6028 Phasefighter Counters
The pieces were slowly coming together.
Ves harbored a lot of ambitions for the upcoming deep strike expeditions.
In order to accelerate his progress, improve his status in human society and gain the strength needed to overco the pursuit of the Subjugation King, he needed to beco a lot more proactive than his peers.
Plunder was by far the fastest way to speed up his progress.
It was also the most dangerous activity to undertake.
All of the alien raiding fleets that t their end after bumping into powerful ch forces served as clear examples how insufficient strength could quickly doom any attempt at enrichnt through plunder.
Ves therefore placed a lot of importance on building the strongest possible first-class fleet by the ti the greater beyonder gate enabled red humanity to undertake deep strike expeditions.
Obtaining the phasewater organs was important, but not too much. Ves still did not know whether it would be possible for him to participate in a deep strike expedition himself.
He felt it was necessary to be present in so capacity at the very least, but his value to red humanity had risen so much that the chers and the fleeter would never allow him to risk his life in such a reckless manner!
This was one of the many disadvantages of becoming too high profile. Ves could no longer move wherever he wanted to. He could only hole up in safe locations within human space. The re thought of entering alien space probably spooked a lot of tier 1 galactic citizens who saw a lot of promise in his work.
Ves at least needed to realize his design philosophy before he beca more dispensable!
Unfortunately, Ves had no confidence in his ability to break through to the rank of Master ch Designer within the next half decade. He could clearly feel that his accumulation was not even close to satisfactory. He also needed to absorb a lot of knowledge and design a lot more chs in order to gain parity with other Masters.
All of that could be considered later. Now that the Battle of Tornt had co to an end, the Larkinson Army collected enough data to hold multiple after action reviews.
Several hours after their last eting, Ves t with Commander Casella Ingvar again.
Several other legion commanders entered the small conference room inside the Spirit of Bentheim as well.
Commander lkor of the Avatars of Myth looked particularly morose. He was one of several Larkinsons who did not take much joy from vanquishing the Tornt Fleet.
He was far from the only soldier to feel sad. Hundreds of ch pilots died and thousands of ship personnel perished as well. The Gorgoneion had been hit particularly hard, so much so that it remained doubtful whether the large defensive ship could still travel back to the Bortele System under her own power!
However, a leader such as lkor should already feel accustod to the loss of subordinates. The air of depression hanging over him felt a lot more personal. Both Ves and Casella already had a good idea why the Avatar Commander acted like he suffered a loss in this battle.
Commander Sendra did not look too good either. Her Swordmaidens had perford admirably during this battle, but the attrition rate was much higher this ti. She had lost a lot of good sisters, each of whom had taken a lot of effort to train up to the standards of her ch legion.
No other legion commander attended this private and semi-formal gathering, but Ves did not mind. He only really needed to hear from a couple of voices in order to gain a decent overview of how the Larkinson Army acquitted themselves during this battle.
"Legion commanders." Ves' physical projection addressed the three. "Thank you for taking ti off your busy schedules to et with . From what I have learned, your opponent this ti was much more reflective of what the native aliens intend to roll out in the near future. As our enemies continue to get rid of a lot of weak and horribly outdated transphasic warships, their comparatively massive industrial engine will begin to produce large amounts of modern hyper battleships that have been specifically designed to counter large amounts of chs. In addition, their phasefighter designs have improved at a remarkable rate. The newest ones they fielded earlier today are not yet up to par against second-class chs, but what about next year?"
The appearance of those modern hyper battleships and elite phasefighters spooked the Golden Skullers a lot!
Their enemies had been slow to adapt to red humanity, but they had ti on their side. Enough months had passed for the major alien races to finally kick their technological doctrinal reforms into gear!
Ves gazed at the three legion commanders in the eyes. Each of them ford different thoughts and conclusions from the earlier battle.
"Well, let's start this eting by discussing the smallest change, which is the introduction of updated and improved phasefighters. From what I can observe from the battle footage, the Tornt Fleet's phasefighters are much more nurous and much more up to date than average. Their elite phasefighters are especially powerful. The aliens have apparently learned how to compensate for their lack of killing power against chs by loading them with transphasic missiles. How well do you think our chs can cope against these enemies?"
Commander lkor felt the obligation to speak first as he and his fellow Avatars had fought directly against the phasefighters.
"The normal phasefighters are a pain to fight against. Their defenses used to be relatively weak, but once the aliens invest real money into them, they can legitimately stall or even defeat our chs. I can tell you right away that if we hadn't started to roll out quasi-first-class chs such as the Fey Fianna and the Storm Swords, those phasefighters could have caused a lot more losses before we were able to take them down. The intervention of Venerable Brutus Wodin and a few other expert pilots from our alliance partners also eliminated so many phasefighters that the alien pilots quickly beca demoralized. If our regular ch units had to fight against the phasefighter squadrons, it is much harder to say how much of us will be left."
Everyone's expressions grew serious.
