The Rule Breaker Project had almost reached its end.
Veronica and Master Moira Willix did not have the ti to fabricate and test a few specially modified prototypes in person. They delegated this responsibility to the other ch designers that had co to offer their services to the Oblivion Empire in the past few years.
Although these prototypes had been altered so that they could be controlled through a traditional neural interface as opposed to the revolutionary Carmine System, this still offered enough empirical data about the hard performance characteristics of all three
versions.
The prototypes did not exhibit any major performance issues. That was an expected outco considering that a Master ch Designer as skilled as Moira Willix designed their structures.
The biggest complication was the semi-modularity of the ch designs. Each version could be configured in a number of different ways.
Veronica and Master Willix initially decided to make it so that the Rule Breaker chs could be configured into swordsman chs and rifleman chs.
However, the design process proceeded so smoothly and briskly due to the exceptional degree of competence shown by Master Willix that they decided to
expand the scope.
Now, all three versions of the Rule Breaker Project could adopt 4 different
configurations, ranging from a swordsman ch, a knight ch, a frontline ch and a rifleman ch.
This should cover a broad majority of interests from prospective Carmine ch pilots. If they wanted to pilot a different ch archetype such as a light skirmisher, a spearman ch or a heavy artillery ch, they could always rely on Wild Modularity to steadily 'level up' their machines and implent incrental modifications over ti.
While the cost and effort required to morph the Carmine chs to a different archetype were disproportionately high, it at least gave Carmine ch pilots hope of piloting the machines of their choice.
Unfortunately, Veronica did not foresee the possibility of undergoing radical transformations anyti soon. It was far too impractical to gradually transform humanoid chs into beast chs.
One of the other complicating factors was that the Rule Breaker chs had to be designed to operate on land as well as in the air and in space.
In the total that had erupted between red humanity and the native aliens, most battles predominantly took place in space.
The unscrupulous use of city-destroying warships by the native aliens made a lot of landbound chs irrelevant.
If the native aliens did not want to bother with conducting a planetary raid or invasion in order to capture a large amount of intact human tech and materials, they could always resort to plain old planetary bombardnt to absolutely wipe out any presence of human life and civilization!
As such, most chs in use in the Red Ocean today had to possess spaceflight capabilities.
The Milky Way operated under a different set of rules. The people here were still stuck in the past. They abhorred the use of warships and weapons of mass destruction and made serious efforts to avoid regressing into the barbarism that characterized the end of the Age of Conquest.
Veronica therefore expected a lot of major battles to take place on land. This ant that a lot of chs in use would probably co in the form of landbound chs. They might lack flight capabilities, but they were often more robust, more adept at fighting on solid ground and lasted much longer in the field.
Landbound chs were also a lot simpler and faster to master. Carmine ch pilots required many years to beco proficient in piloting their powerful new machines, but if they did not have to learn how to maneuver in space and comprehend the theory of chanics, they could beco qualified fighters a year or two in advance! The two ch designers therefore put a decent amount of effort into optimizing the Rule Breaker Project for landbound combat. They made the flight system of the ch designs semi-modular and detachable.
If desired, ch manufacturers could even produce Rule Breaker chs without the inclusion of the flight system. This would definitely reduce the cost of the Carmine chs and impose a lower burden on logistics.
However, Veronica and Master Willix could not go too far in this direction. They still made sure that the Rule Breaker chs possessed adequate combat capabilities in space.
This lack of commitnt kept the Rule Breaker Project's options open, but it also led to an uncomfortable compromise where the Carmine chs neither excelled on land or in space.
There was still a way out for Carmine ch pilots that wanted their machines to gain an edge in a single environnt.
As long as third-party ch designers developed modest variants Rule Breaker designs or upgraded existing machines, they could further optimize the Carmine
chs for landbound or spaceborn combat.
The Cyborg Cat had great confidence that lots of ch designers would begin to enrich the ecosystem around the Rule Breaker Project.
It was the first Carmine ch line available in the Milky Way, and it would be the only one that ordinary people could get their hands on for a long ti!
In summary, all of the choices that the pilots and owners of the Rule Breaker chs could make resulted in a fairly intricate package of ch designs.
Even if Veronica and Master Willix had done their best to keep everything else as simple as possible, the extensive modularity ant that it was not possible to simplify them too much.
"It will do." Master Willix said after she studied the data from the testing sessions. "The minor performance issues are largely expected. It would be surprising if the prototypes did not suffer from all of the extensive compromise design choices that we
have made in order to make them more versatile."
The Cyborg Cat looked a little glum as she studied the sa data. "I know what to expect, but seeing it in action... these Carmine chs are truly crappy if asured by the standards of modern chs at the sa price classification. They indeed perform as if they are 2 ch generations out of date. In fact, I would say that this is an optimistic estimation considering that the prototypes are being piloted by professionals. Once these machines fall in the hands of completely rookie Carmine ch pilots, their ability to utilize their machines will be vastly inferior to those who have attended a ch academy for at least 10 years and accumulated decades worth of experience."
