Chapter 3731 - Commandeering chs
After half an hour of experintation, Casella and the other Larkinsons figured out the basic rules of her Command Field effects when applied to the fullest.
Ves even had to co up with nurous new terms to describe this key effect.
"Commandeering describes the act of empowering a friendly ch. A Commandeered ch is a unit that Casella has already strengthened through this thod."
The terms quickly spread among the Larkinsons. The Sentinel Commander did not object to them either.
The more they explored the power of Commandeering, the more everyone saw the potential in this ability!
However, while it was a powerful ans of enhancing the battle strength of friendly chs, the effects varied depending on many different variables.
Whether the ch was alive or not played a major role.
Whether the ch pilot had a lot in common with Commander Casella played another role.
A Commandeered ch did not receive an equal degree of strengthening in every aspect.
Attacks received the greatest degree of strengthening.
After performing many different tests, the Lakrinson found out that both lee and ranged attacks received the sa degree of empowernt.
In comparison, the defenses of a Commandeered ch did not receive a drastic boost.
Cautious tests showed that Commandeered chs beca a bit tougher, but only to the extent of resisting a couple more laser strikes.
From what Ves could observe, the glow surrounding a Commandeered ch should be the partial manifestation of a resonance shield.
If Casella had grown much stronger and if the Minerva was a much better expert ch, then this secondary resonance shield might beco powerful enough to massively increase the damage resistance of Commandeered chs.
For now, the defensive boost was a bit tasteless. Ves did not take it seriously for now as it was unlikely for Casella to make any drastic improvents in these aspects.
Finally, the mobility of a Commandeered ch gained the least degree of strengthening.
This was no surprise to anyone knowledgeable of expert chs. Unless they were specifically designed with mobility in mind such as the Dark Zephyr, true resonance did not amplify their speed and acceleration that much.
Aside from boosting these basic attributes, Commandeering also improved many other properties.
The ch pilots gained a portion of Casella's trendous skills.
They coordinated with each other as if they were under a perfectly unified command.
The ch pilots all gained greater awareness of themselves and the battlefield.
Casella was even able to communicate directly to their minds!
All in all, the Command Field cented the Minerva's role as an expert command ch.
With the power of Talasmir, the Minerva did not even have to enter into combat in person. Commander Casella could delegate all of the extraordinary power produced by her and her expert ch to give other friendly ch units the strength to challenge powerful foes such as hostile expert chs!
Although there were doubts about the point of doing so, Ves was happy to add another combat solution to the Larkinson Clan.
At this point, adding another expert rifleman ch or expert swordsman ch would not create a lot of ripples. Enemies could easily make plans to counter the existing expert chs of the Larkinson Clan if they bothered to do their research.
Commander Casella's Command Field brought a different combat thod to the table!
Expert command chs were rare to begin with and Ves wasn't sure if other ones were able to function as well as the Minerva.
What valued the most in this signature ability was its sheer versatility.
After testing it out on nurous different ch units, Ves understood that Casella was able to team up with practically every ch legion!
Although her compatibility with so of them weren't great, Ves was certain that this could be redied through repeated training sessions.
Once the self-assured Swordmaidens tasted the power of getting Commandeered, they would not be quick to reject Commander Casella in the future!
Casella could even apply her Command Field to chs that belonged to other organizations such as the Cross Clan!
Of course, the difficulty of Commandeering them was much higher and the effectiveness was much lower, but there were ways to improve this so that it beca a viable backup option.
To soone like General Verle, the greatest value in this ability lay in its versatility! Once Commander Casella and the ch legions gained a asure of proficiency in cooperating with each other, they could essentially choose to apply the Minerva's Command Field in different ways!
For example, during the Battle of Orange Tulip, it would have been extrely helpful for the Minerva to Commandeer the Transcendent Punishers.
Once the heavy artillery chs gained a considerable offensive boost, each of their heavy positron cannons could tear through hull plating like nothing else!
In case the Larkinsons fought against a more conventional ch force, Casella could choose to Commandeer the Swordmaiden chs and have them cut through the toughest enemy ch formations like a hot knife through butter!
Ves' eyes lit up as he imagined all of the possibilities of the Command Field. The versatility of this resonance ability was directly related to the variety of friendly ch models available.
"The more chs we design, the more options we have!"
Naturally, the main emphasis of applying Commander Casella's abilities should still lie on increasing her cooperation with her own troops.
Her command over the Living Sentinels brought her closer to them than anyone else. The Commandeering resonance ability displayed its greatest degree of effectiveness when applied to Sentinel chs!
Gloriana happened to make another observation. "The range of the Minerva's Command Field is too short." She said. "That doesn't matter much when it is used to Commandeer ranged chs, but what if you want to apply it to lee chs?"
"Ah. Yes. That is not an ideal scenario."
A range of a couple of kiloters was nothing in space!
