When the presenter finally announced the end of the design phase of the competition, a lot of young n and woman groaned. While Ves was able to finish his ch with a bit of ti to spare, other designers lacked the skill to jury rig disparate components together without spending a lot of ti making the connection work.
"You gave us too little ti!" A young woman complained as tears fell from her stressful face. The ch she worked on only appeared half finished. "Give us more ti!"
"Twelve hours is too little!"
"This is unfair!"
"Silence!" The presenter ordered with a bloody air, instantly causing the ek the designers to quail. "The terms of the qualifiers are published beforehand so you should have prepared for this round. Last year’s qualifiers also took twelve hours. We’re on a tight ti table here, and the main round happens tomorrow. We won’t postpone the event just so you can put the finishing touches on your work."
When Ves looked around to see the progress of his fellow contestants, he judged about a third of them hadn’t finished their designs. Many people tripped up because they spent too much ti forcing components designed for different chs to work together. Such failures proved they didn’t possess much knowledge beyond the basics in ch design. It was interesting to see that the organizers place a lot of emphasis on this when holding the qualifiers.
So other designers lost too much ti due to faulty judgent. One heavy ch featured highly advanced engines and power reactor. That was all fine and dandy, but the designer spent way too much ti adding a lot of toys to make full use of that capacity. If he kept the twelve-hour limit in mind and kept his choices modest, he could have made it through with his level of skill.
In general, the contestants who left unfinished designs at the end of the period chewed more than they could handle. If they picked simpler, less chanically complex components out of the pile of junk, then they’d at least leave a functioning ch at the end, showcasing their competence in working under pressure.
"Although I can’t say I bla them for being ambitious."
Ves might have been one of these losers if his father hadn’t left him the System. If he was participating in the contest and wanted to have a shot at getting past the qualifiers, then he couldn’t settle for average among 150 other contestants. The ch had to perform better than almost anyone else’s work, so taking risks was unavoidable.
As he looked at the dejected contestants who were forced to give up on the qualifiers due to their incomplete designs, Ves felt a little guilty he cheated his way out of this circumstance. Before the System’s arrival, Ves was like any other novice ch designer who graduated from a local university. He possessed basic knowledge but never excelled at anything other than chanics, and even that impressed no one because he learned outdated techniques that would be laughed at in more advanced states.
His father gave him the System to circumvent years of dedicated study and experience. Why did he deserve to benefit from this miracle when many other of his forr classmates were left to wallow in their diocrity? He wasn’t a saint, he never donated to charity, he wasn’t even nearly as good in his studies as so of the others.
"There’s no point dwelling on these feelings. I’m different from the others. They all made their choices in life when they chose to go down the path of ch designing."
The ch design career path was one that led to fa, riches and prestige. However, it was also a cutthroat business that couldn’t fit too many competitors. For every designer that clawed its way to the top, at least hundreds or thousands of others were resigned to lesser jobs like full-ti fabrication or maintenance of other people’s chs.
After sending off the losers, the presenter gestured to those who were still in contention. "Please clear the main stage and stand to the side. Our pilot Hans will soon test the bold designs our young talents have whipped up."
A very fancy simulation pod was brought at the very rear of the stage. Hans, fitted out in a skin-tight piloting suit, waved at the audience before entering the pod. The venue darkened and the stage began to light up in a fully realistic projection of a slim but elegant light ch wielding a polearm twice as long. The rest of the environnt lighted up after that, showing hints of the urban landscape ahead that represented the testing grounds for all of the chs.
"First up is a creation by Natalie Montag. Hans will put ch the Lance Star to the test after five minutes of acclimatization. This preparation period applies to all other chs tested today."
Carlos walked over to Ves and whistled at the polished design in the projection. "Natalie sure worked her magic. She’s always been a light ch fanatic."
"She spent too much ti polishing the exterior. I’m not sure the internals underneath the armor can withstand heavy duty." Ves judged with a critical eye.
Twelve hours left designers with too little ti to create a good ch. Give them a week, and most of the contestants here could roll out designs that perford at least 50-100% better than what they rushed out. Eliminating errors and weak points in the design offered the biggest bump in performance and could be done in two to four days, while constant optimizations allowed the ch to perform a little better over the remainder of the ti.
