The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1627

Chapter 1627 Battlefield Mismatch

While Ves hadn't studied the new generation components in detail, he already skimmed over the details. Together with Councilor Veyron's introductions, this was enough for him to gain an overall impression of what he could do with the new generation technology.

"As you all know, one of the main highlights of the new generation in the case of third-class mechs is the substantial improvement in laser weapons."

Everyone at the design lab nodded.

"Sadly, it's not feasible to design a laser-armed mech at the moment. It's also pointless to design a melee mech unless we want to cater to a distant market."

In the current state of the Sand War, every mech designer from a state under attack had to contribute to the war effort. If they couldn't design a viable mech, then they should at least assist other mech designers into doing so! Ves would ruin his reputation if he ignored this obligation!

The higher his reputation, the more he had to according to a fixed pattern of behavior.

While Ves missed the freedom he enjoyed earlier, he gained more than he lost from building up his reputation. Every notable figure had no choice but to accept the price that came with becoming more renowned!

"What mech do you intend to design next?" Miles Tovar asked.

"A marksman mech."

The answer surprised everyone except Gloriana. To be fair, there weren't many viable mech types to choose from. The Sand War outright negated the combat effectiveness of so many types of mechs that everyone was starting to get sick with designing rifleman mechs!

"Will a marksman mech even catch on in the market?"

"I've studied the mech market and I believe that demand for a precision mech is increasing. The most prevalent rifleman mechs on the market are armed with ballistic weapons." Ves explained. "Even the vaunted new Sandbreaker weapon system is a ballistic rifle. The only thing that is special about it is that it is based around specialized rounds that are significantly more effective against the sandmen."

Everyone nodded.

"Think about it. What are the strengths and weaknesses of ballistic rifles?"

Since Ves turned this into a teaching moment, Gloriana stayed silent.

Before Miles could speak up, his cousin Vela Tovar answered first.

"I've assisted in several ranged mech design projects before." She said. "Ballistic weapons are by far the cheapest and simplest weapon that ranged mechs can wield. They're low tech, low maintenance and very easy to mass produce. Their ability to fire any round that matches its caliber and specifications mean that they're also very versatile. The development of Sandbreaker rounds is a good example of how the same tech can be expressed in different ways."

Ves smiled at the answer. Though he admittedly paid much more attention to Miles, that did not mean that the other Tovar mech designers were useless.

While he still figured that only Miles had the potential to become a Journeyman, he made sure not to neglect the rest.

"Vela is right. Ballistic rifles and ballistic rounds are not the most effective ranged weapon systems that we have at our disposal. It's just that it's the most economical we have on hand. This is a very valuable property in the Sand War because the sandmen come in such overwhelming numbers that our state will go bankrupt if we employ more expensive weapons!"

"There's many downsides to ballistic weapons, though." She continued. "Their low tech nature means that they become less efficient at higher budgets. The rifles themselves are still rather cheap, but the cost of producing more potent ammunition goes up enormously because it's necessary to lace them with low-grade exotics. Therefore, it's possible to produce rounds that can smash the sandmen apart, but the expenditure is so high that it's not sustainable!"

The economic and logistical considerations surrounding high-quality ballistic rounds meant that they only fared well when used during important battles. Unless the situation called for it, most mech forces tended to keep their expensive rounds in reserve.

Naturally, this only applied to well-funded outfits and military mech units.

Vela proceeded with the other weakness. "The muzzle velocities of ballistic rifles are also low due to the limitations of the tech. Ordinarily, this isn't that big of a downside in landbound combat, but in space the battles take place at much larger ranges. When it take four or five seconds for a fired projectile to reach its destination, the target has plenty of time to dodge!"

"Early on in the Sand War, our defensive forces only encountered basic sandman fleets." Ves explained. "The lumbering motherships and escort vessels are so big and inflexible that accuracy was not a big priority back then. As long as the spread of fire was not too excessive, mech designers preferred to pay much more attention to the ammunition capacity and cost-effectiveness of the weapons they paired with their mech designs. I designed the Desolate Soldier along the same rationale."

"The problem is that the sandmen have evolved, while our mechs have stayed the same." Gloriana pointed out. "There is a mismatch between the two. Even the introduction of the Sandbreaker weapon system hasn't done much to solve this issue."

"The swarm configuration has become increasingly more prevalent." Ves stated. "It seems that the sandman admirals are all converging on the same solution. That is, the best way to fight a massed force of mechs and starfighters is to make their sandmen disperse into small and agile drones and pelter their enemies with weak but fast-firing lasers."

Everyone here had access to the unsanitized footage and results of the battles at the front. Each of them knew that each battle against a swarm of sandman drones ended up with a massacre on both sides!

"Due to the limitations of ballistic rifles, our Desolate Soldiers and other rifleman mechs have to close the distance in order to increase their hit rate. However, getting closer to the sandmen is not a good idea, because the hit rate of their lasers increases as well, thereby resulting in much greater casualties!"