193 Chapter 193 Smooth Sailing
Initial testing was going far better than anyone had hoped, thanks to the in-depth analysis of the design teams and the modular nature of the design process. In only two weeks, functional testing on the X109 had finished.
That meant that the X104, its predecessor that had been designed without the rapid movement thruster pack, was able to be brought back to the testing lab, and rebuilt with all the upgrades that the X109 had received.
The X104 was a direct replacement for the Redemption Pattern Crusader Class mecha. Standing fifteen meters tall, it was on par with the height of the Cygnus Reaver pattern Heavy Mecha but lighter and more graceful. This was why it was initially scrapped as the Main Force Mecha; the reductions implemented to reduce material cost made it too fragile for the rigours of combat, at least in the eyes of Command.
The introduction of the new Tarith Pattern Void Shield, as the Lab had named the design after Nico who introduced it to them, meant that any heavy or Super Heavy Mecha could now take multiple direct hits without severe damage, so the extra layers of ablative armour were no longer necessary, but larger power plants became essential parts of every new Kepler Mecha design.
Since most of the new weapons also drew an immense amount of power, this was a winning solution for the Comor design teams, who had been hard-pressed to justify their weapon’s power requirements.
Max had moved into testing the primary weapons of the X137 Super Heavy, a pair of upgraded Ion Bombard Arrays. With fifty percent higher output than the original but keeping the three-barreled design, these weapons were a modern classic, instantly beloved by everyone who used them.
Because they were based on such a venerable design, there was very little that could go wrong with them, other than a few power relays that needed to be upgraded, so they didn’t overload during rapid-fire situations.
The decision was already made that the X137 would be going to live testing at the beginning of next week, once they had the first functional prototype chassis constructed with the final design.
They had already started building everything but the primary weapons, which were still in testing. Still, programming all the Materials Printers to create the new parts was a monumental task for every new Mecha since the final code would be sent to an entire planet’s factory facilities for mass production once testing was done, so no errors were allowed.
Instead of going for a monumental level of shielding, the way that the Phalanx Class Mecha did, the X137 had gone with five layers of the standard Shielding unit used in the other X series Heavy Mecha. That gave it enough shielding to take blasts from other Super Heavy Mecha, but it also reduced the vulnerability to massed Heavy Mecha.
The incoming fire would overload the shield generators one at a time, so unless they could get them all down before the first one came back up, it could weather the firestorm. Units like Shining Darkness had a known weakness where they could be targeted for up to a dozen seconds after the shield had been taken down, though actually getting the shield down in the first place was not an easy thing to do.
This also meant that the shield for the X137 could be easily found if the unit was damaged. Every Heavy Mecha in the new lineup used the same one, so they could be scavenged from fallen units when a unit was in need or short on materials. That was a massive benefit over the Ancient design of the existing Phalanx Class Mecha’s shielding systems.
There would also be additional weapons created for the X137, though the initial test run would only offer this single artillery variant. It was the same with the X109 and X104. Though they shared the same basic chassis, each mecha pattern would be built with a single purpose-specific layout. Once they were in the field and fully tested, the patterns could be easily changed, based on the need and the supply of spare parts, as the Military currently did with the Redemption Pattern Crusaders.
This new level of diversity would be a challenge for some Commanders, who believed that more Heavy Mecha was the answer to everything. The Corvette Class units had proven themselves to be highly lethal well beyond their predecessors, and the new Super Heavy Unit was such a rare addition that most Commanders weren’t even used to trying to factor one into their plans, leaving it mostly to the esteemed Pilots of the Super Heavy Mecha themselves.
Since they were usually Generals, this actually worked out for the best in most situations but if there were going to be multiple Super Heavy units in a Regiment, it would no longer be practical to elevate them all to Generals and have them become independent Command Assets.
Despite being purpose-built, the X series was pretty versatile. The X109 Fast Attack and the X104 both had a pair of Chassis mounted pulse lasers to defend against infantry and light threats, while the 137 paired four of them with two small missile pods that would fire either fragmentation or smoke charges.
The extra cover on the battlefield could be offensive or defensive since the smoke contained long-burning metallic sparks that confused heat sensors. You couldn’t see in with conventional sensors, but those in the smoke would also have a hard time seeing out with their sensors, giving an advantage to the Thunder Cannons and their area suppression.
The single largest change to the force was the elimination of the Line Mecha. Instead, Uncle Lu intended that they would be replaced with the Archangel Pattern exoskeleton suits. The winged and heavily armed version of the [Tech Adept Toolkit] that the lab technicians initially didn’t care about.
With the light shield generators, they were more durable than the old Line Mecha, plus they were faster, just as heavily armed and could fly. Not particularly well, at least not compared to an actual airplane, but between the wings and the anti-gravity plating, they could maintain one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour over all terrain, keeping up with the X109.
The only significant limitation was range. To save on production costs, they ran on Plasma Cannon power cells. Under optimal conditions, they could go 72 hours without charging, but taking damage would directly reduce that since the shield ran off the same power source as the unit.
Light weapons fire was no big deal, but a hit with a Plasma Cannon or other weapon from a Line Mecha would drain ten hours’ worth of charge and temporarily overload the shield. Of course, that same shot could kill or cripple the old pattern Line Mecha, but it was still a common complaint during testing.
In the next run of the Comor pattern Corvettes, they were also getting the light shield from the Exoskeleton. The Comor Pattern Corvettes that had been sent to Max and the rest of the units with Noctem Regiment were the first round of live fire tests for the design, and the new shield designs had necessitated a change to the final design.
The units already in circulation had performed admirably, so they were left in service until the soldiers that were using them came up on their next retirement phase in a few years. The footage collected of the first set of Comor Pattern Corvettes would also confuse the enemy about the capabilities of Kepler’s next-generation units.
The smaller they thought the improvement was, the heavier the casualties they would take when the final product showed up.
Even though everyone was disappointed that the exoskeletons weren’t going into full production, Max didn’t fail to notice that the new Archangel Pattern exoskeleton testers, which physically only covered the arms, lower legs and upper back, with a light frame joining the legs to the upper unit, had all been female. How the Corvette Class test pilots managed that was a mystery, but seeing the tight pilot suits flying around the testing area, Max at least understood how the suit got its nickname.