needs of the state and market demand had already primed mech designers to cope with this requirement.

This was especially the case for higher-ranking mech designers affiliated with the Mech Corps.

Even Ves possessed an abundant amount of experience in this style of mech design. In addition to working a lot with the mechs of the Flagrant Vandals, he also designed a couple of mechs for the military.

The Desolate Soldier had already been designed to be rigorous enough to fare decently well in the Sand War. He applied the lessons he learned since then into increasing the robustness of the Deliverer.

While its armor was still paper-thin, its internals were extremely well put together and would not wear out so easily.

At the very least, the critical parts shouldn't be prone to breaking at random moments!

The mech was still going strong even as it lost a leg and suffered a lot of damage to its torso!

Of course, to make his mechs so robust, Ves had to make a lot of tradeoffs. By opting for sturdier parts, he had to expend more of his budget, preventing him from splurging more money on tougher armor or a more powerful flight system.

The stronger parts also increased the mass of the mech, making it an even more sluggish machine to pilot.

Nonetheless, Ves believed that he made the right choice. Seeing the Deliverer hold up well after thirty continuous deployments made him feel very satisfied with his work.

This was especially impressive as the testers started performing stress tests. The prototype endured constant beatings as practice bots continued to pelt it with lasers and other projectiles.

Even when the attacks breached its armor and started to damage the internals, the mech still maintained some battle effectiveness.

"This is something I've never paid any attention to." Gloriana admitted as she admired the valiance of the Deliverer. "In the Hegemony, most battles are sporadic, but when they erupt, they're very terrifying. Mechs have to unleash as much strength as possible when it really matters. After that, it's fine if they can't return to their peak in a short amount of time, because the decisive battle has already been fought. Only in wartime situations do we need to adopt a different paradigm. I think that most mech designers at home don't get it yet and will be slow to prioritize rigor."

"Ves looked surprised. "I thought you Hexer mech designers are all smart. You have all of those fancy implants and gene treatments, after all."

She smiled. "Our needs are very much different. For so long, we were one of the apex powers in the Komodo Star Sector. No one dares to offend us casually, so our mech designs cater to different needs. After designing mechs for low-intensity skirmishes and duels for several centuries, I fear that my fellow Hexers will be slow to adjust."

"What about you?"

"I've learned a lot from you." She smiled and gave him a quick hug. "While I'm not a fan of third-class mechs, I do have to admit that they have their own charm."

At the end of the testing session, Ves and Gloriana obtained a very clear idea on the strengths of weaknesses of their designs.

If all of the spiritual elements were taken out of the equation, then the Deliverer was already good enough to stand on its own. Gloriana especially elevated its degree of optimization to a height that Ves could scarcely reach on his own. The prototype therefore exposed very few flaws, and the ones that did emerge could easily be fixed with a couple of tweaks.

However, a good mech in itself did not mean it was a guaranteed success. Many mech designers released new mech models onto the market all the time, but only a fraction of them enjoyed commercial success.

"There are already many different competing marksman mech models on the market." Gloriana noted after she performed a quick search on the galactic net. "While most of them are lastgen models released prior to the Sand War, they still offer roughly comparable performance to our Deliverer."

There were differences, of course. For one, the Deliverer was considerably more potent in offense compared to similar mech models in the same price range. This also made it a lot worse in independent combat and non-ideal circumstances.

Most outfits would probably opt for a more self-sufficient model than a mech that was too dependent on other elements.

Even in the Sand War, the Deliverer still failed to match prevailing demand. The mechs that sold the most were mechs capable of outputting a high volume of fire without expending too much money and resources.

This was why the Soldier product line and the Dawnbreaker product line sold so well.

Marksmen mechs that offered accurate long-ranged support were practically useless. This was because they were more expensive to procure and operate, while the damage they inflicted was not that much better than a budget mech armed with a Sandbreaker rifle.

It would be a different case if the sandmen exposed their hierarchy, but no one had ever managed to assassinate the sandman admirals on a consistent basis.

