Given that Calabast had just sent Ves a series of proposals on how to upgrade the Blinding Banshee, he decided to go on a little tour.
Calabast guided him to different departnts and went into a bit more detail on the performance of the various systems.
"The strongest aspect of the Blinding Banshee is not her observation capabilities, but her ECM capabilities." She explained to Ves. "That is what she is nad for. Her ability to scramble and disrupt enemy sensor and targeting systems across a wider area is good. Our ECM systems can severely degrade the coordination and observation capabilities of inferior enemies, causing them to lose up to 30 percent of their battle effectiveness depending on the circumstances."
That was quite a huge difference! It could easily double or triple the winning chances of the expeditionary fleet!
"The effect shouldn't be as exaggerated in most cases I imagine."
"Most modern military ships and chs are equipped with asures that can mitigate our efforts. Biological creatures are also less affected by our solutions." Calabast admitted. "Power, distance and tech disparity are the major factors that determine the effectiveness of our ECM capabilities. We cannot control for distance, but we can still upgrade the power supply and other tech in order to bridge the various gaps. As long as we are able to close the technological gap, we will be able to save hundreds if not thousands of lives in a future battle."
This was not an empty boast. Ves recalled that the Blinding Banshee's sudden hacking and ECM asures had played a key role in tipping the balance in the Golden Skull Alliance's favor during the Battle of Fordilla Zentra.
The various dwarven capital ships and ch units lost contact with each other while their ability to keep track of developnts across the battlefield diminished.
Although the Blinding Banshee's sabotage had beco a lot more effective than usual due to smuggling Secret Agent Lucky aboard the enemy flagship, the vessel still managed to prove her value in a battle!
Thinking about how extensively the Blinding Banshee was able to toy with enemy forces at the ti suddenly gave Ves a burst of inspiration.
He halted as he thought about starting a substantially different ch design project than his previous works.
ECM chs were one of the more common auxiliary chs in larger battles. They could play a variety of useful roles such as cutting off the communications of nearby ch units and preventing ranged chs from gaining accurate targeting data.
While the Blinding Banshee reduced the demand for such chs, the forr was just a single vessel. She was too fragile for the Larkinsons to bring her closer to the frontlines of any engagent.
In these kinds of situations, a ch closer to the combat units could provide a lot of utility. It was the sa kind of argunt that justified the addition of the Light Hunter and Signal Bearer models to the Larkinson Army.
"You're thinking about designing a new ch, aren't you? Learning about our ECM capabilities must have set you off." Calabast observantly remarked.
He gave her a rueful smile in response. "You know too well. Since you're the expert in this field, let ask you this. What is a good ECM ch?"
"That depends." She replied as she crossed her arms. "There is no single ECM ch configuration that excels in any situation. There are models that perform decently well in a variety of functions. There are models that specialize in blocking communication signals. There are models that can scramble many short-ranged sensor systems. There are even chs that are best suited to negate the enemy's ECM asures. Before you decide what your ECM ch design should excel at, you should first define its purpose and role on the battlefield."
Ves had been rather sudden about his intentions to design an ECM ch. Starting a new ch design project was a process in itself. Before the Design Departnt seriously committed to starting a new project, the ch designers had to make sure they did all of their howork!
Trying to co up with a new ch concept related to a specialty that Ves hadn't seriously played around with was quite premature!
"I may know about chs, but I haven't studied this specialized ch type in depth." He plainly admitted to Calabast. "Help out here. Give suggestions. Since our upcoming design round revolves around comrcial ch designs, I want to co up with a good ECM ch concept that can achieve a high sales volu."
"That is going to be a challenge." The spymaster said as she led Ves to one of her offices aboard the espionage ship.
Once they entered a private compartnt where they could discuss matters behind closed doors, Calabast activated her desk terminal and projected a few examples of existing ECM ch models.
"This is a selection of second-class ch models that are commonly sold in Davute and other markets. As far as I know, each of them are popular because they offer the highest performance at acceptable prices. They're not the most-efficient ch models, but custors can count on them to do their jobs without fail. Specific models also co with highly desirable advantages granted by their ch designers, who are often teams of Masters."
Calabast presented a handful of mainstream ch models that had recently been released in the Red Ocean. Not only were they designed with local materials and production limitations in mind, they also benefited from the specialties of two to five collaboration Master ch Designers!
Such amazing chs comprise the dominant products in any ch market, not just the one for ECM chs.
Under ordinary circumstances, Ves didn't need to think about competing with these huge sellers directly. Master ch Designers never completely crowded out the ch market. They often priced their chs higher in order to reflect their value and effectiveness, so chs that offered inferior performance still had a place as long as they weren't overpriced.
