The Mech Touch

A contest.

That sounded interesting.

Ves had a decent amount of experience with contests and competitions. He competed in them on occasion whenever it suited him. He derived a certain sense of enjoyment from showing off his design skills in public. He also found it fun to whip up a mech design in a matter of days if not hours.

Contests and competitions were generally reserved for journeymen and lower.

Once mech designers advanced to the rank of Senior, they usually lost their hot-blooded demeanor.

Having reached the upper ranks of the mech designer hierarchy, Seniors usually worked on more important affairs that could have significant consequences for a major mech company or an entire state.

How could such an esteemed figure possibly waste his time on a childish tournament?

After all, mech design tournaments mainly served to simulate the real competitive design process!

From a certain perspective, Ves had chosen to participate in the hardest 'mech design tournament1 of all, which was participating in the galactic mech market of the Red Ocean!

The Fey Fianna was his competition mech entry. He relied upon it to defeat the other 'competition mechs' in the form of the top models on the market such as the Sparrow Storm Mark XII.

The winner of this 'tournament' would be the one to become the market leader!

Of course, a real-life mech design tournament was not rigid. SKL Mech Industries and other mech companies all had the power to contest the outcome and present their own works in the future that could threaten the Fey Fianna's dominance!

This was the charm of competing in the market. Nothing was static and the winners could be overtaken at any time. The conditions weren't fair either as other contestants could be older, cooperate together or take advantage of superior access to tech, resources and useful connections.

The pressure Ves had to endure in order to compete in the greatest contest imaginable was far greater than what he experienced during his tournament participations!

After all, the stakes were far higher this time!

This was why Ves completely felt that it was pointless for him to sign up for any mech design tournaments these days.

It was literally child's play to a mech designer of his caliber.

That did not mean that he thought that mech design contests had become redundant to others.

He still saw how it could stimulate and reward more junior mech designers.

Ves just felt a bit unaccustomed to the fact that he turned from a participant into an organizer!

"Tell me more, Alexa."

"Oh, by the way, has there been any response from SKL?" Ves asked.

Gavin shook his head. "SKL has not released any statements, whether through official or unofficial channels. It is not in the nature of a large megacorporation to respond quickly to any external developments. The executives that run these companies prefer to remain silent and allow their subordinates to conduct thorough investigations. Once they have read the detailed reports, they will make decisions based on the will of their shareholders and their ongoing business strategies."

"That sounds like it will take a while."

"Don't be surprised if SKL will take multiple months to finally do something about a new upstart that is threatening to dethrone one of their cash cows. Even now, SKL still has far greater concerns on its mind."

"That is good." Ves smiled in relief.

He was afraid that SKL might feel unusually threatened, or that one of its mech designers felt the need to take this matter more seriously due to the involvement of a tier 3 galactic citizen.

The longer the SKL remained distracted and complacent, the better. The Fey Fianna needed precious time to dig into the market and win the hearts of a large number of customers.

If SKL suddenly released the Sparrow Storm Mark XIII that integrated hyper technology a lot better than its previous iteration, then the Fey Fianna's momentum would definitely slow down a lot!

lightsΝοvel Inertia and sunk costs were powerful forces. A lot of existing customers still had Sparrow Storm in their hands. If the cost of upgrading them to the XIII was way lower to replacing them all with Fey Fiannas, then many of them would probably stick to their familiar machines even if the works of Ves were objectively superior.

That reminded Ves of the challenge matches scheduled in the afternoon. His Fey Fiannas needed to deliver dominant performances in order to reinforce the image of superiority in everyone's minds!

"Alright, I am done with breakfast." Ves said as he rose from his seat. "Let's get ready for the big occasion."

The product reveal had become a multi-day spectacle. Many people who attended yesterday's presentation came again in order to try out the Fey Fianna.

Feedback from the people who took the Fey Fianna for a spin was overwhelmingly positive. A lot of mech pilots found it regrettable that they had to leave the cockpit far too soon.

As the hours passed by, Ves fulfilled several duties, from listening to user feedback in person to taking part in several interview sessions.

Of course, the clan had carefully selected the interviewers to ensure that none of the questioning touched on any difficult or controversial topics.

All of the marketing helped to raise the profile of the Fey Fianna and persuade more people to take an interest in the drone mech model.

It was a pity that one of the more traditional methods of evaluating a new mech model did not work anymore in the current day and age.

"Many mech commanders base their purchasing decisions on their experiences with piloting the virtual version of a mech model." Gavin explained to Ves. "The old simulation programs were never completely adequate, but they were realistic enough that most people can account for the minor differences. That has become completely different nowadays. Hyper technology and E-technology can't be broken down into a set of clear rules and formulas that can form the basis of a new physics model that can accurately simulate their performance."

Ves understood this problem quite well. "I bet that all of the companies involved in this business are having a hard time."

"This shortcoming has sparked a growing crisis in the use and popularity of simulation programs. None of the companies who develop them have yet to make any significant improvements that have closed the gap between simulation and reality. There is only one exception, but it is one that has yet to become widely available..."

"You're talking about our Mental Simulation Training System."

Gavin smiled and nodded. "Exactly. This special simulation program of yours has unexpectedly turned into an unexpected success. This is not the time to talk about competing in the market for mech simulation programs, but I think we can not only compete in this business, but potentially establish a monopoly over this entire sector! As long as your tier 3 galactic citizenship allows you to get away with it, I think it is worth it for you to make this attempt!"

What a bold idea!

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