Chapter 1057. Pale Copy (1/2)

As much as Ves wanted to incorporate some offensive capabilities to his defensive mech, it looked unfeasible. What Venerable Fontain of the Spiral Shockers achieved with the Phovon was beyond mortal reach.

”The mech will certainly undergo a huge amount of stress from such substantial collisions.” Ves murmured has he continued to study the contents of the secure data pad. ”The design can only come so far in mitigating the incredible forces resulting from these destructive charges. The materials need to be strong enough as well.”

It didn't look hopeful for his super-medium space knight design. While it could take a beating, it fared best against energy weapons. The polarizing fields worked fantastic against lasers, but did not do enough to block the damage from ballistic or kinetic rounds.

This was a deliberate design choice to Ves. Everyone knew that laser technology would be undergoing a significant jump in power in the next mech generation, so designing his mech to cope with laser weapons only made more sense, especially in space where laser weapons were ubiquitous.

Taking a direction against energy weapons left his design with some shortcomings against physical weapon. Its complicated internal architecture did not lend itself too well against sustaining severe shocks to its frame.

While Ves found it regretful to leave such a weakness in his design, he could only take a single direction at a time. Besides, a space knight design was already fairly robust, so it was no slouch when it came to absorbing physical damage.

”Mobility is another area where my space knight falters.”

A regular space knight actually possessed quite a decent amount of mobility. Their uncomplicated design and lack of weapon systems allowed them to dedicate more of their internal volume to powering a stronger flight system.

While this added capability didn't allow a space knight to keep up with a light skirmisher, it was sufficient to provide them with some offensive options.

Not so for his space knight. It was just too big and with all the extra bells and whistles, it didn't leave enough room to fit a flight system that could keep up with the increase in mass.

In short, regardless of what Ves attempted to do, he couldn't escape the fact that he was essentially designing an obese medium mech when looking at its external appearance.

”My fatty mech's acceleration won't be able to keep up with all the other mechs in play. It takes too much effort to lug around its fat here and there.”

That relegated his fatty mech to a purely defensive role.

It was a shame to Ves that he couldn't make use of the offensive aspect of Venerable Fontain's kit, but he couldn't have everything.

A couple of hours went by as Ves delved in deeper into Venerable Fontain's record. The favor provided by Professor Ventag substantially enriched his knowledge with regards to space knights.

He did not particularly lie when he said that it would be useful for him to know what space knights could do when taken to their limits. The Phovon, Venerable Fontain's current expert mech, was a masterpiece in design.

Even though the redacted records were relatively sparse in its details, Ves ascertained that multiple Senior Mech Designers put a lot of effort in pooling their respective specialties together in developing such an exquisitely balanced space knight.

The Phovon's existence showcased the extensive involvement of the Bright Republic's Seniors into the design of its military mechs. Expert mechs did not come about randomly, and their designs simply couldn't be bought from the galactic mech market. They were too rare and tailored to individual expert pilots to be able to work well with others.

To be able to design an expert mech for an expert pilot was an immense privilege and a great opportunity. It allowed mech designers to showcase their design ability in a project with much higher budgets and much fewer practical limitations on the use of expensive materials and components.

Yet Ves could only admire them from afar for the foreseeable time. While it wasn't unheard of for Journeymen to design expert mechs, in practice the Mech Corps would rather turn to the best rather than the second-best to design their strategically important expert mechs.

At the end of the six-hour reading period, the data pad fizzled out. The guards stepped into his quarters without warning and silently took the useless pad out of his grasp even though Ves could do nothing to restore its contents.

When the guards departed, Ves sighed and leaned back against his chair. ”Expert pilots are such amazing figures.”

He witnessed the power and majesty of expert pilots first-hand on several occasions. It was a shame that those glimpses were too infrequent. Venerable O'Callahan piloting the Parallax Star against the Frosty Meteors made the most striking impression to Ves. That man dared to charge his expert lancer mech straight into the bow of a starship!

”If he wasn't so senile and close to death, he would have been able to showcase his power more often.”

Venerable O'Callahan's tragic case showcased the downside to pursuing a mech piloting career. The mutated brain structure that enabled mech pilots to interface with their mechs through the man-machine connection made it difficult for them to extend their lives. Just the first round of life-prolonging treatments geared specifically towards mech pilots was already far out of reach to most expert pilots.

It was different when it came to Journeyman Mech Designers. As long as they worked hard enough and didn't fool around all day, they would eventually be able to scrounge up the money to undergo the first round of life-prolonging treatments. It helped that they didn't have to pay as much as expert pilots because of their 'simpler' brain structures.

”To be an expert pilot is to earn glory and immortality through deeds. Most don't grow older than a hundred-and-thirty years old, but what a fulfilling life they've led!” Ves said in admiration. ”To be a Journeyman Mech Designer is to slave away more than half of your extended life just so you can advance and gain enough earning power to purchase another century of lifespan.”

Venerable Fontain was already middle aged and after a decade of service, old age would eventually catch up with him, deteriorating his mental agility to a point where it was best to thrown in the towel.

Cases like Venerable O'Callahan who clung to any opportunity to pilot an expert mech was in fact very rare. Most expert pilots already earned so much glory that they were content to retire on a high note.

Additionally, expert pilots weren't immune to loss and injury. Each time they entered the battlefield, they risked coming back in pieces or not at all. The Bright Republic fielded many expert pilots, but the Vesians were no slouch in this department either. The main role of an expert pilot was to contain an enemy expert pilot!