However, the Red Ocean's ch market was anything but normal right now. The concentration of elite ch designers, the difficulty in procuring resources and the lack of stability in most regions led to abnormal conditions that made it much more difficult for younger ch designers to start their own businesses in the new frontier!
Just the fact that most independent ch designers simply weren't able to buy the majority of resources needed to produce chs had stifled the ecosystem at the bottom of the ch industry!
Ambitious Apprentices and Journeyn had little choice but to join a larger organization in order to practice their craft. Without any connections and backing, it was far too difficult for them to get started!
Ves had already taken these challenges into account when he planned out his comrcial ch design projects. He was confident that his design philosophy and the promise of actively fostering the growth of ch pilots might be enough to get his foot in the door.
However, the market for ECM chs was not as easy to enter compared to the market for ordinary combat chs.
For one, Ves wasn't specialized in this field. None of the lead designers in the Design Departnt excelled in ECM systems either!
While Ves recalled that a few assistant ch designers had chosen to excel in this area, he wasn't sure about involving them to a significant degree.
At the very least, he and his fellow Journeyn needed to do the heavy lifting.
Ves and Calabast spent a bit of ti on swapping their opinions on the mainstream ch models that were popular in the Red Ocean.
Calabast brought a particular line of ECM chs to his attention.
"The Xaxu Specter line sold by Tiamon Dynamics is often used as the reference that all ECM chs should be asured against in Krakatoa. It's a collection of highly similar chs sold by a large ch company called Tiamon Dynamics."
Ves already utilized his implant to call up basic information on the ch company and its lead designer.
Tiamon Dynamics was led by a single Master ch Designer called Parian Hao.
Interestingly enough, Parian Hao was not a man or a woman anymore. Their exact gender was unclear, but that did not change the fact that they excelled at designing certain types of chs!
Though Ves had never heard of them, Master Hao had already developed a notable reputation in the old galaxy and was quickly making a na for themselves in the new frontier.
Having sold off all of their assets in the old galaxy, Master Hao decisively moved their entire ch company and as many willing personnel as they could gather over to the Karlach System in the Red Ocean.
The Karlach System was a port system that was located in a different part of the Krakatoa Middle Zone. It was founded by a different group of pioneering organizations and directly competed against the Davute System.
According to their record, Master Parian Hao specialty was Signal Fidelity Amplification.
Ves wasn't sure what that exactly ant. From the brief description he read, he found out that Master Hao's best products were their communication chs.
The communication chs sold by Tiamon Dynamics were so good at communication that they were able to keep their channels online even if they were deployed on highly active and confusing planets!
They were essential products for any ch force that sought to explore dangerous planets and hazardous star fields.
While there were starships that could do better in this regard, it was quite impressive for small and compact communication chs to be able to keep talking to each other under a variety of difficult circumstances.
Calabast did not highlight these particular offerings of Tiamon Dynamics, though.
She instead directed his attention to the Xaxu Specter line of ECM chs.
The reading material on these chs was surprisingly large.
"The Xaxu Specter models designed in collaboration with Master Parian Hao and Master Rievan Miller co in over fifty different current variants." Calabast revealed. "They all revolve around the sa idea of an ECM ch that is good at maintaining friendly communications while simultaneously interfering with enemy communications. The variants just appeal to custors with slightly different needs."
That was an understatent. Ves was completely dazzled by the sheer amount of variants that Master Hao and Master Miller published around a single base model!
There were variants that specialized in different functions. One excelled in jamming at short range. Another excelled breaking enemy stealth systems.
There were also variants that differed by the environnt they were ant to operate. There were Xaxu Specter variants that were optimized for spaceborn, aerial and landbound deploynt. The pair of Masters had even released variants that operated best on heavy gravity planets and in amphibian environnts!
If that wasn't enough, each of these specialized variants were further differentiated by their price categories. There were models that were priced for the mid-ranged market, the premium market and the super-luxury premier market!
The latter category was special as custors could directly approach Tiamon Dynamics to design customized variants of their ultra luxury purchases!
Stars practically spun in front of his eyes as Ves briefly beca overwheld by Tiamon Dynamic's expansive market approach.
The ch company did not care at all about the fact that it sold fifty different versions of the sa base model!
Its manufacturing complexes could easily switch from producing one variant to another variant. The different Xaxu Specter variants were mostly the sa anyway. The Masters had taken great care in keeping as many components identical as possible.
The way that Tiamon Dynamics conducted business was a noteworthy example to Ves. While he wasn't sure if he wanted his Living ch Corporation to adopt a similar business model, he could certainly recognize the rits to offering so many choices to a custor base.
Once Ves got over the sheer amount of variants developed by Hao, Miller and their humongous design teams, he studied the most normal and balanced Xaxu Specter variant in greater detail.
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