The Mech Touch

"Let me just say that I am cautiously optimistic about the prospects of this Transporter Project of yours." Ves eventually said after Juliet answered a few more questions. "It doesn't sound like a mech that can take the market by storm, but I do recognize its potential to become a stable seller that will completely fade."

What he meant by that was that he did not expect the Transporter Project to spike in sales once it was released onto the market.

Instead, its sales would remain modest but relatively stable while it was in production.

The reason for that was because Ves estimated that only a limited number of customers were interested in grenadier mechs.

However, there were always situations where they could be useful, there should always be people who ordered a batch of Juliet's new light mech from time to time.

As long as the Transporter Project was able to stand out from the competition by offering a useful glow and performing decently enough in other aspects, it had the potential to earn a nice amount of revenue by capturing a substantial market share in its niche!

This could also be wishful thinking on his part. Ves truly couldn't tell whether the Transporter Project would ultimately be worth the time and effort that Juliet spent on its design.

It was fine even if it failed. Juliet would learn valuable lessons from this experience and stand a better chance to succeed in her next attempt.

"I'm curious, Juliet. Why did you opt to design a mech based on a more obscure mech type this time? Why did you forgo the opportunity to design a more popular machine such as a light skirmisher?"

"There are too many light skirmishers on the market." The Penitent Sister mech designer stoically replied. "I do not feel confident enough that my work can capture enough market share as of yet. I still need to make more breakthroughs in my research and design philosophy. I am more comfortable with working on a grenadier mech because there is less pressure."

"I understand."

He truly did. Her strategy was similar to the one he adopted at the start of his career.

While Ves felt confident enough to compete in the bigger leagues, Juliet was still a relative newcomer when it came to designing commercial mechs. It was safer and less stressful for her to start small and slowly work her way up, at least when it came to her own projects.

"We already have the Ferocious Piranha anyway." Gloriana commented. "If Juliet wants to introduce her own light skirmisher to the market, then her main competitor will be us! This will most certainly result in cannibalizing our existing product's market share. The only way this won't happen is if her own interpretation of this mech type is vastly different from ours."

Ves shook his head. "We don't need to worry about that for the time being. Even if it happens in the future, it is not a big deal. If one of our older mech models can't defend its market share against any alternative products, it doesn't deserve to sell as much anymore. I would rather want its replacement to come from the LMC instead of a rival mech company."

This was a rather broadminded perspective and one that he did not see issue with. It was normal for larger mech companies to release multiple different mech lines that had the potential to overlap with each other.

Even though this was rather inefficient, a mech company enjoyed more redundancy as a result. If one mech model fell off, the other one could still cover the same market and keep turning a profit.

However, the Living Mech Corporation had yet to reach the point where it could play this game. It still needed to build up a complete and coherent mech catalog!

After clearing up this matter, Ves turned to the pair of Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone.

"I've heard that both of you want to collaborate on a pair of commercial mech designs, is that right?"

Janassa nodded. "Yes. Both of us possess similar specializations and we are already used to collaborating on many different mech designs over the years. We would like to continue that for our next commercial mech designs as we are most comfortable with working this way."

"I have no problem with that." Ves shrugged. "While I would caution you not to become overly dependent on other mech designers, right now it is more important to make sure that we are able to design as many successful products as possible for this design round. In that sense, it doesn't matter whether the two of you work alone on your own products or if you choose to collaborate on both."

"Thank you for your understanding sir. As for the mechs we have in mind, let me introduce my idea first."

Just like the others, Janassa displayed her draft design on the central projection.

"This… is a bestial mech!"

Ves did not expect one of the mech designers working for him to come up with a bestial mech.

However, when he thought about Janassa Pellier's specialty, he understood that it made sense for her to dabble in non-humanoid mechs.

While humanoid mechs were more versatile in combat due to the ease in which they could carry and wield different weapons, bestial mechs often enjoyed greater advantages in leveraging their strengths due to their more natural combat forms.

Interestingly enough, Janassa opted to design an avian mech.

What stood out from the bird-like mech was that it featured a decent degree of articulation. It possessed a pair of large and sturdy wings that were more designed to attack than to provide thrust.

This was clearly evident due to its sharp edges!

The wings weren't the only weapons. The avian mech also featured a pair of claws that looked like they could pierce or even drill through armored surfaces.

On top of that, the avian mech also possessed a long and sharp beak that could be employed in modest charge attacks.

Overall, Ves could easily see that this avian mech was clearly oriented towards offense. It was not as light as other avian mechs and it looked as if it could be formidable when deployed in attack formations.

