6881 Invasion Machine Concept Both Ves and Gloriana grew astonished by what their son wanted to develop. Not every boy who dreams of becoming a mech designer wanted to be able to bring out a machine that could eat entire planets! Marvaine impishly grinned as he witnessed the reactions from his parents. "Did you just make a joke? Oh, you naughty rascal!" The little boy giggled as Ves playfully leaned down and tickled his son. "I am serious, papa! I did not joke around, hihihi! I am completely serious! My ambition is not a fantasy! I can totally turn it into a reality!" After Ves was done with tickling and cuddling his son, he finally gave Marvaine enough room to explain his strange idea. "Designing a juggernaut is the first step." The boy spoke as he recovered from the tickling session. His attempts to appear serious caused him to look so cute! "The real change comes after turning the juggernaut into more than just a dangerous weapon of war. Everyone who sees a gigantic version of a mech will always assume that it is a powerful killing machine, but that will not apply to my juggernauts!" That sounded interesting. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶 Though Ves and Gloriana both had opinions about their son's ideas, they were too curious to shoot him down. Besides, they wanted to encourage Marvaine's imagination. This was a precious quality that greatly benefited mech designers. They were proud that their son had already begun to leverage his vision towards the field of mech design. "It sounds like you are trying to attach additional roles to your juggernauts." Ves calmly remarked. "That is normally discouraged due to cost and efficiency considerations. What is the value proposition of your products? What is so good about them that customers are willing to buy your unique take on juggernauts? Don't forget that they cost a huge amount of money, and not that many people can afford to spend them on machines that possess dubious value." His son did not look discouraged. "I will make them all see that my juggernauts are worth it, papa. You are all used to treating mechs as part of a bigger system. A mech must not only have a mech pilot, but also a base or mothership to operate on. If it wants to move to another planet or star system, it needs to board a starship that can take it to its destination. If it gets damaged, it can only be repaired by a crew of mech technicians. What is even more stupid is that mechs are only good for combat. They are not that good at building stuff and can only rely on others to do that. What I want to make gets rid of all of that. The juggernaut will be able to do everything I have mentioned by itself!" Gloriana raised her eyebrows. "What you are suggesting is… a bold idea, but the more functions you add to a mech, the more expensive and impractical it becomes. There are good reasons why different jobs are divided into different crews or machines. This makes it much easier to juggle different responsibilities. Everyone and everything has their own duties, and it is simple to know if a job is done well enough. If there are any problems, it can easily be addressed due to this clear division and specialization. Letting a single juggernaut fulfill every job negates all of those advantages. You are introducing a massive amount of complexity for unclear value. You need more reasons to justify your unique outlook on juggernauts." Marvaine frowned in a cute way. Ves reached over and tousled the boy's brown hair. "What is your dream? What is your juggernaut so be? You say you want to design more than just a war machine. Describe it. Don't just list out its functions. You need to tie it together into a cohesive vision, a story that neatly encapsulates the ideal you are trying to fulfill. That is what your mother and I want to hear. If you can make your juggernaut sound good enough in your story, then you may just be able to convince customers to purchase your expensive products in the future." Marketing was just as important as technology in the mech industry. There were far too many mech designers in the sector that sought to overtake the competition and carve out their own places in the mech market. If Marvaine wanted to become successful and earn his place among the ranks of truly successful mech designers, then he needed to focus his imagination and improve his salesmanship. There was little point in designing a mech that ultimately possessed too little appeal to get sold. "A few months ago, you told me about the World Tree Seed that we obtained from the Devos Ancient Clan." The kid spoke. "Do you remember?" Ves nodded. "We do." Although his children were still awfully young, Ves and Gloriana regularly kept them informed so long as they had proven their ability to keep secrets. They wanted their children to grow up with a strong sense of responsibility and understanding of the true state of the Larkinson Clan and society as a whole. Their excellent schooling had already given them a good grasp of the context, so it was not pointless to keep them informed despite the fact that they had yet to reach their tenth birthdays. This was one of the many factors that caused his children to mature a lot faster than their peers. Besides, the transfer of a second-generation World Tree Seed was not a particularly sensitive secret. The Larkinson Clan had grown strong, prestigious and trusted enough to justify the ownership of a 'weapon of mass destruction'. Such a development would have been unimaginable during the Age of Mechs. The start of the Age of Dawn had led to a lot of changes. A private organization getting its hands on a weapon of mass destruction was not that big of a deal in the greater scheme of things. A transfer as big as this could not be hidden from all of the major players. The only troublesome consequence was that the native aliens might find out about the World Tree Seed, thereby making it more difficult to catch