Chapter 6865 First-Class Selection Criteria After spending a bit of time in the Premier Branch, Casella Ingvar learned a lot about first-class warfare. She had put a lot of thought on how to shape the first-class mech forces of the Larkinson Clan. Ves had entrusted her with a lot of responsibility. The Saint Commander understood extremely well that her voice could determine the life and death of many Larkinsons. That was not the extent of her influence. Depending on the battles that the Premier Fleet fought in the future, Casella may be able to affect the lives of billions if not trillions of people! Lesser individuals may feel crushed by the weight of all of this responsibility, but the Saint Commander was no ordinary woman. Her willpower and her experience granted her the capital to take over leadership of the Premier Fleet and guide it to a brighter future. Since the Premier Fleet was heavily reliant on its mechs, it became extremely important to select the right ones to serve as its stopgap mechs. The Larkinson Clan would eventually field its own first-class mechs. It was impossible for a clan founded and led by one of the most prominent mech designers to continue to rely on third-party products. However, Ves and the Larkinsons had only been developing for a relatively short amount of time. The clan had grown at an astronomic speed, but it was still short on accumulation. The Saint Commander was confident that the Design Department would sort it out eventually. In the meantime, she needed to do a good job by guiding the selection process and make sure that the Larkinsons purchased the mechs that fit their mech doctrine and martial traditions. "Let me begin by describing the kind of force the Premier Fleet should be." Casella began as she stood up and addressed the mech designers in the conference room. "According to our patriarch, the Premier Fleet must fulfill two distinctive objectives. First, it must be a sharp weapon that can be used to inflict harm against our enemies, most particularly the native aliens. Second, it must serve as the mobile headquarters and home base of the Larkinson Clan. Everyone should be clear that the Premier Fleet is clearly modeled after the expeditionary fleet." Multiple heads nodded. "We do not have to worry too much about fulfilling the second objective for the time being." Casella continued to speak. "The expeditionary fleet already hosts the bulk of our core members. Even if it is still a second-class fleet, it is not in imminent danger. It makes much more sense for us to focus on fulfilling the first objective to the best of our ability. We must build up the framework of a strong first-class mech force first before thinking about expanding it with non-military assets." Ves nodded in agreement. "It is really hard to acquire first-class starships under the current climate. Every shipyard is busy with producing starships for internal consumption. The war has also disrupted a lot of shipping lines, making it harder to obtain the bulk goods needed to construct large hulls. Our own two shipyards are working hard to produce more first-class starships, but they are facing increasing production delays due to shipping disruptions." The message was clear. The Premier Fleet would not be expanding anytime soon. The Larkinsons needed to cherish the hulls that were already in their possession and prevent them from receiving any harm. This limited how aggressively the Premier Fleet could wage its battles. Its mechs needed to deploy further away from their motherships. "So our primary goal should be clear. We must forge the Premier Fleet into a strong mech-based fighting force in a short amount of time. Since we lack strong territorial holdings or colonies that can support a large population and local industries, we also have to make sure to minimize our attrition as much as possible. This means that we must field mechs that are durable, reliable and easy to repair and maintain. I know that the last two demands are difficult to satisfy when it comes to first-class mechs, but we should do our best to reduce our reliance on third-party facilities." She was right. In this day and age, it became more vital than before to ensure that the Premier Fleet and its mech forces remained as self-sufficient as possible. "We shouldn't purchase mechs that are too exotic." Gloriana surmised. "There are many powerful mechs that rely on rare strategic resources that are difficult to source or intricate tech that is difficult to reproduce outside of specialized production facilities. Such mechs often deliver superior performance in order to justify their greater expensive and more stringent demands. While it would be nice to have them at our disposal, if we cannot maintain them as they get damaged or replace them if they are broken, then it is better to forgo them entirely." The Larkinson Clan already suffered such a case when it came to Solus Gas. The valuable exotic gas possessed amazing properties that enhanced the concealment properties of anything that was impregnated by the substance, but its supply had become cut off after the Torald Middle Zone fell to the invading aliens. The good news was that the Larkinsons managed to harvest and stockpile an abundant supply of the unique gas. It should be enough to last for a long time, but only if the Larkinsons rationed it carefully. For the time being, Ves was only willing to expend Solus Gas on high-ranking mechs, stealth vessels and possibly a handful of starships. If red humanity was not able to retake the Torald Middle Zone anytime soon, then Ves might have to restrict the usage of Solas Gas to supporting the expert mechs and ace mechs that already integrated the material. "My next demand is that the first-class mechs that we are looking to procure must be easy to adopt without needing to take any special steps." Casella spoke. "There are many complex products on the market that require additional setup and exploration in order to serve their customers