The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1108

The Aurora Titan prototype began to impress the specialists at the testing facility more and more as time went on. As the tests became more arduous, its performance continued to perform just as well if not better than Professor Ventag’s regular designs!

Its highly efficient and damage-resistant internal architecture allowed the mech to hold up even against severe shocks. This was an essential requirement for any defensive mech and Ves became reassured that the professor’s work allowed the Aurora Titan to hold up adequately against physical damage.

It helped that the test pilot became increasingly proficient in piloting the Aurora Titan. The super-medium space knight piloted differently than any other regular medium space knight, to the point where she needed to unlearn some of her old habits.

The mech simply did not exhibit the mobility required to perform various standard maneuvers! It moved much like a heavy mech in a sense, but fortunately the test pilot had also tested a few heavy mechs now and then so she only took a day to adjust.

Another change that helped the prototype excel was that the test pilot became increasingly more comfortable with the unusual sensations coming from her mech. Rather than distrust it, she achieved much better results by opening herself up to the machine.

Human and mech began to accept each other. While no one paid attention to the alignment between the test pilot and the prototype, Ves paid keen attention to this relationship.

The more the test pilot embraced the prototype, the more intuitive her reactions became. This played an especially significant role when subjected to fire from all sides. The test pilot was able to call up and redirect multiple polarization fields when needed.

"I have to say, at first I did not think that the Aurora Titan can do much." The station manager told Ves. "A mech that’s heavier than a medium mech but lighter than a heavier mech should ordinarily exhibit the worst of both weight classes. Yet now I see that the Aurora Titan’s defensive prowess is sufficient to call it a pocket heavy mech. While it is nowhere near as resilient as a genuine heavy space knight, it still offers more than enough protection to justify its value."

Ves nodded in agreement. He liked the word pocket heavy mech. "Super-medium mechs don’t make sense to powers that have the ability to field heavy mechs. In the past, the specs of super-medium mechs simply aren’t good enough to justify a mech of this weight class. However, better materials and the use of defensive tech allows it to provide just enough protection while not being bogged down to a total crawl."

If Ves designed a super-medium space knight a hundred years ago, then the mech wouldn’t be able to present a good value proposition. It would have been weighed down too much by heavy armor plating that didn’t offer a sufficient amount of protection.

Even so, a regular third-class mech of this weight class still presented a rather unattractive package. If Ves allocated much of the space taken by the polarizing module into thicker armor, then sure the resulting mech would be able to sustain more damage.

The only problem there was that the mech’s mobility reduced even further, to the point where it could only be used to defend relatively fixed objects such as space stations. Another factor that made it unattractive was that all of that armor not only increased its upfront cost enormously, but also made it very expensive to repair when it sustained serious damage!

Losing five or more medium space knights was cheaper than repairing a heavily damaged super-medium mech that largely consisted of armor!

The charm of the Aurora Titan was that while it may be larger, it wasn’t as weighed down by armor so much. While its polarizing module took up a lot of internal volume, it wasn’t as dense and heavy as an equivalent amount of armor plating!

The polarizing module allowed the Aurora Titan to act as a defensive mech without breaking the bank for the outfit that fielded it. The mech operated best during short raids and skirmishes where neither side committed to an all-out attack. As long as the polarizing fields absorbed all the damage, its expensive armor plating required little to no repairs.

The station manager praised the utility of this feature. "The polarizing fields perform quite well. It is interesting to see the mech be able to absorb lasers with ease. Those strange crystal of yours helps out the mech as well, though I am not sure whether they are completely necessary. This mech is highly capable in absorbing energy damage, but it does not offer anything special aside from its thick compressed armor to withstand kinetic and explosive damage."

The increasingly arduous tests made that clear. The polarizing field could negate some physical damage. It fared better against ballistic shells and missiles as their explosive damage was usually spread across a wider surface area.

However, kinetic weapons and railguns formed a substantial threat to the Aurora Titan due to their highly concentrated damage projection. A polarizing field was like skin which could easily hold up against a slap or a punch but pricked easily when being poked by a needle.

The only consolation was that the Pisaro armor system fared decently against physical damage, so it wasn’t as if the Aurora Titan fell apart when hit by a couple of kinetic rounds.

"Unfortunate, with the way that space battles are being fought, kinetic weapons and melee weapons will be its downfall. The only way for the Aurora Titan to remain viable is if it is paired with mechs that can divert these threats." The station manager concluded.

Ves never intended the Aurora Titan to be deployed in isolation. It was a mech that worked best when protecting other assets. Its relative vulnerability to physical damage and its ineptness in melee combat sounded rather bad, but no mech was perfect.

The key to any modern mech force was to employ combined arms that integrated multiple mech types to cover each other’s weaknesses while achieving synergies in the areas they were good at. With the upcoming generation rumored to herald a golden era for laser weapons, a mech which excelled against lasers should turn into a very appealing product.

After three weeks of thorough testing, the prototype endured so much damage that much of its internal compartments became exposed. When Ves, Ketis and the station manager paid a visit to the hangar bay just as the mech returned from its final round of testing, they both gazed up at the massive mech and its scorched, cracked and hole-laden exterior.

"Wow." She said. She couldn’t stop saying that word when she witnessed the prototype’s performance. "The testers threw so much firepower at the mech, but it still managed to limp its way back to the hangar bay."

The simulations of the Aurora Titan generally modeled the mech’s performance adequately when it was at its peak state. As the mech sustained serious damage, its actual performance began to deviate from its simulated results. _{fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm}