"Papa?" Andraste asked as she gazed up at the strikingly colored ch with admiration and adoration. "Why aren't the Ferocious Piranhas in our fleet as pretty? They're so boring in comparison to this model!"
"There are multiple reasons for that." Ves patiently replied. "Marvaine, what do you think?"
The younger boy scrunched his face. "Is it because we don't want our light skirmishers to get shot more often?"
"That is part of the reason. You are indeed correct that chs that look more ostentatious tend to attract more fire. Scientific studies have shown that chs coated in plainer and more earthy tones tend to look psychologically less oppressive, which is why many serious light skirmisher models look like they really don't want to stand out in the crowd."
"If that is the case, then why sell a ch like this in the first place?" Andraste curiously asked.
Ves grinned. "Well, for a ch company like us, applying special coating and making a few costic changes to the exterior to the ch doesn't cost that much. What it does do is turn the sa ch into a 'limited edition' variant that can help us earn a lot more profit per unit sold. Look at the price tag for an individual unit of this particular version. What does it say?"
"It… it sells for 5.5 MTA credits!"
"And how much do we charge for a regular Ferocious Piranha?"
Andraste tried to jog her mories. "Ummm… I think it was 2.6 MTA credits last I saw."
"The LMC raised the list price to 2.7 MTA credits earlier this year." Ves corrected his daughter. "It all cos down to how much a custor is willing to pay for a ch. A standard comrcial version of the Ferocious Piranha Mark III has beco more popular as of late, especially now that war is on the horizon. This is why we were able to get a lot of custors to pay 0.1 MTA credits more than before. As for this special edition machine, a small proportion of custors want to feel more special than others. They don't mind paying more than double the price for what amounts to the sa ch in terms of performance."
All three children looked confused.
Marvaine looked especially dumbfounded. "Can't they buy a cheaper Ferocious Piranha and paint them purple at ho? They will be able to save 2.8 MTA credits if they do that."
"That is what I would do as well, but not every custor is as stingy." Ves answered. "Special edition and limited edition chs are more valuable due to their scarcity and legitimacy. Sure, anyone with a decent workshop can modify a normally-priced ch to look exactly the sa as this one, but what makes this particular model worth 5.5 MTA credits is because it is included in the official ch catalog of the LMC. To be honest, this isn't the most expensive special edition version of the Ferocious Piranha that is on sale. The Living Star Club offers more extre costic variants that are so exclusive that they get sold for 15 MTA credits or more!"
The wonders of modern marketing. The Living ch Corporation made use of plenty of psychological tricks in the book to extract more profits from the sa work.
The LMC wasn't even the worst offender in the ch market. There were plenty of unscrupulous businesses that resorted to more ethically dubious practices.
Examples of that ranged from bundling a bunch of worthless products with a ch to jack up the prices, to offering temporary 'discounts' that lasted so short that they pressured a lot of custors into making impulsive purchase decisions.
While these aggressive business practices certainly succeeded in encouraging custors to open up their wallets even further, the reputation and long-term brand value of the ch companies would inevitably suffer.
The LMC valued its long-term developnt far too much to risk its reputation on aggressive and deceptive sales practices.
As Ves continued to teach his children about the business side of chs, he led them to another display model that was not as aggressive.
"This is a Buzzy Bee!" Marvaine quipped as he recognized the machine's distinctive ECM modules.
"That is correct, my dear." Gloriana replied and brushed her little boy's hair with her fingers. "I do not like the na that your father has given it, but his collaboration with an external ECM ch designer has proven to be a great success."
The sales of the Buzzy Bee model started off slow, and it took at least a year before it started to pick up steam.
As an auxiliary ch, the Buzzy Bee featured low offensive and defensive power, but made up for it with a good set of ECM systems.
The third party ch designer from Davute that Ves tead up with specialized in developing active ECM systems that remained effective and reliable for several hours.
While this was not the most spectacular specialty that Ves had ever encountered, it was more than enough. The Buzzy Bee only needed to be competitive enough in its ECM capabilities.
What truly made this machine valuable was its communication capabilities!
"Do you know why I went against the opinion of your mother and called it the Buzzy Bee?" Ves asked his children.
"Uhm, it's because it is an annoying bee that is difficult to swat from the skies!" Andraste replied.
"Hahaha, that is a part of the story, but not all of it. What else?"
Aurelia offered another possible answer. "Is it because bees are part of a hive and are ant to work with other bees?"
Ves nodded. "That is also a part of the reason. You see, bees and many insects that are part of hives have developed surprisingly sophisticated communication thods to send signals to each other. Many of them are so strange or subtle that soone who knows little won't be able to recognize or block these signals. The Buzzy Bee's true value is its ability to communicate with each other across varying distances in an unconventional manner. They do not make use of electronic communication thods that can easily be blocked, intercepted and jamd."
