Chapter 6589 Anemic Performance The Rule Breaker Project had almost reached its end. Veronica and Master Moira Willix did not have the time to fabricate and test a few specially modified prototypes in person. They delegated this responsibility to the other mech designers that had come to offer their services to the Oblivion Empire in the past few years. Although these prototypes had been altered so that they could be controlled through a traditional neural interface as opposed to the revolutionary Carmine System, this still offered enough empirical data about the hard performance characteristics of all three versions. The prototypes did not exhibit any major performance issues. That was an expected outcome considering that a Master Mech Designer as skilled as Moira Willix designed their structures. The biggest complication was the semi-modularity of the mech designs. Each version could be configured in a number of different ways. Veronica and Master Willix initially decided to make it so that the Rule Breaker mechs could be configured into swordsman mechs and rifleman mechs. However, the design process proceeded so smoothly and briskly due to the exceptional degree of competence shown by Master Willix that they decided to expand the scope. Now, all three versions of the Rule Breaker Project could adopt 4 different configurations, ranging from a swordsman mech, a knight mech, a frontline mech and a rifleman mech. This should cover a broad majority of interests from prospective Carmine mech pilots. If they wanted to pilot a different mech archetype such as a light skirmisher, a spearman mech or a heavy artillery mech, they could always rely on Wild Modularity to steadily 'level up' their machines and implement incremental modifications over time. While the cost and effort required to morph the Carmine mechs to a different archetype were disproportionately high, it at least gave Carmine mech pilots hope of piloting the machines of their choice. Unfortunately, Veronica did not foresee the possibility of undergoing radical transformations anytime soon. It was far too impractical to gradually transform humanoid mechs into beast mechs. One of the other complicating factors was that the Rule Breaker mechs had to be designed to operate on land as well as in the air and in space. In the total that had erupted between red humanity and the native aliens, most battles predominantly took place in space. The unscrupulous use of city-destroying warships by the native aliens made a lot of landbound mechs irrelevant. If the native aliens did not want to bother with conducting a planetary raid or invasion in order to capture a large amount of intact human tech and materials, they could always resort to plain old planetary bombardment to absolutely wipe out any presence of human life and civilization! As such, most mechs in use in the Red Ocean today had to possess spaceflight capabilities. The Milky Way operated under a different set of rules. The people here were still stuck in the past. They abhorred the use of warships and weapons of mass destruction and made serious efforts to avoid regressing into the barbarism that characterized the end of the Age of Conquest. Veronica therefore expected a lot of major battles to take place on land. This meant that a lot of mechs in use would probably come in the form of landbound mechs. They might lack flight capabilities, but they were often more robust, more adept at fighting on solid ground and lasted much longer in the field. Landbound mechs were also a lot simpler and faster to master. Carmine mech pilots required many years to become proficient in piloting their powerful new machines, but if they did not have to learn how to maneuver in space and comprehend the theory of mechanics, they could become qualified fighters a year or two in advance! The two mech designers therefore put a decent amount of effort into optimizing the Rule Breaker Project for landbound combat. They made the flight system of the mech designs semi-modular and detachable. If desired, mech manufacturers could even produce Rule Breaker mechs without the inclusion of the flight system. This would definitely reduce the cost of the Carmine mechs and impose a lower burden on logistics. However, Veronica and Master Willix could not go too far in this direction. They still made sure that the Rule Breaker mechs possessed adequate combat capabilities in space. This lack of commitment kept the Rule Breaker Project's options open, but it also led to an uncomfortable compromise where the Carmine mechs neither excelled on land or in space. There was still a way out for Carmine mech pilots that wanted their machines to gain an edge in a single environment. As long as third-party mech designers developed modest variants Rule Breaker designs or upgraded existing machines, they could further optimize the Carmine mechs for landbound or spaceborn combat. The Cyborg Cat had great confidence that lots of mech designers would begin to enrich the ecosystem around the Rule Breaker Project. It was the first Carmine mech line available in the Milky Way, and it would be the only one that ordinary people could get their hands on for a long time! In summary, all of the choices that the pilots and owners of the Rule Breaker mechs could make resulted in a fairly intricate package of mech designs. Even if Veronica and Master Willix had done their best to keep everything else as simple as possible, the extensive modularity meant that it was not possible to simplify them too much. "It will do." Master Willix said after she studied the data from the testing sessions. "The minor performance issues are largely expected. It would be surprising if the prototypes did not suffer from all of the extensive compromise design choices that we have made in order to make them more versatile." The Cyborg Cat looked a little glum as she studied the same data. "I know what to expect, but seeing it in action... these Carmine mechs are truly crappy if measured by the standards of modern mechs at the same price classification. They indeed perform as if they are 2 mech generations out of date. In fact, I would say that this is an optimistic