When Hans finished familiarizing himself with the Lance Star, he entered the testing stage.
The presenter offered spectators an overview of the gauntlet. "As everyone knows, testing a ch as fair as possible can be difficult. Many smart people have wracked their overstuffed brains to find a solution before coming up with the gauntlet. They co in different lengths, duration and difficulties, and randomize in configuration with each separate run. That ans that Hans will face similar challenges with each ch he pilots without being able to use his last run’s experience to help him overco his current challenges."
Technically, since no run was the sa, their difficulties actually diverged in many different ways. If Hans faced smooth sailing up to the end where he get whacked by an overwhelming ambush, he’d be able to score higher than in many other situations.
For example, if he faced constant harassnt right at the start, leading to his ch’s destruction midway due to his inability to find ti to recover. In both gauntlet runs, the amount of chs and their strength remained the sa, but the way they exerted pressure different drastically, leading to different results.
There was no point complaining about it though. Ves knew that the gauntlet was a long-held custom in the ch world, and that its inventors had plenty of ti to curb much of its faults.
The Lance Star moved. Its thin and lightweight design spoke of a great retention in motive power. Natalie Montag evidently possessed real skill for getting a ch traverse so smoothly. The machine flitted through the debris-filled streets of the gauntlet like a dancer.
When the Lance Star encountered enemies, Hans piloted the ch as a high speed scout. It dodged aside the attacks sent in its way and avoided traps and entanglent whenever possible. If a ch was able to co up to its front and present an obstacle, the Lance Star only dealt enough damage with its lance and auxiliary pistol to squeeze its way through.
Natalie’s ch started stumbling when Hans couldn’t avoid a couple of laser beams. The gauntet’s computer controlled opponents might not be very smart or skilled, but they possessed overwhelming numbers so it was impossible to keep out of reach no matter how many tis Hans dodged.
"Ouch." Carlos winced. "The ch is getting bogged down and surrounded. It doesn’t have enough firepower to break through."
The Lance Star only used its polearm as its main weapon. It possessed no ranged weapons at all. Hans had no way to pressure his opponents at a distance. When more and more opponents gathered at range, the Lance Star finally suffered a critical hit in its thinly armored ankle. This practically halved the light ch’s mobility, leading to the ch getting hit much more often. It lasted a respectable amount of ti and took out a few more chs in its death throes but the simulation finally ended at its destruction.
The presenter ca back in focus as the simulation projected a lot of statistics, such as the distance traversed and how many opponents the ch took out of action. "The Lance Star has reached a distance of seven kiloters, during which it killed five chs and damaged twenty more. I don’t know about you guys, but I think this is a great performance for a ch put together in just twelve hours."
The crowd offered a polite applause. Natalie was too conservative in her design, which led to the Lance Star’s one-dinsional performance. Other than its speed and lack of major design flaws, the ch boasted no other advantages.
A heavy ch called the Thunderstorm ca up next. It possessed a quadrupedal design, its four heavy legs supporting an incredibly tough and stable firing platform. The ch looked a little strange as the upper body of the ch sported two thick cannons as its arms. The presenter introduced the ch and its designer briefly as everyone waited for the five minutes of preparation to pass.
When Hans stepped out into the streets, the Thunderstorm rolled over the chs in the vicinity. Its prodigious firepower with its main weapon being two ballistic cannons destroyed every ch if they got hit a couple of tis. Though slow and inaccurate against light chs, the Thunderstorm also incorporated half a dozen laser mounts on its shoulders and back to fend them off.
A substantial volley of missiles fired from a kiloter away. They arced upwards into the sky, following a parabolic trajectory as they rocketed downwards towards the Thunderstorm. Hans hastily turned around and fired his lasers in rapid-fire mode in order to shoot down the missiles, but this left him vulnerable to the other light chs again who all took advantage of the opening to slip in so damage.
The missiles hadn’t delivered too much damage, as the Thunderstorm still had plenty of armor to spare. But as Hans piloted the heavy ch forwards while trying to destroy as many enemies as possible, the missiles continued to pour in from above, each wave leaving behind more explosions and more damage.
