Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 62 No one knows Gundam better than me!

"Brother, there were so many people around just now that I knelt down in front of you. I was blind and didn't recognize you. I offended you. I apologize!"

Captain Conte did not feel embarrassed at all. In fact, he finally realized at this moment that the difference between an ace pilot and an ordinary pilot was not just on the surface. A deep sense of loss swept over him and everyone present.

For the captain, the loss of 20,000 yuan was no longer important. He was convinced of his defeat by such an opponent.

"It's okay, it's okay. Get up, get up. This little failure is nothing. There will be more in the future. You can't kneel every day!"

Macharius quickly turned around and helped the other person up, and at the same time, he once again said cruel words that broke his heart.

And Captain Conte even had to say thank you.

Then, Macharius returned to his seat, and at this time, the room, which seemed to be frozen, finally began to whisper.

"Hey, buddy, here's five hundred bucks. Let's switch seats!"

Yudin, who was sitting next to Macharius, was suddenly patted on the shoulder, and then a federal captain holding a notebook came over.

"I have a question and want to ask the boss for advice!"

"I'll give you a thousand!"

"One thousand and five!"

"Stop arguing, I'll give you five thousand! Brother, teach me first!"

The seat next to Macharius immediately became popular. Many Federal Army reserve pilots who had questions about their own operations came over, hoping to exchange seats with the Red Dragon team so that they could ask Macharius for advice.

As for why he had to ask Macharius for advice instead of the technical staff, it was naturally because the technical staff built mobile suits, not drove them. Even if they knew how to drive, they might not be able to drive as well as Macharius.

In other words, right now, Brother Krini is the one in the whole room who knows the most about Mobile Suit!
The members of the Red Dragon team were naturally happy to make a small profit. After all, they didn't have to worry about missing out on classes. As the captain of the Red Dragon team, Macharius had always been giving them special training.

"Krini!"

While Macharius was patiently guiding the students around him, Lieutenant Patrice quietly interrupted his explanation.

"What's the matter, sir?"

"No, no, no, just call me Patrice, Colonel Carter, I want to see you!"

The lieutenant spoke in a low voice with an extremely humble attitude.

"I understand. I'll be right there after I finish this question!"

"No hurry, no hurry. Um, let me listen too!"

The lieutenant gave up pretending. He would definitely continue to teach new pilots, and now was the time to learn some techniques! He didn't expect to be as skilled as Macharius, but as long as he could learn something and give a little shock to the new recruits, that would be good enough.

Then, Macharius climbed the stairs on the side of the wall and knocked on the door of the second floor.

"Please come in!"

Seeing Macharius, Colonel Carter's eyes were filled with uncontrollable excitement.

"Well done, kid. You know, it took me three months to open that thing, but you only took seven days. How about a competition with me?"

"Colonel Carter, these are mobile suits, not boxing gloves!"

Timley interrupted the old man dissatisfiedly. Before, the other party even wanted to dance ballet with the prototype steel cannon, but unfortunately he himself couldn't dance, so he didn't succeed.

"Student Macarius Skrini, I'm the project leader of the RX program. Tim Ray, I've watched your driving performance just now. I'd like to ask you if you have any similar driving experience before?"

"No, sir!"

Macharius looked at the man in front of him. He was tall and thin, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses. He looked like a model teacher. No matter how you looked at him, he didn't look like a weapons designer.

But thinking about his son, Amuro Ray, known as the White Devil, whose incredible military record was remarkable, and who was the true destined protagonist of Gundam, who had gone to the battlefield at the age of sixteen and made the Zeon people cry for their parents, Macharius knew that he must not judge a person by his appearance.

"Is that so? That's really amazing!"

Timley pushed up his glasses and said.

"Then I think that starting tomorrow, Cadet Macharius's simulation courses will no longer be required. What do you think, Colonel?"

"Of course you can, but isn't it a bit early to start piloting the machine right away?"

Carter said suspiciously.

"For others, I guess so, but for Macharius, the simulator course is just a waste of time!"

Timley was a little anxious. Although they already had a direction for the new mobile suit design and had done a lot of data calculations, they also needed a lot of data about the test pilots. The prototype steel cannon had been tested hundreds of times before, and the simulation cabins used by the test pilots and the machines parked in the hangar were all improved and designed based on the previous data.

Therefore, Timley now urgently needs a strong pilot to act as a guinea pig to verify and test his design.

"Well, then, what do you think, Creene?"

"I have no opinion!"

Macharius was just waiting to drive a real mobile suit, so how could he refuse at this moment?

Colonel Carter then announced the order to all test pilots, and at the end, he did not forget to deliberately ask if anyone had any objections.

As a result, everyone below shook their heads.

"Colonel, can we observe? This way, everyone can be more motivated while training in the simulator!"

Some people also made humble requests below.

"Okay, I'll let you see enough!"

Colonel Carter had originally planned to pull out the prototype steel cannon for everyone to see when everyone was halfway through the simulator training. It didn't matter if he pulled it out earlier, as it would just allow everyone to see the difference in their strength!
So, the next morning, without even Patrice gathering the team, everyone gathered around Macharius and came to the hangar after breakfast, quietly waiting for the arrival of the technicians.

"I wish these guys could be so proactive when cleaning!" Colonel Carter waved his hand unhappily, and then the thickened explosion-proof door of the hangar slowly opened to both sides. Later, when the sunlight projected by the colonial satellite penetrated deep into the hangar, everyone saw the huge humanoid mecha standing quietly in the depths of the hangar.

Then, under the gaze of everyone, Macharius changed into a gravity-resistant suit and jumped onto the elevator next to the pier with his helmet in hand.

