From ship girl to machine god

In addition, she was in a good mood today, and she didn't want to dirty her eyes with dirty things, so she walked towards the drive-in theater next to the motel, planning to watch a night movie so that the night would pass quickly.

Of course, Jade Bird also plans to take this opportunity to sort out his thoughts to determine the next way forward.

And more importantly, after obtaining the resources provided by Mia, she can already upgrade her hull, and she has to figure out how to upgrade next.

This is a top priority for the ship girl. Compared with this, other things can be put aside.

And this is also the reason why Jade Bird is in a good mood today.

You must know that she originally thought that she would have to wait until she overthrew Arasaka's rule in Night City and completed the sun ending in the game and became a new legend in Night City before she could get enough resources to upgrade herself.

But now, everything is ahead of schedule, which is undoubtedly great news for the Blue Bird, and it is also a huge influencing factor.

Because of the increase in Blue Bird's power after the upgrade, and the fact that he will be able to obtain more resources to improve his body, it is enough for Blue Bird to make changes to his original plan.

Chapter 64 Upgrade options

To put it simply, a drive-in theater is just a large screen for showing movies set up on an open space used for parking. Audiences only need to drive into the venue and then sit in the car and watch the movie.

In the country before Bluebird traveled, this was something that was difficult to understand. After all, this country did not have such a special product born under the influence of car culture.

But for Americans, drive-in theaters are a very common thing in their lives.

Therefore, when Jade Bird bought a ticket and entered the venue amidst the weird expression on the conductor's face, he saw a lot of cars parked even late at night.

The blue bird didn't care about this, and jumped to a high platform in the corner of the field, and then sat down.

What was playing on the screen was an unimpressive film. It was probably a film of this era, and it was a low-budget film with no reputation.

After all, Vineyards in Los Santos had the same status as Hollywood in the world before Blue Bird traveled through time.

But Qingniao didn't really come here to watch a movie. She just wanted to find a place where she could concentrate on thinking about her next upgrade route.

After Qingniao completed the upgrade of the three upgradeable modules, she had actually lit up the upgrade option for the next-level hull in her mental core. She only needed to fill in enough material as consumption to complete the upgrade.

Originally, Jade Bird only planned to obtain [-] tons of shipbuilding steel that met the minimum upgrade requirements, and upgrade its body from a fast amphibious landing craft to a larger amphibious landing craft of the next level.

For the company, hundreds of tons of shipbuilding steel is not a problem at all, but in the eyes of ordinary people, this is something they can't get no matter what.

Even if Rogge, the mercenary queen of Night City, has enough resources and channels, it would be difficult to obtain such goods.

You must know that this is hundreds of tons of special steel used in shipbuilding. Although it may not seem worth mentioning for those large ships with a displacement of several thousand tons or tens of thousands of tons, in fact, the amount of steel just piled there is amazing.

When Blue Bird was building its own hull, it had to dig out tens of thousands of tons of metal materials from an entire garbage dump to get its own few hundred tons of mass.

Therefore, Jade Bird did not expect that she could get a lot of steel to upgrade the hull. According to the original plan, she actually targeted the freighter that Adam Hammer used as a warehouse and base, as well as the ship that was used as the background in the game plot. Aboard the Arasaka super aircraft carrier Beluga.

Compared with the laborious collection of materials, it is undoubtedly much more efficient to directly consume the finished ship.

It's just that neither of them is easy to acquire, so Aotori doesn't expect to be able to achieve the goal of upgrading his body before Saburo Arasaka dies.

But now that Jade Bird and Mia have reached an agreement to cooperate, a few hundred tons of steel is no longer a problem, and Mia still gave Jade Bird more than 1000 tons of shipbuilding steel.

This is more than double the number originally estimated by Blue Bird, and undoubtedly provides more possibilities for Blue Bird's hull upgrade.

The originally planned five hundred tons of shipbuilding steel was only enough for Jade Bird to upgrade itself to the level of a large amphibious landing craft. Simply put, it was an upgraded and enlarged version of Jade Bird's current ship type.

The firepower and defense have been enhanced, and it can carry more soldiers and carry equipment, but there is no difference other than that.

After all, amphibious landing craft are designed to transport people and equipment. The battle itself does not require the participation of amphibious landing craft. If you have this time, it is better to make two more trips to transport more soldiers and equipment.

Therefore, Blue Bird's body does not have much armament, and its abilities are mainly used for battlefield suppression and providing some necessary self-defense capabilities.

But if more than 1000 tons of shipbuilding steel are used as upgrade materials, the tonnage of the Bluebird body will instantly approach the two thousand tons level, which is already the tonnage of some small warships.

At this level, there are more upgrade routes for Blue Bird to choose from.

