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Chapter 3: Proposal
I never really thought about who I was supposed to give the new mobile pod design to. I told some guy I was going to make us a better one, but I have no idea where to go. There has to be some department for this somewhere. I don't really know where, but it has to be somewhere. This building is both a college and Morgenroete's HQ. I probably should be sending this to my parents, but nah. The ball may be a decent mobile weapon, but we have to update with the times. I can't let us lose the technological edge.
The
Den'an Zon is a good basis for a non-beam carrying high tech mobile suit. I say this because the Den'an Zon had advancements in colony conquest that weren't beam based. Lacking a lot of helium-3 means I have to go to low tech solutions. Shot lance is a good thing. Sure, the reactor explosions aren't going to be a problem for at least a while, but most colonies aren't designed for surviving beam weapons. I probably have to strip out the beam shield and mounted beam guns, but that's a sacrifice for economical production. Should probably change the head though. It looks weird.
Seriously, where is a map of campus?
My designs are for a situation that does not exist. Multiple different units have inflatable decoys as a standard piece of equipment. This isn't very useful in the actual climate of the world. We have sensors and the like that prevent the decoys from being useful, but in a M-particle laden battlefield this is very different. Long range communication is severely limited in these fields, and that means visual confirmation of the target is the only valid tracking method. However, one singular ms is not enough to cause the needed density for those to work. I should probably just cut it out of the prototype design if we are still having issues getting the fuel.
Oh, there is a map. I have to go to the fourth floor for the mobile pod department.
I don't really have to worry that I'm going to be late. The professor always shows up an hour late and I show up an hour early. I have plenty of time to make this proposal and get it done before he gets back and makes Kira do whatever it is he does to the operating system of the "secret project." I bet it's a next gen power loader or something. No way they trust developing something super experimental like a mobile suit operating system to a teenager. You only do that if that teenager is responsible for the mobile suit design in the first place.
And here it is, the mobile pod department.
"Hey, I said I had a design for an improved mobile pod? This is the department for that right?"
"Yep."
The voice came from behind the one desk in the room. From what I know which is not exactly public knowledge, the mobile pod department's funding is being moved somewhere. This would be a hinderance if the ball wasn't so gosh darn cheap to produce. It's like a fourth the cost of a mistral and has far higher combat capability. However, we may need to keep a few for resource transportation. Balls are hyper specialized for colony upkeep and stuff, not mining.
The person I was speaking to was an older man, not elderly or anything, but definitely older than 37. He was the only person here which makes this process very smooth.
"Do I have to do a long-winded proposal for the new pod?"
"When we take this up to the people in charge of production yes, but not to me. Mistral has always been not great. It is aging already, and we need something to defend the colony, so it probably will go through regardless of how little of an improvement you have made in the design."
"Trust me, comparing the Ball to a Mistral is like comparing the GINN to the moebius."
"You called it the Ball? …Just follow me, we had to set up a meeting over this."
I should follow him. I don't know where the budget people are, so this is going to be helpful.
"Yes, because it's a combat machine. Mobility is the best defense and small profiles lower mass."
"Can you make it out of our current pods?"
"Theoretically you could, but I would have to completely change out most of the frame and take the bottom off. Also, we need to start making 180mm ammunition."
"what?"
"30mm is incapable of damaging a GINN. Or a moebius for that matter. We need big guns, or a much higher muzzle velocity. Big gun is easier. The current 40mm ammo needs to be reformatted into either 180mm or 30mm. Or I could mess around with the Vulcans and make them 40mm. Whichever is preferable for manufacturing."
"What, are you trying to make a mobile naval cannon?"
"No, this is long range support for theoretical mobile suits."
"Hold on, mobile suits? This is support for mobile suits?"
"It could function in that role, however we don't have any so I made modifications to the weapons for a more frontline mobile pod."
"So, there are two designs?"
"I guess? The difference between the two is the gun at the top. The frontline units have a double barreled cannon with higher rate of fire along with these claws here for cqc action. I took a design meant for underwater combat I had and then added thrusters to the back of them to offset the weight change. The support units have a tri cannon setup for heavy damage instead of rate of fire and as such aren't equipped with the best manipulators. The mobility sacrifice to also include the large claws isn't justifiable when this is a long-range unit."
"Didn't you add thrusters to offset the mobility loss?"
"Yeah, but the issue is that its easier to hit with the claws. It also makes every other thruster cause less acceleration. This thing should be used in hit and run operations if its solo, shoot and get the hell out, not shoot and when they get close claw them."
"Here we are."
"I was expecting something… more."
"Well, there isn't anything more. Get ready to explain everything again."
"Mr. Argyle, you have a new design? Your club is working on an improved power loader design, and you suddenly have a better mobile pod idea. That's suspicious."
This was the guy at the head of the table. He is presumably the one I'm going to deal with. No way the CEO would directly intervene in this. It's just a mobile pod.
"Well, mobile pods aren't as complicated as a mobile suit or power loader. It's a brick that has some thrusters and some manipulators."
