<h4>Chapter 2566: Interconnected Mechs</h4>


    The Hexermunication mech that Gloriana envisioned was one of the most basic, simplest, cheapest and pathetic second-ss mechs that Ves had ever seen.


    The entire concept of it made it clear to anyone that the auxiliary mech was nothing more than a movable, adaptablemunications ry.


    "It carries some decent sensors as well." Gloriana defended her vision. "If we want to turn it into an asset on the battlefield, then it has to do more than opening up reliablemunication channels. Since we aren''t putting any weapon systems and everything rted to them in our mech, we''ve freed up a lot of capacity. It can fulfill the role of a scout as well, though I want to make sure we devote enough space for its ECM systems and short-rangemunication systems."


    Thetter caused Ves to raise his eyebrows. "I can understand the need for ECM systems. It''s too costly to turn it into a stealth mech, so the next best option is to add modules that can reduce its energy signature to enemy sensors. What I don''t understand is why you want to invest so much in additionalmunicationponents. The mech doesn''t need anything extra in order to perform its main role."


    After all, the greatest advantage of spiritualponents was that they did not take up any physical space. No matter how little space the mech had left, it took no effort for Ves to squeeze in a couple of spiritual constructs.


    Of course, Ves had to pay another price in order to add spiritual capabilities to a product. The spiritual foundation of a mech design essentially represented the spiritual capacity of a mech.


    The greater the foundation, the more spiritual load it could bear.


    Adding one or two powerful abilities was his current limit. He could add more, but that entailed weakening everything else. That was not a good design approach in his opinion.


    For this simplemunication mech, Ves did not intend to add any extra features. He intended to devote as much spiritual capacity as possible to instil the strongest possible spiritualmunication capabilities into this design.


    While Ves didn''t exactly know how powerful he could make these features, he was confident he could spark a minor revolution in this field!


    However, Gloriana did not stop her thoughts at this point. She pointed her finger at the variousmunication arrays and otherponents.


    "The long-rangemunication system that you''re responsible for implementing is good for connecting mech units to centralmands and so on. However, it''s not useful in connecting to mechs thatck this system. Try and imagine a situation where a mechpany is fighting under heavy jamming. A lot of signals will be garbled, thereby preventing individual mechs from transmitting lots of crucial data to each other. Ourm mech must be able to pick up and transit high-fidelitymunication signals even under heavy jamming."


    "You''re talking about very expensive equipment."


    "That''s only formunication systems that are meant to transmit signals across longer distances." Gloriana shook her head. "We already have your divine arrays for that. What we need is to ensure solid connectivity at shorter ranges. Onnd, we''re talking an effective range of 1 kilometer. In space, it needs to be at least at least 10 kilometers, though ideally we should aim for more."


    He had to admit her logic was sound. While Ves personally didn''t have much experience with the level of jamming that Gloriana talked about, he knew that it could get quite intense in second-ss mechbat.


    This was a necessary development onnd. It was not that difficult for second-ss mech designers to develop an artillery mech that could fire at targets over the horizon with pin-point uracy.


    Still, in order to hit anything at such distance, the artillery mech needed urate targeting data.


    If a mech unit was able to observe an enemy formation and transmit precise data to a prepared group of artillery mechs, then a lot of shelling wouldmence very soon!


    Of course, artillery mechs were never able to pound enemy fortifications and units with impunity. They wererge, heavy and somewhat immobile. Each time they fired, they emitted a lot of heat, sound, pressure and other emissions, thereby exposing their positions to any watchful scouts. This left them vulnerable to counter-battery fire or lightning raids by enemy aerial mechs.


    In short, the side who fired first might not have thestugh!


    A tenuous bnce had formed due to all of these developments. An intricate web of threats and countermeasures forced both sides to make careful use of their artillery mechs. These were powerful but very vulnerable and expensive assets that yed a crucial role in constraining the actions of the enemy. Ruining an entire artillery mechpany not only deprived its owners with a lot of valuable machines, but could also exposed many other other mechpanies to lots of shelling!


    The insertion of a singlemunication mech that promised to enable reliablemunication transmissions across battlefields could easily upend this bnce!


    This was what Gloriana was truly aiming for. Themunication mech might not be that impressive in itself, but once it slotted into the mech lineup of the Hex Army, it could amplify the performance of many other mechs!


    As Vesprehend Gloriana''s goal, he became impressed by her foresight and ambition.


    "I see! It''s much like the Blessed Squire in that regard. Both function as force multipliers!"


    The Blessed Squire boosted the performance of other mechs with the Superior Mother''s glow. To perform its function effectively, it had to be in the thick ofbat, so it made sense to turn it into a knight mech.


    Themunication mech envisioned by Gloriana did not need to be in a central position. In fact, it was the opposite. The mech wanted to attract as little attention as possible.


    "It doesn''t make much sense for this mech to possess a glow." Ves remarked. "We''ll have to suppress it for this design."