"Have the aliens already started to catch up in terms of small craft?" Ves softly asked.
"I am not a tech geek like you, Ves, so I can't tell you anything specific. What I can tell you as a ch pilot who personally faced them in battle is that we shouldn't dismiss the native alien version of starfighters as inferior fighting machines anymore. Sure, they don't have the advantages of our chs, but so long as they incorporate both phasewater technology and hyper technology, they can do a good job at reducing the gap with chs. At that point, which craft will win or lose is dependent on other factors such as numbers, ch types and cost."
Ves presented a scenario. "Let's say that a force of chs is roughly equal to a force of phasefighters in every factor that counts. In which circumstances will the latter be able to win against the forr?"
"Slow lee chs will probably fare worse against phasefighters." Commander Casella spoke up. "Unlike chs, phasefighters never fight while stationary. They are constantly on the move. Their comparatively powerful thrusters allow them to accelerate much faster than most of our chs, so they possess a strong mobility advantage. This allows them to make swooping attack runs against slower lee chs without needing to fear retaliation."
The other two legion commanders nodded in agreent.
Commander Sendra of the Swordmaidens also looked a bit concerned.
"Our Stormblade Samurais will struggle to catch up to those phasefighters. They will have to employ tactics such as flanking and boxing them in to allow their blades to touch the agile alien craft. Our Storm Swords have a better chance at catching up to the alien small craft, but that is no longer an equal fight anymore."
The Storm Swords were the elite quasi-first-class chs of the Swordmaidens. They should be matched up against the elite phasefighters of the Tornt Fleet in order to make a fairer comparison.
"The Flagrant Vandals actually attained considerably greater success in containing and eliminating the phasefighters." Commander Casella remarked. "The phasefighters are strong if they can keep their enemies at distance, but weak when chs have gotten close. The Ferocious Piranhas were remarkably effective at catching up to the phasefighters and overcoming their transphasic energy shields by relying on their space suppressors. The disorienting glow of the Ferocious Piranhas have also proven to be fairly effective at disrupting the concentration of the orven ch pilots, though I have to note that it is gradually losing effectiveness against most alien races."
E energy radiation caused every life form's spirituality to gradually grow stronger over ti.
A suppressive glow was nothing more than the inherent suppression of a superior life form towards lower life forms. If the latter started to grow stronger, then the gap wouldn't be as great anymore.
All of this ant that it beca harder for the Ferocious Piranhas to incapacitate enemy pilots over ti.
Of course, Zeigra and Lufa were also growing stronger, but their rate of improvent had slowed down a lot as it beca a lot more difficult to make progress at their current states.
Ves ford his first conclusion. "Native alien phasefighters can be countered by light lee chs. The phasefighters are not designed to fight at point-blank range, so any lee ch can tear them apart. The key is to be fast enough to close the distance. Only light chs have a chance of getting within striking distance."
The legion commanders all nodded in agreent.
"What about the Stingrippers?" Ves asked.
"Their performance is decent, but they have produced noticeably less results than our Ferocious Piranhas." Casella answered. "The Stingrippers are equipped with small space suppressors as well, but since they always keep a certain distance from their targets, this module was not able to make any difference. Their relatively weak and light luminar crystal rifles are lacking in punch, so it takes a significant amount of ti for their guns to break a transphasic energy shield and destroy the alien small craft. The main reasons why the Stingrippers still proved to be useful is because they were able to rely on focus fire and the fact that they do not need to waste ti on fully catching up to their targets in order to land their attacks."
"Have the Stingrippers suffered a lot of losses?"
"No, sir. You should already have a good understanding of their evasive and misdirection capabilities. The phasefighters are not properly equipped to increase their hit rates against the Stingrippers. The Flagrant Vandals have lost a greater quantity of Ferocious Piranhas as they are not as elusive."
"I see."
Ves was glad that the Stingrippers still managed to achieve results against the phasefighters. The forr were probably a lot cheaper than the latter. The Stingripper design had yet to be upgraded with phasewater technology and hyper technology, so his lastgen chs effectively managed to gain the upper hand against currentgen phasefighters!
"There is one more observation I need to share with you, sir." Commander Casella spoke up again. "The Ferocious Piranhas and the Stingrippers already perford quite well when fighting against the alien phasefighters in isolation. However, the Flagrant Vandals always pair them up so that they can synergize with each other. They have proven to be especially effective this ti. The Ferocious Piranhas can weaken the transphasic energy shields and disturb the mind of the pilot. The Stingrippers can subsequently focus their firepower on the afflicted enemy craft, causing its defenses to collapse much faster and easier than before."
In short, combining close-ranged suppression with lots of ranged fire support was a killer combination against these pesky phasefighters!
"It sounds like the Flagrant Vandals have beco more indispensable in this age." Ves remarked with a smile. "They are well-positioned to beco our best anti-phasefighter solution."
Light chs definitely had a role to play in this new age of warfare!
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