Chapter 5828 Unusual Production Strategy

Chapter 5828 Unusual Production Strategy

5828 Unusual Production Strategy

As fun as it was to explore the reintroduction of escort carriers into human civilization, Ves did not come here to explore new starship classifications.

Once they finished touring a few sections of the E-66 Experimental Yard, Ves and Kezi entered the latter's office and began to talk about more serious affairs.

Just like he had done at Starfarer Berth, Ves presented the reforms he wanted to push through in order to truly take control over the large orbital shipyard.

To his credit, Kezi not only accepted the rationale for the upcoming personnel changes, but pledged his support.

"The Inferno Spear Prince has already informed us to be as accommodating to your demands as possible." The chief shipwright spoke in a deferential tone. "You are on track to become the sole owner of the E-66 Experimental Shipyard. While you must still abide by the laws of the Rubarthan Pact, you have a wide latitude of permissions."

"Will there be any trouble from the personnel? How many of them can we retain?"

"I think the retention rate will be quite optimistic, especially if they are allowed to keep experimenting. Joining the Larkinson Clan is a step up for most of them. They have heard the sort of benefits that you offer and are not too resistant to becoming a part of your organization."

The sort of people who worked at E-66 were much more open-minded in general. They were younger, more flexible and more ambitious. Even if 30 or 40 percent of the Rubarthan workforce ended up quitting, it was not that difficult to hire other bright minds to fill up the vacated positions.

Of course, every new hire needed to spend a lot of time before they could be trusted to do their jobs. The fairly low productivity of E-66 would inevitably dip to an even lower point for a time.

This was an inescapable consequence of implementing so many disruptive changes. Ves would just have to live with the fact that neither of his two new orbital shipyards would be able to churn out first-class starships at optimal rates.

None of this discussion was new to Ves, so he quickly made his point clear before he addressed other important topics.

"I have recently gained access to support link technology." Ves said, causing Kezi to briefly lose his composure! "While I do not foresee any issue with integrating this high technology in the starships built by my other orbital shipyard, I am not sure whether it is possible to do the same in this facility. As far as I know, E-66 has never produced a link-capable starship, correct?"

Kezi adopted a frustrated expression. "The New Rubarth Empire and the Rubarthan Pact have never gained access to support link technology. We do not have the expertise to work with this advanced tech. Even if you have gained permission to apply it to starships built in our facility, it is certain that the mechers will not allow our own engineers to handle the parts themselves. You will have to request the Red Association to transfer their personnel to E-66 in order to complete the relevant work assignments without our intervention. It will add many complications and cause considerable friction between our work crews."

This was music to Kezi's ears. As a man who had managed to become the effective man in charge of E-66 despite his young age and relative lack of experience, he had been chosen precisely because he was more willing to explore avenues that others had not yet explored.

For his new owner to give the workers of E-66 full license to unleash their imagination and divert from standard practice was like a dream come true.

However, that did not mean that Kezi embraced this change without a healthy dose of skepticism.

One of the other reasons why he was put in charge was because he knew when he should stop or pull back.

"I can understand your desire to acquire more amazing starships, but the costs are considerable." Kezi warned. "The time it takes to develop and build the unique starships will grow. Our budget will have to be increased as well. The end result is that you will obtain considerably fewer starships at significantly greater costs than before. Their performance will most certainly be superior to the performance of standard hulls, but the differences might not be great enough to justify an artisanal approach. There are good reasons why shipyards almost never dabble with this. Only the largest shipbuilding companies with dozens of orbital shipyards at their disposal can afford to adopt this approach for one of their facilities. They usually reserve it for custom orders from exceedingly wealthy clients who have more money than sense."

What Kezi left unspoken was that the Larkinson Clan was in the opposite situation. It did not have a large shipbuilding operation at all. It did not make sense when the Larkinsons needed as many hulls as possible.

"I am aware that my demands do not entirely make sense, but it will become clear to you soon enough when I present my vision for the starships of the Larkinson Clan." Ves explained as he clasped his hands. "Before E-66 is ready to realize my vision, it first needs to complete the necessary reforms. I will have to send a lot of my Larkinsons to your facility in order to ensure that the right experts are in place to implement the proprietary technologies of my clan. I have developed a lot of awesome stuff that have worked great for my mechs. I am hoping that we can transfer them to our starships as well, but this will likely be a challenge. I will need to invest more time in research to come up with concrete applications. I do not have much for you at the moment."

"That is unfortunate, sir. I understand your intentions, but my workers and I cannot fulfill our responsibilities if we do not have any direction. I would like to propose that we work on a stopgap project after we have completed our current order. Working on a new starship for your clan that does not yet include your new technologies will allow us to transition to our new circumstances while integrating all of the new personnel that have agreed to the conditions that you have set."

That sounded interesting.

"What do you have in mind?"

"It depends on how long you wish to wait to acquire a new hull. A 2.3 kilometer fleet carrier is not advisable because it will likely take us 2 to 3 years to complete the construction of her hull. A more modest 1.5 kilometer fleet carrier is more manageable, especially when E-66 enters a period of rapid change and upheaval. Depending on the complexity of the ship design, it will probably take us roughly 1 to 1.5 years to complete the shipbuilding project. This should give your clan a good starter capital ship and give our personnel enough practice to tackle more ambitious projects going forward."

That was a reasonable approach. The question was what sort of capital ship Ves would want to acquire in the short term.

He had not actually thought in detail what kind of starship he wanted. Ves grew rather excited now that he obtained the luxury to build his own custom starships.

His head was already brimming with ideas!