UAV frigates, aircraft-carrying destroyers, tactical support ships, missile frigates, etc., as well as upgraded small amphibious landing ships of the current Bluebird model, and even electronic reconnaissance ships, early warning ships, and hospital ships that completely deviate from the combat route can also be used. choose.

Obviously, so many options made it difficult for Qingniao to choose.

Among these options, each type of ship has its own characteristics and specialization directions, and it also has certain shortcomings and parts that it is not good at dealing with.

Since once the upgrade route is selected, it cannot be changed, and it is impossible to change the ship type, so Jade Bird must be careful in choosing its own upgrade route.

Because just like the upgrade route in the game, it is impossible for a battleship to become an aircraft carrier, so the hull upgrade in the Blue Bird Mind Core is also a single line with no room for regret.

Although there are many branches to choose from, this is just the preferential treatment that Bluebird gets when he upgrades for the first time.

After all, when she arrived in this world, because there were no additional materials to provide other options, the only hull type that Jade Bird could own was an amphibious landing craft. When the first hull upgrade could be carried out, Jade Bird could remodel the hull once. Switched.

After this adjustment, if the hull is upgraded, the treatment will not be so good.

The most she can do is open a new branch when it reaches a certain tonnage, just like the light cruiser can open the aircraft carrier line and the battle line, but once he chooses the battleship or aircraft carrier route, he can't go to the submarine. .

For Qingniao, this will be the most important thing that determines her future career as a ship girl, and it is also the most important choice she will make after becoming a ship girl.

Therefore, Jade Bird had to consider this matter carefully and analyze all the pros and cons before making a choice.

It's just that there are so many different boat types, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, which makes Qade Bird really don't know which one to choose.

It is not impossible to continue to upgrade along the line of amphibious landing craft. The subsequent transformation of amphibious landing craft into aircraft carriers is also a promising upgrade route. However, it is obvious that if we take this route, Jade Bird must consider that it lacks effective protection and needs to rely on escort formations. The problem.

As for other routes... Jade Bird wants to become a battleship. After all, it is a real steel fortress on the sea that integrates offense and defense. No ordinary person can do anything to a battleship. In the battleship era, it is even more popular to say that only a battleship can deal with a battleship. Its power can be seen. A spot.

But the drone is so useful that Qingniao doesn’t want to give up this module that can provide her with great convenience.

And for the world before Jade Bird traveled through, it has become a consensus that aircraft carriers are more useful than battleships.

Faced with a dilemma, Blue Bird is also considering the possibility of upgrading to other ship types...

Chapter 65 Arsenal and Support Ships

Since the internal armed struggle of mankind has escalated from tribal conflicts to military wars, this kind of work has never been able to be conquered by one person or a certain type of military.

In the Cold Weapon Age, there were still the most basic classifications of infantry, cavalry and archers. The infantry also had spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, jumping soldiers, etc., and even the cavalry had different classifications of light, heavy and bow. , it is impossible to conquer the world with one kind of military force.

After entering the era of hot weapons, the division of arms has become more detailed, and not only arms, but also war machines.

There has never been a certain kind of war weapon that can cope with all war situations. Even the two-kicker, which is said to destroy mankind, only relies on its huge destructive power to destroy everything. It cannot be said to be able to cope with all war situations.

In the history of human warfare, there is definitely no type of arms or weapons that can cope with all situations, but there are still weapons or types of weapons that can cope with most situations.

For example, the most common infantry, whether in the cold weapon era or the hot weapon era, they have always been the mainstream of the army, but their weapons and equipment have changed with the development of history and technology over thousands of years.

There are also warships that can cope with most battlefields, and that is the battleship that was once the absolute king in naval battles.

During World War I and the early stages of World War II, battleships were the absolute kings of naval battles. Even at the end of World War II and even during the Cold War, battleships were still active on the battlefield.

It can be said that when a maritime steel fortress with no shortcomings in protection, firepower, and mobility appears on the battlefield, it is enough to determine the outcome of a war.

Judging from the scale and size of a battleship, it is even equivalent to the firepower output of an artillery regiment on land. It is very easy to understand what impact such a steel monster can have on the war.

Only in wars where the opponent also has battleships, or the scale of the war is so large that it exceeds the upper limit of a single battleship, can the battleship be unable to cope with the situation.

As for the world before the Blue Bird time travel, the aircraft carriers that were blown into the sky did not have the powerful battlefield survivability of battleships, or in other words, once the aircraft carriers were alone, they would be sunk.

A large part of the aircraft carrier's powerful combat capabilities relies on the powerful battlefield advantages brought by the deployment of the entire aircraft carrier battle group. It requires the cooperation of a variety of different ships to ensure the combat effectiveness of the entire aircraft carrier battle group.

Although battleships have been swept off the stage of history by various ever-changing weapons at the end of World War II, this is only a problem of human technological development, not a problem of the concept of battleships.