The sad thing about the Thunderstorm was that it perford well enough against enemies in reach, but offered no solution to the constant long-ranged missile bombardnt. The ch possessed almost no mobility, allowing the missileer to stay out of reach. With no line of sight nor a set of targeting data, Hans couldn’t even switch his cannons to artillery mode and fire back lobbing shells. He tried a few tis when the combat reached a lull, but it obviously represented nothing more than a gamble with very long odds.
When the Thunderstorm finally got wrecked by all the missiles, the presenter ca back on stage and analyzed the statistics. "I am mightily impressed with the Thunderstorm. Hans achieved a whopping thirty kills and damaged twice as many other chs. While he hasn’t moved far from his starting point, his damage scores are more than ample enough to vindicate this ch."
The main goal of the gauntlet was to get the ch to pass through ten kiloters. Regardless of success, a run was scored on damage inflicted and distance reached. This gave both light and heavy chs an equal chance in reaching a high evaluation.
Yet for every mildly successful run, at least three more failed spectacularly.
One dium ch sported a highly visible gap in its arm connections. The ch’s armor couldn’t cover up the musculature of the arms, leaving them prone to damage. Even with Hans’ best efforts, a couple of missile strikes fouled the connectors pretty quickly, leaving the ch with only barely functioning arms. Suffice to say, the handicapped ch hadn’t lasted long at all.
Another ch was designed as a solid, sturdy knight with an excellent sword and shield. However, when Hans put its endurance to the test, a solid cannon shell to the chest disrupted the ch’s internals. The knight’s sturdy exterior covered up a bevy of flaws, most of them related to sloppy work into putting the internals together. The big hit practically disrupted the engine’s connections, leading to a heavy slowdown in the knight’s operation. In addition, due to the loss in strength, its sword was unable to strike down opponents.
Soone next to Ves shook his head. "Again, it’s a sha we weren’t given a lot of ti. It’s so bullshit."
When Carlos’ ch ca up to the stage, the young man in question hugged Ves in a show of nervousness.
"Damn it, I hope my baby will do well. This is the first ti my creation is tested in public. I hope I won’t disappoint my parents."
The ch Carlos spent twelve hours on looked like an ill-fitting ss. With its over sized legs, the humanoid ch seed confused whether it wanted to be a dium or heavy ch. Carlos evidently faced the sa problem as Ves, but solved the problem by going into a different direction.
Though people often disparaged dium-heavy hybrids, the Huntsman Carlos cobbled up perford fairly better than anyone expected. The legs caused the ch to move slower than normal, but it also beca incredibly resistant to damage. With a shield in one arm and an awkward sawed off heavy rifle in the other, the ch gunned down plenty of chs in its way.
However, the lack of lee options dragged the Huntsman down. It was only able to deal with chs that ca close by dropping the rifle and unsheathe its backup knife. This turned the ch into a competent defender, but allowed the rifle chs in the distance to shoot at the Huntsman with impunity. This envelopnt eventually resulted in the Huntsman’s death.
The presenter gave the Huntsman an average evaluation. It did not do very well, but at least it hadn’t failed outright in the gauntlet. Ves wrapped his arm around Carlos and tried to cheer him up from his dispirited mood.
"You did quite well there. You’ve proven yourself at the stage that you have the chops to be a ch designer."
"Yeah, but my score is way behind. Nevermind the top 8, I can’t even reach the top 32."
"All of the people who score that high are talents." Ves sighed even as he figured he was also one of them. "Don’t aim too high. You’ve got opportunities many of your other colleagues wish they have."
His job working on quality control at a large manufacturer was facilitated through connections from his parents. Carlos already had already stepped one foot in the ch designer industry. After a couple of decades of working up the ladder, Carlos could have the opportunity to join a ch design team and contribute his rich knowledge to the formation of a new design.
"Up next is our lovely Patricia Schneider’s Rosaria!"
The announcent attracted everyone’s attention. The top graduate of this year’s cohort was about to show her fangs.
User Comments
0 comments from readers