estimation considering that the prototypes are being piloted by professionals. Once these machines fall in the hands of completely rookie Carmine mech pilots, their ability to utilize their machines will be vastly inferior to those who have attended a mech academy for at least 10 years and accumulated decades worth of experience." In other words, the fairly clean performance demonstrated by the prototypes was likely the ceiling of what could be accomplished with the final versions of the Carmine mechs. The actual performance of the Rule Breaker mechs once a few years had passed would likely cause them to have no hope of beating a conventional mech troop. The former was already being set back by their inferior hard performance parameters. The machines fought as if they were 10 to 20 percent weaker than modern machines despite using much of the same tech and standards. Combining that with barely trained and highly inexperienced Carmine mech pilots meant that the Rule Breaker mechs would become so weak that they could be mowed down with ease by professional mech units! Master Willix obviously picked up the Cyborg Cat's concerns. "How many Carmine mechs do you think it will take to defeat a single conventional budget mech?" "It depends on a huge amount of factors." Veronica quickly responded. "If we assume a level playing field where many factors are equal aside from the skill and experience of the mech pilots, the conventional mech should easily be able to defeat 3 to 5 Carmine mechs while incurring light to moderate damage in the process. This is not an absolute, though. The equation changes when we are talking about greater quantities of conventional mechs. 40 conventional mechs controlled by military mech pilots who know how to cooperate with each other should be able to trounce 400 Carmine mechs piloted by poorly trained and inexperienced norms. In fact, the latter will probably break and run like headless chickens as soon as they lose 10 percent of their compatriots in a short amount of time. This lopsidedness can grow a lot worse if the numbers are greater, or if the military mech force relies on combined arms."" True combat was far more than a numbers game. Ves had witnessed and participated in enough battles to understand the impact of morale and other intangible factors on the flow of combat. "Your assessment is similar to my own, Veronica. The theoretical and actual performance of the Rule Breaker mechs will never win any awards, but... they are versatile, affordable and easy to mass produce. This is all that matters in the beginning. Do not forget that this mech line has one advantage that every other mech in the Milky Way lacks: it can be piloted by any human. That makes it much more viable to field them in far greater numbers of what our society is accustomed to. The Carmine System will introduce humans to a brand new approach to modern warfare that they have not seen in centuries." Veronica's feline body shifted uncomfortably at that mention. "I guess that is true. Everyone can become a soldier now." Master Willix nodded. "One of the reasons why mechs have been promoted so heavily during the Age of Mechs is because it inherently imposes a hard ceiling on the degree of militarization of a state. That made them perfect to help humans recover from the end of the Age of Conquest without completely losing their combat readiness. However, now that the Carmine System has lifted this limiting factor, states can drastically increase the militarization of their population, converting more of them into combat capable troops than ever before. A distinction will form between conventional mech forces and Carmine mech forces. The former will likely develop into elites that are more likely to pilot premium mechs. The latter will turn into part-time or full-time militias that are poorly trained and equipped, but boast massive numbers." "Something like that is already beginning to happen in the Red Ocean. Veronica commented. "Aside from wounded or retired veterans, it just takes a bit of time for the new Carmine mech pilots to complete their initial training and earn the basic qualifications to fight on the battlefield. The numbers are quite impressive. If the production rate of Yellow Jackets isn't constrained by the limited amount of available industrial capacity, red humanity will be able to field a lot more Carmine mechs in a few years." "The industries in the Milky Way are much more developed than in the Red Ocean." Willix noted. "In addition, resources are also much more abundant in most regions. Once you give the mech industry enough of a reason to mass produce your Rule Breakers, the most formidable industrial sector of human civilization will mobilize to meet the unending demand of the population. The Mech Trade Association may step in and curb much of this production, but it will fail because the monster it raised cannot be contained." Veronica knew what Master Willix was referring to. In order to turn mech pilots into the protagonists of the current age, the MTA had made massive and persistent efforts to elevate their status and turn them into objects of admiration. The mechers had managed to succeed in their goal. Mech pilots received widespread respect from nearly every corner of human society. Their genetic aptitude and their exclusive mech piloting training set them apart from the 'norms' who by definition were unexceptional in comparison. Yet how could the MTA anticipate that a rogue mech designer like Ves would suddenly dump the Rule Breaker mech templates throughout the Milky Way without warning? In an instant, every norm had a chance to become a mech pilot! The artificial boundary that separated heroes from ordinary people would melt in an instant! Everyone could become a hero, or at least that was what they thought! The MTA had worked so hard to turn mech pilots into a privileged and idolized class of people. Now, its centuries-long propaganda effort would most definitely backfire on the Association as norms would flock to become Carmine mech pilots above every other concern! No law or regulation could come in the way of fulfilling their long-cherished dream of becoming a hero!