[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 130: Mark II

Even with his improved skills, Ves was not able to raise any parameters without making tradeoffs. For example, if he wanted to increase the flexibility of the arms, then he could shave off some armor, thus increasing their vulnerability.

If he lost more than he gained, then he simply needed to reorient his goal. More armor? More speed? More flexibility? Not possible! Then what if Ves focused on something he hadn't paid attention to? After a few minutes of consideration, he settled on reducing the armor's complexity.

His current armor scheme consisted of many complex shapes. A flat square plate was the simplest piece of armor a fabricator could produce. What about a plate with a curve? The person who fabricated this plate had to reproduce the curve to its exact contours down to the millimeters.

Ves tried to simplify these shapes as much as he could without affecting the armor's overall performance. It worked up to a point, as Ves never took complexity into consideration before. Though the design unavoidably lost a bit of performance, he successfully reduced the failure rate of fabricating most of its parts.

This might not matter too much to Ves. He knew his design intimately and could fabricate its parts with sufficient confidence. He did it so others were able to do the same without falling flat.

"I've already untangled much of the internal structure. With this, Carlos shouldn't have too much trouble."

After finishing his draft, he subjected the schematic to a barrage of simulated tests. The reduced complexity opened vulnerabilities in his design that slightly lowered the armor's ability to withstand certain kinds of damage.

Ves easily patched most of the holes. Only some needed more attentive care as Ves had to reintroduce some complexity.

When Ves finally reached the end of the armor phase, he sighed and relaxed his concentration. "Armor is supposed to be one of my secondary specialties. It's disgraceful if I can only bring up the armor to this extent."

He was in no shape to design a mech. Ves took a day off in order to clear up his mind. He never enjoyed a full day of relaxation, so he made the most of it. While Carlos diligently mastered the last of his virtual designs, Ves played around with Lucky and browsed the news.

Much of the news revolved around the recent chaos and the steps the Merc Corps took to respond. They increased their procurement and called in some of their reserves. Everyone knew this was just the prelude.

"This is the time when mechs are selling like hot cakes. I have to push my product out as fast as possible if I don't want to miss out."

The next day, Ves returned to his work with a renewed sense of urgency. He spent the next week making adjustments to the self-contained parts. Due to his lack of expertise, he only brushed through most critical components like the engine or power reactor.

Instead, he spent an entire day on customizing the cockpit. Ves wanted to stimulate a better response to the X-Factor by setting the right mood. He changed the shape of the chair and adjusted the displays. He also carved the entire metal compartment with ancient-looking sculptures that alluded to the inspirations for the design.

If nothing else, his customers might appreciate the luxury.

With that done, he turned his attention to the mace and shield. His new Melee Weapon Optimization sub-skill allowed him to recognize that he made a lot of mistakes with the weapon. He deleted the mace and brought back the CA-1's original sword.

"I can't use the same sword shape that's optimized for compressed alloys when I'm actually using an uncompressed alloy."

Ves drastically modified the basic sword shape until he made it shorter but thicker. Without access to a compressor or better performing alloys, he had to resort to various tricks in order to make the most out of the uncompressed HRF alloy.