In other words, the fairly clean performance demonstrated by the prototypes was likely the ceiling of what could be accomplished with the final versions of the Carmine
chs.
The actual performance of the Rule Breaker chs once a few years had passed would likely cause them to have no hope of beating a conventional ch troop.
The forr was already being set back by their inferior hard performance paraters. The machines fought as if they were 10 to 20 percent weaker than modern machines despite using much of the sa tech and standards.
Combining that with barely trained and highly inexperienced Carmine ch pilots ant that the Rule Breaker chs would beco so weak that they could be mowed
down with ease by professional ch units!
Master Willix obviously picked up the Cyborg Cat's concerns.
"How many Carmine chs do you think it will take to defeat a single conventional budget ch?"
"It depends on a huge amount of factors." Veronica quickly responded. "If we assu a
level playing field where many factors are equal aside from the skill and experience of the ch pilots, the conventional ch should easily be able to defeat 3 to 5 Carmine chs while incurring light to moderate damage in the process. This is not an absolute, though. The equation changes when we are talking about greater quantities of conventional chs. 40 conventional chs controlled by military ch pilots who know how to cooperate with each other should be able to trounce 400 Carmine chs piloted by poorly trained and inexperienced norms. In fact, the latter will probably break and run like headless chickens as soon as they lose 10 percent of their compatriots in a short amount of ti. This lopsidedness can grow a lot worse if the numbers are greater, or if the military ch force relies on combined arms."" True combat was far more than a numbers ga. Ves had witnessed and participated in enough battles to understand the impact of morale and other intangible factors on
the flow of combat.
"Your assessnt is similar to my own, Veronica. The theoretical and actual performance of the Rule Breaker chs will never win any awards, but... they are versatile, affordable and easy to mass produce. This is all that matters in the beginning. Do not forget that this ch line has one advantage that every other ch in the Milky Way lacks: it can be piloted by any human. That makes it much more viable to field them in far greater numbers of what our society is accustod to. The Carmine System will introduce humans to a brand new approach to modern warfare that they have not seen in centuries."
Veronica's feline body shifted uncomfortably at that ntion. "I guess that is true. Everyone can beco a soldier now."
Master Willix nodded. "One of the reasons why chs have been promoted so heavily
during the Age of chs is because it inherently imposes a hard ceiling on the degree of militarization of a state. That made them perfect to help humans recover from the end of the Age of Conquest without completely losing their combat readiness. However, now that the Carmine System has lifted this limiting factor, states can drastically increase the militarization of their population, converting more of them into combat capable troops than ever before. A distinction will form between conventional ch forces and Carmine ch forces. The forr will likely develop into elites that are more likely to pilot premium chs. The latter will turn into part-ti or full-ti militias that are poorly trained and equipped, but boast massive
numbers."
"Sothing like that is already beginning to happen in the Red Ocean. Veronica comnted. "Aside from wounded or retired veterans, it just takes a bit of ti for the new Carmine ch pilots to complete their initial training and earn the basic qualifications to fight on the battlefield. The numbers are quite impressive. If the production rate of Yellow Jackets isn't constrained by the limited amount of available industrial capacity, red humanity will be able to field a lot more Carmine chs in a
few years."
"The industries in the Milky Way are much more developed than in the Red Ocean." Willix noted. "In addition, resources are also much more abundant in most regions. Once you give the ch industry enough of a reason to mass produce your Rule Breakers, the most formidable industrial sector of human civilization will mobilize to et the unending demand of the population. The ch Trade Association may step in and curb much of this production, but it will fail because the monster it raised
cannot be contained."
Veronica knew what Master Willix was referring to. In order to turn ch pilots into the protagonists of the current age, the MTA had made massive and persistent efforts to elevate their status and turn them into objects of admiration.
The chers had managed to succeed in their goal. ch pilots received widespread
respect from nearly every corner of human society. Their genetic aptitude and their exclusive ch piloting training set them apart from the 'norms' who by definition were unexceptional in comparison.
Yet how could the MTA anticipate that a rogue ch designer like Ves would suddenly dump the Rule Breaker ch templates throughout the Milky Way without warning? In an instant, every norm had a chance to beco a ch pilot!
The artificial boundary that separated heroes from ordinary people would lt in an
instant!
Everyone could beco a hero, or at least that was what they thought!
The MTA had worked so hard to turn ch pilots into a privileged and idolized class of
people.
Now, its centuries-long propaganda effort would most definitely backfire on the Association as norms would flock to beco Carmine ch pilots above every other
concern!
No law or regulation could co in the way of fulfilling their long-cherished dream of becoming a hero!
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