The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1030

Ves strolled down the corridors and rode the elevators to the lower decks of the Lormant Carnival. Having taken passage on many different ships in the past few years, he evaluated the commercial light carrier against the other ships.

"The Lormant Carnival is a decent light carrier."

Decent. Not exceptional nor terrible. All Ves could really say about the Carnival was that she served her intended role and nothing more.

The Carnival featured a standard capacity of forty mechs, a full mech company, and offered some room for additional cargo and spare mechs.

However, compared to a combat carrier like the Shield of Hispania or the monstrous Princely Jackal of the Flagrant Vandals, the Carnival lacked the armor and durability of those military carriers.

Armoring starships could get incredibly expensive. Their huge volume and surface area meant that a ten percent increase in size could practically double the final cost of building such a vessel because of the additional armor plating needed to provide good coverage!

Military mech regiments used combat carriers for a good reason despite their higher expense. They simply lasted longer in combat. In larger battles, the chances of carriers getting targeted increased as a large number of enemy ranged mechs might decide to pummel on a ship at long range if they could get away with it. A hundred or more laser rifleman mechs targeting any single ship in unison could quickly deal billions of credits worth of damage!

This especially happened a lot in space battles where ships couldn’t hide behind a convenient mountain or terrain feature.

Combat carriers stacked large amounts of relatively cheap armor plating. While ship armor was actually worse than mech armor when compared by volume or mass, a ship possessed much more powerful propulsion so could bear being burdened by lots of cost-efficient bulk armor plating.

This allowed them to perform their core functions. In space, they offered valuable shelter and cover for their vulnerable mechs and logistics ships. On land, they possessed the confidence to make landfall while withstanding a decent amount of anti-air fire.

Light carriers lacked those two vital capabilities. Instead of acting like a movable miniature fortress on the battlefield, they were more like sturdy houses that nonetheless needed the protection of their mechs.

Ves noted that this vulnerability annoyed the Spiral Shockers. They weren’t too used to missions that tasked them with taking on another identity. The downgrades to the mechs and ships at their disposal rendered half of their advanced tactics and formations useless because their assets would fall apart or get shot to pieces before they finished their maneuvers.

"The strength that mech pilots can bring to bear is limited by their gear."

Ves found it to be a substantial waste of potential. The Spiral Shockers could do better, yet their budget and mid-range mechs only allowed them to go so far. The few premium mechs piloted by their mech officers only offered a minimal amount of respite from these limitations.

Even so, the skilled mech pilots of the Spiral Shockers still performed leagues above the Flagrant Vandals if they both piloted the same mechs. No matter how many hindrances the Shockers endured, they could still rely on their excellent combat strength to pull them through to an extent.

Pairing the elite Spiral Shockers with mediocre mechs therefore still paid off, though it was very wasteful and not very cost-effective.

"Wasteful spending is par for the course for Senator Tovar."

That old man had way too much money to spend. Ves could have come up with a thousand better ideas on how to allocate the budget for this peace delegation. A huge amount of money had already been sunk due to the premature fall of the Felicitous Remembrance.

Ves estimated that this single luxury passenger ship cost as much if not more than a perfectly serviceable combat carrier!

After a while, he finally reached a small mech workshop where Professor Ventag requested to meet with him. Ves quickly became impressed with the mech technicians at work. Even with the substandard facilities of a light carriers, the mech technicians of the Spiral Shockers all performed their duties diligently.

The prior battle where the Spiral Shockers repelled a pirate ambush did not lead to many wrecked mechs. However, the Shockers still suffered from a large spread of moderate damage. All of those heavily-chipped and damaged armor plating needed to be replaced if the Shockers did not wish to look pathetic upon their entry into the Harkensen System.

And yes, that was the main reason why the mech technicians worked so hard and hurriedly. Apparently, Senator Tovar passed on the orders personally!

Ves just wanted to shake his head at this sight.

"Mr. Larkinson." A ship rating greeted him with respect. "The professor is awaiting your presence in the office. Please come this way, sir."

"Very well, lead the way."

They passed by the mech technicians who mostly ignored Ves even if they heard he did something amazing a few days ago. The Shockers possessed their own pride and wouldn’t easily show their admiration to someone else, unlike the Vandals.

"Come in, Ves." Professor Ventag said in a warmer tone. Ves entered an office configured into a small design studio. The professor sat in the center of a small bank of terminals.

"Why have you called me here, professor?" Ves asked boldly.