Gloriana believed that the Minerva Project must co with clear and stable communication capabilities.
It had to be a powerful communicator so that it could reach out to friendly, neutral and possibly even hostile units even in highly chaotic battlefields where heavy jamming, energetic weapons fire and powerful explosions could affect the integrity of even the strongest signals!
The true power of Commander Casella Ingvar lay not in her marksmanship ability, but her command ability!
While many people might argue whether Casella was actually better at commanding a large number of friendly units than dedicated officers, none of them were expert pilots like her! With her extraordinary identity, she was able to instill much more confidence in her own n.
The ability to raise the morale of friendly units to an insane height was a precious advantage that could definitely make a substantial difference in battle!
Even if soldiers were fighting for a good cause, they could still get lost or demoralized if they weren't adequately led. The Larkinsons did not have to worry about this problem if Commander Casella was in charge. She had repeatedly shown that she cared for her n. The work she did for the Living Sentinels more than proved her empathy.
This was why giving Casella the best possible ans to stay in contact with her own n was so important. The Minerva Project had to be able to reach the most distant parts of the battlefield in order to make sure that no one felt abandoned!
Still, a balance had to be struck. Too many communication modules would obviously detract from the Minerva Project's other attributes.
Ves looked uncomfortable with the current direction of the Minerva Project. "I understand the importance of good communication capabilities, but there won't be much capacity left for the ch's other functions such as its ranged combat capabilities. Don't forget that our expert chs are mainly needed to resist against other expert chs. It would be a waste for us to turn it into a pure auxiliary ch."
"Are you sure about that?" Gloriana challengingly raised her eyebrow.
"What are you thinking?"
"I am thinking that Commander Casella might be more capable of defeating enemy expert chs than you think. Do you recall Venerable Ghanso and his Charlemagne?"
Ves quickly understood what his wife was hinting at. "That's an entirely different case! Ghanso is not a commander at all! It's the ch that is doing all of the work! If we want to reproduce the ans that Master Huron employed to create his Scarra, then we need the expertise of a neural interface specialist which we don't have."
"Why are you being so pessimistic?" Gloriana frowned. "Haven't you seen the footage of Commander Casella's breakthrough event? Her forced resonance manifestation directly elevated the ch pilots under her command into pseudo-expert candidates!"
"I know that, but that doesn't an it is easy for us to reproduce! Besides, the Larkinson chs that fought alongside Commander Casella after her breakthrough fell short of performing as good as the Scarra. We need the right solutions to enable Commander Casella to channel her powers in this special way, and I'm not sure whether we can reproduce the effect that Master Huron once achieved. Don't forget that both the master and slave units were specifically designed to facilitate this process!"
The implication here was that Gloriana's dream of creating an expert ch that could replicate this powerful effect required the design of a companion ch!
This was not sothing that Ves wanted to do at this ti. Although he favored bold ambitions, that didn't an that ch designers should pursue them right away. He was afraid that Gloriana wanted to bite way more than she could chew with this ambitious goal!
Ves turned to the oldest man in the room. "What do you think, professor?"
Professor Benedict looked relaxed as he had watched the argunt play out. It didn't appear he was invested in the matter, so he shouldn't be too biased.
"Despite your expanded capabilities, it is best to take it slow. While the end user of your expert ch has shown an impressive capability to empower friendly chs, she might not be strong enough to reproduce this effect. The first expert ch of any newly-ascended demigod should focus on the basics first because we can clearly model the pilot's fundantal performance characteristics. It is more difficult to determine the more advanced capabilities of the expert pilots, especially at an early stage where she is still developing her own powers."
Everyone else nodded. He brought up an important point. Perhaps Commander Casella might beco a powerful battlefield commander one day, but that would certainly take a lot of ti.
There was a limit to what newly-ascended expert pilots could do. Even if she was equipped with a more powerful expert ch, Commander Casella might not be able to utilize more than 30 percent of its potential!
In that case, rather than aim too high, it was easier and more economical to settle for a more modest expert ch design that Casella could utilize 80 percent of its potential at the start.
This provided her with enough room to grow in without unnecessarily adding too much bloat to the ch design.
"If we do this, then we should revisit our expert ch and upgrade or replace it in the future." Juliet Staros remarked.
Ves nodded. "That is already the case with our other expert chs. There is nothing unusual about doing this. The premise is that Commander Casella will remain active at that ti."
In the end, Gloriana agreed to pare back her ambitions a bit and skip the inclusion of any excessive communication modules.
While the Minerva Project still possessed much superior communication tech than the other expert chs of the Larkinson Clan, it still offered enough room for other functions!
On the subject of that, the eting finally addressed the offensive capabilities of the expert ch.
