The Mech Touch novel Chapter 211

Ves didn’t feel like spending additional credits on additional virtual component licenses. One of the problems of the DarkSilver design was that it allocated the majority of its space on enhancing its active stealth systems. It contained precious little space for any other systems.

Most of the variants he’d seen took the FFL-25 and added alternate loadouts. Instead of a piddly little knife, the other mech designers mostly provided their variants with limited-use weapons that delivered a large amount of damage in an instant such as bombs or acid containers.

To be frank, Ves considered employing the same means, but he held off because he wouldn’t add anything new to the game.

In addition, the solution seemed like a cheap cop-out that turned its back on the original intent of the DarkSilver line. The players who buy the variants mostly use them to sabotage the enemy base and supply depots instead of assassinating enemy mechs.

"Why are there so few variants that retain the DarkSilver’s original purpose?"

A handful of ambitious mech designers tried their hands at ’fixing’ the FFL-25. Their attempts either enhanced the base model’s strength while sacrificing its stealth capability, or they preserved its stealth but made only marginal improvements in its strength.

Obviously, all of the mech designers who worked with the frame failed to find the silver bullet that circumvented the base model’s limited capacity. The oldest 4-star designs originally came out about a hundred years ago, which severely limited today’s designers from introducing modern innovations.

The most successful variants therefore eschewed the stock design and rebuilt it from the ground-up. They used the same components and the same materials but rearranged them into a completely different package that delivered substantially higher performance in some areas.

Not a lot of these redesigns existed as it required a lot of work for very little payoff, since assassin mechs never sold as much as mainstream mechs. However, this in turn gave Ves an opening for him to introduce something others hadn’t done before.

"It’s a lot like designing an original mech in a sense."

Letting go of the boundaries of the base model freed Ves from its restrictions but also gave him room to stumble. Nevertheless, Ves didn’t shy away from the challenge.

First he had to set a vision for his variant. In his eyes, an assassin mech didn’t require protective armor. It avoided damage by virtue of its stealth systems and its speed. The base model mostly emphasized the former and paid only lip service to the latter.

"Let’s focus on speed and momentum."

The conventional assassin mech sneaked up on their targets at an opportune moment and landed a lethal blow. Once they finished the deed, they popped their chaff and snuck away during the confusion.

"Just like the Old Soul in a sense."

His 2-star sniper mech became known for its devastating ambushes and slippery escapes. This proved that the strategy worked, but Ves didn’t wish to retread the same old path.

Instead, he envisioned an assassin mech that used its cloak not to get into point-blank range, but to position itself for a short but devastating charge.

The beauty of this modus operandi was that Ves only had to ensure that his design possessed enough speed and acceleration. The arms and torso didn’t need any special attention. As long as they held up at the point of impact, his assassin mech should be fine.

In essence, his variant relied on its running start to build up enough momentum to punch through an unsuspecting mech’s armor. A weapon that enabled the mech to transfer its force into a single point worked best in these circumstances, so Ves immediately decided on pairing his design with a spear.

"The only problem is that the mech can’t maintain its stealth while running."

Faster movement came with more vibrations and more disturbances in the air. It became vastly more difficult for its active stealth systems to suppress the deluge of signals.

Ves had no solution to this problem, but it shouldn’t matter too much. In his imagination, he envisioned his assassin mech using its cloak to sneak in close to its target, but not too close to get detected by its passive sensors. These usually became more effective the closer anyone tried to sneak up on their backs.

Instead, his assassin mech stayed just out of detection radius and readied itself for a charge. At the decisive moment, it rushed forward and closed the distance within seconds before ramming its spear into the vulnerable back of its target. After delivering its blow, the assassin mech ran away at full speed.

"It’s going to be risky for the mech to survive without any form of chaff." He judged.

The escape should be the most difficult phase of the assassination process. While he could fit a small chaff module onto his variant, it would likely affect the effectiveness of its stealth. Thus, he decided to leave it out of the picture and focus solely on stealth and speed.

Now that he established a clear vision for his design, he began to construct a set of images for this Triple Division technique.

First, he set the base role as an idealized version of his assassin mech. Ves simply added in his vision for his design and imaged more scenarios on how it should be used.

The most important job for the base role image was to enhance the compatibility between the X-Factor and the actual mech. It didn’t need to be too strong or remarkable, but it couldn’t be inaccurate.