The Mech Touch

good enough, I ’ll definitely include them into the design! Just take into account that Gloriana and I will probably come up with them first. ”

This answer satisfied his subordinate mech designers.
Each of them had faith in their specialities!

”Any other questions? ”

”Yes. ” Merrill raised her hand.
”What exactly are we designing? ”

This question was a lot harder to answer than Ves anticipated.
While he had a lot of reasons in his mind, it was difficult to convey them to his audience.
He had to pause and think on how to word his reply.

”The goal of this project is to design a mech that can adopt four different configurations for the Larkinson Clan.
The major requirements of this mech are threefold.
First, it has to be a modular mech platform with several spaceborn configurations.
Second, it has to be a mech that embodies and represents the Larkinson Clan.
Third, it has to be able to facilitate the promotion of third-class mech pilots to second-class mech pilots. ”

All of this sounded simple, but to combine all of these priorities in a single mech was a very considerable challenge!

The first and third priorities were easily understandable to the mech designers.
While they were extremely challenging on a technical level, at least the mech designers could rely on their design and engineering expertise to solve most of the issues they encountered.

It was the second priority that caused a lot of confusion!

”What do you mean exactly when you say you want to design a mech that ’embodies ’ the Larkinsons? ” Merrill asked in confusion.

Ves recalled that Merrill and most of the other mech designers in the second design team hadn ’t worked on a major design project with him before.
Unlike the Tovar Design Team, they weren ’t versed in the principles and methods mandated by his design philosophy!

”I ’ll teach you some of the concepts that pertain to my specialty later. ” He promised.
”Suffice to say, it ’s all about the mindset.
The mentality you adopt and your understanding of the Larkinson Clan all affect the intangible qualities of our mech design. ”

As Ves briefly summarized some of the theories that he freely shared to his subordinates, he noticed a difference between his mech designers.

The Tovars were already familiar with his methods.
While their Brighter skepticism prevented them from embracing his theories fully, they were nonetheless accepting due to all of the proof they witnessed.

Of the second design team, the Ylvainans were already similar.
In fact, their expressions were so intense that they were acting as if Ves was speaking the gospel!

The only mech designers who didn ’t share in the obvious worship of the Ylvianans was the foreigners.

Both Merrill Truman and Mayer Torto viewed their Ylvainan colleagues with distaste.
Both of them were clearly secularists and viewed every religion with distaste.

While this difference was a little concerning, Ves did not plan to transfer them to the first design team.
The Ylvainans already became increasingly more involved in the Avatars, the Sentinels and the LMC.

Though Ves was gratified by their high spirits and enthusiasm, he did not wish to see their faith take over his organizations!

The Ylvainans needed to learn to get along with people who didn ’t share their beliefs.
Segregating them into their own work groups was not the solution.
That would only encourage the functions and cliques to stay apart from each other.

In the long-term evolution of his organizations, this would certainly lead to a potential schism!

”We can bring the second design team up to speed later.
Let ’s get back to something more immediate. ” Gloriana suggested.

”Such as? ”

”Tell us your ideas on the four configurations.
How much do they deviate from each other? What aspects do you wish to emphasize for each of the different configurations? ”

”Well, before I explain what I want the configurations to be good at, let me explain what they ought to share in common. ” Ves answered.

He activated a projection of their very rudimentary draft designs.

”If you take a good look at the drafts, what stands out to you? ”

Gloriana smiled but refrained from answering.
She had been a part of the drafting process, so she played a huge role in setting the initial design choices.

Oscar DiMartin was the oldest and most experienced mech designer.
He participated in many different projects, so he quickly figured out the common thread.

”All four configurations are designed to be as similar to each other as possible! They ’re not very divergent from each other! ”

”That ’s correct. ” Ves nodded.
”Can someone else explain how that is reflected in our configurations? ”

Gilbert Tovar, who was very sensitive towards differences in mass and layout, pointed towards the rifleman mech configuration.

”Ordinary rifleman mechs aren ’t as thick and sturdy as this draft configuration.
It possesses an excess amount of armor that is strictly customary for this mech type.
It ’s less mobile and able to evade damage, but it ’s a lot more resilient against damage as a result! ”

”That ’s not always a good idea. ” Vela Tovar added.
As a ranged mech specialist, she wasn ’t comfortable with this configuration! ”One of the main reasons why rifleman mechs prefer to mitigate damage through evasion is because their rifles are always a lot more fragile than the frames themselves.
If the mech becomes too easy to hit, then it ’s a lot more likely that an enemy will be able to snipe their primary weapons! ”

”A slower ranged mech is also one that is less able to kite pursuing melee mechs.
The instant a light skirmisher or lancer mech manages to close the distance, that ranged mech is a goner! ”

All of these points were valid.
Both Ves and Gloriana fully agreed with conventional wisdom.

Yet just because a certain decision turned into conventional wisdom did not mean it applied in every situation!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc..
), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.