After settling for Zeigra as his striker ch's design spirit, Ves obtained a lot more direction for his ch design.
He let his imagination run wild. As he faced a projection of the draft design, he began to alter its appearance to align with its design spirit.
He didn't transform his striker ch into a tiger ch or anything as radical.
He wanted to the his striker ch design in the sa way his Aurora Titan design was thed around Qilanxo.
The humanoid ch form was still the most versatile ch type, especially in space. There was also an inherent advantage in keeping the flathrower weapon system separate from the fra of the ch.
Due to all of the heat and energy the weapon channeled, they degraded incredibly fast. Unless ch technicians perford top-notch maintenance on the weapons, it was inevitable for them to malfunction or break down in battle.
If the flathrower weapon system was attached to the ch, then it was pretty much impossible to repair it in battle!
If the ch rely carried a flathrower, then it shouldn't be a problem for it to discard the broken weapon and pick up a spare one as soon as it returned to its mothership.
Besides, while striker chs were often known for wielding shotguns or flathrowers, they were also able to stow away their primary armants and pull out a sword in order to fend off enemies up close!
This was an important feature of striker chs. Since they always fought against chs at a close distance, they inevitably had to fight off chs that succeeded in getting close.
Ves left all of these details for later. For now, he continued to make the draft more distinct.
It was a lot like drawing concept art. It didn't matter if the exact proportions and outer components were subject to change. What Ves mainly sought was to create a powerful impression of his next ch design.
Just like the Devil Tiger, Ves coated the ch in a rust-brown shade. He took paints to make sure its shade wasn't identical to the Devil Tiger's shade.
There was no need for him to draw trouble to himself!
He played with the contours of the striker ch and turned it a bit more angular. He made sure to add his signature look to the head before surrounding it with Gloriana's hexagon.
The striker ch imdiately took on a very different character with the addition of the signature looks.
Just like with his Deliverer and Bright Warriors, the third eye and the hexagon added a mysterious quality to their designs.
Normally, Ves appreciated this change, but now it looked rather incongruent with the intimidating the of his striker ch.
"Maybe I should vary their appearances for this design."
He lifted his fingers and modified the projected appearance of the head.
Instead of keeping its third eye white, he transford it into an ominous red-and-black cat eye. He also changed its glow from white to red!
To make Gloriana's hexagon fit, he experinted with various tones until he settled for a brighter shade of red.
Once he stepped back and studied his alterations, he beca a lot more satisfied with its appearance.
The ch looked like it dipped out of hell in order to exact judgent on the living!
It's reddish coating and its intimidating red third eye conveyed a very aggressive impression.
When Ves imagined the ch wielding a flathrower that spewed out a copious amount of flas, he believed the combination already achieved a substantial amount of deterrence solely due to its appearance!
Once he imparted it with a glow based on Zeigra's aggression and intimidation factor, the striker ch would definitely strike fear in the hearts of its enemies!
"What about the ch pilot?"
Ves rembered that he had gone rather crazy when he designed the Devil Tiger. He incorporated it with an illegally-modified neural interface that ca with very loose safety restrictions.
The purpose of this design choice was to give the design spirit an opportunity to ss with the ch pilot of the Devil Tiger.
Obviously, he couldn't do that again for his upcoming ch design. His comrcial products not only needed to be safe, but also had to earn the MTA's approval!
The most Ves could do was to make use of the new high-capacity neural interface model he incorporated in his Bright Warrior design.
Even then, he still doubted whether it was a good idea to deepen the connection between the ch pilot and the design spirit.
"This might be a case where it's better to keep them at a distance." He murmured.
He added a note to the draft to make sure it incorporated a more standard neural interface model in its cockpit.
Unlike his other chs, the glow of his striker ch shouldn't contain any friendly elents.
It was only ant to be directed towards the enemy! If the glow intimidated its own side, then the ch was a liability instead of an asset on the battlefield!
"I should make sure that the glow affects the ch pilot and any friendlies as little as possible."
This required so spiritual tinkering, but Ves was confident he was able to keep its glow directed against the enemy.
Ves didn't mind that the striker ch did not possess any uplifting aspects. The Desolate Soldiers and the Bright Warriors already specialized in this role.
By imposing a lower limit on the imrsion of the striker ch, there wasn't as much room for a skilled ch pilot to excel in piloting the ch.
That was fine to Ves. Striker chs didn't possess much skill expression to begin with. As long as the enemy stayed out of lee range, the ch pilot only had to aim the flathrower in a vague direction in order to fulfill the ch's primary function.
Striker chs were deliberately designed to be easy to pilot. Its weapon was easy to use and while there were a lot of advanced nuances, it was completely possible for soone unused to piloting this ch type to make effective use of it. Whether they were lee specialists or ranged chs, anyone could point a flathrower in the right direction!
