As soon as Master Hergard Elroy stepped onto the main podium of Spencer Hall, everyone stopped their discussions and paid attention to the man. His accomplishnts and his importance to Davute earned him a lot of respect.
Ves was no exception. He might not be too familiar with the Master ch Designer and his research, but anyone who managed to realize a design philosophy and beco a powerful transcendent represented the best of the human race.
He and every other participant stood behind the Master in the background as the latter addressed every listener.
"Welco, everyone." The gray-haired man spoke in a dignified but lecturing tone. "Today, the Davute University of Technology is pleased to host an event that brings so of the best Journeyman ch Designers of our colonial state together in friendly competition. Both young and old ch designers are eligible to demonstrate their work and put them to the test in real physical combat."
A lot of people perked up when they heard that. Scoring the competition chs by throwing them into fights was much more interesting than relying on abstract nurical scores or subjecting them to a high number of simulated AI-driven matches.
"Each of you must be curious why our school has decided to organize a tournant thed around designing pairs of chs." Master Elroy smiled. "Here in the DUT, we prepare our ch design students to beco a part of a rich and vibrant ch community. No ch designer works in isolation. The chs they design by themselves are rarely employed by themselves. Instead, they are often fielded in multiple numbers and alongside chs based on other models as well. The true strength of chs does not lie in their superior chanical forms or the properties they rely upon to amplify the capabilities of their pilots, but the synergies they can attain when fighting alongside complentary machines."
Ves and many other ch designers nodded in agreent. This was a truth that every ch designer learned. Whether they comprehended this concept during their studies or beca enlightened to it after they started their careers, it was undeniable that chs worked best when they varied their configurations and relied on teamwork and cooperation to produce astounding results!
Master Elroy continued his speech.
"The Twin Weapons Tournant is by no ans an attempt to fully reproduce the intricate connections that enable weaker ch forces to defeat stronger opponents. It is nonetheless set up in a manner that encourages the participating ch designers to spend more effort on co-dependence rather than individual strength. If our contestants do not take my words by heart and choose to design two separate and individual chs, then they will miss the point of this tournant."
Ves and Juliet both understood the underlying ssage. It might not be possible for every pair of ch designers to collaborate with each other on a closer level, but they at least needed to coordinate their work in order to stand any chance of making it through the later rounds!
Once Master Elroy completed his opening statent, he started to address the more practical topics.
"Let proceed with explaining the rules of this tournant. The event lasts three days in total. Our teams of ch designers have two days to design their competition chs. We will subsequently assign ch pilots from a pool of roughly equal ch pilots lent to us by the Federal Military of Davute. I will not divulge any further on the ch pilots, but rest assured that their skills are almost uniform and that they do not possess any overly specialized abilities or piloting styles. Every pair of competition chs will be put in a single-elimination bracket where only the undefeated shall win the entire tournant. Every ch shall be repaired after every match, so their battle damage will not make an impact in any subsequent matches."
The rules concerning the ch pilots did not surprise anyone as the descriptions published beforehand already ntioned that this would happen.
Ves found it to be a fairer if less certain process than being assigned ch pilots in advance.
A single-elimination bracket was an unforgiving thod of filtering the better chs from the worser ones. A single mistake or counter had the potential to doom a promising team of ch designers!
Though Ves did not exactly feel comfortable with this, he knew that his work could not afford to falter even once if he wanted to fulfill his goals.
"As the combat phase will only comnce two days later, I shall explain the most relevant rules of the design phase. Once the pairs of ch designers have taken their places, they are granted 48 hours to work in full view of our remote and in-person audience. Our contestants are not only expected to design both a lee ch and a ranged ch at once, but to fabricate them in rapid speed with the help of our advanced Superfabs."
That did not sound much different from the previous tournants that Ves participated in. The only deviation was the fact that Ves and every other Journeyman had to work in pairs.
Master Elroy began to smile a bit more as he ca up to the most interesting part of his announcent.
"Now, I shall begin to state the design paraters that every team must abide by in order to submit a valid pair of competition entries. We will transfer a detailed technical docunt that fully lists out the restrictions and requirents that we have set, but I shall explain the most important ones. We have selected a narrow selection of materials that our teams can use to design and fabricate their chs, a number of which has rarely been employed in chs before."
"None of the materials are strong or particularly valuable, but each of them are native to the Red Ocean. The Journeyn are expected to familiarize themselves with the resources at their disposal and draw out their greatest strengths. As the materials are not difficult to work with, the advanced superfabs that the teams can use to fabricate their competition entries can complete their tasks in a handful of hours."
