Chapter 5829 Design Your Own Ship

Chapter 5829 Design Your Own Ship

5829 Design Your Own Ship

After a bit of discussion with Kezi, Ves quickly gained a basic grasp of what E-66 was capable of. The Rubarthan shipyard had access to a wide range of high technologies that introduced all sorts of interesting possibilities to starships.

However, Kezi quickly cautioned Ves not to put too many items in his wishlist.

"Our approach towards starship innovation is always tempered by the need to preserve a solid enough foundation of a core foundation that consists of solid and proven elements. In our experience, we have found that going too far with trying to revolutionize everything at once usually leads to a cascade of failures. This will delay the completion of our project to an unacceptable degree. It is best to start with a more standard template and selectively add or improve specific elements that will result in targeted performance gains. You can think of it as a rationing system. By limiting the degree of innovation for every shipbuilding project, we can guarantee that the end product can be trusted enough to not collapse and explode when the vessel inquisition undergoes her first trials."

The man's explanation made a lot of sense. It was a common approach in mech design, though Ves all-too-often exceeded the recommended boundaries set by the mech industry.

The disastrous Elemental Lord was the archetypical example of how a design project could drastically go wrong when he completely went off the rails!Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Ves had no intentions of repeating this feat in the form of a starship, so he prudently abided by Kezi's recommendations.

It was best to start with a more practical and less ambitious ship design.

The chief shipwright activated his desk terminal and opened up a design suite that was geared towards his profession.

He loaded half-a-dozen recent ship design templates and presented them to Ves.

"These are examples of modern starships that we should readily be able to produce in our shipyard." The man said. "Before we select a template to build upon, it helps if you can give me a list of objectives and requirements. What does your clan require the most? Must you insist on ordering a new fleet carrier, or is it acceptable to produce a non-combat vessel instead? The latter option is considerably faster and more affordable."

Ves immediately shook his head. "I understand the importance of non-combat ships, but this is not the time. We need to strengthen our direct fighting capabilities as much as possible in the next half-decade. A fleet carrier is essential to my plans. I need a vessel that can not only carry a lot of first-class mechs into battle, but also possess enough defenses to accompany them into battle. If you understand support link technology, then you should know that mechs and starships can only synergize with each other if they are not too far apart from each other."

Kezi immediately entered into a professional mindset. "Hmm. I see. That is not a common request in the Rubarthan ship market, but I can understand why your demands are different. We still have ship design templates that should satisfy your requests. They may be 'fantasy' designs that we never intended to realize, but they are theoretically sound designs."

The man quickly removed a lot of projected ship designs while adding a few new ones. They differed a lot in size, shape, mech capacity and more.

"Which parameters do you wish to prioritize the most? Do you want a sturdy vessel that can withstand a large amount of punishment, or do you prefer to own a faster fleet carrier that can outmaneuver enemy fleets?"

That was a good question.

"I want a ship that is balanced and rounded in performance." Ves said after a brief pause. "I may have a need for fleet carriers with more pronounced strengths and weaknesses, but my initial first-class fleet won't be big. I need a ship that is versatile enough to adapt to different circumstances. It also has to be self-sufficient enough to take care of herself when operating behind enemy lines."

"You are asking for much, sir. I hope you understand the consequences of trying to fulfill so many different objectives."

Of course, that was not the case. The prow was merely designed to keep the vessel alive as long as possible when she actively participated in an offensive operation.

"This is not enough." Ves shook his head when he thought about how it would fare in an actual operation. "I am sure that this fleet carrier will fare fine under normal circumstances, but what I am worried about is that she will falter when subjected to more extreme conditions. I have learned the hard way that reality rarely matches our expectations. Imagine a scenario where the Exemplar is operating all alone well behind enemy lines. Imagine that this ship must traverse a huge distance in order to get to the nearest safe harbor. Imagine that she is being actively hunted by the surrounding aliens all this time. Her superior mobility may allow her to evade and sidestep a lot of enemy pursuit forces, but she will eventually run out of luck from time to time. She may possess the defenses to withstand the first few attacks, but what about subsequent engagements?"

Kezi began to frown as he considered these conditions. "I admit that your scenario is much harsher than what my design teams normally consider. We are accustomed to developing starships for the armed forces of the Rubarthan Pact. None of the carrier vessels we have worked upon are meant to operate alone and far away from any support services. They only have to survive a handful of battles at most before they can be brought back to a repair yard where they can easily be restored before her systems deteriorate any further."

That meant that the Exemplar class was not so suitable for lengthy expeditions and deep strike operations at all. They would have to apply targeted modifications to the design in order to increase her fault tolerance.

Ves suddenly thought of a good idea. When he thought back on how his expeditionary fleet managed to fare in past engagements, he focused on one unusual capital ship in particular!

He retrieved the design files from his cranial implant and projected them in front of Kezi.

"Sir? This is... a second-class ship design."

"Yes. Take a look. The Graveyard is an inventive ship class that is designed to tank a lot of damage by cladding her hull with disposable armor plating. What is special about her is that she can constantly renew her hull plating by sourcing them from salvaged wrecks. If this is possible with second-class starships, why can't we do the same with first-class starships?"

Kezi grew more and more impressed with the Graveyard.

"That... is an unorthodox idea. I can easily identify more than a hundred different problems with this ship concept, but... there is no reason why it should not work when applied to the Exemplar Class. I will have to make a large amount of changes and additions to the template. Give me a moment."

Ves and Kezi spent the next hour on trying to work out how they would add the Graveyard's signature capability to the Exemplar-class fleet carrier.

It was not that simple to utilize salvaged materials to clad the hull of the Exemplar. First-class materials were much stronger and more difficult to process. Trying to convert them into starship hull plating took so much time that it was too dangerous to resort to conventional means.

The trouble about operating behind enemy lines was that starships constantly needed to be on the move. They needed to finish whatever they needed to do before fleeing the star system.

They eventually decided to implement a powerful technological application that could literally crush broken wrecks into the armored prow of the Exemplar by relying on overpowering gravitic force.

Out of all of the options available, it was exceptionally fast and convenient to the point where the fleet carrier could readily replenish her defenses in mid-battle!

The only downside was that the new system was so demanding that it could only be applied to the bow of the capital ship.

Ves considered it to be a worthwhile tradeoff as the Exemplar would be virtually unstoppable as long as she wasn't flanked!

Ves and Kezi decided to call this modified ship design the Grave Exemplar.