"We only have 20 percent of the propellant installed. Be careful when maneuvering!"

Before entering the cockpit, the ground crew on the side did not forget to give instructions to Macharius.

"Okay, I'll take note! Thank you very much!"

Then, Macharius closed the narrow hatch, and his world was reduced to this tiny, dark space where he couldn't even stretch his legs.

Insert the key and power on!
It’s still the same process as in the simulation cabin, but the real aircraft will be very different from the simulation cabin. For example, the vibration when the aircraft starts will be stronger.

Then, several screens in front of Macharius lit up. At that time, mobile suits could not have the full-circle spherical cockpits that were later developed. The pilot's information perception ability was relatively poor. Whether obtaining information or launching attacks, he could only rely on the several electronic screens in front of him.

But this is already pretty good. Compared with the Type 61's combat compartment, the Gundam's is more advanced.

"System detection completed, requesting dispatch!"

"Roger that, Red Dragon One, cleared to go!"

Then, the mechanical structures that fixed the Guncannon loosened one after another, and the piers used to help ground crew members maintain the body also unfolded to both sides.

Then, all that appeared in front of Macharius was a flat plain.

Macharius in the cockpit casually turned on the communication speaker of the machine, and then shouted out the line he had always missed.

"Macarius Scrinni, Prototype Steel Cannon, attack!"

Then, the tall machine slowly moved forward and headed towards the hangar door.

"Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Outside the hangar door, the test pilots got their first glimpse of the full appearance of the weapon they were about to come into contact with. The steel structure was over ten meters tall, as tall as a building. Every time it took a step, the heavy sound of it landing on the ground exploded in everyone's ears.

Then, Macharius operated the machine to perform some simple actions in front of the hangar door, such as short-distance running and jumping. Because the propellant was not added too much, the distance he controlled the machine to jump was relatively limited, but it was still tens of meters.

Macharius estimated that if the full propellant was ejected at full power, the machine could jump out a distance of even hundreds of meters.

Look at this thing again. It can even reach a speed of 67 kilometers per hour when running at full speed (self-set, the official setting of Zaku's speed is 88 kilometers per hour). Compared with the Type 61, it is not a little bit faster. Macharius can only sigh.

The era of tanks is over!
After simply driving for more than half an hour, Macharius completed his warm-up. Then, he parked the Guncannon back in the hangar and climbed out of the cockpit.

"How does it feel?"

Several ground staff looked at the sweaty Macharius and asked with concern.

"It's terrible, this thing is just a piece of shit!"

Macharius took off his helmet, looked at the Guncannon behind him, and spoke bluntly.

His words made several technicians who were busy copying data pause.

"Student Krini, can you explain the reason in detail?"

Tim Lei also heard the other party's comments, which hurt him a little as he always had a good self-image. However, with the attitude of never stopping learning, he still hoped to get some valuable feedback.

"First, the aircraft's operating system has a high latency, which would be extremely critical on the battlefield. Second, the balance is also a problem. Didn't you conduct dynamic balance tests? The weight on both sides of the aircraft is uneven, and the center of gravity is too high. Third, the operational feedback is very stiff, completely different from the simulation cabin. Fourth, it's still a problem with the aircraft's output. The power reactor is too low..."

Macharius showed no mercy and directly pointed out everything he thought was wrong.

"This, this, this..."

After listening to Macharius's sharp comments, Dr. Timley suddenly felt that the machine he designed was useless, which even made him have deep self-doubt.

"Can I really design a mobile suit?"

Of course, he was a doctor after all, so it was impossible for him to lose his faith in Taoism just because of a few words. Timre quickly adjusted himself and wrote down all the questions raised by Macharius. These were all extremely valuable reference experiences.

"Well, if you have any other suggestions, please feel free!"

"Oh, yes, I forgot that!"

Macharius pointed to the cockpit of the Guncannon.

"If we consider the teaching issue, I suggest changing the cockpit to a two-person cabin, one for the instructor and the other for the student!"

“Plus, there’s the issue of visibility from the cockpit!”

"Okay, okay, any more?"

"That's all for now. Let me think about the rest!"

"Don't worry, don't worry. Take your time to think about it and have a good rest. We will conduct the weapon test later!"

Afterwards, a group of technicians and military police brought Macharius a recliner and blanket, as well as energy drinks for restoring his strength.

Then, after resting for more than half an hour, Macharius once again boarded the prepared Guncannon, picked up the attached 60mm Gatling gun and the additional shoulder gun and missile launch pod, and came to the shooting range.

After test-firing each weapon, Macharius began his comments again.

This time, Timre even pulled all his men over. They sat on the bench and watched Macharius, who was surrounded by them, explaining the problems he had discovered in a constantly opening and closing accordion-playing posture.

"The 60mm cannon has poor damage capabilities, and its ammunition belt depletes too quickly. I recommend against using it as a primary weapon. The shoulder cannon is too heavy, and the automatic loading mechanism will worsen the balance of the aircraft. My suggestion is to either install two cannons and adjust the aircraft to ensure balance, or not install any. There are many ways to increase firepower, so why not just a larger caliber weapon?"

"Also, if it's for protection, I think we can also learn from the Zeon and add an extra shield. That way, the machine can hold up the shield while firing!"

"At the same time, we also need to consider the possible outbreak of close combat. It is also necessary to design a portable close combat weapon!"

After hearing this, Timre was sure that what Macharius said was true. This guy really understood mobile suits. At this moment, he even wanted to persuade him to stop being a test pilot and learn from him how to design mobile suits!
(End of this chapter)