The Mech Touch

Chapter 7040 Energy Weapon Improvements

The Irradiators equipped by the mechs presented an interesting technological solution to red humanity.

Although it was not the most efficient weapon, it did not matter so long as the targets behind the energy shields were fragile and easy to damage.

The fact that the energy weapon-focused mechs managed to repel the vanguard forces of the enemy phasefighters with ease already showed how the Irradiator Gamma Laser Weapons could be used to eliminate or drive away similar enemy strike craft in future engagements.

So long as this weapon became widespread enough, the native aliens would not dare to produce any more phasefighters that relied heavily on energy defenses but invested little in their material defenses!

Together with the shotguns that launched flechettes that homed in on energy shields, it should already begin to dawn on the native aliens that the entire phasefighter concept had become obsolete.

CE tech fulfilled the expectations of many hopeful viewers. Although the innovations were not as flashy as most people expected, their effectiveness was undeniable.

Perhaps the native aliens might rely on their large number of researchers and developers to quickly devise countermeasures against the Phase Attractor Shells and the Irradiator Gamma Laser Weapons, but these were just two of many technological countermeasures developed by the Cybernetic Empire. A few tweaks or quick fixes to their energy shield tech should not be able to negate all of the new countermeasures.

Ves believed that the only way for the aliens to adapt to the new human arsenal was to abandon their focus on energy shield tech entirely.

This was easier said than done.

Generation after generation of alien shipbuilding had invested heavily in transphasic energy shields. It was the main form of defense that had served the aliens well for countless years.

To be told that their defenses no longer did their jobs and that they had to switch to a completely different defensive approach would probably offend a lot of stubborn aliens!

What was worse was that it threatened the dominance of the vested interests behind energy shield tech!

When faced with the threat of obsolescence, this powerful trans-species mafia would never obediently roll over and allow the native aliens to reduce their investment on energy shields.

Ves predicted that resistance against the adoption of human-style armor-heavy defenses would cause a lot of delays. It may take years if not a decade for the Red Cabal to finally overcome overwhelming opposition and finally convince all of the military industries to completely switch over.

Even then, a lot of existing phasefighters and warships still remained stuck with their energy shield-heavy defenses.

His eyes lit up as he realized the possibilities opened up by the availability of CE tech.

If the aliens truly required a lot of time to switch over their entire defensive paradigms, then red humanity enjoyed a multi-year window of opportunity to defeat a large number of native alien fleets and retake a lot of captured territory by taking advantage of the mismatch in generational technology!

So long as the Cybernetic Empire made at least a couple of its anti-energy shield armaments available to the masses, that should already be enough for existing forces to gain a huge advantage on the battlefield!

After all, most red human commanders deeply understood the value of superior technology and were much more willing to adapt to the latest trends.

Those who rejected innovation had already perished in battle or got removed from their positions.

The Red War was so brutal to red humanity that the latter could not allow itself to get bogged down by incompetence. Any failure could lead to the deaths of millions if not billions of civilian lives.

Although it was terrible for red humans to live and fight when subjected to so much pressure, it was only through adversity that they unlocked their potential and rose to the occasion.

The native aliens were still too far from reaching that point. Even if they suffered a setback at the frontlines, the vast majority of their population would remain safe and sound. Even the most recent voribug invasion only raised alarm among the aliens who lived in the regions closest to the advancing insects.

"The native aliens are repositioning their forces." Gloriana remarked.

The phase lords in charge of the fleets recognized that they were facing a different opponent from usual.

Seeing that the Gamma Scorchers had yet to deploy any high-ranking mechs, the lesser and greater phase lords made the uncharacteristic decision of unfolding their true bodies to the fullest!

"Whoa."

The sight of several moon and asteroid-sized phase lords immediately bolstered the flagging morale of the alien soldiers.

The phasefighter pilots who previously grew reticent at the thought of fighting against the mechs armed with strange energy weapons quickly grew confident now that they were being watched over by their gods.

Ves leaned forward as the native alien forces began to leverage the presence of so many large phase lords.

Although they had grown so big that their raiments no longer offered meaningful coverage, their body mass was so stupendous that it would take forever for warships to drill through all of that flesh and bone, let alone their spatial barriers!

"The enemy phasefighters and warships are beginning to position themselves behind their phase lords!"

"Clever." Ves spoke in admiration. "The native aliens are sharp enough to notice that the CE mechs and warships are overwhelmingly armed with directed energy weapons. They can only attack in a straight line, which means that if they remain in formation, they can only ever attack from the front. The phase lords can use their massive true bodies to serve as temporary walls that can block a lot of attacks. In the meantime, the phasefighters can get close enough to directly threaten the enemy warships while the alien warships can opportunistically appear out of cover and go back into it when they need to give their energy shields time to restore."

This put the Gamma Scorchers at a severe disadvantage. They could split up their fleet into multiple squadrons in order to counteract this strategy, but that made them vulnerable in different ways.

Both sides began to shoot at each other as they maneuvered around the battlefield.

The CE warships initially did not demonstrate any remarkable tech at this time.

Their powerful transphasic hyper graser beam cannon batteries inflicted hefty damage, but the overall performance improvements were incremental rather than revolutionary.

