The Mech Touch

2128 Scrappy Ship

Once Ves adjusted his mindset, he became a lot more engaged in the configuration of the Estrella Klavier-class.

Though he was tempted to treat it as something analogous to mech design, in truth he was more like a client who made a list of demands and expected them to be implemented.

The only difference was that he was something of an engineer himself, so he was able to sketch and design detailed features onto the ship diagram.

However, just because he made his choice didn't mean it would go through. Just like mechs, ships consisted of many interconnected parts and systems. A single, careless addition could easily mess with other systems, causing them to become skewed, which in turn cascaded into other disturbances!

Something as massive as adding a large Breyer alloy forecastle shaped in the form of a golden cat head significantly altered the flight characteristics of the factory ship.

Ves didn't worry too much, though. The rest of the factory ship was already pretty massive, so it wasn't as if a bigger prow sent the ship completely off-balance. He figured the ship designers would just perform a lot of simulations and tweak a lot of systems in order to account for the altered mass distribution.

After finishing with the prow, he turned his attention to the other sections of his upcoming factory ship. As the most important ship of the fleet, she played a pivotal role in allowing him to conduct business and work with mechs regardless of where he traveled and what kind of circumstances he faced.

The factory ship would also very likely serve as his main base of operations in the Larkinson Fleet!

As a mech designer, there was no place that was more appropriate for him to station himself than the ship that featured the best mech production capacity. Any other choice such as a fleet carrier, ark ship or any other kind of vessel simply didn't sound compelling enough.

As for the Barracuda and the Scarlet Rose, neither vessel matched his stature as the patriarch of an up-and-coming clan and a Journeyman with a bright future.

He had already outgrown the corvette and the mobile supply frigate. In terms of space alone, neither of them came close to fitting all of the features he demanded.

Therefore, he saw the wide, unreserved spaces of the Estrella Klavier-class as a blessing. Just as he did in the past when he designed his variants, he wanted to take this generic Hexer factory ship and transform her into a flagship that reflected his philosophy!

"Let's make this ship alive!"

Even if Ves was not a ship designer, even if it wasn't possible to fully exert his specialty on a massive starship, he still wanted to give it a try!

"Let's turn her into our perfect factory ship!" Gloriana concurred as she began to add her own additions to the ship diagram!

She didn't want to be left out. The factory ship would likely serve as her own base of operations as well, so the ship had to offer enough accommodations to make her comfortable for decades!

Compared to the hands-on approach adopted by Ves and Gloriana, the other advisers merely voiced their suggestions. Neither Calabast, Ophelia or Abigail possessed a technical background, but they were still competent professionals in their own right.

"You need to beef up the communications center of the ship." Calabast suggested. "It would be best to add some more redundancies as well. You should also move the quantum communication nodes to a separate compartment in order to isolate them better. I always disagreed with the decision to place them next to other communications systems in order to save space."

Abigail made a useful suggestion as well. "If defense is a priority but don't want to reduce the mobility of the factory ship any further, then you might consider adding large-area shield generators. They're very power hungry and very expensive and aren't as tough as actual armor, but they take up much less mass and volume than adding an extra layer of armor."

When Ves looked up the shield generators, he immediately shook his head. "They're too expensive! I'll have to chew through a considerable portion of my budget in order to slot them into the factory ship!"

The cost of an individual directional shield generator was still within an acceptable range. The problem was that Ves had to purchase them into a batch in order to cover the huge surface area of the exterior of the ship!

Even Gloriana agreed. "There is too much for us to spend on first. Let's add the shields to our list of future upgrades. Since they're fairly compact and relatively standalone, we can easily install them in place once we acquire them. We should instead focus on establishing the right foundation."

Certain modules and systems required the factory ship to undergo an extensive overhaul that could only take place at a shipyard. This was not one of them. Shield generators were just big blocks of metal and machinery that could be disassembled and assembled by a team of trained engineers and technicians.

Considering the LMC's earning potential, Ves could afford to wait and accumulate enough cash to purchase considerably more powerful shield generators than he could afford at this time.

He nodded. "You're right, Gloriana. We shouldn't consider the factory ship to be a finished product once she falls into our hands. She's an ongoing project that will potentially stay this way for centuries. What we should prioritize during this design session is to choose between all of the essential modules and systems that are very hard to add to the factory ship after she is built."

The Estrella Klavier-class might be a bit more generous in terms of upgradeability, but not everything about her design was modular. There were plenty of interlocking, interconnecting systems that had to be built right from the very start.

The same applied to mechs to a lesser degree. Surface battle damage was easy to repair, but once something deep inside broke, the mech technicians had to perform a lot of steps to disassemble the damaged machine.

