The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3169

Chapter 3169: Easy Targets

The firepower of the Sentry Project, now named the Amaranto, did not disappoint!

Ves, Gloriana, Juliet and Ketis did everything they could to maximize the firepower of their first expert rifleman mech design. They gave up so many useful features and gave up the opportunity to strengthen many different parameters in order to specialize it to the extreme.

Despite its stronger-than-average resonance shield, it was poorly suited for mid-range flanking and skirmishing action. Its flight system and other mobility systems were solely meant for positioning and repositioning, not dodging and weaving through enemy attacks. Just because it was able to move faster than a heavy mech didn't mean it could dogfight!

Its defenses were also rather lackluster. Due to the scarcity in Unending alloy, Ves was forced to resort to a more generic expert mech-grade armor system that was relatively light, coped well with heat, stable and dampened vibrations. All of these design choices were meant to increase the Amaranto's offensive actions first and defensive needs second.

"All of it was worth it, though." Ves grinned.

After Venerable Stark fired her first fully-charged laser beam, the remaining tests became a lot more routine.

This was just a familiarization session for the expert pilot and an initial technical review for the Design Department.

The more data the mech designers gathered on the Amaranto's performance, the more they were able to revise their models and accurately map out the expert rifleman mech's actual performance as opposed to making educated guesses based on dubious calculations.

This was not something that could be completed in a single session. The Amaranto was unprecedentedly powerful, but that also made it exceptionally lethal. If the expert mech ever suffered an accident and inadvertently unleashed its full-powered attack on one of the vessels of the Larkinson fleet, then that would have been an absolute tragedy that could have easily been prevented if the Larkinsons implemented additional precautions!

Stress testing could come later. The masterwork expert mech was in their complete control so they could deploy it anytime the fleet was not travelling through FTL.

In fact, if the expert pilots didn't mind the limited maneuvering space and heavy firepower limitations, they could even train in a landbound environment in the large biomes aboard the Discentibus and the Dragon's Den.

The Amaranto no longer fired any full-powered shots. Instead, it stuck with the laser beam but began to vary its attack in different ways.

The masterwork expert mech fired its weapon at various disposable target bots at once by splitting the laser beam.

It fired its weapon in a rapid staccato pattern as it intercepted over a hundred different dummy missiles.

It fired moderate resonance-empowered laser beams that looked deceptively weak but could easily burn a hole through any typical second-class mech.

As the Amaranto slowly churned through its energy reserves, Venerable Stark already looked a bit exhausted.

Ves had been paying attention to the piloting telemetry when the red-coated expert mech unleashed its initial attack. Several indicators dropped by quite a margin, signifying that such extreme attacks took a lot out of Venerable Stark. She probably wasn't able to fire too many ship-killing laser beams in quick succession before she exhausted herself.

He expected something like this to occur. The pattern was not that much different from before when Venerable Stark was still stuck with the Bright Beam Prime. The Design Department deliberately reused the same approach of her prime mech to her current machine.

"The Amaranto can't fire too many times against powerful opponents, but it doesn't have to do so." Ves remarked with a smile on his face. "As one of our trump cards against enemy expert mechs, a singularly powerful attack launched at the most inopportune time can either instantly take down an enemy expert mech or at least break open its defenses."

Launching a lot of weaker attacks was not as effective against powerful and well-protected mechs. The resonance shields and high-quality armor systems of most expert mechs were expressly designed to minimize the threat posed by lots of conventional mechs. This was what allowed these expert mechs to sow terror on a large-scale battlefield!

The best way to penetrate the armor of these resilient expert mechs was by moving as far away from the attack profile of conventional mechs as possible. This was why the Amaranto excelled so much at single target, single shot attack power.

It was like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of unsuspecting enemy expert mechs. The weapon only needed to drop down once in order to claim another head!

"I'm glad its performance against regular opponents is decent as well." Gloriana commented. "It won't be as good as Brutus' upcoming expert mech in this area, but it can offer plenty of support when it doesn't need to guard against powerful opponents."

The luminar crystal rifle designed by Ves was optimized for maximum firepower, but energy weapons were much more adaptable than their physical counterparts. Just dialing down the power setting and making a few other adjustments was enough to turn it into a rapid-fire turret.

Of course, since the mech and rifle wasn't designed for these firing modes, the overall power and fire rate would never be as good as a more appropriate weapon model.

Ves contemplated whether he should develop a second luminar crystal rifle that could give Venerable Stark an additional choice, but he soon gave up on that. He doubted that his subsequent weapon would be able to reach masterwork quality. Handing over an inferior weapon would only diminish the Amaranto's splendor.

"There are hardly any battles where too much firepower is a detriment." He figured. "If the firepower of the Amaranto is wasted against mechs, then it should just point its muzzle at the enemy starships instead."

Gloriana eventually wanted to move on to the final phase of the testing session. "Alright, we've gained a good idea on the Amaranto's firepower. Before its power runs out, I want to test its accuracy."

Ves smirked and switched to another communication channel. "Tusa! You're up now! Go and build up some speed. You'll need it soon. Oh, and make sure to keep your Dark Zephyr within the designated zone."

The expert pilot in question cursed for a moment, but did as he was instructed.

While the Dark Zephyr began to accelerate in a circle, the Amaranto patiently waited. The red-coated mech still exuded a reddish glow due to all of the power it had expended. Its crystalline rifle was an especially eye-catching element. All of the different energies coursing through its crystal components had caused it to light up like a rainbow dancing in a nightclub.

The masterwork expert mech presented a notable contrast to the Dark Zephyr. Whereas the latter was coated in black which psychologically made it a lot harder to track in the dark of space, the Amaranto not only created a light show, but also possessed a substantial energy signature as not even its luminar crystals were able to absorb all of the excess heat that its weapon had generated!

All of this meant that most targeting systems would have a much easier time at locking in the Amaranto than the Dark Zephyr.

"The Amaranto definitely needs to rest behind a solid barrier." Ves noted. "We can't afford to expose its entire frame to an enemy force."

Gloriana grinned. "That won't be a problem. When we finish the Shield of Samar, the two expert mechs will be able to pair together. Won't it be great if we can transform it into a masterwork as well? It will be the perfect combination!"

Ves rolled his eyes. That was an extremely unlikely possibility considering they needed to build on top of an existing mech. The inability to start from scratch meant that the upgraded revision would always contain some flaws that would detract from its overall quality. This was a huge handicap that made the challenge of building a masterwork expert mech even more impossible!

At this time, the Dark Zephyr built up a sufficient amount of speed relative to the Amaranto. Venerable Tusa had even opted to resonate his expert mech and activate its Perception Distortion ability on his own accord!

The Dark Zephyr became a lot harder to pin down because its visual coordinates did not match its actual coordinates.

Without the help of a few hundred ranged mechs saturing an entire area with ordnance, it was impossible to guess where the Dark Zephyr was located!

Venerable Stark did not exhibit any doubt, though. Even though she was no longer in her prime condition, she was determined to land at least one hit against the elusive expert light mech!

"Begin!"