Moreover, as the mode of war continues to change, when the era moves from combat in the atmosphere of the planet's surface to combat in space, battleships are better able to adapt to the space environment, and aircraft carriers have become useless.

When on the surface of the planet, due to the existence of the curvature of the planet, as well as the shielding of the atmospheric environment and the problem of weapon strike range, the aircraft carrier can launch carrier-based aircraft beyond the visual range of the enemy target to conduct beyond visual range strikes, demonstrating its powerful combat capabilities. ability.

But in space, without the obstruction of the planet's atmosphere, the combat radius of the past few hundred kilometers is as close as dancing face to face. After the aircraft carrier's carrier-based aircraft lost their concealment, they directly became the target of anti-aircraft fire. .

Just like the famous Mariana Turkey Hunt at the end of World War II, even aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft will be overturned by old antiques such as battleships once they fail to keep up with the development of the times.

On the contrary, battleships, because they emphasize their own protection and firepower, can still play a powerful role even in the space age.

But similarly, if the carrier-based aircraft has a jump engine that can jump into hyperspace, or has sufficient stealth performance, then the aircraft carrier still has sufficient battlefield status.

However, the weak protection of the aircraft carrier itself is still its biggest weakness. If it is accompanied by a fleet, there will be no problem. However, it is difficult for a single-ship combat aircraft carrier to fight against a battleship that has entered the combat radius.

Especially in space, without the influence of planetary curvature, gravity and air resistance, how exaggerated the range of a battleship's artillery can be is a question that can be imagined with your toes.

These principles are not difficult or complicated. Qingniao himself can figure it out, and the military think tanks and scientific researchers who formulated the Nantianmen plan certainly can't think of it either.

Therefore, in the upgrade route of the mental core, both aircraft carriers and battleships are designed for space operations, and the various shortcomings of aircraft carriers and battleships have also been repaired within the scope of technology.

At the very end of the upgrade route that Bluebird can see, although the aircraft carriers and battleships still follow their original concepts and their combat methods are the same, they themselves have changed.

Among them, there are three directions for the final upgrade of the aircraft carrier. One is to carry a large number of carrier-based aircraft as the main combat method and cooperate with the escort fleet to perform tasks. It follows the combat positioning and ideas of the traditional aircraft carrier. It is suitable for large fleet operations, but not suitable for independent operations.

The other is similar to the idea of ​​​​the Kiev-class aircraft carrier cruiser developed in the former Soviet Union. It emphasizes the operational capabilities of a single ship and has strong firepower and survivability. The carrier-based aircraft is only a supplement to the combat method.

As for the last one, it has almost taken off the shackles of the aircraft carrier and turned into another new type of warship.

Although it is also equipped with carrier-based aircraft and has good self-defense firepower, these are not its biggest features, because the name of this new type of warship is called a comprehensive support ship.

Although it sounds similar to a comprehensive supply ship among surface ships, it is essentially two completely different things.

The comprehensive support ship is essentially a type of aircraft carrier, but it is equipped with powerful industrial modules. It can obtain raw materials by collecting minerals, and then use the equipped production lines to produce various weapons and equipment, carrier-based aircraft, and small frigates.

To put it simply, as long as this kind of warship has enough resources, it can produce a small escort formation on its own. In addition, it can also be responsible for colonial development and construction, conventional weapons production, etc. It can be called a generalist.

Compared with aircraft carriers, the development of battleships does not require so much effort. There is always only one route, but the weapons they carry become very complex, and eventually they become a battleship, but it can be divided into new categories. Battleship - integrated arsenal ship.

Compared with the support ship, the arsenal ship does not have so many functions. It has only one position, and that is to completely tear apart all enemies with powerful firepower.

Therefore, in addition to an ammunition production line and an escort drone carrying module, the arsenal ship is full of various weapons.

The comprehensive arsenal ship and the comprehensive support ship are the two upgrade plans that Bluebird selected that are most suitable for her after analyzing and comparing all the ships included in the Nantianmen Project carried in the mental core.

But she was still a little undecided on which one to choose between the two options.

Testimonials

After some time, it’s time for this book to be put on the shelves.

In fact, the editor told me last week that it could be put on the shelves, but at that time I wanted to collect thousands of items, so I postponed it until this week, but the collection only has [-], which is really a bit embarrassing.

Speaking of which, this book is probably the one with the worst performance since I wrote it. When it was at its best, it had [-] collections and was on the shelves.

But after writing books for three or four years, I found that I always became more and more irritable as I wrote. I became less and less interested in the so-called hot topics and popular writing methods. I couldn't read the so-called hot books at all, and I didn't know. Is it my fault or the book's fault.

Catering to the market or writing about your own interests is a fatal question for people who write books full-time.

After going round and round, I finally decided to write something I like and want to write.

Firstly, I don’t have to worry about life, and secondly, even if I write about the things I like, although I do have less money, it’s not so much that I can’t support myself.