The Mech Touch

5718 Expanded Functions

One of the key characteristics that differentiated more skilled mech designers from their less proficient counterparts was their mastery of hyper technology.

Although hyper technology was not as difficult to learn as phasewater technology and other alien-derived technologies, it still took a lot of effort to learn or figure out the more advanced applications of hyper materials.

The previous fey models that Ves examined such as the heat disperser fey only made shallow use of hyper materials.

On the one hand, that was an advantage as the fey models were cheaper and easier to build.

On the other hand, the basic implementation of hyper materials heavily limited their potential and constrained their options.

"The best way to distinguish a good mech designer from a bad one in this day and age is to look at how proficient they are at using hyper technology." Ves remarked as he keenly studied the first fey model that truly managed to impress him. "The differences between a good and bad mech designer will only grow more pronounced in the future."

"To be fair, Ves, that has always been the case before the Age of Mechs has begun. Back when mechs were still fairly new, the mech design was not even close to reaching the complexity and depth of technological solutions that we have access to in the present day. What amounts to a Senior Mech Designer back then possesses enough knowledge as an experienced Apprentice Mech Designer from our current time. With every passing mech generation, the gap between the upper and lower echelon of mech designers has continued to widen. Why do you think that every first-class mech designer needs powerful first-class augmentations in order to complete all of their studies? It is impossible for a baseline human to learn all of the subjects that have been added to the evolving body of mech design!"

The Survivalist had made a powerful point. Mech design was constantly progressing forward, and that brought its fair share of difficulties. The profession became increasingly more complicated and less accessible to humans.

The problem was not that bad in the third-class mech industry because the market environment was too poor to afford any sophisticated solutions. The people over there were spared from much of this misery, but that also meant that they missed out on a lot of exciting developments.

In any case, Ves took a look at the information panel for the fey that earned his appreciation.

[Anti-Shield Pulse Fey

Developer: Sarah Koyama, Senior Developer

Category: Offensive, Utility

E Energy Attributes: Electric, Space

Summary: The anti-shield pulse fey is a specialized solution that is designed to effectively destroy (transphasic) energy shields by heavily altering the operation mode of a space suppressor. By concentrating the space suppression field and combining it with an active EMP effect can produce a highly effective shield-breaking fey. The product can overcome transphasic energy shields more effectively at the expense of greater power consumption and near-total immobility.]

Space suppressors were already fairly complicated hyper products. Sarah Koyama did not let that hold her back and iterated on this tech. She successfully developed a more focused variation that could destroy transphasic energy shields more effectively.

The anti-shield pulse fey needed to press right against the surface of a transphasic energy shield. This not only minimized the weakening effect of the inverse-square law, but also maximized the impact of the EMP effect.

Although the space suppressor and the EMP component sounded like two separate and unrelated products, Sarah Koyama actually managed to employ inventive mens to find enough synergy between the two! This was a remarkably creative implementation and elevated the worth of her anti-

shield pulse fey.

"Sarah Koyama may not be a mech designer, but that doesn't stop her from developing mech systems on her own initiative. This anti-shield pulse fey is brilliant!" Ves spoke in a tone that made it clear that he saw promise in this tech.

Ves glanced at another projection that displayed a field test of this strange fey.

It depicted an active Fey Fianna that sent forth four identical anti-shield pulse fey before they attached themself onto the active surface of an energy shield.

They then proceeded to generate synchronized pulses that rapidly destabilized the active energy shield to the point where it scrambled a lot sooner than normal!

"Interesting." Jovy said as he too recognized the strengths of this specialized fey. "Normal space suppressor can only weaken transphasic energy shields. They are not inherently weapons, so a mech unit must rely on massed attacks to fully destroy an energy shield that has been affected by a space suppression field. The anti-shield pulse fey drops this requirement and can effectively launch effective damage by itself."

"That is not what makes this fey so damn good." Ves said. "It combines hyper technology and other technological principles to make it so that its EMP effect can actually take effect over multiple dimensions. It exploits the effect of phasewater technology and negates it by disrupting the transphasic foundation of a typical alien energy shield!"

The exact theory and mechanics behind this implementation was a lot more complicated, but Ves understood enough phasewater technology to understand how difficult it was to design the set of solutions that made this living fey model possible.

"If not for the fact that the anti-shield pulse fey can easily be shot down once they are being used, they may be a contender for the top rank."

Ves nodded in agreement. "Sarah Koyama's entry most definitely earned a place in the top 10, but not necessarily in the top 3. I can still see a lot of people making use of her anti-shield pulse fey as an effective sieging tool. They are certainly not cheap, but they are considerably more cost-effective compared to other shield-breaking tools."

Did they replace space suppressor fey? No. definitely not. Anti-shield pulse fey were more effective in their specific job, but were fairly useless outside of overcoming transphasic defenses.

