6921 Dead End Design Philosophy Now that Ves had become familiar with Harry Kaikkonen's latest advancements in luminar crystal technology, he immediately adjusted the configuration of the Defiled Light Project. The ability to weaponize his own joy and excitement had great potential, especially to a wielder who was able to draw upon these emotions a lot better than others. That was not to say the other variations of X-ERC luminar crystal technology were useless, but Ves did not think he could channel them to the same degree. "Do you intend to incorporate one of the X-ERC technologies in the next iteration of the Ignitron of the Promethea Mark II Project?" The Journeyman Mech Designer looked uncertain. "I have yet to decide whether the Ignitron should be based on U-ERC luminar crystals or one of the X-ERC luminar crystal variations. Saint Isobel Kotin is still preoccupied with recovery and rehabilitation of her new and improved body. The few times I have been able to speak with her has not led to overly productive discussions. She has suffered enormous trauma by having her body burned to the point where she was only left with her brain. The transition back to a new body produced by the Red Association is a heavy burden on her psyche. Normal people might need a decade or two to regain their peak conditions." Ace pilots could probably recover a lot faster, but no one knew for certain. Isobel may have broken through, but she pretty much sacrificed her body in exchange. That made her worse than her peers who broke through while remaining fully intact such as Saint Tusa and Saint Dise. Ves could not imagine how much her confidence in herself had dropped as a consequence. While he was confident that Isobel would eventually display the qualities of a saint and pick herself up again, who knew how much time it would take for her to fully readjust her mentality. Whether she developed a strong affinity for emotions such as gloom, disgrace, pride or simple anger remained to be seen. Until Harry was able to gather that information, the choice on the type of ERC luminar crystals he would use would remain in flux. "I think that P-ERC luminar crystals synergize the best with her fire-based damage output." Ves said. "She relies heavily on starting and spreading fires to wear down lots of enemies over time. Being able to make her flames stickier and more difficult to put out will go a long way with enabling her specialized combat approach. She becomes a lot less effective if her enemies are able to quickly douse her flames. She can either become more versatile by developing new tricks, or she can choose to double down and make her purple fire as strong as possible. Personally, I think she will be more inclined to choose the latter." "Can she still remain prideful after suffering such a setback?" Harry asked the critical question. "Who knows. Anyway, don't forget what I just told you earlier. It is Saint Isobel's prerogative to make this kind of decision that heavily impacts her combat effectiveness and strategies. Ultimately, her compatibility with specific X-ERC luminar crystals is not determined by any obvious synergies, but by her personality and attitudes. It is best not to form strong expectations. You will just get disappointed if she makes a selection that is outside of your ideal plan." "I understand. I will try my best not to do too much work in advance." They talked a bit more about the possible uses of X-ERC luminar technology. Harry spoke about the possibility of designing a batch of replacement crystals that could be slotted into the luminar crystal weapons wielded by the Bright Warrior Mark IV and the Valkyrie Redeemer Mark IV. Each of them made use of his original U-ERC luminar crystal weapons, which caused the damage output of mechs armed with them to become a lot less consistent. Highly skilled mech pilots who made the determination to master the use of U-ERC luminar crystal weapons had the potential to become highly versatile. They could selectively channel different emotions that were known to produce different effects according to the situation at hand. However, this was a demanding style of utilizing luminar crystal weapons. Only elite and specialized ranged mech units could afford to train their mech pilots into cycling multiple different emotions on command. Everyone else could only reliably channel one or two emotions at a time, and their consistency still fell under question. In short, Harry's current advancements in luminar crystal technology promised greater power, but also significantly increased the burden on mech pilots. That was not an ideal outcome. Ves paid close attention to the piloting experience of his mechs. He understood quite well that any unnecessary distraction and burden could add a lot of stress and cause mech pilots to miss stuff that they ordinarily shouldn't overlook. This was why Ves was not entirely satisfied with Harry's current research direction. "Once you have completed the initial development on X-ERC luminar crystal tech, what is your next step? Will you continue to investigate the link between emotions and luminar crystals, or will you seek to study a different facet of this alien tech?" Harry was not stupid. He would have never been able to join the Larkinson Clan and enter the prestigious Design Department if he lacked perception and attention to detail. "I have already mentioned that I am waiting for advancements in superdimensional tech. As long as I have learned enough theory about it, I may be able to develop superdimensional luminar crystals in two years as long as there are no complications arising from new variables introduced by the strange materials. Aside from that, I have not yet decided." That caused Ves to frown. "A mech designer like yourself needs to be several steps ahead of established capabilities." "I know, sir, but I did not originally set out to become a mech designer by specializing in luminar crystal technology." The other mech designer defended himself. "My original specialization is based on precision focused laser weapon systems. Ever since I joined the clan, I did not have too many opportunities to design mechs that rely on