Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1941 Equipment Inspection

"Your Majesty, please take a look."

Upon arriving at the location, following Qin Fen's directions, Zhou Xu's gaze fell upon the Ripper mech parked beside the testing ground.

As Zhou Xu's gaze swept over the Ripper mech, at first glance, he couldn't really tell the difference between this Ripper mech and the previous one.

It wasn't until Qin Fen told him that this was a new mecha built by their project team.

After Qin Fen said that, Zhou Xu looked at it carefully and it was true.

The previous time, because it was a modification and adjustment based on the original goblin mech, the whole mech had a distinctly patched-up and cobbled-together feel.

It looks like a junk truck cobbled together from scrap car parts in a junk auto repair shop...

Although this mech was also covered in dust and mud from testing, it didn't have that feeling, because it was a newly built piece of equipment.

Qin Fen, who was standing on the sidelines, couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

After the previous test machine was destroyed in an accident, they had many new ideas and made optimizations and adjustments while building a new and improved Ripper mech from scratch.

From this perspective, it can be considered a blessing in disguise.

Otherwise, if production starts directly, and the first batch of Ripper mechs is deployed to the troops for training, these problems will be discovered during the training process, and then adjustments and upgrades will be needed.

The losses from that back and forth could be huge.

Because every adjustment and upgrade often means that the production line also needs to be adjusted and upgraded accordingly.

As always, the test was conducted by dwarf pilots flying the Ripper mechs.

Over the course of several months, the dwarf pilot's mech piloting skills became more proficient. In his hands, the Ripper mech seemed to transform into a highly mobile mechanical beast, performing various extreme maneuvers on the test track.

Drifting through corners is just basic skill; later on, he even started drifting and changing direction continuously.

At this moment, Zhou Xu fully realized the difference between goblin and dwarf pilots.

You could say that goblins are exceptionally talented, quick-witted, and agile in driving machinery, but dwarf drivers are brave!
To give a simple example, the dwarf driver previously performed continuous drifting and changing direction at maximum speed.

If it were a goblin driver, they would at most perform an emergency drift change at maximum speed, but they would never dare to drift change direction continuously.

They were afraid the mechs would tip over, and also afraid the mechs would malfunction due to the intensity of the operation.

Under such extreme conditions, if the mech malfunctions, the pilot's chances of survival are virtually nil.

And this is indeed the case.

It's important to know that when the dwarf mech pilot was maneuvering the Ripper mech and performing continuous drifting and changing direction at maximum speed, Zhou Xu clearly saw that one of the track wheels had already lifted into the air.

They relied entirely on extreme maneuvering to maintain the mechs in a delicate balance; in this state, any accident could lead to the destruction of the mechs and the loss of life.

But the dwarf pilots showed no fear whatsoever, gripping the control sticks tightly and going for it. In their eyes, there was no fear of death, only a desire to push the Ripper mech to its limits.

During this process, Qin Fen also made a few appropriate explanations...

"We have upgraded and strengthened the quality of all the mech parts. As it stands, a healthy Ripper mech is fully capable of withstanding this level of operation."

Of course, despite saying that, Qin Fen couldn't help but glance at the Ripper mech that was roaring wildly in the arena every now and then.

At the same time, I was also having some doubts...

Isn't this guy being a bit too arrogant?

He wasn't lying; from a performance and data perspective, there are absolutely no issues. Furthermore, multiple tests have already verified this.

But with many things, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Malfunctions are inherently a matter of probability; who can say that something is 100% guaranteed to be problem-free?
During this time, Zhou Xu, who was unaware of what Qin Fen was thinking, took the reports and lists from the other party, glanced at them, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good, let's do it this way. We'll go to the Ministry of Finance to apply for funding to set up a production line, and the first batch will be..."

At this point, Zhou Xuduo pondered for a moment.

"Let's build ten units first and let the relevant troops train on them."

Considering the current scale of the Great Zhou Dynasty, ten Ripper mechs are undoubtedly far too few.

But Zhou Xu also had his own considerations.

We cannot simply equip the entire army with a piece of equipment just because it has been developed.

If things continue like this, the government's budget will explode in no time, and Song Jinyu will have to hang herself in a heartbeat, dying right there in front of you.

From the perspective of their Great Zhou Dynasty, the Ripper mech was, after all, a new piece of equipment.

Let's build ten units first to test the waters, and then distribute them among the various units. That should be enough for the drivers to use in their daily training.

During daily training, various problems will inevitably arise.

Based on the feedback received, the mechs will inevitably need to be optimized and adjusted.

This optimization and adjustment phase will likely continue for a long time.

Because their Great Zhou's current level of technology is constantly improving.

The Ripper mechs, which seem advanced now, might be outdated or even obsolete given their technological level three to five years from now.

Taking these factors into account, if you build a hundred or two hundred units in the first batch, you'll be in for a world of trouble when it comes time to optimize and upgrade them.

The process of getting this new equipment from initial investment to widespread adoption across the entire military is not so simple. It will take at least two or three years, and three to five years is not out of the question.

After confirming the Ripper mech project, Zhou Xu turned around and went to the adjacent test field to check on the status of the latest heavy machine gun.

Needless to say, this heavy machine gun was an optimized and upgraded version of the original goblin heavy machine gun, adapted to the size and specifications of the Great Zhou dwarf soldiers.

The adjustments are basically complete now.

On the testing ground, a dwarf soldier was firing wildly at a heavy machine gun.

Putting everything else aside, its firing efficiency is indeed higher than that of the dwarves' hand-cranked heavy machine guns. With the increased rate of ammunition discharge, while it is more expensive, its power is certainly also greater.

However, Zhou Xu's previous concerns did indeed exist.

That is, the dwarven machine gunners who have become accustomed to hand-cranked heavy machine guns and have even developed muscle memory for them will find it very difficult to use this latest heavy machine gun if they are suddenly put into use.

Simply put, their original firing rhythm was completely disrupted, which made them somewhat flustered when operating this new heavy machine gun.

However, if you recruit a dwarf recruit directly, train him from scratch, and skip the hand-cranked heavy machine gun, letting him use this new type of heavy machine gun directly, then this problem will no longer exist.

Weapons will inevitably become more and more automated, and hand-cranked heavy machine guns will eventually be phased out; this is the general trend of technological development.

"No problem, let's start mass production."

(End of this chapter)