At the start of the High Tide Tournant, all 94 competing Journeyn called up a docunt that precisely explained the conditions they had to work in. The lengthy pages outlined what they were allowed to design, what they needed to avoid in their work, what materials and components they could employ and what specific technical requirents they needed to et.
Ves quickly noticed that the tournant organizers didn't set any unusual or overly limiting conditions.
Sure, he had to work with a set of completely unfamiliar materials. He also wasn't familiar with any of the component designs in the catalog. However, a good ch designer didn't need to know all of these elents in advance to design a working ch.
"I can still design many different kinds of chs under these conditions."
The High Tide Tournant evidently wanted to showcase a lot of variety. The greater point behind this was to show to the audience that the Korok Alpha KA-35 could easily produce many different machines.
After he understood all of the specific paraters his competition ch had to et, he cast his thoughts on his most important decision.
"Which plan should I adopt?"
He developed several different plans, each of which was based on a specific ch type and a design concept.
Personally, he wanted to design a hero ch. A machine that was equally capable in ranged and lee combat could perform well no matter what opponent it faced during the fighting phase.
"This is a mistake, though."
The tournant format didn't provide the best conditions for hero chs. An all-round performance ant that a hero ch would never lose quickly, but also needed to fight hard in order to achieve a victory.
This was rather iffy to Ves. What if the hero ch lost all three matches because the hero ch didn't possess any pronounced strengths?
Sure, hero chs were versatile and adaptable, but in an arena setting like this, it was too easy for more specialized chs to showcase their power.
Ves recalled one very important detail in the tournant rules.
"Every competition ch must fight against three random opponents. The scores of the two best performances will be added up in order to form a final score. As a consequence, the results of the worst match will not be taken into consideration."
The implication of this scoring thod was that it was okay if a competition ch lost in a terrible fashion!
Such situations usually occurred when chs were matched up against other ones that just happened to counter them. For example, a light ch would have an awful ti if it had to fight against a striker ch.
"With the way the rules are set up, I don't have to be too afraid of taking a gamble. I can afford to lose one without suffering any consequences."
The downside was that his competitors also enjoyed the sa advantage!
He believed that they too understood how to ga the rules in order to maximize their chances of winning. They shouldn't be stupid enough to design balanced, versatile chs in this setting.
It was much wiser to design a specialized ch that clearly excelled in a single mode of combat!
This way, the competition ch would have the tools it needed to gain the upper hand in even matchups.
"Besides, a hero ch is also more complex to design and build."
Ves only had 12 hours to design and fabricate a competition ch. Even if a superfab worked faster than any of his own production machines, he still needed to reserve at least two hours for this task, so his effective design ti amounted to just 10 hours!
With so little ti at his disposal, how could he have the courage to design a complicated ch? He should be going for simplicity instead!
"The simpler the ch, the greater I can elevate its overall quality and performance."
With that in mind, Ves silently discarded his plan to design a hero ch and considered his remaining choices.
"I can design either a landbound or aerial ch. Regardless, it will have to fight in a decently-sized arena with no distinct features and a moderate height limit."
If Ves wanted to avoid his chs getting countered too easily, then he should design a ch that was able to retaliate against aerial opponents.
That ant he should either design a ranged ch or a lee ch with flight capabilities.
However, neither choice sounded optimal.
A ranged ch was good at taking out targets from any range, but they were basically dead if any lee ch managed to get into point-blank range.
The key to designing a good ranged ch in tournants like these was to design a machine with a big gun.
A very big gun.
An enormous gun.
The goal was to output the highest amount of damage in a brief ti interval.
Anything that could damage, hinder or cripple an enemy ch right away could deliver an easy victory before the first minute had passed!
"If I was a ranged ch specialist, I could confidently design a ch ard with a formidable gun."
The problem was that he didn't excel in this area. Sure, he was proficient in designing luminar crystal rifles, but there were several problems with designing a competition ch ard with this exotic weapon system.
He was completely unfamiliar with the materials provided by the tournant. While Ves could rely on existing theory and prior experience to co up with a new formula for a luminar crystal, he would have to waste an hour or more to co up with an acceptable solution.
Could Ves afford to invest so much ti in just a single aspect of his entire ch design?
"Probably not." He shook his head. "Besides, luminar crystal weapons are energy weapons. It's too difficult for to amplify their damage output."
Energy weapons were generally known for being able to inflict reliable and accurate damage over ti. They were not that optimal for short duration fights such as one-on-one ch duels.
Of course, just because this was the standard didn't necessarily an that energy weapons were unable to unleash a big wallop right out of the gate.
There were energy weapons that could unleash an overpowering torrent of energy right away. While they weren't sustainable, as long as the other ch collapsed, it didn't matter!