"That's the second time you have mentioned mobile suits. Are you under the impression that orb is developing them?"
"Why wouldn't we be? The Izumo class has hangers that can handle mobile suits. We have seen how effective the GINN is. Why wouldn't we be working on keeping the technological advantage we are known for?"
"Regardless, you have designs."
"Yes."
"The mistral is an aging machine. The moebius outclasses it in every way, and the moebius is outclassed by the GINN. We need a new space weapon to handle the defense of Heliopolis, so I introduce the Ball."
"It's a ball with arms and a cannon strapped to the top."
"It has better acceleration, armaments, and maneuverability than the Mistral. I can't say for sure that its better than a moebius due to lacking performance data, but I am reasonably confident that it could beat them in a seven on one engagement."
"Seven balls for a moebius?"
"No, seven Moebiuses for a single ball. The balls performance is leagues better than what we currently have, and we would have minimal issues building them. I would have proposed a mobile suit if we had justifiable power generation, but we don't right now."
"What do these run on?"
"While we reasonably could keep the batteries common to the Mistral and have negligeable performance drops, they are designed with fuel cells in mind that last longer than our current batteries. The fuel cells are also rather cheap to produce as well."
"The weapons are unique to say the least about them. What made you design them this way?"
"The main thought I had was what makes the GINN so great in combat. I thought maneuverability first, and corrected that with the thruster layout on the current models. I then though about how the GINN has armor that our 40mm machine guns couldn't penetrate even if we hit a weak spot. We could at most damage sensors, so I sought to upgrade weaponry next. The frontline ball configuration is based both in our weapons being too small to be threatening thus the dual cannon in 90mm, as well as the probability that the GINN pilots could try using the sword and render the ball dead thus the claws with mounted thrusters. The 30mm Vulcans are what I think to be the most economical caliber of anti-sensor weapons that can be mounted on the ball without losing mobility."
"And the other type?"
"Long range support. It shouldn't have to worry about enemies getting close, so no claws. Also its less expensive to have the claws on only the frontline balls."
"And this is less expensive than the Mistral?"
"In the long run most definitely, mistrals have a 20% chance at most of coming back alive which means we have to replace them from scratch. Balls have a much higher life expectancy based on their specs, so we won't have to pay more. In the short term, no. we would need to start producing 180mm and 30mm rounds which would take money. The ball itself though would be much cheaper than the Mistral."
"Why is that?"
"Mistrals are nearly twice as large as the long-range ball. The frontline variant clocks in at about the same mass and thus same material cost as a Mistral. Balls are also just balls. They are not very hard to manufacture."
It's getting quiet. Very quiet.
Someone's behind me aren't they.
"We have the ability to make the ammo. Put the design through."
Oh, its one of the Sahakus. I can't tell them apart. Am I going to have to deal with nobility stuff? I hate doing that.
"You are free to go. I have much to discuss with Mr. Argyle here."
Yep, that's noble stuff. This is probably one of the few times that anyone trying to speak with the Argyle's will succeed this year. We are notorious for not being around at the nobility meetings or whatever they call it. My parents just kind of forget about them. I don't, I just skip them whenever possible. Nobility is work I can just not do.
I still have no idea how we are part of the big six families. We are more likable than the Seiran at least, but that doesn't count. No one likes them.
"This mobile pod is revolutionary. You were underselling it during the presentation. Why? The design is clearly better than the GINN which you didn't directly compare it to."
"It isn't my best work. Balls are a stop gap measure until I can solve some issues with mobile suit design."
"What issues?"
"The battery being the main energy source issue. That significantly lowers operational time and makes beam weapons inherently worse than conventional projectiles as conventional weapons don't require power to fire. Even if high energy capacitors are used in beam weapons, at some point it will have to start pulling from the battery which leaves the suit floating in space when it runs out. There is also an issue with recharging batteries on ships. I have no idea what is powering our ships and recharging a squad of mobile suits repeatedly would be hell on the power source."
"… You seem to have thought about this a lot."
"Mobile suits are the future of warfare; it would be shortsighted to not care about how we enter the field."
"How long have you been working on this project?"
"A few hours, why do you ask?"
The Sahaku looked astonished at my proclamation. I know why because a couple of hours working on a mobile pod design is pretty bad for an aspiring engineer. This is the sort of timeframe you would expect for upgrading a one-off prototype into a kai variant. At least on the conceptual front. The actual construction usually takes a day or two.
"I have a proposition for you. We do have a mobile suit development program, but we have run into a brick wall on it. Think you can help with that?"
----Perks Obtained.
-The Right Tools For The Job (-100, free Service Industries)
Every job requires tools, be they a socket wrench, measuring tape, a hand saw, or mop. So long as it is either mundanely accessible without background checks or you already have it, you can summon a copy of any tool you need. This only applies to when you're cleaning, fixing, building, or other material-based preparation. You can't directly use it in combat and you can't use the material of the tool itself