As Ves and Gloriana each began to fill up the empty spaces of the factory, they focused on strengthening her survival ability.

To Ves, the basic configuration of the factory ship already provided him with plenty of performance. She offered sufficient production capacity and cargo capacity to fulfill her main role.

Though Ves could opt to make more room for production lines or turn more empty compartments into cargo bays, he declined to do so. Such a choice would doubtlessly make the factory ship more productive and more cost-efficient, but that would also come at the expense of other parameters!

What Ves instead wanted to build was a moving fortress. Of course, it was unrealistic to turn the factory ship into a frontline combat vessel. He just wanted the ship to be able to defend herself regardless whether she was stationed in the middle of a fleet or caught by herself!

Therefore, Ves reserved enough compartments along the length of the hull to make room for future shield generators. He made sure to place the shield generators in a compartment with access to dense power connections.

Though these shield generators were surprisingly compact, they guzzled enough energy to power a sub-capital ship! It would be very strenuous for the factory ship to power every shield generator at the same time, that was for sure!

"This ship is very demanding on energy even without the shield generators." Ves remarked. With his new Senior-level Electrical Engineering Skill, he clearly foresaw a lot of problems in the future. "We should make sure to beef up the power supply and enhance the energy distribution systems."

The material processing machines and the industrial production lines all demanded a lot of energy to run. The power reactors of the factory ship were only powerful enough to feed these production facilities and sustain the normal operations of the ship. They were not enough if the Larkinson Clan planned to add shield generators in the future!

The cost of the power reactors alone consumed a substantial portion of the budget, but Ves figured it was worth it. If he only promised to deliver six Hexer mech designs to DIVA, then he wouldn't have chosen to add these extra power generators.

The increased power generation was not all good. Aside from producing a lot more heat, which required him to bolster the heat management system of the ship, it also cost a lot to keep them running.

Overall, the factory ship that took shape would not be cheap to run! The maintenance costs continued to rise with each module and system he added to the vessel. Perhaps other clients might start to feel hesitant at this point, but Ves had no concerns.

As a mech designer, making money was as easy as pumping out another commercial mech design! He had absolutely no concern that the Larkinson Clan of today would be able to cover the costs of running the huge factory ship.

"You wanted to upgrade the mobility of the factory ship as well, right?" Gloriana confirmed. "We should replace the standard sublight propulsion system with a more powerful one then. This is hardly the best we Hexers have to offer."

The sublight propulsion system consisted of the main thrusters, auxiliary thrusters, engines and every other part responsible for moving the ship forward.

The current iteration of the factory ship was quite sluggish and hardly fast in any sense of the word. More expensive propulsion systems offered more power but less efficiency.

If the factory ship was supposed to be used for peaceful purposes only, then this was a good choice.

However, Ves intended to take this ship straight into frontier space, where his Larkinson Fleet could encounter insurmountable danger at any time!

In these kinds of crisis situations, saving money by running an efficient propulsion system was the last thing on his mind!

Therefore, Ves quickly ripped out the original propulsion system and added a beefier one. According to the estimates given by the ship design program, the acceleration of the factory ship had received a modest bump.

The upgrade turned a sluggish tub in space into a slightly faster sluggish tub in space.

There was no way to gain any further mobility without switching to another class of factory ships! Capital ships were so massive that it was a pipedream to think they could ever match the acceleration of a swift corvette!

He was already happy with what he managed to gain. Increasing the acceleration of the factory ship by just a third or something meant that the huge vessel would waste less time in realspace.

From a money saving standpoint, upgrading the propulsion system was a horrendously wasteful decision.

From a time saving standpoint, beefing up the engines was very much worth the investment!

Of course, the more powerful engines not only consumed substantially more fuel, but also used up a higher grade, making it a bit more troublesome to refuel in space.

Fortunately, the higher grade of ship fuel was also substantially more energy dense, which meant that Ves did not have to expand the sizable fuel tanks of the factory ship any further.

Ves hummed as he thought of the additional logistical burden. "Perhaps we should add a specialized refinery ship to our fleet that can refine these high-grade fuels."

This was something to consider for later. For now, the fuel tanks should already be able to keep the factory ship moving for years. In addition, the supply of high-grade fuels was relatively ubiquitous and abundant in civilized space.

Empty space continued to dwindle as the overall performance profile of the factory ship became more defined.

With almost every choice dedicated to enhancing the factory ship's defense and mobility, she had become quite a scrappy factory ship!

"We can't forget about offense either!" Ves recalled.

There wasn't much room left in the outer compartments after Ves and Gloriana added a lot of modules and systems to the factory ship. Fortunately, the Estrella Klavier-class already came with a bunch of exterior bunkers!