Their low skill floor was already accompanied by a relatively low skill ceiling.
This basically ant that a great ch pilot didn't perform much differently from a bad ch pilot in a striker ch.
Certainly, there were many ways to express their skill. Striker ch specialists were intimately familiar with the limitations of their chs and weapons. They efficiently regulated their firing patterns and skillfully managed their energy and heat levels.
When an enemy arrived at point-blank range, the striker ch pilot should be able to exchange the flathrower for a sword and neutralize the threat.
Still, compared to other ch types, striker chs were not expected to play a starring role in battle.
Sotis, outfits assigned random ch pilots to these chs if other chs weren't available!
"This is a good way to give my landbound ch pilots sothing to do." Ves realized. "Since I'm spending lots of ti in space, it will be a sha to let all of those ch pilots fiddle their thumbs while their colleagues are doing the heavy lifting."
He already provided his landbound specialists the option to contribute to a battle in space with his Desolate Soldiers.
The problem was that while his Desolate Soldiers perford decently against the sandn, they were very inadequate against human opponents!
Their Sandbreaker rifles exhibited a very low muzzle velocity compared to railguns and laser weapons. This shortcoming hampered their long and dium-ranged accuracy.
Therefore, their effective range was a lot lower, especially in the hands of a ch pilot who didn't excel in marksmanship!
"This problem isn't nearly as bad with striker chs." Ves predicted.
The Avatars of Myth and Living Sentinels still separated their ch pilots by environnt. Ves wanted to transition away from this division, but in order to accomplish that he needed to provide his ch pilots with much better learning facilities.
Just like second-class ch pilots, they not only had to receive excellent tutelage, but also required several augntations that enhanced their intelligence and combat instincts.
All of this ant that Ves beca more determined than ever to realize this ch design!
His desire fueled his passion. As his passion burned brighter, Ves felt the need to be more inventive with regards to his vision for his ch.
What else could he do to spice up the rust-red striker ch?
"Maybe I can add so special features."
His Deliverer achieved fa through its Guided Aim ability. His Bright Warriors possessed the very valuable Ancestral Possession ability.
Though his Bright Warriors didn't have an opportunity to display the latter, Ves had high hopes for it in the future.
His striker ch should co with a special ability as well in order to keep up with the standard of his latest ch designs.
It shouldn't be too powerful. It wasn't appropriate to make his comrcial chs too exceptional. He should reserve his big guns for his custom chs and commissioned chs.
Besides, with a design spirit as hostile as Zeigra, it was a very bad idea to give him too much agency!
Ves thought for a mont before settling on a possible answer.
"Since my ch is all about intimidation, why not find a way to turn it up? A spike of intimidation can be very useful in the right circumstances!"
He called it the Fear Pulse. As long as the ch pilot tid the activation of this ability correctly, it was very much possible for a single striker ch to stall the charge of an entire squad of incoming enemy chs!
Of course, Ves wasn't sure right now how he could incorporate this ability into his ch design and how to regulate it so that it only affected enemies.
Still, as long as Ves figured out the spiritual chanics and made sure that it was powerful enough, it could definitely achieve a very significant effect on the battlefield!
"This is brilliant!" Ves grinned.
After he added this feature to his list, he tried to see whether he could add sothing else to his ch.
He thought back on his intentions to experint with imaginary chs and spiritual networks.
Both possessed a lot of potential, but Ves didn't see how he could make them relevant with his current ch design.
"Maybe I have better luck applying them to my upcoming second-class ch design."
He grimaced for a mont. He felt rather mixed about fulfilling DIVA's commission. He didn't look forward to abiding by all of the restrictions that constrained Hexer ch designs.
In any case, considering how distinctive his vision had already beco, he was already satisfied with what he ca up with. As long as he realized all of its features, it would definitely sell as much if not more than his Desolate Soldier model!
When Ves returned to Gloriana and explained his vision, he received a positive reaction.
"I love it!" She smiled. "You really turned our ch into sothing special!"
"What do you think about the modifications to our signature looks? Turning them red was an impulsive decision on my part. Is there anything significant about turning the hexagon red?"
She shook her head. "It's fine. While the hexagon carries a different aning, I don't think it's bad. This rendition of the third eye looks very intimidating. Combined with the rest of your visual design, there is a lot of harmony between the intent, the performance and the appearance of the design!"
It felt good to receive her appreciation. He might lose out to her in terms of technical design, but when it ca to the creative side of ch design, Ves refused to relinquish his throne!
"What did you co up with while I was working on the vision of our ch?"
"Well, I was trying to see how we can give our chs a technical edge. It's very hard to find a way to do so without exceeding the budget of our ch design, but I think I found a way to give our striker ch an advantage."
"Do tell."
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