Still, this was what most people used space suppressors for. Ves could easily foresee that the anti-shield pulse fey might become a popular alternative product for mech forces expected to fight against plenty of hardy alien warships.

"It will be more expensive to employ these anti-shield fey because their likelihood of getting destroyed is greater." Jovy Armalon concluded. "However, as long as they break down transphasic energy shields more effectively, a mech force should be more than willing to cope with the additional burdens and requirements. The lives and assets saved from destroying an alien fleet sooner is far greater than the increased expense of replacing broken and missing anti-shield pulse fey."

Anyone who resorted to this solution should stock up on a lot of spare anti-

shield pulse fey. This was also what hindered Ves from raising his evaluation of this living fey higher.

"I will decide upon the final ranking of this product later, but if there are not many surprises, then it should easily earn a place in the top 10." Ves declared before moving on to examine another living fey model.

[Trixie DARTER]

Developer: Esbeth Sandhurst, Journeyman Mech Designer

Category: Utility

E Energy Attributes: None

Summary:

The Trixie DARTER (Downed Airmen Recovery, Transport, and Emergency Reconnaissance) is an adaptation of an early beast mech with the shape of a dragonfly that is dedicated to battlefield rescue. The original beast mech which this living fey is based upon is very light and small, which limits its operational time but makes it impressively fast at retrieving ejected cockpits or drilling mech pilots out of deformed wrecks. By reducing this mech concept into a fairly large living fey, the Trixie DARTER has become a more compact and much more automated product that can be employed in significantly greater numbers than before.]

"Yet another utility fey." Jovy remarked.

Ves sounded more appreciative of this product. "This is really useful, though. The Trixie DARTER or whatever it is called can save real lives on a chaotic battlefield. The original product that it is based upon is most definitely more effective, but the fact that it is a piloted craft heavily limits its practicality. By applying this mech concept to a living fey, Miss Sandhurst has provided a mech force with a more convenient and economical way to perform search and rescue operations, especially while a battle is still ongoing. The risk to the lives of mech pilots is really high the longer they are drifting defenselessly through space."

Not every mech force would choose to devote their Fey Fiannas to this purpose. By making them responsible for search and rescue, the drone mechs were unable to make more direct contributions that could tip the battle in their favor.

However, as long as the mech force was in a superior position, the greater priority was to minimize its losses. Fighting against any alien fleet was a dangerous prospect. Casualties were unavoidable, but timely search and rescue could cut the loss of mech pilots in half or more.

"How high are you willing to rank the Trixie DARTER?" Jovy asked.

"I am not sure to be honest. It is undeniably effective and useful. It is fairly well-designed as it is adapted from a proper mech design. Miss Sandhurst clearly knows her craft well enough. The biggest shortcoming is the lack of hyper materials. There is nothing that is increasing its speed, its detection ability, its defenses or anything. It is like it is a product out of the Phasewater Generation."

"That may be the case, but this is not necessarily detrimental to its purpose, Ves. Hyper technology has granted our products greater power, but it has also introduced a new source of instability. When the Trixie DARTER approaches a disabled mech, it will not generate any conflicts due to clashing E energy attributes because it does not contain any hyper materials. I believe this may be a deliberate design choice as opposed to a consequence of a lazy adaptation of an older mech design."

He made a good point. Ves had become so enamored with hyper technology that he automatically considered products that lacked it to be inferior.

That was not a fair evaluation.

"I can think of several ways to improve it so that it can do an even better job." Ves said. "I can attach Ylvaine to it so that it can move to rescue mech pilots with as little delay as possible. I can attach Gaia or the Superior Mother to it so that it can detect lives buried within a lot of wreckage a lot more effectively than relying on conventional scanners. I can attach a modest amojunt of hyper materials that can lightly increase its acceleration without producing too much instability when approaching hyper mechs."

"That may be true, but you cannot deny that the current product already possesses a good base."

"Hm. You're right, Jovy. I will include it in my provisional top 10 list. It may have a shot of ranking higher, but it will be difficult for a utility fey model to overcome more powerful fey that relies on more direct features."

"I believe that search and rescue products such as the Trixie DARTER will only become more valuable going forward." Jovy speculated. "As the Red War drags on, mech pilots will only suffer more casualties. The attrition rate will become so high that our mech academies cannot produce graduates fast enough to make up for the shortfall in experienced mech pilots. More emphasis will be placed on preserving the existing stock of mech pilots. Devoting valuable hangar and storage space to solutions devoted to rescuing soldiers from the battlefield will become especially valuable at that time."

Ejected cockpits and escape pods were always vulnerable on the battlefield.

It only took a single gun battery from a single alien warship to target them and blast them to pieces without missing due to the limited evasion characteristics of these escape devices.

Solutions such as the Trixie DARTER could not prevent every loss from occurring, but it could minimize the exposure time and eventually preserve the lives of hundreds if not thousands of mech pilots for a typical mech force!

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