Monoliths and other configurations were too massive to punch through in a short amount of time while the sandman swarms were too chaotic to identify high-value targets in their midst.

For this reason, it simply didn't make any sense for a mech designer to introduce a marksman mech to the market.

"The only reason why we have the confidence to do so is because of our unique advantages." Gloriana proudly stated. "With your specialty, we can transform trash into treasure! No one else can equal what we can do! Our Deliverer will certainly astound the regional mech market!"

Ves tapped the desk with his finger. "Most mech pilots can't exert the full strength of the Deliverer, though. This is a mech that is destined to be valued by Ylvainans and no one else. People like Joshua may be an exception, but I doubt the rest of the Bright Republic can imitate his feat."

"With your status and reputation among the Ylvainan people, any mech you design will sell well with those people. You can even design a genuine trash mech and still sell tens of thousands of copies."

"I'd ruin my reputation and my goodwill with the Ylvainans if I did that. I'm realistic enough to recognize that the only reason the Ylvainans value me so much is because I design mechs that bring them closer to their faith."

"That won't be a problem with our mech design."

If he wanted to retain this advantage, he needed to reciprocate the trust the Ylvainans put in him. The glow of the Deliverer ought to be more than enough to make them pleased!

In fact, Ves didn't have to work so hard to achieve this. He remembered the amount of trouble and suffering he went through to design the Transcendent Messenger.

However, now that he formed Ylvaine's spiritual fragment, he could continue to milk it over and over again without going through all of that prior effort!

In other words, as long as he succeeded in his initial investment, he was in the position to constantly recycle and reuse his existing design spirits without paying a single credit!

This was why Ves found it so important to build up a catalog of design spirits. As long as he collected and created hundreds of them, he could continue to sit back and reap the benefits of his prior investments for centuries!

Right now, Ylvaine's spiritual fragment was enough to secure him a supreme position in the Protectorate's mech market!

"It's a lot easier to tailor a mech design for a specific culture."

Ylvaine's spiritual fragment was special because it essentially formed a key which Ves could use to gain an immense amount of respect of the Ylvainan people!

A light suddenly shined in his head!

What if he obtained other 'keys' that could unlock the hearts of other states and cultures?

This solution worked best for states which possessed a strong, unified culture that was distinct from general society.

Religious societies worked best for this purpose.

His enthusiasm subsided a bit as he realized that this wasn't a viable solution for the Bright Republic. Its society was highly secular and its values were so general and commonplace that a single design spirit would never command total respect.

The same probably applied to other secular states such as the Friday Coalition. Even though its partners possessed their own cultural identities, none of them were easily susceptible to a single design spirit!

He made an oblique glance towards Gloriana, who happily hummed as she marked out a couple of areas on the design that they needed to revise.

The Friday Coalition may be impossible to unify with a single design spirit, but what about the Hexadric Hegemony?

It possessed a few similarities to the Ylvaine Protectorate. Not only did they develop a strong and distinctive culture that was outside the norm, they were also a lot more religious.

While hexism wasn't universal in the Hegemony, there was no doubt that every Hexer believed that women were superior.

As long as he formed a design spirit that coincided with Hexer beliefs, he could probably gain entry to their notoriously insular society!

However.. the mere thought of forming a spiritual entity that looked down on his own gender made him feel very uneasy.

Would he be creating his own doom by forming such a ridiculously man-hating design spirit?!

Ves immediately shelved this idea for now. He wasn't in a position to take part in the Hegemony's mech industry at the moment, so he had plenty of time to consider his options.

If he had a choice, he would rather find some other second-rate state to appeal towards. Perhaps he should consider moving to the Vicious Mountain or Majestic Teal Star Sector in the coming years.

He glanced at Gloriana again. He wasn't sure if she would agree to that. She might figure out that he was attempting to evade her home state.

"Hey, are you paying attention, Ves? Come help me with planning our improvements!"

"Okay!"