Chapter ?5696 Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III
Work on the Dark Zephyr Mark III Project frustrated Ves so many times that he frequently had to step away from it to prevent his mood from deteriorating too badly.
As much as he wanted to get it done as soon as possible, there was no way to rush the development of a first generation archemech design, especially one designed for a high-tier expert pilot.
Gloriana dictated the pace of this project, and she was determined to succeed. She slowed down her progress enough times because she wanted to do stuff right instead of quickly.
Her attitude may be correct, but it ensured that Ves would have to wrestle with this project for at least several more months.
Fortunately, he also had other mech design projects to sink his teeth into. A lot of old mech lines were finally receiving their long-awaited updates to bring them up to the standards of the Hyper Generation.
One of the more noteworthy among them was the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III.
For a long time, the Valkyrie Redeemer had served as a consistent bestseller and a source of enduring profits for the LMC.
Not only had the feminine mech model conquered the Hexer mech market, but it had also allowed Ves to gain a growing amount of sway over the Hex Federation!
Though Ves had not signed any formal treaties with the Hexers as of late, more and more people treated their second-rate state as his semi-private back garden.
The reality was that he was no longer as dependent on the support of the Hexers than before. It was nice to have a large base of support, but Ves would not even notice if the Hex Federation disappeared one day.
He had not forgotten about all of the help that the Hexers provided to him in the past. No matter what, the Hexers were his friends, and they deserved to receive his attention every now and then. Perhaps one day he might thank himself for keeping this relationship alive.
Designing the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III was a serious endeavor. His wife also insisted that she had to be involved when he initially decided to embark on this update.
"Aren't you busy enough, already?" Ves questioned. "You already have your hands full with raising our children, studying first-class mech design and trying to put together our first archemech."
"I shall free up the necessary time somehow. I can help you collect feedback from the Hexers who have been piloting the Valkyrie Redeemer for years. They have a large range of complaints and requests that can give us clearer directions on how to improve the next iteration of our successful mech line."
She had a point. Ves did not really look forward to talking to a lot of Hexers in person. Offloading this responsibility to his wife made a lot of sense as she essentially spoke the same language as her former people.
Gloriana did a good job at collecting a large amount of user feedback and compiling them all into a common set of points.
"One of the most acute problems we need to solve is the lack of effectiveness against alien warships. The base form of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II is optimized for combat against mechs. Outside of employing battle formations, they are not as good as other mech models in tackling the alien threat. This persistent shortcoming has forced the Hex Army to switch to other mech models in order to reduce their losses when they participate in the Red War."
This was a problem that Ves had been neglecting for too long. He knew exactly what his wife was talking about and agreed with her assessment.
"Do the Penitent Sisters have any issues with their own Valkyrie mechs?"
"Not as much. The Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers are the only mech forces who have the ability to employ battle formations that allow them to channel the power of Helena. This function is single-handedly carrying the Valkyrie mech line and ensures that it still retains an important place in our mech roster."
"Is death E energy still effective enough to kill the native aliens inside their warships outright?"
Gloriana nodded. "That is the case for the most part. The strongest aliens may be able to cling to their lives, but it doesn't matter anymore if the others have perished. E energy radiation is not only making them stronger, but it has also made it easier for Helena to exert her might in realspace."
Ves looked intrigued. "Interesting. That is an important development. I already have an idea on how to leverage this. I can understand why the current Valkyrie Redeemers aren't cut out for fighting against enemy warships. Their firepower can't catch up to rifleman mechs and their ability to inflict damage up close is largely dependent on their charges, which is not a good idea to employ against a strong transphasic energy shield or an immense hull."
"The Hexers are also forced to apply aftermarket modifications to their Valkyrie mechs in order to give them access to space suppressors, but this is a clunky and inefficient solution." His wife continued. "The Mark III must have a space suppressor built into its mech frame. It may not be powerful enough to neutralize all transphasic technologies, but it can at least reduce the gap in performance."
There was no need to argue against this measure. This had become a mandatory feature for all melee mechs.
The only melee mech models that got released these days were mostly intended to be used in a mech arena or other special purposes.
Anything else that could be employed against the native aliens must come with effective countermeasures against phasewater technology.
Ves quizzed his wife a bit further. She conveyed a few other common requests and complaints that needed to be addressed in the Mark III design.
"Between speed or defense, what is more important for the Valkyrie mech pilots?" He asked.