"It's too bad I don't have any experience with designing overpowering energy weapons."
Sure, he could theoretically design such an energy weapon. He was quite proficient in the theory behind energy weapons due to acquiring nurous related System Sub-Skills.
However, he never designed a ch with such an extre weapon. They were great in ch duels but quite terrible in real battles. Ves would be stupid to equip any of his Larkinson chs or comrcial chs with such a stupid weapon system.
He ultimately lacked the confidence to design a powerful energy weapon for a ranged ch.
One of the alternatives he could choose from was to design a ranged ch with a physical weapon. It was a lot easier to develop a gauss cannon or other kinetic weapon system that could deliver a big punch right away.
Yet Ves didn't enjoy any advantages in this area either. The Eternal Redemption was the last ch he designed that was ard with a powerful physical ranged weapon, but the cannoneer ch model was awful in ch duels.
"Ah, forget about it. I'll just settle for a simple lee ch."
This was much less complicated. There were only a limited number of ch types and ch configurations that he was proficient with. Thinking back on his existing ch designs, he was particularly impressed by the Valkyrie Redeer.
While it was technically a marauder ch, it was able to function like a lighter version of a lancer ch.
Ves was quite attracted to the notion of designing a lancer ch in this tournant.
It was one of the biggest gambles he could make for this tournant. Either it would succeed in its charge and impale an opponent within the first minute, or it would fail abjectly and get beaten up by a ch that was able to cope with lancer chs.
"If it succeeds, it will definitely make a powerful and domineering impression. If it fails… well, at least its suffering will end quickly."
He could choose other lee ch types if he wished. He wasn't in the mood to design them, though.
While he was fairly confident in his ability to design a swordsman ch, he would always be burdened with the truth that Ketis would always be able to do better.
It was a silly and unproductive thought, but Ves couldn't get rid of it. Each ti he thought about designing any swordsman ch, he would always compare himself to Ketis. It was a psychological weakness that he needed to get rid of but couldn't do so at the mont.
What else could he design? An axeman ch? A hamr-wielding ch?
"I don't know anything about axes or hamrs."
What about a knight ch?
"I'm not a defensive specialist. I won't be able to do a knight ch justice."
Specializations mattered a lot at the Journeyman level. High-ranking ch designers who excelled at defense could design machines that were much more resilient than whatever Ves could co up with! Man-machine symbiosis was strong in several areas, but it could not make a ch tougher!
Perhaps average Journeyn weren't much of a threat, but the High Tide Tournant attracted a lot of skilled and renowned ch designers. Ves could not take any of his competition lightly. If he wanted to secure a victory against them, then he needed to play to his strong points.
To Ves, adapting the concept of the Valkyrie Redeer to a competition ch sounded like a workable approach.
Sure, it wasn't an original idea, but Ves wasn't obligated to innovate in every design setting.
Sotis, it is better to stick with familiar territory!
"While I definitely want to make progress in this tournant, it can't co at the expense of obtaining combat carriers."
Only the top 3 contestants of the High Tide Tournant were eligible to receive these coveted vessels!
Ves couldn't afford to play around!
Although designing a lancer ch was far from the only viable choice he could make, right now he just felt like it. Besides, his competition ch would not be a close imitation of the Valkyrie Redeer.
The tournant rules and the arena setting turned that into a bad idea.
Instead, he needed to adapt his lancer ch configuration to perform well under the current circumstances.
Ves created a list of traits that his lancer ch should possess.
"It has to possess high acceleration. It doesn't have to be able to sustain it or possess a small turning radius, but it absolutely must be able to charge forward without an excessively long lead ti."
Juliet Staros would easily be able to design a powerful flight system that could produce a powerful impulse, but Ves believed he could make a decent attempt.
"My competition ch must be able to destroy or at least cripple a target with a single charge."
Lancer chs generally rarely enjoyed second chances if they failed a charge in a duel setting. If Ves wanted to minimize his chances of failure, then he needed to make sure his competition ch possessed the capital to finish the job in a single run!
Speed and montum were huge factors in determining the damage potential of a lancer ch, but Ves needed to pay attention to other areas as well.
"My lancer ch must be able to survive and maintain as much functionality as possible until it is able to complete its charge."
This ant that his work had to possess at least so defensive capabilities. This translated into a larger, heavier and tougher ch.
The problem with this was that it was a lot harder to develop a lancer ch that got up to speed quickly if it was a lot more massive.
"Another problem is maneuverability." Ves frowned. "A sluggish ch doesn't have a good turning radius. This makes it hard for a lancer ch to hit fast and elusive targets."
A light ch was the nesis of a lancer ch!
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