THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 6835 The Long Game

What an outrageous idea.

Alexa had a lot of guts.

She had boldly thought about incorporating the rare and exceedingly precious superdimensional matter into the structure of a juggernaut!

This was a remarkably bold choice due to the scarcity of this material.

Yet her design choices appeared surprisingly apt.

This was because she predominantly sought to make use of relatively inferior hull-grade superdimensional matter.

The only instance where she wanted to use high-grade superdimensional matter was to enhance the strength and penetration power of the edge of the so-called 'Doomaxe.

As Ves contemplated this bold proposal, he grew more and more invested into the idea.

However, Alexa's draft design still had a number of problems. She already mentioned that it was still incomplete, so he did not judge her for the gaps and shortcomings in her work.

"Your proposal to refit the Otalon Sprius with predominantly mid-grade superdimensional alloy is highly inspiring" Ves did not hesitate to praise her vision. "You have made a strong case that the Otalon Sprius can become a formidable juggernaut just by using up a lot of hull-grade superdimensional matter. However, there are a number of issues that still look dubious!" "Please tell."'

"Why arm this juggernaut with an axe?' Ves questioned. "A spear or lance allows for much better value for superdimensional matter. There are good reasons why the Red Cabal makes extensive use of Saint Piercer arms that come in the form of long, thin polearms. You can obtain supreme penetration power in a minimal package. You also do not have to waste as much high-grade superdimensional alloy just to make the tip harder and more easily able to penetrate through defenses.

His direct disciple already had an argument ready for this line of questioning.

"I thought carefully about this subject. First, the Otalon Sprius is not a mech that is particularly suited for melee combat. I can make quick changes to enhance its swinging power and so on, but it is very hard to increase its weapon speed. A spear wielder needs to be able to perform swift and powerful stabs at a high frequency in order to make the best use f such a weapon. Unless I can effectively reinvent the Otalon Sprius, it will struggle to wield such a weapon with as much speed and ferocity: If her description of the juggernaut's shortcomings was accurate, then her argument may be valid. "So you thought to use an axe with a rather heavy blade because the Otalon Sprius is more suited to wield power-type melee weapons?

"That is my conclusion." She nodded. "After an extensive examination, the Otalon Sprius is not able to make rapid changes in its movements, but it is quite strong in committing to relatively simple and straight motions. It can swing a mean axe, and its power will be amplified if it does so while charging forward. The use of a relatively heavy axe with a long shaft should enable it to crush past energy barriers and inflict a serious laceration to the body of a phase lord. The effective damage inflicted by a single axe strike definitely exceeds that of a single spear stab."

Ves understood the logic behind these differences. 'Saint Piercer arms are designed to be used

against mechs. When wielded by greater phase lords of a reasonable size, these weapons can punch a large enough hole to cripple or eliminate an expert mech or ace mech. In contrast, a juggernaut of this size wielding a similar superdimensional weapon can only poke a relatively tiny hole the enormous body of a phase lord. The only way for this weapon to inflict more serious damage is to penetrate deep enough to damage a phasewater organ or somehow manage to penetrate the brain cavity. Neither of this will be easy when fighting against a greater phase lord that is on guard" "That is why I think an axe is preferable over a spear or a sword!" Alexa affirmed.

No matter whether they were martial or erudite greater phase lords, enemies this powerful could not be easily defeated by a clumsy juggernaut.

"Then there is the mobility issue." Ves said. "This transphasic flight system is bulky, but it cannot provide enough thrust to make the juggernaut fast and maneuverable enough to duel against a phase lord who knows what he is doing. The reason why ace mechs are often able to do well against the native gods is because they are so damn fast and responsive. Juggernauts trade speed for size. I believe that you cannot make the Otalon Sprius maneuverable enough duel against phase lords unless you enhance its mobility."

Alexa frowned. She had definitely considered this problem, but she clearly remained uncertain about how to solve this issue.

"Should I mount a larger and stronger flight system on its back?"

"No." Ves shook his head. "It will become excessively large and bulky, making it too easy for enemies to damage and compromise the juggernaut's mobility. My suggestion is to add multiple boosters on its legs and torso. The Otalon Sprius doesn't necessarily need stronger straight-line acceleration, but it must be able to rotate and alter its course a lot faster than its bulk will normally allow."

He reached out with his hand and began to modify the draft design of the superdimensional juggernaut. He loosely added dozens of boosters that looked like circles across the massive frame. "Polly, please calculate the overall increase mobility when adding generic boosters of the

proportionate size and power"

A grey virtual cat briefly appeared in the design lab and presented a table filled with numbers.

[According to your parameters, the mobility of this juggernaut is estimated to increase by 9 to 24 percent. The upper limit can only be reached by making use of high technology, rare materials and a willingness to exchange endurance for greater power.]

Alexa widened her eyes. This increase in mobility might not sound much, but that was because it encompassed every variable related to mobility.

When the former Terran studied the more detailed data graph, more relevant parameters such as rotation speed saw a drastic increase in improvement.

The juggernaut could even inflict more damage by using the boosters to increase the momentum behind its weapon swings!