This was also good news to Ves. He did not want to allocate an entire day on fabricating the ch parts and assembling them into place. The more ti that he and Juliet could devote to their design work, the better!
"No phasewater will be made available. It is impossible to incorporate any transphasic components in the competition chs."
No one looked surprised when they heard this rule. Phasewater technology was still relatively new to humanity. The key ingredient was too expensive to squander in a ch design tournant, and any powerful transphasic weapons employed by the competition chs might possible be able to produce accidents as their attacks punched through the arena's protective asures and hit the crowd!
"The competition chs are only confined to landbound chs." The mobility-oriented Master explained. "It is permissible to equip them with boosters. They are not allowed to be equipped with serious flight systems. The arenas do not offer sufficient space for high-mobility maneuvers. It is also more compelling to test the cooperation between chs that need to move more deliberately."
Juliet imdiately frowned. This was a substantial handicap to her work! Flight systems played a huge role in her design philosophy and work approach, so being prohibited from using them in any of her competition chs seriously limited her options!
Ves reassuringly patted her back. "It will be okay. Boosters can also be powerful in the right situations."
Master Elroy began to look amused as he announced the next set of rules.
"That is not all, ladies and gentlen. In order to further throw off our ch designers and prevent them from falling into existing routines, we have added a number of other restrictions. The first one is that at least one out of the two competition chs designed by our teams must be a light ch. To be more precise, their total mass must remain below the threshold of a second-class light ch as defined by the ch Trade Association. It is up to the teams to decide whether they wish to turn their lee entry or ranged entry into a light ch."
Ves almost jerked his body. This was a massive limitation!
He looked around and saw that more than a few ch designers looked upset or dismayed. They did not have much experience with light chs, or simply did not possess a design philosophy that plays well with these fast but fragile machines.
At least the participating Journeyn could decide which one they could design as a light ch.
Ves and Juliet exchange glances again.
The latter clearly looked more relieved. As a mobility specialist, Juliet possessed much greater depth and experience in designing light chs. Her design philosophy should truly be able to play a useful role during the design phase!
"The second abnormal rule is that both of the competition chs designed by the teams must include an artificial weak point on the frontal surface of their fras."
"What?!?"
Projections of example chs featuring this deliberate weak point erged into view, allowing everyone to clearly understand what the Master ch Designer ant with those words.
"As you can see, these generic humanoid and beast chs incorporate panels that appear to be made out of fragile glass. These panels are placed on their upper chests and must possess either a circular, oval or square shape. Their total area must be 2 square ters or more, though we do not recomnd making it larger than necessary. Internal components must be easily accessible to any opponent that easily manages to breach this fragile material."
Ves frowned. This was a tricky rule! He had never heard of any ch design tournant that toyed with the participants by imposing such an arbitrary and atypical rule.
No ch designer would ever introduce such a heavy and deliberate weak point on their serious ch designs!
Though Ves was thrown off-balance by this weird requirent, he eventually managed to calm down and figure out whether this demand affected his existing ideas.
He could already tell that beast chs possessed an inherent advantage in this tournant because their weak points wouldn't be readily accessible as long as they walked on all fours.
Then again, humanoid chs weren't helpless either. Their ability to hold external equipnt with their articulating hands easily allowed them to hold thick and sturdy physical shields that could manually close the weak points on their chests.
All in all, the additional requirents generally made chs more fragile and vulnerable against damage. This should shorten the matches that would take place during the combat phase.
Ves had already looked around and counted the number of teams that he would be competing against.
A total of 71 teams ultimately took part in the Twin Weapons Tournant, which ant that nurous rounds of matches must be held in order to go through the single-elimination bracket format.
All in all, Ves felt a bit annoyed more than anything else. The competition chs that he would have to design with Juliet would end up coming to life as partially crippled and deford living chs.
Ves did not want to design overly flawed chs, even if they only served a limited purpose, but the tournant organizers left him with little choice.
He sighed.
"It will be hellishly difficult for us to design a pair of chs that won't instantly crumble because their frontal weak points are so easy to target. Maybe I will need to design a variation of the Battle Skirt System in order to add additional protection."
Master Elroy smirked as he ntioned another restriction.
"Oh, I should also state that while energy shield generators are permitted to be used, their potency and energy consumption will undergo heavy alterations. They will not perform as strong as normal, and they will rapidly deplete what little energy reserves the competition chs are allowed to have when they begin their matches."
"..."
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