His wife nodded in agreent. "We have only discovered a handful of reliable asures to block the alternate communication thod of the Buzzy Bee. The easiest solution is to destroy them. That is one of the reasons why the ECM systems are so badly needed. Adversaries who are aware of its strategic value will prioritize its takedown as much as possible. Another effective solution is to cut off the communication channel with the help of a high-ranking ch. Expert chs and especially ace chs have a way of disrupting or outright blocking these invisible channels, but they are few and far in between."
The manager of the flagship store had reached their side in the anti. This provided Ves with a handy source of information, especially with regards to custor trends!
"How are the sales of the Buzzy Bee model?"
The manager imdiately gave an answer. "Sales of all of our ch models have increased, but the Buzzy Bee model especially stands out to us. The amount of units that our custors have ordered in the last three months have quintupled. More and more custors have beco aware of the unique benefits of our jointly developed ECM and communication ch. Positive word of mouth has helped much to prove its effectiveness. Now that every serious ch force is preparing to conduct long campaigns on wartorn planets that are saturated with jamming, our Buzzy Bee line should provide the Davutans with a massive advantage in coordination."
Ves smiled. That was just as he predicted. "Do you think that sales levels will rise even further in the future?"
"It depends on how well they perform on different battlefields." The manager replied. "From the user feedback that I have received, our Buzzy Bees should be able to maintain stable communications where many other chs are cut off. This includes auxiliary chs with powerful antennas and transceivers. I have been told that the LMC's Production Departnt is already anticipating the need to set up additional production lines to increase this model's production volu. Even then, there is a good chance that we will be unable to increase our rate of production even further due to material supply limitations."
"Don't overlook the effect of a war on the supply lines that we are dependent on." Gloriana insightfully warned. "If the Karlachs manage to disrupt many of Davute's supply lines, then our ability to produce this relatively complicated ch will be curtailed even further. These ECM modules are certainly effective enough, but they require dozens of specialized exotics that need to be sourced from many different locations in order to build. This is a potential weakness that any enemies of Davute will most definitely be able to deduce."
That caused Ves to frown. This was not a vulnerability that was exclusive to the Buzzy Bee. Many advanced ch models that rely on sophisticated technical solutions to perform well derived much of their effectiveness on the special properties of powerful but relatively scarce exotics.
This was normally not a problem in a region that was at peace. It was rare for a state to experience massive supply disruptions during peaceti.
The story was different once a full-blown war broke out between different states. It was difficult to outright block the supply of specific materials, but it should still be possible to raid enough trade convoys to heavily limit the supply of certain strategic materials!
If Karlach really wanted to hinder the production of the Buzzy Bee model, then it could do so as long as it was willing to forgo the opportunity to curtail the supply of other exotics.
Ves and his family continued their tour through the flagship store. They observed several other chs on display that were on sale.
All of them consisted of familiar models that sold extrely well such as the highly useful Pacifier law enforcent ch and the humble Hynoptera industrial ch.
The store manager relayed an important developnt about both bestselling ch lines.
"What is notable about our Pacifiers and Hynopteras is that the colonial administration have already ordered tens of thousands of customized units."
That caused Ves to look surprised. "Are you saying that the colonial governnt itself wants these chs?"
"Yes, and this may be the start. Both of these products can play an imnsely useful role in war. The Pacifier ch can utilize its calming glow to help a conquering ch force suppress the population of an occupied planet, thereby preventing many terrorist acts from occurring. The Hynoptera on the other hand encourages a lot of diligence, and is suitable to be piloted by reluctant industrial ch pilots."
Gloriana frowned. "That doesn't make much sense. The Hynoptera can be useful if the work is monotonous and if the pilots are of low-quality stock, but any governnt should be able to hire better workers. There are other industrial chs that are cheaper, more efficient or strong in another useful capacity."
"It will be difficult to persuade or compel many of these workers to engage in construction or reconstruction work on volatile planets." Ves said. "I think… the governnt may want to stock up on the Hynoptera because the machines may be reserved for prisoners of war."
"What?!"
It was a risky and daring sche that could potentially free up a lot of precious manpower under the right circumstances!
There was no doubt that construction work would play a strategic role in the coming conflict.
"Have governnt institutions also placed orders on our other ch models?" Ves asked.
"Plenty. The Crystal Lord has proven itself as an excellent ranged ch model on land. Its luminar crystal rifles may not be as good as the ones employed by our ch legions, but they are relatively affordable, compact, efficient and reliable while still retaining a good amount of attack power. Of course, the governnt wants to order specialized variants that are more rugged and resistant to damage."
"I see."
It appeared that the Living ch Corporation had already turned into one of Davute's many military contractors!
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