[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 32: Gauntlet

After sending off the losers, the presenter gestured to those who were still in contention. "Please clear the main stage and stand to the side. Our pilot Hans will soon test the bold designs our young talents have whipped up."

A very fancy simulation pod was brought at the very rear of the stage. Hans, fitted out in a skin-tight piloting suit, waved at the audience before entering the pod. The venue darkened and the stage began to light up in a fully realistic projection of a slim but elegant light mech wielding a polearm twice as long. The rest of the environment lighted up after that, showing hints of the urban landscape ahead that represented the testing grounds for all of the mechs.

"First up is a creation by Natalie Montag. Hans will put mech the Lance Star to the test after five minutes of acclimatization. This preparation period applies to all other mechs tested today."

Carlos walked over to Ves and whistled at the polished design in the projection. "Natalie sure worked her magic. She's always been a light mech fanatic."

"She spent too much time polishing the exterior. I'm not sure the internals underneath the armor can withstand heavy duty." Ves judged with a critical eye.

Twelve hours left designers with too little time to create a good mech. Give them a week, and most of the contestants here could roll out designs that performed at least 50-100% better than what they rushed out. Eliminating errors and weak points in the design offered the biggest bump in performance and could be done in two to four days, while constant optimizations allowed the mech to perform a little better over the remainder of the time.

When Hans finished familiarizing himself with the Lance Star, he entered the testing stage.

The presenter offered spectators an overview of the gauntlet. "As everyone knows, testing a mech as fair as possible can be difficult. Many smart people have wracked their overstuffed brains to find a solution before coming up with the gauntlet. They come in different lengths, duration and difficulties, and randomize in configuration with each separate run. That means that Hans will face similar challenges with each mech he pilots without being able to use his last run's experience to help him overcome his current challenges."

Technically, since no run was the same, their difficulties actually diverged in many different ways. If Hans faced smooth sailing up to the end where he get whacked by an overwhelming ambush, he'd be able to score higher than in many other situations.

For example, if he faced constant harassment right at the start, leading to his mech's destruction midway due to his inability to find time to recover. In both gauntlet runs, the amount of mechs and their strength remained the same, but the way they exerted pressure different drastically, leading to different results.

There was no point complaining about it though. Ves knew that the gauntlet was a long-held custom in the mech world, and that its inventors had plenty of time to curb much of its faults.

The Lance Star moved. Its thin and lightweight design spoke of a great retention in motive power. Natalie Montag evidently possessed real skill for getting a mech traverse so smoothly. The machine flitted through the debris-filled streets of the gauntlet like a dancer.

When the Lance Star encountered enemies, Hans piloted the mech as a high speed scout. It dodged aside the attacks sent in its way and avoided traps and entanglement whenever possible. If a mech was able to come up to its front and present an obstacle, the Lance Star only dealt enough damage with its lance and auxiliary pistol to squeeze its way through.

Natalie's mech started stumbling when Hans couldn't avoid a couple of laser beams. The gauntet's computer controlled opponents might not be very smart or skilled, but they possessed overwhelming numbers so it was impossible to keep out of reach no matter how many times Hans dodged.