If Commander Casella wanted to help out friendly lee chs, then her Minerva either had to accompany them when they charged towards the enemy or have the chs maintain a defensive posture at the rear!
The only way to resolve this shortcoming was to extend the radius of the Command Field, which wouldn't happen anyti soon.
"Commander Casella should probably stick to Commandeering ranged chs if our future battles are similar to the last ones we fought." Ves concluded. "So long as we continue to fight in space, our ranged chs are pivotal to defeating enemy warships and other large threats."
The Larkinsons could figure out the best tactics later once they registered all of the paraters of the Minerva's Command Field.
Ves suddenly paused. "Wait a second. Does Commandeering work on targets other than chs and ch pilots?"
In order to test this out, Ves ordered a squad of infantry soldiers to board a shuttle and move to the testing site while other trials were taking place.
When the shuttle finally neared the Minerva, every ch halted while the armored combat soldiers boosted out into space.
The footsoldiers were all ard and armored with heavy gear, but they were still too small and weak to pose a threat to chs!
The point of this test was not to pit them against chs. Ves just wanted to test a new hypothesis and see whether the Minerva's Command Field could take effect on other combat assets!
"Begin."
Ves carefully studied the visual feed. He could faintly see a golden corona around the individual soldiers.
ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ ᴘᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ.ᴄᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ғᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.
In order to gather more data, each of the soldiers were equipped with different loadouts. So of them wore plain vacsuits while others wore heavy combat armor.
However, regardless of the soldier, Casella failed to Commandeer them like she had done with chs. Although it looked as if it was about to succeed a few tis, she eventually ceased her attempts.
"I am unable to do it." She reported. "I can feel their minds, but trying to latch on to them is like trying to use the wrong key to open a door. There's sothing about them that makes feel that we aren't compatible."
Ves looked disappointed. "Oh. It's okay. You'll probably reserve this ability for chs anyway, but it is still useful to know your limits. We can explore the reasons behind this distinction later."
His fantasy of empowering warship cannons were shot. Oh well. It wasn't as if he would get his hands on a battleship or sothing and be compelled to use her most powerful weapons against a monstrous enemy or anything.
Once they finished testing the Commandeering ability on chs at rest, Ves wanted to see how they fared in a more realistic battle scenario.
"Commander Casella, Commander lkor, order your n to get ready for a live sparring session. Make sure to show enough restraint, but try and show as much superiority as possible."
This was one of the highlights of this testing session. Two-hundred chs from each side squared off against each other.
During previous sparring sessions, the Avatars always gained the upper hand from beginning to end. The skill and confidence between the two ch legions were too far apart!
However, Ves and many other people had a feeling that this ti would be different.
"Start!"
The chs from both sides sprung into battle!
To their credit, the Avatar chs did not show any timidity! Even as their machines charged forward, every Avatar ch pilot imdiately invoked the Golden Cat!
This caused them to gain a portion of the skills of the best Larkinson ch pilots! After many months of practice, this little trick had beco second nature.
This had always been their capital to defeat other ch units! Given the sa level of chs, an increase in combat skill could give the Avatars a decisive edge in many confrontrontations!
However, compared to the failed attempt to replicate a battle formation, the Command Field generated by the Minerva was much more impressive!
Instead of relying on the relatively weak minds of average ch pilots, the Commandeering ability shoved all of the burden on Commander Casella, who was much stronger than all of the Sentinel pilots put together!
This produced a strengthening effect that went far beyond boosting the skills and coordination of the Sentinel chs!
Although their defenses and mobility hadn't increased that much, each of their attacks landed with additional power.
Even if the Sentinel chs held back, both their ranged and lee weapons gained an extra bite that induced a lot more pressure on the Avatar chs.
If an attack boost was the only effect of the Minerva's Command Field, then the Avatars might still find a way to blunt the offensive.
The problem was that Commander Casella provided a lot more benefits than that through her resonance ability!
Not only did the Sentinel ch pilots display more skill, they also exhibited much closer cooperation with each other.
Though the Minerva had yet to make a move during this sparring session, Casella had beco more active than ever. She tracked and issued regular orders to the ch units under her command, causing the Sentinels to employ various different tactics to dismantle their current adversaries.
The difference in coordination alone was massive!
Whereas Commander lkor had to track what was going on through interpreting the data from his ch before issuing orders through several different layers, Commander Casella was able to command her subordinates directly!
She did not even need to rely on the ch officers to execute her intentions. Although the strain was not light, she was able to display an impressive degree of multitasking by keeping track and commanding every individual ch in the field!
In the short ti Casella was able to keep it up, the Living Sentinels completely shed their image as the weakest ch legion of the Larkinson Clan and crushed the best the Avatars could offer!
Even if the Avatars possessed an advantage in skill, the Sentinels benefited even more by enjoying an increase in their attack power as well as exhibiting exquisite coordination!
Each Sentinel ch had willingly beco an extension of Casella's will!
"Too strong!"
"This... this is the ultimate command ch!"
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