Ves felt a lot better after he lectured his subordinate ch designers.
He imparted so very important insights to them. To their credit, none of them dismissed his advice.
It would not be easy to develop and exercise their creativity and ingenuity. It would be even harder to develop their 'heart' for ch design!
Spiritual potential or not, Ves believed that every ch designer benefited if they approached their work with the mindset of an innovator rather than a problem solver!
A ch designer and an engineer possessed the sa tools. Yet to Ves, the forr distinguished himself from the latter by focusing on creation.
To create a new product, a ch designer possessed an unlimited amount of options. Each ch designer developed a unique pattern of design choices which ford their design style.
This was the ch designer's way of making sense out of the limitless possibilities.
Those who failed to develop a design style or commit to a design philosophy risked getting lost in this vast and endless forest.
In ch design, obtaining more choices wasn't always better.
This was what his subordinates were doing by spending all of their free ti on studying textbooks.
This was what Ves had done in the past when he prioritized earning DP in order to exchange for valuable skills.
Yet all of that distracted from the fun side of ch design. How many kids had dreamt of designing their own chs? How many of them were able to turn this childhood dream into a reality?
Ves observed sothing very interesting about ch designers. As the drears grew older, they beca more mature. They beca more focused on 'grown-up' concerns such as making a living or pleasing their bosses.
It was easy for them to set aside their silly childhood wonder and fascination.
Yet to soone like Ves, this pure and innocent adoration towards ch was one of the strongest sources of strength for passionate ch designers like himself!
To him, successful ch designers didn't necessarily have to think all the ti! It was fine if they turned off their brains! As long as their hearts were strong enough to cover for their minds, they all had the potential to create novel new ch designs that broke existing boundaries!
Ves took a brief break after lecturing his subordinates. As Gloriana began to unveil their new design project, he began to reflect on his own lesson.
Even though Ves was the one who ca up with these insights, he felt as if he gained a deeper understanding of his own teachings!
He was always confident about his heart for ch design. He considered it a strength derived from himself rather than the System.
While the assistance he derived from the System granted him the luxury of exploring this aspect of ch design, it was sothing that he could continue to improve without depending on others.
Though Ves was aware that his views on ch designers wasn't the only interpretation available. He was sure that there were plenty of other schools of thought who vehently disagreed with his emphasis on the heart of a ch designer!
"Rational ch designers are probably disgusted with my views." He muttered under his breath.
When Ves finished his self-reflection, his girlfriend had just finished her own presentation.
"...Don't forget the central premise of this project. Our primary goal is to design a spaceborn striker ch that is able to deter incoming enemies through intimidation. It is a ch designed for massed battles and intense engagent. It also has to be comrcially viable, so we need to pay close attention to our budget. Any questions?"
"What kind of glow will you put in this ch design?" Mayer asked.
"Ves?"
He answered the question.
"You've t in my Pride of Dusk outfit a few tis. The glow of our upcoming ch will largely resemble the glow from my Pride of Dusk. I'll bring it to the design lab next ti so you can familiarize yourself with the glow and so you can acquire the right mood to design this specific ch. Any other questions?"
"Is this a niche product or a mass market product?"
"That's a very important question. Right now, I'm not sure yet." Ves admitted. He rubbed his smooth-shaven chin in thought. "I'm inclined towards both directions. While I would like to make my product universally appealing, it is very hard to accomplish such a level of success. The Desolate Soldier succeeded because there was a very desperate need for this kind of product. Different from then, the various crises and wars in the Komodo Star Sector did not result in a surge in demand for striker chs. There isn't an obvious hole for striker chs either, though I believe the value proposition of our upcoming design is enough to generate its own demand! We just have to make sure our product is reasonably well-rounded."
There were two general strategies towards ch design. They could try to make their product as well-rounded as possible while still retaining its distinctive strengths.
Ves adopted this approach to varying degrees to most of his comrcial chs. He needed to accommodate a very wide diversity of custors. While it was impossible to please everybody, he still sought to enhance the sales potential of his products as much as possible by increasing their applicability.
In contrast, a ch designer could also take the opposite approach and forget about checking as many boxes as possible.
Instead of focusing on elevating as many performance paraters as possible, Ves had also designed chs where he focused on a couple of critical paraters and tried to raise them as much as possible!
Extre ch designs such as the Aurora Titan and the Deliverer which focused mostly on a single aspect to the detrint of everything else were not very good sellers. Though the Deliverer ca paired with fantastic special features, there was no question the ch was a niche product!
Though Ves had a lot of fun in designing these weird chs, he recognized the importance of keeping his market instincts sharp.
He still needed to earn a lot of money!
While his recent circumstances allowed him to pursue other priorities, he hadn't forgotten about his enormous wish list of goodies he wanted to procure! Obtaining a fully-fledged second-class factory ship was just the start!