Although they inflicted a bit more damage onto the enemy spatial barriers than contemporary laser cannons of the same caliber, it was nothing to write home about.

Without additional countermeasures such as sending in melee mechs to weaken the spatial barriers with the help of their space suppressors, it would take forever to undermine these tough energy defenses!

"What is going on?" Ves frowned. "Shouldn't the Gamma Scorchers be unveiling their next big weapon already? They are letting the native aliens get uncomfortably close. The erudite phase lords have already begun to interdict and disrupt the CE forces with their spatial abilities."

Many energy beams suddenly began to miss as the surrounding space became crooked and unstable.

The human vessels also had trouble maintaining the right trajectories. In a few instances, a couple of mechs almost collided against each other!

The alien warships had also begun to pummel the azure energy shields of the CE warships.

While Ves could perceive plenty of clues that the CE version of azure energy shields had clearly been improved and optimized over several decades, the performance boost was not remarkable enough to turn the battle around.

Ves did not think the commanding officers of the Gamma Scorchers Warfleet were stupid, so it must have been a deliberate choice for them to give up their range advantage and let the enemy forces get close.

"So much bravado." Gloriana commented as she made a similar conclusion. "The Gamma Scorchers are clearly armed with a large amount of long-ranged precision armaments, but they are readily throwing it away. Are they afraid that if they open fire in earnest, the native aliens will become so frightened that they will immediately initiate a retreat?"

"That is the only explanation that makes sense. Whether it is true or not, the Cybers will have to present their answer soon, because if this continues, the phase lords will get close enough to physically kick or grasp the CE warships."

Ves had no doubt that the Gamma Scorchers knew exactly what they were doing. He refused to believe that the commanders in charge of this warfleet overestimated its capabilities.

In fact, the native alien advance proceeded so smoothly and without any interference from expert mechs and ace mechs that they grew suspicious.

The alien forces slowed down their advance and channeled much more power to their sensor systems in order to search for possible ambushes.

There was none. The Gamma Scorchers had come alone, and that puzzled the native aliens.

Unfortunately for the clueless enemies, the Cybers had waited long enough. Now that the enemy had come close enough, they finally began to unveil their next technological marvel!

"Look at the gun turrets of those warships!" Marvaine shouted. "They are… transforming!"

Transforming was a bit of an exaggerated description. From what Ves could observe, additional reinforcing materials formed around the existing energy weapon cannons, making them look thicker and better protected.

Unknown mechanisms also came into play and altered the functioning of the entire weapon system.

Nobody knew what was going on. Even Ves could not recognize the purpose behind all of these changes.

"They're about to open fire!"

Once the primary and secondary laser cannon batteries completed their metamorphosis, they quickly began to accumulate energy before launching weaker transphasic hyper energy beams at the spatial barriers that protected the phase lords advancing at the front.

"Huh?"

Ves and many other people initially became surprised that the warships fired weaker energy beams than usual, but they soon noticed an unusual sight.

The energy beams did not shut down.

Instead, similar to mining laser arrays, the cannons persisted in their efforts and continued to spit out their beams without any signs of ending.

Ves and Gloriana's eyes gradually widened as they saw that the transformed cannons showed no overt signs of danger or instability!

Although the cannons were obviously straining to maintain this constant damage output, it was amazing to see that none of its active components had overheated or broken down by this time!

"These laser cannons are expressly designed to keep this up for a longer duration!" Ves spoke in realization. "The damage output is insane if they don't get shut down. Look at how the enemy is taking this latest move!"

The phase lords grew disconcerted. While the laser beams that struck their spatial barriers did not produce any dramatic results, the alien leaders still did not like to see their main form of protection getting drained at a constant and unceasing rate.

They tried their best to speed up their forward motion, but their spatial barriers continued to weaken over time, especially when multiple warships directed all of their primary and secondary energy weapon batteries to wear down their energy defenses.

"This is a massive improvement in the field of laser weapons." Ves said. "Persistent energy beam weapons are nothing new, but it has never been done for normal warships at this scale. All of those transphasic hyper laser cannon batteries have overcome one of the biggest problems that plague most directed energy weapons. The new tech enables them to inflict much higher damage in a much shorter time scale."

Normal laser weapons tended to fire their energy beams for a very short interval before immediately shutting in order to prevent overheating and accelerated wear and tear.

The cooldown cycle was often many times longer than the period when the weapon was inflicting actual damage, and that had long been the source of frustration of many people.

Most laser weapon developers eventually accepted this status quo. Trying to lengthen the period when the beam weapon remained active often reduced its longevity at an accelerated rate. The benefits were not worth the costs.

Evidently, the Gamma Scorchers thought differently. Their reinforced laser weapon systems were clearly able to bear the incredible strain of keeping their beam weapons active for almost a full minute!

This had obvious consequences to the native aliens. The phase lords under fire had already begun to consider whether they should retreat.

Then, the Gamma Scorchers made their killer move.

Their warships suddenly switched from targeting all of the phase lords evenly to concentrating all of their firepower to a single point of the spatial barrier of a single greater phase lord!

This sudden concentration of firepower temporarily relieved a lot of phase lords, but happened to cause extreme distress for the single remaining target!

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