"So what is the idea behind this avian mech?"

"The Sharpwing Project is a bird mech that is good at charging and attacking." Janassa explained. "It is a difficult machine to fight at close range because it excels at performing repeated attack runs. Since it can choose from a variety of different weapon systems, it can always find a way to deal effective damage."

This looked like a risky mech to Ves. It did not appear to carry any ranged weapons, so it was entirely dependent on swooping in to strike an opponent with its sharp wings or tearing its claws through a vulnerable weak point.

This could work great if the Sharpwing Project was able to swoop out without encountering any hindrances.

If the way forward was blocked or if it encountered another mishap, then it was likely that the avian mech would fall!

"I can see how your Sharpwing Project can be useful, Janassa, but it doesn't seem to conform to your style." Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "A mech like this relies on momentum rather than pure mechanical might to inflict damage."

"Oh, the Sharpwing Project can still put up a fight even if it is stalled, sir. This alone makes it stand out from most comparable avian mechs on the market." Janassa confidently answered.

"At what cost, though? There are always tradeoffs. This Sharpwing Project of yours doesn't appear to be particularly light or cheap."

"That is true. I needed to make it large and robust enough in order to fulfill its second main function."

"And what is that, Janassa?"

The female Journeyman pointed at the large and frankly oversized flight system mounted on her Sharpwing Project.

"Avian mechs are known for their mobility, and this is no different for my Sharpwing Project. I deliberately chose to equip my work with a flight system that is more usually seen in heavy mechs."

"Doesn't that make this mech too unstable?"

"It is not that bad as it looks. As long as the mech pilot doesn't abuse the flight system, the Sharpwing Project will be able to hold together."

Ves scratched his head. There was something about this mech design that he was missing. The flight system was too large and powerful. He could not understand the full logic behind this choice.

Not only would the flight system exert a lot more stress on the mech frame, it would also expend a lot more fuel and energy when used.

It was also heavier than it needed to be and imposed higher demands on the rest of the mech in order to support its presence.

While Ves had to admit that it could get from A to B a lot faster than many other mechs, was it necessary to make so many compromises?

Janassa grinned and gestured towards Tifi. "The Sharpwing Project only makes sense when it is paired with my friend's Mauler Project."

Tifi Coslone waved her hand.

A new draft design appeared in the central projection, but different from the other times, the Sharpwing Project did not make way this time.

The latest mech design was another bestial mech. This one was a tiger mech, which briefly reminded Ves of his Devil Tiger.

However, it only took a short moment for Ves to realize that Tifi Coslone's approach towards a tiger mech was vastly different!

"This is not a normal tiger mech. It is a heavy tiger mech!"

The size and bulk of this new bestial mech was much more formidable than Ves expected out of a tiger mech. Its thick limbs exuded a lot of strength. They could probably threaten a defensive mech if they were allowed to come close and attack with impunity!

Aside from its powerful limbs, the tiger mech could also devastate any opponents caught within its grasp by utilizing its powerful teeth and maw to tear and bite through its prey!

"The Mauler Project is a tiger mech that I came up with after trying to find a solution against astral beasts and other large targets." Tifi explained. "I know that I am not the only one that is trying to solve this problem, but this is my specific answer. Every part about this tiger mech is designed to inflict massive damage onto any target in front of it, no matter if it is a kilometers-long starship or another mech."

In order to make sure that it was able to stay in a fight long enough to deal all of this damage, the heavy tiger mech was clad in plenty of armor. It was an assault-oriented mech that would not go down easy, that was for certain!

Gloriana frowned when she felt disturbed by its configuration. "There is one problem with the Mauler Project. It isn't fast enough. Compared to its strong limbs and its heavy armor system, its flight system is not powerful enough to catch up to other mechs. It will have to accelerate for an extended period of time in order to get close enough to a distant enemy position. The practicality of this Mauler Project is severely diminished as a result. Wait a second…"

"Did you realize it?" Ves grinned at his wife. "There's a reason why Janassa and Tifi's designs are displayed together. They are combination mechs!"

Combination mechs!

This wasn't the first time that Ves had seen them. He had seen multiple combinations in his life. In fact, he even designed a pair by making it so that the Amaranto could seamlessly mount onto the back of the Shield of Samar.

This was a different approach towards combination mechs!

The Sharpwing Project and the Mauler Project were two different bestial mechs that did not look like they were related to each other on the surface.

However, when Janassa activated a command that caused the image of the avian mech to mount onto the back of the tiger mech, the combination suddenly looked like an enormous tiger with wings!

"What the hell? Can this even work?"