Yet as helpful as the boosters may be, Alexa was not blind to their obvious disadvantages. "These boosters add serious vulnerabilities to the Otalon Sprius." She pointed out. "The armor in these sections will become compromised, and the boosters themselves are much less capable of withstanding damage than solid plating. Any self-respecting enemy will try to punch through these weak points in order to damage the internals of the juggernaut. This is the reason why only light mechs make use of boosters. It doesn't really matter whether they introduce additional vulnerabilities when the armor system is not that thick to begin with. The same rationale completely fails when applied to a machine that is so much bigger"

The Otalon Sprius would never win any races. It would never be able to evade attacks as confidently as the Dark Zephyr Mark III.

The juggernaut functioned more like a sub-capital warship that happened to have arms and legs. There was no way a machine of this size could move through space as if it was swimming like a small fish.

"I admit that this is not a perfect solution to the mobility problem." He said. "However, if I have to choose between the two versions, I would pick the one with the boosters. Despite its superdimensional frame, I do not have full confidence that the machine can withstand every attack. It needs stronger mobility in order to evade attacks that it cannot withstand and leverage superior

positioning"

It was clear that Alexa Streon did not entirely agree that the armor system of the juggernaut could be defeated so easily, but she did not choose to argue this point.

The Journeyman Mech Designer looked frustrated. "The root of the problem is that the Otalon Sprius is originally designed as a landbound juggernaut. Granting its flight capabilities in such a crude manner is suboptimal because the mech frame is too thick and solid. Let me ask you a question, Ves. Do you want to refurbish the Otalon Sprius fast enough that it can become a functional addition to our Premier Fleet in a few months, or do you want to remain patient and design a proper juggernaut

for this modern cra?"

This was a highly consequential question.

"The latter." Ves immediately replied. "This is not an ideal situation. I would still like it better if we take our time and design a proper upgrade to the juggernaut. I not only want to incorporate a lot of superdimensional matter, but I also want to convert it into archetech. This will not only allow us to slim down its massive form without necessarily reducing its performance, but I will also mitigate the weaknesses introduced by the boosters. By applying all kinds of modern technological solutions, the effective performance of The Otalon Sprius should easily be several times better than if we do a rush job. An inadequate upgrade leaves too many flaws behind!

To be honest, Ves preferred it if he and Alexa could convert the Otalon Sprius into a useful combat asset in the short term.

That did not seem so realistic anymore. The work that Alexa had already done on this subject clearly showed that there was a large chance that the Otalon Sprius would end up as a big piece of cannon

fodder.

Even if Ves decided to use up all of his reserves of hull-grade superdimensional matter, it would only turn the Otalon Sprius into a better target dummy.

Perhaps it might be able to perform well against enemy warships, but it was far too lacking in

mobility.

Ves may as well leave the outdated and inoperable juggernaut in the cargo hold if that was the case. Alexa thought about what was needed to transform the Otalon Sprius into a fully modernized juggernaut.

"A refit of this scale cannot be done in open space, Ves. The juggernaut needs to be rebuilt in an enormous workshop environment. The refit will also require a large amount of materials that come from many different sources. We may find ourselves unable to convert the Otalon Sprius into a fully modernized juggernaut if red humanity's infrastructure has collapsed!"

"We still have the Spirit of Bentheim and the Diligent Ovenbird." Ves said.

Alexa shook her head. "Both of these vessels are only capable of producing second-class or quasi-first-class machines. Regardless of whether you have modernized the production facilities, they still cannot upgrade and modernize the Otalon Sprius without an abundant supply of many different raw materials. A high-end juggernaut design can only be built in an environment with abundant infrastructure. It may be difficult to satisfy this demand in the future.

Her message was clear. She saw greater value in the Otalon Sprius by quickly converting it into a readily available combat asset.

Since both sides disagreed on this matter, Ves automatically won.

After all, he was in charge.

"I am sympathetic to your stance, but... the Otalon Sprius is special!" Ves apologetically said. "As a mech designer, I feel it is an enormous waste to repair it while applying rudimentary upgrades. It has a weight to it, and not in a physical sense. It feels disrespectful for us to throw it into battle in a careless manner when it has much more potential than that. There has to be a reason why the Evolution Witch kept it in her giant storage closet for so many years"

"You are ascribing value to the Otalon Sprius where there may be none. You are letting your emotions dictate your decisions." Alexa warned Ves.

"It is not all about my personal feelings, Alexa. There is logic behind my stance. As long as we have enough time to work on it, I am sure we can turn it into a juggernaut that can truly contend against enemy phase lords. By combining the advantages of living mechs, hyper technology, phasewater technology, superdimensional matter, archetech, Solus Gas and other nifty secrets into a machine that is the size of a sub-capital ship, I suspect that the resulting product will be powerful enough to challenge ace mechs without needing to rely on high-ranking mech pilots!

"You are talking about constructing a completely new juggernaut. Why not do that instead?" Ves grinned. "I am glad you asked! A newly fabricated juggernaut does not possess the accumulation of age of the Otalon Sprius. Trust me. This is the good stuff for living mech designers such as

ourselves!"

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