[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 82: Transparant Duel

Everyone waited in anticipation.

"The piloting AI will remember the previous matches and can improve from its previous experiences."

This was a bombshell. Even after several hundred years of development, piloting AIs could never really match up against real pilots. The normal simulations only used the most basic, foolproof AIs for testing. Generally, only high-grade AIs were able to adapt intelligently to prior experience, and required a lot of processing power to do so.

The conventional strategy in designing a mech for a duel was to make it as simple as possible. The simpler the mech, the flatter the learning curve. This allowed the piloting AIs to grasp the mech as fast as possible and effectively use its strengths.

In a situation where the mech had time to learn from its mistakes and improve its performance over time, the story was different. Higher performing mechs were usually more complex, featuring a much steeper learning curve. The advantage of more complex mechs were that they usually performed much better in certain situations. If the AI was able to grasp the right technique for the right situation, it could leverage a complex mech's strength to incredible heights.

"You have eight hours to complete your design. Now start!"

Everyone approached their terminals and opened the interface. At their current level, the LIT did not expect everyone to design a functional mech from scratch, so everyone had a choice of standard components. Ves took a look at what kind of parts he had to work with, and estimated that they matched up to 3-star mechs in Iron Spirit.

"That's a little beyond what I'm used to, but with my recent improvements I should be able to handle them. First, I have to determine the shape and weight classes."

He took a look at Floyd, who confidently picked a frame without even bothering to wait for Ves. His empty workshop shimmered and the giant shape of a panther-shaped mech came into view.

The floating designer laughed down at Ves. "Hahaha, I gave you a chance to retreat, but now it's too late! I'm at the top of my class when it comes to felinid mechs! Let the Beastmaster show you how it's done!"

To his regret, Ves was not very familiar with beast mechs. Even if Ves could see everything Floyd was doing, without understanding most of it, he might as well be blind.

If Floyd chose to work on a humanoid mech, Ves could easily dissect his every move. Now, he could only guess at his design choices. From what he recalled, beast mechs usually flexibility for superior mobility. With four limbs, these wolf or tiger-like mechs possessed unequalled speed and agility, sometimes surpassing humanoid mechs of the same weight class.

In exchange, these quadruped mechs had less choices to work with. Wolf-shaped mechs usually relied on their highly sophisticated jaws, while tiger-shaped mechs also used their claws. There were more differences, but these were the main points. From What Ves could gather, Floyd's tiger mech was on the lower end of the medium weight class.

"Such a mech relies on speed and momentum to pounce on their opponents. In an open terrain, a light mech built for endurance can maintain their distance and chip away at the slower tiger mech."

Ves doubted that this was the correct solution. Who knew if Floyd followed some classes under Master Olson and could temporarily boost his mech's speed. He was unwilling to gamble on this front.

"I have more leeway if I make a more durable mech. It's best if I design a heavy mech, but I don't have any practical experience in designing them. I can only resort to hefty medium mechs."

Though he didn't know if the X-Factor worked on AI pilots, he still took a few minutes to sharpen his intent. His improved concentration made it easier to fall into the right mood. Even as Floyd occasionally tried to interrupt his thoughts, Ves easily swept aside the words.