The Mech Touch novel Chapter 423

It took three weeks for the convoy to meander through Republic space, dropping a couple of ships off at every star system along the way, before it reached the Tarry System. By then, the convoy only consisted of a handful of ships.

The three mech designers noticed none of that. The crew kept them in their assigned compartment and never issues any notifications except to warn them of FTL transitions. _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

As a group of outcasts, none of them shared much in common, nor did they speak too much about their background beyond the basics.

The restrictive passenger compartment contained nothing but furniture and food. The few projectors they found couldn’t be turned on to display a news feed or outdated dramas.

Thus, with nothing else to do, they shifted to talking about the only thing they had in common.

"What are the nuances of designing aerial mechs? What do you have to take into account?" Ves asked as he sat across the table from Laida.

"Aerial mechs are designed specifically according to a range of gravities. Most designs work best at 1.0 g, the standard gravity of Old Earth, because most states prioritize on terraforming planets that closely match this gravity."

"Not all planets feature standard gravity. A significant amount of planets have gravities that range from 0.5 g to 2 g."

Though the woman was rather shy when it came to her personal life, she carried herself with a bit more confidence when it came to her expertise.

"That’s why a mech that’s designed to operate at 1.0 g will always lose against a mech designed to operate at 0.6 g on a 0.6 g planet."

"Why is that so?" Ves furrowed his brows. "A mech that’s rated to fly at 1.0 g carries a much stronger flight system. I can understand why it won’t be able to perform as effective in a 2.0 g environment where gravity is twice as strong, but if the gravity is forty percent weaker, shouldn’t it be forty percent stronger?"

"You landbound mech designers are all the same." Laida rubbed her head. "You have to realize that aerial light mechs devote up to half of their volume and carrying capacity to their flight systems alone. I can’t say too much about medium mechs, but for light mechs, every cubicle centimeter is as precious as exotics. Space that could have been used to strengthen the mech’s armor or firepower instead has to be dedicated to powering the flight system or shunt away its heat."

"Ah. So it’s a matter of priorities. So if I understand you correctly, an aerial mech that’s designed to fly in 0.6 g will allocate less capacity to supporting the flight system?"

"Correct." Laida bobbed her thin head, causing her bun of hair to bob in a cute fashion. "You can say that such a mech is becoming less of an aerial mech and more of a landbound mech. In extreme cases, such as small moons or large asteroids, an aerial mech could theoretically make due with a handful of anti-grav modules for three-dimensional propulsion, though the lack of atmosphere in those environments is better suited to spaceborn mechs."

"What’s the difference between spaceborn mechs and aerial mechs?"

"Early on, there wasn’t any difference. Mechs with flight systems did double duty because it was more affordable to design and produce a single model that could do both than dedicate two separate models entirely. It’s only later that the two classifications came into being."

"Because of specialization?"

"Yes. A mech designed to operate in space doesn’t need to accommodate for gravity. Instead, they have to be designed to withstand a lot of g-forces and rapid changes in course. As for aerial mechs, they need to be able to retain their balance in the air at all times. Their flight systems are also tweaked to be highly efficient in counteracting the force of gravity that is being exerted from below."

Laida freely explained all of the nuances behind designing aerial mechs. Ves heard about some of these maxims, but never in such detail and accompanied by the personal insight of a mech designer who knew what she was talking about.

Of course, Laida didn’t explain her insights for free. Among mech designers, an exchange of this nature required Ves to put up knowledge of equal value.

As Laida finished providing Ves with a general overview of aerial mechs, she began to ask her own questions. "What do you need to pay attention to when you design an original mech on your own?"

"A lot of things. There’s too much to mention. Leaving aside the material requirements such as possessing the right licenses and having access to the production equipment, designing a mech is mainly a test of your vision."

"Vision?" Laida frowned as she pursed her lips. "What is vision?"

That caused Ves to stare at Laida as if she forgot to wear a helmet on a spacewalk. "You studied at the Ansel University of Mech Design, right? Don’t they teach you the importance of vision in their classes?"

Laida still looked clueless. "They primarily focused on teaching the sciences to us. The school calls it setting a firm foundation. Without knowing the math and science behind designing mechs, there’s no chance of becoming a qualified mech designer."

Through their talks, Ves found out that Laida was indeed fairly competent in that area. Her intelligence couldn’t be underestimated and it was impressive how well she grasped the mechanics of designing an aerial mech.

However, Ves found it really strange that her school neglected to teach the artistic side to mech design.

"Designing mechs is both an art and a science. Building up a foundation sounds good and all, but that doesn’t prepare you to design a mech on your own. Did they even teach you the steps you needed to follow to develop an original design?"

"...No. Many graduates of the AUMD are expected to learn these lessons after graduation. A lot of promising alumni take in the most promising graduates and teach them the ropes."

Despite her talent in learning, Laida fell outside their scope. Her hometown of Haston did not fit in the elite society of Ansel.

She was lucky that other employees still valued her AUMD degree. She reluctantly joined a design studio as a junior assistant and enjoyed a first-hand glimpse on how the designers of the studio created new aerial mech designs.