Chapter 6199 Return of the Swarm Project
Jovy Armalon and Vector Loban feared that Ves might have cold feet about the n to introduce Carmine mechs a lot sooner than originally nned.
Those fears turned out to be unfounded as Ves agreed to rush the development of Carmine mechs despite the obvious risks.
This was the courage that the mechers expected from a renowned and highly sessful innovator like Ves. He would have never been able to make so many useful contributions to human civilization if hecked the willingness to tackle dangerous challenges.
He was much like a mech pilot in this regard. Many people secretly wondered how great Ves could have be if he possessed the right gic aptitude for mechs.
Of course, nobody wanted to trade away his abundant contributions as a mech designer. Human society was far better off if Ves remained a mech designer as opposed to a mech pilot.
In any case, now that they passed this hurdle, they soon began to discuss the specifics of the Carmine mechs.
"Speaking from my limited experience, first-ss mechs, second-ss mechs and third-ss mechs arepletely different products." Ves started. "If we want toplete a Carmine mech in each ss as soon as possible, then it is best to start with a central and highly adaptable mech concept and divide it into three different subconcepts for every tech level. However, it is very difficult to keep all of the separate designs simr enough to each other while simultaneously making them efficient at their respective price levels."
Both Jovy and Vector were mech designers at the same level as Ves, so they understood the argument quite well.
"Does that mean that you prefer to designpletely separate mechs for each of the three tech levels?"
"Not quite, Jovy. I am merely stating that if we go for this expedient approach, the results will be less than perfect. However, if your goal is not to release the most powerful and polished Carmine mech designs, but to release a bunch of highly essible products in an elerated time frame, then we can go for this approach depending on what else you require."
"The initial product must be simple and cost-effective, but also highly modr and adaptable." Vector stated. "We project that your first Carmine mech models will be met with great enthusiasm. Many people will seek to get their hands on an early model and form a Blood Pact with the machine straight away. If they are not patient enough to undergo extensive training to be a halfway decent auxiliarybatant, then they will inevitably blunder on the battlefield. If we want to prevent this disaster, then we must simplify the first avable Carmine mechs to the point where it takes greater effort to make a mistake."
"So you want a frontline mech."
"Yes, but one that can be transformed and made more powerfulter on, Ves. You can do this by not only making the base models highly upgradeable, but also implementing a high degree of modrity. Your Carmine mechs must be an open tform that possesses a low barrier of entry to third party participation."
That sounded a bit familiar to Ves. "That sounds simr to what I have done with the Fey Fianna line. In order to make my drone mechs more useful, I have encouraged the rise of third-party developers who are incentivized to design all sorts of useful fey models for the Fey Fianna tform."
"We know. We want you to apply this approach to the entirety of your Carmine mechs as opposed to just a single core feature. You already have experience with designing modr and highly malleable mechs such as the Bright Warrior, so this should not be an insurmountable challenge to you. You can count on our assistance to solve any technical problems in this regard. The priority is to give early adopters an easy way forward once they survive the initial fighting and improve their skills."
That was understandable. A lot of mech enthusiasts who wanted to pilot a ''real'' mech as soon as possible would eventually outgrow their initial Carmine mechs, especially if they were designed to function as frontline mechs with higher automation and simplified controls.
A lot of customers would grow terribly upset at Ves for permanently locking them to Carmine mechs that were very difficult and expensive to upgrade!
If Ves was able to lower the barrier to altering the configuration and upgrading the Carmine mech in advance, then that would save others a lot of trouble when they wanted to make any changes to their machines in the future.
"Ah. I see. You want to kill multiple birds with a single stone, right?" Ves began to smirk. "If my Carmine mech models turn into bestsellers, then that will produce a lot of Carmine pilots who will eventually grow dissatisfied with the limitations of their basic frontline mechs. They will demand lots of upgrades and customizations that can only be met by mech designers. This will create a groundswell of employment for grassroots mech designers and small boutiques. Most customers won''t be able to afford the services of a high-ranking mech designer, so a lot of people will turn to Novice Mech Designers and Apprentice Mech Designers."
"Turning your Carmine mech models into open tforms will provide a range of benefits to you." Jovy shared his opinion with Ves. "It will reduce the pressure to design Carmine mechs based on different mech archetypes and concepts. It will also allow you to shift the responsibility of providing aftermarket services to third-party mech designers and mechpanies as much as possible. If Carmine mechs truly be as wildly popr as we think, then the demand for these custom services will explode ordingly. Your invention has the potential to create a thriving new subgroup within the mech industry."
That reminded Ves of another trend.
"Ah. I see. You want to kill multiple birds with a single stone, right?" Ves began to smirk. "If my Carmine mech models turn into bestsellers, then that will produce a lot of Carmine pilots who will eventually grow dissatisfied with the limitations of their basic frontline mechs. They will demand lots of upgrades and customizations that can only be met by mech designers. This will create a groundswell of employment for grassroots mech designers and small boutiques. Most customers won''t be able to afford the services of a high-ranking mech designer, so a lot of people will turn to Novice Mech Designers and Apprentice Mech Designers."