them by surprise. From the moment Marvaine brought up this minor biological wonder, Ves and Gloriana already began to connect the dots. "Are you seriously thinking about merging the capabilities of a World Tree Seed into a juggernaut?" The mother asked. "Why not? It will be totally awesome!" Marvaine exclaimed! "A World Tree Seed is not that big for a superweapon that can terraform an entire planet. It can do its job completely by itself if it has to. Why not combine it with a juggernaut and let a single pilot control the entire thing? If we mount a superdrive onto the combination, it can travel to other star systems all by itself! You can send this superjuggernaut to any planet and have it terraform the entire globe. It is especially good at conquering enemy planets. Instead of attacking their strongholds head-on, it can avoid enemy defenses and land on an undefended piece of territory. Once it activates its World Tree Seed functions, it can completely destroy the surface of a planet along with everything the aliens have built!" What an aggressive vision! Both Ves and Gloriana grew shocked by the ambitious idea! This suggested use of a juggernaut was radically different from how everyone else used juggernauts in the past! Back in the time when the major powers cautiously experimented with juggernauts, they always treated them as the centerpieces of greater mech forces. "You are suggesting the use of juggernauts as a solitary self-contained system." Gloriana seriously analyzed. "By dispatching them by themselves, these terraforming juggernauts are not being dragged down by any weaker elements. This makes them surprisingly agile and easier to deploy into enemy space. As long as they can avoid particularly strong enemy forces and highly fortified planets, they can withstand the attacks of weaker defenders long enough to land on a planet and plant its roots into the planet. From the moment the juggernaut is able to tap into the resources of an entire globe, it has become invincible. Nothing can stop it from rupturing cities and growing organic constructs that can defeat the opposing phasefighters and eventually warships in the star system." This was scarier than a World Tree Seed! A World Tree Seed may be devastating when planted, but it was clearly a superweapon that needed to be deployed from a strong fleet. A juggernaut that merged the functions of a World Tree Seed did not have to rely on external support. It had enough fighting capabilities to fend off weaker attackers and could potentially overwhelm many enemies once it took root on a resource-rich planet. The mech pilot had to be truly special in order to control such a strategic weapon. He not only had to be proficient in combat, but also master enough of the sciences relevant to geology, terraforming, construction, biotechnology and so on in order to direct the operation of the juggernaut. Aside from that, the juggernaut also had to be completely biological in nature in order to replicate all of the major functions of a World Tree Seed. It may be possible to realize this concept with a mechanical or cybernetic juggernaut, but it was best to keep it as simple as possible. A fully organic juggernaut could encapsulate all of the essential functions of a juggernaut and a World Tree Seed without relying on awful kludges. Ves spontaneously raised his finger while projecting a simplified design suite. He used his fingers to rapidly create a very loose sketch of Marvaine's astonishing juggernaut concept. He sketched out a juggernaut that was much taller and more massive than the Otalon Sprius. While the sketch did not demand any exact measurements, Gloriana could already imagine that it was at least 600 meters long. The juggernaut was fully organic. Ves proposed to make it out of TE Wood, the special brand of hyper wood that was impregnated with phasewater. The material choice was not too important. Any organic wood material would do as long as the juggernaut possessed the capabilities to regenerate and produce it by itself. The juggernaut was armed with enough weapons to function as a warship. It also possessed enough flight and FTL travel capabilities to maneuver independently in space. Its legs were specifically designed to punch through soil and spread its roots underground. As Ves rapidly began to flesh out the sketch of this unusual concept, he began to refine it by adding other elements. For example, he attached optional storage modules across the juggernaut frame that was meant to contain rare and incredibly useful exotics and hypers. The biojuggernaut should be able to grow powerful devices at the start by drawing upon this starting pool of quality materials. This would reduce the window of time where the planted juggernaut made itself vulnerable to counterattacks. Another feature was the addition of passenger or crew compartments. The biojuggernaut did not necessarily need to carry additional personnel, but it would be incredibly useful if it had additional human specialists on hand that could help with directing the terraforming and production processes. Normal-sized mechs could not afford to carry too many passengers. Doing so would cause them to compromise their performance and add disproportionately heavy burdens to their mission profiles. The story was different for a biojuggernaut that measured at least 600 meters in length! It had enough internal and external space available to comfortably carry dozens if not a hundred soldiers and specialists! They could not only help with managing the World Tree Seed functions of the biojuggernaut, but they could also help with controlling its various combat systems. They may also take control of any wooden mechs or warships produced by extracting the resources from a terraformed planet! In short, the biojuggernaut originally envisioned by Marvaine had the potential to become the most potent self-contained invasion machine ever conceived by humans!