"That is a difficult question, Ves. I would say that the mech pilots ideally want to see improvements in both. Better armor or a stronger shield generator will give them greater fault tolerance and ease much of their concerns. Higher mobility will enable them to close the distance faster and increase their ability to evade powerful warship attacks that can crush their mechs in a single hit regardless of defense."
Ves studied the outdated design of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II. It had been powerful back when he first released it, but the mech industry and the Red Ocean had moved on since then. The Valkyrie mechs were no longer regarded as one of his most impressive living mech designs anymore.
This annoyed him. It made sense for the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark II to lose a lot of popularity, but what rankled him was that people thought that his work had lost its star.
This fueled his motivation to bring it back onto the scene. It did not matter if the Valkyrie Redeemer remained exclusive to the Hexers. He wanted to reward his fans and his fixed customers for maintaining their faith in his products. He needed to show them that it was worth it for them to wait for him to deliver a proper update to an older work.
As Ves came up with a lot of ideas, went through them and selected the most useful ones at a rapid pace.
"I know what I need to do." He declared to his wife. "Let me show you what I have on my mind."
He activated a new projection and quickly sketched out a draft design that roughly reflected his vision for the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III.
It had many clear improvements over the previous iteration. The extensive use of hyper materials was definitely a key change, but Gloriana grew surprised when she noticed his selection of hyper materials.
The design of the Mark III became a little lighter and more streamlined. It gained a number of advanced systems that Ves somehow planned to cram inside the fairly slender mech frame. The design budget went up as he was forced to employ higher quality materials in order to keep its mass and volume within an acceptable range.
This happened to be one of the requests of the Hex Federation. They wanted slightly greater quality and were more than willing to pay for the additional expense.
Ves did not leave his improvements to material design choices. He also wanted to enhance its utilization of E energy and leverage its close connection to the power of death in a more useful fashion.
It would be a waste to ignore this potential!
If Ves was still the same mech designer as he was a few years ago, he would have never dared to go this far into strengthening the Valkyrie Redeemer.
However, Ves gained a lot more courage now that he had been promoted to a tier 3 galactic citizen. He was able to disregard a lot of rules and restrictions and no longer had to be afraid of provoking other people's greed.
So long as he continued to enjoy the protection of the Red Association, he could add features to his mechs that he previously did not consider due to a variety of reasons.
Gloriana slowly realized that her husband wanted to make another statement with the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III.
"Ves…"
"Yes, honey?"
"The luminar crystal rifle…"
"The fourth generation luminar crystal rifle of the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III should still be fairly light and compact. This won't increase the firepower that much, but what is special is that it is not only confined to making use of the hyper versions of all of the six standard attack phase crystals. What truly makes this weapon different and unique when compared to other luminar crystal weapons is that it is permanently embedded with a gray beam attack phase crystal."
"You mean the same as in the Gray Lotus?!"
"Not exactly." Ves shook his head. "I made use of a unique high-end hyper material when I initially built the Gray Lotus. It is a uniquely powerful hyper pistol that has proven to be an excellent complement to the Everchanger. The gray beam attack phase crystals reserved for the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III will be a lesser variant that is much more suitable for mass production."
He and his clan had yet to find any samples of Black Demon Steel in the new frontier. It may not even be a natural product since it contained the word steel.
That was a shame. Black Demon Steel was such a good hyper material that was not only compatible with death E energy, but all kinds of other negative energies as well. Ves could think of so many uses for this material.
In any case, there were many lesser alternatives that were much more widely available. The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III was still meant for mass production, so Ves could not go too far in this aspect.
"How effective do you think these rifles will be?" Gloriana asked.
"They offer an alternate means to neutralize enemy warships. I don't think the lesser gray beams will be as effective as the Gray Lotus in penetrating the transphasic energy shields of enemy warships, but I don't know for certain. We do know that hyper energy shields are remarkably more effective at neutralizing these sorts of attacks. It is only a matter of time before more and more aliens upgrade the defenses of their warships with stolen human technology."
"Even if they can only really start slaughtering alien crew members inside their own warships after breaching past transphasic energy shields, that is still a lot more effective than trying to tear through meters of thick hull plating." Gloriana consoled Ves.
"Hm, I guess you are right. This is only a part of the package, though. I have other features in mind that will make this mech a lot more amazing, but the gray beams should serve as their most dependable killing tool."
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