    "Can you do that, Ves?" Gloriana curiously asked.


    Ves nodded. He had already done so for the Devil Tiger. Though repressing its glow caused the mech to acquire a strange charm, at the very least it didn''t resemble a spiritual torch in the dark!


    "No problem. Only the mech pilot will experience its glow."


    "Wait. Try to gear our mech towards the dust phase of existence. Maybe it will have a surprising effect." She requested.


    Ves considered her proposal. "You might be onto something. I can''t promise it will have the effect you desire."


    "If it works, we can also implement this effect onto our stealth mech!"


    That was a much moreplicated project. While Ves was interested in designing a real stealth mech, he did not look forward to solving all of its technical challenges. It took a lot of precision design work in order to contain or dampen as many possible emissions as possible.


    Just a single leak or design w could easily expose the stealth mech to enemy sensors, thereby dooming it! Without the ability to hide from enemy sensors, stealth mechs were incredibly vulnerable to enemy attacks!


    That particr project was not on the agenda today. For now, Ves and Gloriana just wanted to establish a solid n for theirmunication mech design project.


    Their discussion continued on for a while. They made a number of other notable design choices.


    One of them was to split up the mech into two variants.


    "You want us to design two versions of this mech?!"


    "It''s not as bad as it sounds, Ves! Look at our draft design. Does this look like aplicated mech to you? If we leave aside the auxiliary modules, its frame is incredibly simple and free of clutter. Since ourmunication mech is meant to be paired with low-quality mech pilots, we have to simplify its controls as much as possible."


    For low-skilled mech pilots, piloting a regr Hexer military mech was out of the question. Modern mechs were already several times more difficult to pilot than mechs developed in the past, and they would continue to be moreplex over time.


    In order to simplify the controls of a mech, its design needed to be stripped with many innovations that made modern mechs better.


    It was like turning back the clock in a sense.


    This meant that while the mech became easier to pilot, its performance and control range decreased as well.


    Even if Ves insisted on retaining somebat ability for the mech, it simply wouldn''t be able to keep up with the high-intensity battles of the Komodo War!


    "Maybe you have a point. Since the mech design is so small and simple, I guess it''s possible to design two concurrent versions."


    Gloriana wanted to design a version of themunication mech that was optimized forndbound deployment. She also wanted a slightly moreplicated version that was optimized for spacebornbat.


    Mounting a flight system onto a light mech was very cumbersome. The design needed to devote a fair amount of capacity in order to amodate such a module. A lot of other characteristics of the mech would change as well such as the energy consumption and heat management of the mech.


    Still, despite theseplications, themunication mech was still an easy mech to design to design. Its rtively low budget, simplified internal architecture and basicponents meant that designing two versions at once did not match the workload of designing a more advanced second-ss mech such as the Valkyrie Redeemer or the Transcendent Punisher.


    Ves reluctantly nodded. "We can do this I suppose."


    "That''s great! The Hex Army will be pleased to receive two separate versions. By the way, this mech design needs a name or at least a temporary codename. I''m thinking of Cherub."


    "Cherub?" Ves frowned for a moment.


    He quickly essed the gctic and became flooded by images of pink-cheeked boys with flying wings. Some of them carried bows and arrows, but more often than not they were depicted as cute or mischievous infantiles!


    "So what do you think, Ves?" She asked as her eyes sparkled with delight.


    She loved the name she came up for the mech!


    "..."


    In the end, he didn''t bother to argue with Gloriana. She obviously insisted on it and Ves didn''t want to ruin their fragile harmony over a trivial naming issue.


    Besides, he had to admit that the name fit the vision of the mech. It was a harmless auxiliary mech that was meant to be piloted by the equivalent of baby boys in Hexer society.


    Ves wasn''t sure what the male Hexer mech pilots would think if the Hex Armypelled them to pilot the Cherub. Would they understand its meaning? He wasn''t sure whether its intended mech pilots would interpret the name as an honor or an insult.


    With that decision set, he brought up one more issue.


    "Since this project entails designing two rted mechs, we need to work together with Juliet."


    "What? No! There''s no need for her involvement. I can take care of everything. This is such a simple mech design that her expertise won''t have much room to y."


    Ves crossed his arms. "Let Juliet be the judge of that. The spaceborn variant especially needs her input. Don''t fight me on this. I''ve already made my choice. The Cherub has no weapons at all and very little armor. It relies entirely on mobility, cover and ECM in order to stay alive on the battlefield. Since mobility ys such a crucial role in its effective performance, we need to pull in a specialist who can amplify this aspect as much as possible."


    Though Gloriana kept shaking her head, Ves held his ground on this issue. He truly believed the Cherub would be a significantly better mech if Juliet worked on its mobility.


    As a Journeyman, she should not be weak in this aspect!


    Fortunately, Gloriana finally acquiesced. It was difficult for her to deny that her Cherub design would probably be better off if Juliet was able to provide her input.