Right now, Ves recognized he was in an enviable position compared to other ch designers.
After receiving his masterwork certificate, a lot of industry insiders started to pay more attention to him. While it was hard to notice all of the regard he received due to spending all of his ti on a ship, he knew his presence would probably ignite a storm among the local ch community if he landed on any occupied planet!
With all of this publicity in fa, Ves did not have to work too hard to market his next product. As long as it was noteworthy enough, the free publicity would likely be considerable!
Naturally, he also needed to publish his ch design before the ch community forgot about his recent accomplishnt. That was why he set a deadline of four months for this project despite how little ti it afforded for optimization!
Everyone soon began to work. Ves and Gloriana tasked all of their subordinates to browse the MTA's component library and select the most fitting publicly-available parts to licence.
Ves sat down behind a terminal and perford his own search.
This ti, he didn't log into the MTA's virtual portal the normal way.
Instead, he pressed his finger on a port, thereby forming a hardline connection between the terminal and the implant in his mind!
His entire senses changed.
In one mont, Ves was sitting in the design lab of the Scarlet Rose.
In the next mont, he entered a vast and ancient library that was filled with an enormous amount of traditional hardcover books!
While his sense of sll and taste weren't working right, his sense of sight and sense of hearing had fully imrsed themselves in this virtual illusion!
"Interesting." He smiled.
In this endless library of wooden shelves and wooden interior, thousands of ch designers quietly browsed its contents through various ans, and those were just the people within the vicinity!
So of them looked up the location of a physical book and walked all the way in order to pull it out of the shelf.
Others just sat down at one of the many traditional wooden desks and summoned the book by manipulating a projected interface.
Most ch designers didn't bother this charade at all. They eschewed the archaic tradition of reading actual books in favor of reading their contents directly through the projected interface!
After studying the other ch designers, he felt the latter two groups were missing out on the ritual the MTA presented.
Why did the MTA set up their virtual portal in this fashion? Were they trying to go back to the past? Were they encouraging ch designers to waste valuable ti by looking up a specific book among the seemingly-endless shelves?
Ves didn't think those argunts were true.
He developed several interpretations on the aning of this ritual.
The one he was the most sure of was that the MTA tried to make its knowledge a bit more troubleso to reach in order to drive an important point.
Knowledge wasn't free. Knowledge didn't co from nowhere. Knowledge needed to be valued.
As Ves determined the location of a specific catalog of component licenses from a nearby interface, he began to walk through the long and broad halls flanked by rows and rows of impressively-tall bookcases.
Occasionally, Ves encountered a crossroads, and sotis he turned left or right.
He encountered plenty of ch designers along the way. These ch designers occasionally approached random colleagues and started up a spontaneous exchange.
The interior design library fostered a sense of knowledge sharing. Everyone who entered the library in this manner wanted to learn sothing new. This put the visiting ch designers in a generous mood.
In so cases, their moods encourage them to share so of the knowledge and insights that they ordinarily kept close to their chests!
Due to the unique virtual setting of the library, the ch designers had the option to pull their conversation partners into a private communication channel.
Even though they stood in the middle of a hall, to outsiders no sound escaped from their mouths. Their faces turned fuzzy as if they were swept up by static in order to prevent any bystanders from reading their facial expressions.
Of course, there were also those who didn't bother with hiding what they shared.
"Light chs are worse than heavy chs!" An old man shouted to a younger woman. "Your statent is factually wrong! Larger is better! Heavy chs are so loaded with features that they always have a solution for every problem! As for light chs, their capacity is so small that I can't even fit a pocket knife in their puny fras!"
The young woman smirked at the old codge. "I have one word for you. Mobility."
"So what?! Do you think all heavy chs are slow to move?! As long as you strap a powerful enough engine or flight system to a heavy ch, they can move just as fast as their lighter counterparts!"
"What's the point of a heavy ch if three-fourths of its available capacity is occupied by a supersized ch engine or flight system? That's a huge waste of exotic materials to ! Mobility is the one area which always redeems light chs and dooms heavy chs!"
"Preposterous!"
As Ves walked past the quarreling ch designers, he shook his head. Their argunt sounded completely silly to him. There were advantages and disadvantages to both weight classes!
Of course, there was no way to sink this conclusion in their thick skulls. Ves didn't have to study their records to realize that they were specialists in light chs and heavy chs respectfully.
When ch designers believed their design philosophy was right, no one would be able to convince them that they were wrong!
Fortunately, the audio of their conversation automatically cut off once Ves took a few more steps.
He smirked. "What a nefarious library."
He suddenly realized the true goal of the virtual library. The MTA just wanted to foster as many exchanges as possible. As long as these conversations took place in this setting, the Association would be able to record all of their valuable insights!
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