Compared to the colorful and charming Dracoloid, the Oga Thresher and the E-MULE were lacking in character and personality.
That did not necessarily make them bad chs. They certainly did their jobs well, but… Ves simply found them a bit too bland for his sensibilities.
As the Saint Commander moved on from visual inspections to taking out the chs for a spin, Ves continued to gather more insights on the different first-class chs.
The designers of the Oga Thresher very clearly positioned it as a mid-range energy weapon platform. It was capable of defending itself at close range, and it was also able to output a respectable amount of firepower at longer ranges, but it reached maximum efficiency at a range where it could comfortably employ its Datura Gravity Well Caster.
"The Oga Thresher initially appears to be designed around its 6 integrated Oga Laser Cannons." Gloriana observed as he saw Casella performing extre maneuvers while firing its armants at various floating target bots. "However, it is actually ant to work in conjunction with that large and overengineered contraption in its arms."
The Datura looked like a beast. It was a clear centerpiece of the multipurpose ch. Its effects fully justified the resources put into its developnt and production.
The Oga Thresher aid the barrel of its Datura at a cluster of target dummies. The device accumulated a considerable amount of energy before launching a space-warping energy ball that rapidly traversed forward before striking the ground, causing all of the disposable bots in the vicinity to violently converge and collide against each other!
Both Ves and Gloriana not only took in the sights, but also studied the data. They paid close attention to the degree of physical deformities and the kinetic forces generated by the spatial anomaly.
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"The 'weapon' is powerful enough to pull alien phasefighter off their trajectories, but their fras should still be able to withstand these forces." Gloriana concluded. "Most modern energy shields will be able to block a gravity well with ease. The effects of a gravity well are too dispersed. The lack of concentration of power makes it difficult to wear down most defenses. Its effects against physical targets are better. Under certain circumstances, the gravity wells can bypass hard armor layers and inflict effect damage against the softer internals. It won't work against archetech, but most alien races do not make use of this tech."
The gravity well caster was a decent attempt at replicating the spatial abilities of phase leaders. The weapon system was a bit too big and expensive, making it clear that it was still in the early phase of its product life cycle.
"I agree that a single Datura Gravity Well Caster in isolation is pretty useless, but that's the thing." Ves gestured at the first-class multipurpose ch being put through its paces. "This testing session isn't able to display the full value of this gravitic weapon because it is inherently designed to work in conjunction with many other Daturas. We will need to gather at least an entire ch company of Oga Threshers before we get to see its true potential."
The gravity wells launched by the Daturas could be combined to form a much bigger and more powerful gravity well.
That would make them much closer to the spatial anomalies generated by phase lords and phase whales.
However, it was not that easy to create them. The weapons needed to be configured in the right settings. They also had to launch their gravity wells at precise angles and with the right timing. Any misalignnt could easily cause them to fail to combine, thereby causing them to waste their potential.
It was a weapon system that could only prove its value when utilized by ch forces that possessed excellent coordination.
Ves beca impressed by the ard forces of the Red Association for being able to train ch pilots that worked so well with each other that they could make good use of the Datura Gravity Well Casters.
The Premier Fleet could only produce comparable results by relying on Casella's Command Field.
After Ves completed his cursory examination of the Datura, he began to focus his attention on the Oga Laser Cannons.
These were not ordinary laser weapons that just happened to possess fancy branding. They incorporated multiple forms of high technology to drastically increase their firepower, thereby making them much more viable for first-class combat.
Laser weapons existed for a long ti. They were one of the most common and versatile weapon systems used by humanity since the Age of Stars.
Many alien races encountered by the human race utilized their own form of laser weapons, but their applications remained remarkably uniform due to their relatively simple and straightforward principles.
However, as humans advanced their technologies, they no longer beca satisfied with regular applications of laser weapons.
In a concerted attempt to push laser weapon tech to the next level, the chers and many other groups sought to develop superior versions that could take the sa foundation to the next level.
Oga laser weapon technology was one of the successful results of this effort.
On the surface, it sounded like a rather normal tradeoff between power and firing rate.
However, Oga laser weapons went beyond standard solutions and relied on multiple implentations of advanced technology to raise their firepower to heights that were previously impossible to attain.
Ves noted to his surprise that the maximum energy limit of the Oga Laser Cannons actually exceeded that of the Instrunt of Vengeance!
If not for the fact that the Amaranto Mark III's primary armant relied on the true resonance of an ace pilot along with other exotic design applications, the Oga Thresher may have been able to outshoot the ace ch!
"These Oga Laser Cannons are much more complicated than a luminar crystal weapon." Ves comnted. "It is all worth it because the firepower of a single full-powered attack is much greater than anything I have seen."
The way the Oga Thresher under the control of the Saint Commander absolutely vaporized the target dummies and whatever soil was underneath underscored how these advanced laser weapons could not be judged according to normal standards.