increasing or decreasing the convexity of the focusing crystals to inflict more concentrated damage with energy weapons." "Your specialization is not that relevant in the current war." Ves commented. Harry frowned. "You are correct. In an age where most mechs fight against machines that rely primarily on armor as opposed to energy shields, concentrating the damage output of laser weapons to a small point results in much more efficient local penetration of armor plating. However, energy shields do not really care about that as it is more important to deplete its integrity. A broader and less focused energy beam will produce the same effect as a narrower and more focused beam, only with much less calculations and microadjustments." Ves leaned forward as he thought about Harry's unenviable situation. "I see. You are afraid that if you return to your roots and continue to develop your original specialization, you will work yourself into irrelevancy. After all, with so many enemies that rely so heavily on energy shields, your precision focused energy weapons only introduce a lot of additional cost and complexity with very little discernible value. Everyone knows that as long as you can get rid of the energy shields of alien units, their physical structures are a lot easier to damage… mostly. I have heard that newer alien vessels make increasing use of superior human-developed alloys, but even then the aliens still prefer to stick to their shield-heavy design philosophy." The native aliens may have access to much of the Red Ocean's resources, but even they would feel distressed if they have to build lots of warships with thick and relatively high-quality hull plating. It was much more economical for them to rely on their much more abundant reserves of phasewater to install multiple powerful azure energy shield generators. Energy shield defenses could easily be restored if they took damage. So long as the azure energy shields did not break entirely and possibly damage the generators as a result, the energy barriers could save the vessels from conducting a lot of physical repairs. This was clearly the better choice given that the native aliens did not have a robust infrastructure in place to repair too many damaged ships and vehicles at once. In any case, Harry's precision focused energy weapons would continue to remain irrelevant so long as enemies kept relying so much on azure energy shields. Many mechs even relied on the same paradigms to keep themselves in one piece. Red humanity had learned from the aliens and used the same kind of tech on its own machines. As long as there was enough phasewater to spare, there was no reason to reject the use of highly effective azure energy shield generators! Even if the Red War magically came to an end and humans soon returned to fighting against each other for all kinds of petty reasons, the prevalence of superior transphasic energy shields and azure energy shields would not go away. In this case, how should Harry deal with his design philosophy? Should he try to phase it out and replace it with a more relevant design philosophy that was more adapted to the current age? Doing this was possible, but Harry would incur huge penalties if he wanted to change his design philosophy. A design philosophy was a mech designer's belief on how products should be. The individual therefore had to be really certain about the right direction of his research in order to make fruitful contributions. Still, changing to a more suitable design philosophy may ultimately lead to a better outcome over time. "If you were in my shoes, what would you choose, sir?" "My answer may not be appropriate for you." He said. "My mentality and approach towards mech design is unique to me. That said, I would never give up. Once I have formed my design philosophy, I will need to see it through the end. Even if the entire Red Ocean is working against me and my specialization, that does not change my persistence in my life's goal. Even if it is nearly certain that I will crash myself against a wall if I don't change my research direction, I will continue to bash myself against the same wall over and over again in the hopes of weakening it until I can finally bash through one day. I just hope that I won't grow too old to savor my victory." Harry frowned. "Energy shields are here to stay, as much as I dislike them. Weapons that are specialized for penetration cannot do anything against the former." "Are you sure about that?" Ves grinned. "Perhaps there is a different way for X-ERC weapons to bypass the energy shields of such a well-protected vehicle. For example, you can devise a new luminar crystal weapon that has gained additional capabilities, for example a means of attack that can bypass the multi-layered azure energy shields." "That sounds great, but… you probably don't know where to begin." Harry lowered his head. "I cannot make up my mind so quickly. I need more time to evaluate everything." "Thinking too much can be a trap in itself." Ves gently said. "Sometimes, there are no right answers. There are also times when you just need to stop procrastinating and make a decision. A design philosophy is paramount to any mech designer. Either commit to your original ambition, or give up on it and work towards a different ideal. You can still choose to remain undecided and wait, but you are only growing older. The longer this issue remains unresolved, the worse off you will be. Don't remain indecisive." Ves truly did not envy Harry Kaikkonen. His energy weapon specialization was overly narrow, which made it far too easy for it to lose its value under certain circumstances. This was a fault of the Journeyman Mech Designer's own making. He would have been a lot better off during the Phasewater Generation and Hyper GEneration if he pursued a broader and more flexible design philosophy. Now, unless he was able to rely on major breakthroughs in energy weapon tech, Harry's only other choice was to steer his design philosophy in a different direction! Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets! Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! 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