21 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 1 (1/2)
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
House Thoth, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: ?/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null
Term: 1, Round: 1
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Daedo looked frustrated.
”This launch tube is not working properly,” he stated simply after another test where the grenades got caught in the flex either getting stuck entirely or slowing down their launch velocity.
Mace looked concerned also. She had nothing to add to solve the issue everything she had suggested last time just made things worse.
”Let's talk to Father, see if he has any suggestions,” Daedo said.
Myrmidon: I can fluctuate the compressed air flow and with more flexible entry system create an air tube within the tube.
Daedo: yes, but how does that help everyone else? Mace does not have you to assist.
Myrmidon: she must improve her AI companion until then she cannot use the arm-mounted launcher. She could use a regular handheld launcher with munitions fed from the same design.
Daedo: that is a solution. Thank you, Myrmidon. Let's see if we can solve the issue first and use that as a fallback plan.
Ikaros examined the design and the prototype which Daedo had machined that day. He turned it over humming and harring as Daedo explained the test issues, showed the data and a vid.
”The munition is colliding with the outer wall. Why don't you compress the tube so it cannot move within it?” Ikaros asked.
”We want to be able to use a variety of munitions, smoke, frag, mimic and when we nail the designs a lasertrip and rootkit deployable canisters,” Daedo said.
”What about a grapple?” Ikaros asked.
”That is next, I was imagining that when we improved the suit further adding two grapples, one to each arm. It will need its own mechanism, and it will weigh a tonne,” Daedo said.
”Frag and smoke canisters are the same sizes,” Ikaros stated, ”reduce the tube to their diameter and restrict them to one arm.”
”We could hand lay the rootkit and lasertrip,” Mace said. ”What if we put a grapple on one arm, smoke and frag on the other with a few rootkits and lasertrips stored on our upper legs.
Daedo pondered, ”let's test the smoke and frag arm launcher first, ensure that is working, we just have to modify this one down six point three two mils in diameter,' he said.
”Let me do that, you start on the arm grappler. It would be great to get a week of testing and practice on it before next weekend,” Mace said.
It was getting late on Saturday the first new exo was in the weave, it would be finished by 0400 on Sunday.
Daedo nodded. A grappler had incredible potential. It had a variety of functions from mobility enhancement to enemy manipulation. He sat in the workshop, editing his early designs to adapt to the changes in the suit. He put his work up on the wall so his father, Mace and anyone else who was interested could see.
Key among the elements of the grappler was the winder or winch. The launcher could use the same hydraulic system the entire suit supported. By utilising changes in the size of the tubes and the chamber which switched from liquid to pneumatic which gained power from multiple inject points from three arteries the launcher was quite powerful. He also pondered adding a magnetic accelerator to the chamber.
Daedo loved the synergy the mesh armour had with the hydraulic exchanges. Normally the tubing was a weak point, but the tubing in this design had a dual purpose. It was both armour and a fluid vessel. All he had to do now was to research a liquid which would enhance the hydraulic and armour effectiveness of the design. Off the shelf synthetic hydraulic fluid would have to suffice for now. At least it was widely used in mechs and heavy vehicles.
The reactor which powered the hydraulics was ripped straight from the Academies' standard light exos. It was woefully inadequate. Daedo pondered sending Cisse a message and realised he had never done so before.
This project was so important to Daedo that his proclivity to be a loner was easily overcome. He found a message she had sent him on the day he entered the Academy, wishing him well and all that gushy stuff, and replied to it.
Daedo: Dear Cisse. Hmm. Cisse, we would like your help with our first Academy project. We are building our own exo for intra-Academy competitions, and its power supply is poor. Father and I are busy with mechanical and structural elements. Your expertise would really help us. I have attached the location of our workshop in Nanterre. We are here every weekend.
After mere moments passed.
Cisse: I will be right there.
Daedo: ah…Thanks!
Daedo could smell something nice and realised he was hungry.
Vannier: do you want to come up for food? Or should we bring it down?
Daedo: down please and could you bring Axelzero I want to talk to her.
Daedo went back to the grappler design. Due to time limitations, he just ordered three winders which would be delivered via drone and probably arrive within hours. The workshop was a bitcred sink, he would need to do something to start bringing in creds, although his spacebuild shop was still operating, however, he no longer earned any creds from CyberMech which was ninety percent of his income.
”You called master,” Axelzero said sarcastically while holding a bowl full of noodles and bowing.
”Don't spill it!” Daedo exclaimed he was starving.
She handed over the noodles, and he began to scoff them down. ”You did ask me down for a reason. I am sorry we haven't been more help, but I feel useless compared to you, your Father and Mace.”
”Huh?” he said clueless. And then when he thought about it, it dawned on him. ”Oh, this is my fault. And you guys have been doing all the crap work, cleaning and organising this place. It should be me apologizing,” he said.
She shook her head smiling, ”it's the least we can do, I thought I should research something specific so I can be more help.”
”There is something you can do, and there is something I want you to consider,' he responded.
Axelzero leaned close, and her eyes lit up, ”yes?”
Daedo instinctively turned to keep his bowl between them, he had made massive improvements in a short amount of time in the way he interacted with his squadmates, but closeness like this still made him uncomfortable.
”I want you to use the launchers with your pistols, it will give you much more variety and make you much more of a threat with more tactics at your disposal,” has said. ”And I want you to look into the design of the winch for the grappler. It needs to use less power, be able to pull more weight at a higher speed. It also needs to be able to handle variable torques and be extremely reliable.”
Axelzero's face went from uncertainty to confusion, to interest and finally, she beamed. ”I can do that, although, I do not think I can design a winch as well as you could.”
”That's the thing,” he said, ”I can't do everything, and if I focus on the most important priority the exos. It's mobility, strength and durability. It will improve faster than if I am looking at a hundred different pieces of equipment and technology. Plus, we are House Thoth and you are graded on a tech project. You need something useful you can put all your efforts into, something meaningful. Ideally something you will be using yourself. You would be at close to short range with your pistols if you were working closely with me and Mace that would be ideal. And using a grappler is part of the close range team tactics.”
”Do you want me to switch to a vibroblade or lance?” She asked.
”No, no. That would be bad, we need a variety of weapons and ranges. The pistols give you fantastic dps at short range and with mobility you can stay out of melee or close range. You can stay out of range of a flamethrower or a minigun's high damage zone. Just imagine a grappler pulling you up and away as you fire with one of your pistols. Or a smoke grenade covering you as you close on a rifle. You could launch a frag grenade into a window and as they exited take them out with your pistols at the perfect range. The best way to defeat an enemy is to force or trick them to move where you want them.”
Axelzero nodded through his entire speech. ”I see, I see, I had never considered a launcher because you either can't use both or you need to keep switching which takes too long. But your design where the launcher is attached to your arm is genius.”
”Not really,” he said, ”many mechs have this feature. Multiple weapon types on each arm.”
”Yeah, but no one at the Academy has launchers attached to their armour,” she said.