well. We don't have time for that. It is not worthwhile for us to invest too much in the subsequent development of our machines if they are only meant to serve as stopgap mechs." Such products were not that common in third-class and second-class mech markets, but they were much more prevalent among first-raters. Customers in first-rate states always had greater demand for customization and personalization. Mech companies played into this demand by making their mech designs more open and easy to adjust. The Saint Commander then proceeded to share her final demand. "Lastly, the mechs that we must purchase should ideally score well in terms of defense and mobility. It is more important to keep our forces alive than to defeat our opponents. We may even choose to withdraw from a battlefield in order to cut our losses. It will do our clan little good to win a battle by sacrificing 50 percent of our mechs." Tarsa Merovik raised her arm. "Shield link technology and Dragon Scales should make our mechs much harder to eliminate than other first-class mechs. Is it not wiser to put more emphasis on offensive power in our selection? Killing our enemies quickly also helps to preserve our numbers." "Your words have merit, Miss Merovik. The two solutions that you have mentioned can significantly increase the survival rate of all of our mechs. However, I do not expect that the Upper Zones will remain prosperous for long. If the Red Tide Offensive continues at its current pace, it will become much harder to acquire first-class mechs and manpower in the coming months and years. We must conserve the assets and manpower that we already have. It is for this reason that our mechs must have a strong capital to survive any storm, especially when my Command Field is not available for whatever reason." The Saint Commander possessed a lot of confidence in her ability to keep most of the mechs under her command alive, but she knew better than to assume that she would be available all of the time. Even if she was able to Commandeer and Enfeoff all of the first-class mechs, they could still be taken down when attacked by a much larger enemy force. Attrition warfare was the greatest weakness of the Premier Fleet, but Casella was determined to defy the efforts of the native aliens to grind the Larkinsons down. The Saint Commander answered a few more questions before she decided to move on to the next step. "Now that we have a clearer idea on what sort of mechs our clan should field, let us move to exploring the RA's mech catalog. Even if we leave out the mechs that do not conform to our criteria, we are still faced with thousands of viable options. We need to impose additional criteria in order to make a more targeted selection. Do any of you have any suggestions on what we should look into first?" Alexa made a suggestion. "We should look into mechs that can intercept alien phasefighters. Eliminating the enemy strike craft is always a necessity when fighting against the native aliens. We have much more room for maneuver if we are able to suppress or eliminate the enemy phasefighters. We can look into a different mech model to fight against enemy warships." "Agreed." Casella smiled. "A first-class multipurpose mech that is good at defeating alien phasefighters must be fairly light and fast. Their maneuverability does not have to be excellent, but their straight-line acceleration performance must be good in order to catch up to the alien craft. Long-ranged weapons are dispensable as their effectiveness against alien phasefighters have always been questionable in isolation. Their ranged armaments should perform well at shorter ranges. They must also have strong enough melee combat capabilities to quickly break down enemy azure energy shields if they are able to get close enough." The Red Association designed many mechs that fit this particular set of criteria. The mechers themselves recognized the importance of fielding mechs that fared well against alien phasefighters. The enemy strike craft developed so rapidly in the past few years that they had become a credible threat to red humanity. No human force dared to ignore them anymore as they could do a lot of damage if left unchecked. After browsing the catalog for a few seconds, Casella highlighted one of the top listings. Surprisingly enough, the mech she choose to display on the main projector was a beast mech as opposed to a humanoid mech. The first-class multipurpose mech resembled a rather light and slender dragon that possessed stiff and slightly oversized wings. While the machine fell under the medium weight classification, it was obviously on the lighter end due to its relatively slender mech frame. "The DFN-72CEG Dracoloid." Casella recited. "As you can see, it is a beast mech that is designed for mobility and interception. Its armor system is not that impressive, but it is partially able to compensate for its lacking physical defenses by mounting a serviceable azure energy shield generator. It mounts 4 compact gauss guns, 2 plasma guns, and a flamethrower in the head. It can also grapple and tear apart foes with its claws or teeth." "Is that it?" Klaus looked a little confused. First-class multipurpose mechs generally mounted more weapon systems. "The armaments do not sound impressive, but they are quite powerful despite their compact sizes. The gauss guns are able to fire a variety of high-end ammunition. The plasma guns can be charged to launch more powerful plasma bolts. The flamethrower shouldn't be underestimated either as it can be loaded with high-grade propellants that can rapidly erode transphasic energy shields and transphasic armor as long as they are laced with a small amount of phasewater." "The weapons are just enough to kill alien phasefighters." Ves said with satisfaction. "It doesn't appear that these dragon mechs are good for much else, but that is okay. Their mobility is their strongest advantage. Few alien phasefighters should be able to outrun these fast machines."