Ves realized the potential of this future market. The difficult part was that outside of making use of official variants and modification kits by the LMC and other reputable mechpanies, mech designers had to design upgraded Carmine mechs on an individual basis!
"You want my work to create new employment opportunities for low-ranking mech designers." Ves guessed. "Given what you told me earlier about the changes in both market and industry trends, a lot of smaller independents will be squeezed out of the business. It should be good for them to be able to practice their craft by designing customized variants of my early Carmine mechs."
The Survivalist did not deny this motivation. "The Age of Mechs was a golden age for mech designers, but particrly low-ranking mech designers. The stable market conditions created by the Mech Trade Association has created enough room for capable young mech designers to achieve sess as independent entrepreneurs. You are the ultimate example of one. The mechmunity has long relied on these favorable conditions to maintain enough upward mobility within our profession."
"I suppose that has changed now that we have entered the Age of Dawn."
"We may very well return to the stability and prosperity that we enjoyed during the Age of Mechs, but… the current trend is leading us in a different direction. Since we are moving towards greater consolidation in our sector, we are working towards providing alternate business development opportunities to all of these low-ranking mech designers. We have confidence that your initial Carmine mechs can be a part of our solution."
Ves had no objections to this n. He would benefit massively from it as the additional third party participation would increase the overall value and desirability of his Carmine mechs.
If people knew that they would not remain stuck with the base model but could easily approach one of many independent mech workshops in order to upgrade their machine to their liking, then that would remove a major impediment towards early adoption! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Of course, Ves did not intend to give up on designing more sophisticated Carmine mechs at ater date, but all of that took precious time that was in short supply.
The three mech designers moved on to thinking about what sort of Carmine mech concept they should use as the initial starting point.
"You look as if you already have a n." Jovy guessed.
"I do. I already thought about what I wanted to design for the third-ss market. Although it is expressly targeted towards third-raters, I think its advantages should also appeal to second-raters and even first-raters."
Ves began to pull a pair of draft designs that he had buried deep in the memory banks of his cranial imnt.
It was a set of two mech designs, both of which were supposed to work in concert.
"I call it the Swarm Project. It is a concept I came up with some time ago, but ced it on hold because I intended to design my first Carmine mechter on. Now that our ns have changed, I might as well pull them out of the closet again. As you can see, it is based on the assumption that the majority of the people who will form a Blood Pact with the ''subordinate mech'' are essentially ipetent in terms of piloting skill and battlefield awareness. Without lengthy training, it is reckless to the extreme to dump them onto the battlefield and expect them to know what to do. These amateurs need a guiding hand, hence why the subordinate mechs must be led by specializedmand mechs that are expressly designed to coordinate the frontline mechs they are assigned to supervise."
The two mech designs couldn''t look any more difficult.
Themander model looked like a propermand-oriented mech. It was capable of fighting like a rifleman mech, but the design ced a lot of emphasis on themand and control modules mounted on the back.
It did not take much guessing to assume that this model was not a Carmine mech and had to be piloted by a professional mech pilot.
An interesting quirk was that Ves had designed it with an alternating ck and yellow-striped color scheme.
The true Carmine mech was the subordinate model. It was a frontline mech that shared the same color scheme, but possessed a much more simplified design. Its frame possessed an insectoid shape rather than humanoid shape. By imitating the appearance of a wasp but with optional hardpoints instead of 3 pairs of legs, the subordinate model could adopt a range of modr configurations, all based on what people wanted to slot into the limb sockets.
The default loadout that Ves had in mind was to slot a pair of ranged weapons into the forward modr arm sockets. There was no need to make use of articting arms as that would increase the cost and piloting difficulty of the subordinate machine.
Sure, it was incredibly limiting for Carmine pilots to control a wasp mech thatcked actual limbs, but it didn''t matter so long as it fought in aerial or space environments!
If anyone wanted to pilot the subordinate mech onnd, then they could simply slot one but more preferably two modr leg parts into the bottom four sockets.
"I can recognize the inherent versatility of this Carmine mech." Jovymented with interest." By using an insectile form as opposed to a humanoid form, it bes much easier to treat the limbs as optionalponents. There is no mandatory requirement that the mech shoulde with a pair of arms and a pair of legs. There is also room for a third set of ''limbs'', thereby opening up more room for easy customization."
As long as arge enough variety of socketable weapons and other gadgets became avable, Carmine mech pilots would have the freedom to slot whatever they wanted into these modr sockets.
From physical shields to melee weapons, the modr mech tform could fulfill multiple different roles!
The only caveat was that it had to conform to the insectile shape of the subordinate mech model.
The insistence on sticking to an unorthodox insectile frame for the subordinate model would probably disgust a lot of potential customers, but Ves did not care.
He had great confidence in the potential of this product. If wannabe Carmine mech pilots desired to control a proper humanoid mech so badly, then they could wait until Ves designed such a mech at ater date.