His wife nodded in agreent as she studied the numbers. "These Oga laser weapons solve several problems that plague ordinary laser weapons. They are powerful enough that they can instantly collapse the azure energy shields of most phasefighters if they all happened to hit the sa target. They are also remarkably effective at penetrating through armor. It is remarkable how much Oga laser weapons have compressed the discharge ti to such an extent. That greatly helps to minimize dispersion."
One of the problems with laser weapons, especially ones that launched sustained beams, was that it was difficult to keep them on target. Instead of punching a hole through armor plating, they could instead drift across the exterior, thereby causing the obstacle to resist the damage a lot more effectively.
Oga lasers tried to minimize this problem much better than ordinary laser weapons. Their advanced components invested heavily into discharging as much energy at once.
The strain this put on the components of the weapon system was high. The power of an Oga laser cannon was so great that only the most heat-resistant materials could be used to prevent it all from blowing up or lting down.
"The 6 integrated Oga Laser Cannons will serve as the primary source of damage for the Oga Thresher model." Ves said. "They are designed for power rather than precision, so they are not too accurate at longer ranges. Perhaps they will be able to achieve a higher hit rate at further distances when they are under the control of Casella, but I don't expect the Oga Threshers to be able to imitate the Amaranto Mark III. What matters is that their damage profiles allow them to take out elite phasefighters quite easily as long as they land their shots, but also enables them to wear down the defenses of enemy warships."
The Oga Thresher model clearly synergized well with Casella's Command Field. Ves already looked forward to seeing a couple of hundred of them getting empowered by true resonance before showering hapless enemy units with coordinated energy attacks.
His wife did not look as optimistic. "The Oga Threshers can theoretically perform extrely well against both phasefighters and warships, but only when they are empowered by the Minerva Mark II. Outside of that, their performance becos much worse. Most of their armants are tuned for power. The firing rates of their Phase Disintegrator Guns, integrated plasma cannons and Oga Laser Cannons are all low. That makes it much harder for them to hit small and fast-moving targets. They are only truly effective against larger targets such as warships under these conditions."
She was right. The Oga Threshers beca a lot less remarkable if they had to fight by themselves. The Larkinsons needed to take its weaknesses into account in order to prevent them from getting demolished with ease if they ever had to fight without the Saint Commander's blessing.
Ves paid closer attention to one of the more exotic energy weapons of the Oga Thresher.
"These 'Phase Disintegrator Guns' are quite new to us. According to the descriptions, the high-tech guns launch so kind of spatial energy bolt that can disintegrate matter by shaking the fabric of space occupied by the target obstacle. They also happen to inflict excellent damage against transphasic energy defenses. This makes them an excellent weapon to use against azure energy shields as well as armor that is normally impervious against other attacks."
The performance of the Phase Disintegrator Guns was quite interesting. They perford well against transphasic defenses, but they were not that special when used against non-transphasic defenses. The guns were solely added to the Oga Thresher in order to serve as specialized counters against native alien assets.
"To put it differently, the Oga Threshers are excellent when used to fight against the native aliens, but they are relatively awful when used against human ch forces." Gloriana remarked.
"Only if the Saint Commander is left out of the picture." Ves added. "This is an important distinction. As long as Casella is able to Commandeer or Enfeoff the Oga Threshers, most of their weaknesses will simply evaporate. Under her exquisite command, the multipurpose chs will be able to attain much higher hit rates against fast and mobile chs. The Oga Threshers will also be able to handle enemy chs that prefer to fight with lee weapons far better as well. The differences in hard performance as well as control will be too great. Only overwhelming numbers can defeat a force of Oga Threshers."
Ves already started to think about what kind of ch he would design as a replacent for the Oga Thresher model.
He couldn't think of any good ideas at the mont. He needed to co up with a design concept that promised a better value proposition than the Oga Thresher.
It was difficult for Ves to figure out weapon technologies that could surpass the ingenuity put into the Oga Thresher design.
Whether it was the Datura Gravity Well Caster, the Oga Laser Cannons or the Phase Disintegrator Guns, Ves could not think of any weapons tech that could match the aforentioned arms in terms of power.
Luminar crystal weapons might theoretically be able to match the aweso power or special properties of so of them, but Ves had never raised their performance to such a height.
The Instrunt of Vengeance was an incredibly powerful luminar crystal weapon, but it was also relatively large and heavy.
The Oga Laser Cannons were much slimr and lighter in comparison!
Ves was not sure whether he, or rather Harry Kaikkonen, could advance the developnt of luminar crystal weapons to the point where they could match the performance of Oga laser weapons.
It would definitely require a lot of effort from his R&D institutions.
Ves was not sure whether the pace of developnt could keep up with the Larkinson Clan's ambitions.
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