"I know you all have opinions on how to arm the Minerva Project. We can make multiple argunts on whether to arm it with a rifle or a cannon, whether to make the weapon big or small, whether to focus on long-range or dium-range combat and so on. Here is what I think."
She tapped the project, causing it to switch to a vague draft of a luminar crystal rifle.
Ves leaned forward as he studied her work.
The weapon imdiately stood out to Ves because of the unusual break in its body. As he studied the weapon further, he understood what his wife was thinking.
"This is a transformable weapon." He said.
"Yes." She nodded. "Our clan currently enjoys the services of Venerable Stark, who has proven to be an extrely potent ranged combatant when piloting the Amaranto. However, as the Battle of Fordilla Zentra has proved, once she is suppressed by powerful enemies, it is hard for her to leverage her full power. If she had the assistance of a second expert ranged ch, then she wouldn't have been trapped for so long."
"So you intend the Minerva Project to be the machine that can also bail out troubled chs in the future."
"Exactly. The Minerva Project should have a great overview of the battlefield. While its firepower will never match that of the Amaranto, Commander Casella will always be able to know where to employ her firepower the best. In order to ensure we can maximize her value as a literal troubleshooter, we need to make sure the weapon is accurate and powerful enough to pick out targets at longer ranges."
"That's going to require a large and substantial rifle. I'm not entirely familiar with this alien tech, but to it looks too slender to inspire much confidence." Sara Voiken remarked.
"It is not ant to down enemy expert chs in one or two shots." Gloriana said. "That is the Amaranto's purview. The Minerva Project only needs enough ranged firepower to pose a moderate threat to distant expert chs and relieve troubled friendly units that way. Other expert chs will still be needed to do the bulk of the fighting."
"I take it that's not the only way to use the weapon." Ves spoke up. "That break in the weapon is quite noticeable. Is it supposed to break in half?"
His wife nodded and tapped the projection to cause the weapon to transform. "That's right. As you can see, when you detach its forward section from the body, the weapon effectively turns into a more compact submachine gun. Its lighter mass and shorter length results makes it considerably easier to handle, which is perfect for short-ranged combat."
The expected performance characteristics of this shorter weapon was different from its previous mode. According to Gloriana, the submachine gun had to possess a high firing rate. This was a much better choice for short-ranged combat where there was no opportunity to aim and land a powerful strike with a much more cumberso longer weapon.
Even so, several ch designers had questions about the usefulness of this weapon mode.
"Isn't this submachine gun too weak against most expert lee chs?" Ves frowned. "While this weapon is better than nothing, I cannot imagine that Commander Casella can defeat any armored expert chs that manage to get close."
Juliet had a different view on the weapon. "It is effective against expert light chs, which are the most likely assassination threats that Commander Casella will face on the battlefield. The Minerva Project doesn't necessarily need more striking power. Instead, the lower energy consumption and higher firing rate of this compact weapon mode is much more useful against lighter targets."
"Armored chs will just laugh at the plinky energy beams it shoots." Sara said. "Sure, the submachine gun can probably cripple a ch through sustained fire, but that will take a lot of ti. The Minerva Project might not even be able to last that long as its fra doesn't look particularly maneuverable."
Gloriana took in all of the feedback but remained true to her vision.
"Each of you has a point, but I think this is still the right course of action to take. The Minerva Project is different from an expert rifleman ch and its design should reflect that. Don't forget that it is solely ant to fight against enemy expert chs. While the firepower of this submachine gun is not great against powerful chs, it is more than sufficient to cripple or destroy any standard ch that gets close. It can neutralize hundreds of chs if it is allowed to fire its weapon with impunity."
The submachine gun mode made more sense now. Gloriana was accounting for multiple different situations, including action on land where the environnt may be a lot more confined.
Although the luminar crystal weapon's transformation mode added a lot of complexity to its design, Ves did not consider it to be a particularly difficult challenge. He already had nurous ideas on how to realize this two-mode weapon.
"The humble submachine gun does not enjoy a stellar reputation in ch combat, but it is a good weapon at closer ranges." Professor Benedict said his own piece. "It also doesn't have to be as weak as you think. As long as you implent enough quality solutions in the weapon, it can perform close to that of a full-sized rifle. It all depends on how much you are willing to invest in its construction."
Ves shook his head. "Let's not go overboard. As you have already said, this will be Commander Casella's first expert ch. We don't know whether she can make good use of a more powerful weapon. Let us design sothing more modest and see what she can do with that. If she happens to possess abilities that can substantially empower her own attacks like Venerable Stark, then it is worth investing more in the Minerva Project's offensive capabilities. If not, then we should mainly treat the gun as a self-defense tool."
Was the Minerva Project a rifleman ch or a command ch? For now, the Larkinsons wanted to make it function as both, but it was questionable whether this was the right choice.
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