The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

This number wasn't ideal, but like the five million killed earlier, it was the best the existing defenses on Maxim could do.

But in other words... they still have to face at least another 24 million greenskins.

None of the senior leaders in charge were optimistic about this number.

The resource zone's refining plants had been operating at full capacity for some time. Besides production and orc raids, any remaining active labor force on the planet was devoted to mining the resource zone. The collected resources were roughly processed and quickly transported to the secondary hive for storage.

Such preparations improved the defenders' situation. Unlike before, when they had to hold onto the resource areas, the current reserves ensured that even if the outer resource areas were completely destroyed, Li Ang and his men would still be able to defend their positions and clear the countryside.

But twenty-four million greenskins were too desperate. Even if they held onto the hive with sufficient resources, Hayes believed they could not hold out for more than three months.

The logic analyzer told Leon that Hayes's judgment was correct.

At least that's the case without considering reinforcements.

Although there should be other Imperial Fist sub-regiments that have responded to the call of the Final Wall and gathered here from thousands of miles away, no one knows when they will arrive.

It was impossible for Leon to include the vague and illusory reinforcements in the constants he considered.

He had to come up with a new strategy.

As an oil man, the only solution he can come up with is new technology.

"I call him the Thunder God Mecha. What do you think of this thing?"

Facing Christina, who was invited by him, Leon pointed to the large mecha in front of him - this was his latest creation.

This eighteen-meter-tall mech was clad in thick adamantium and ceramite, its armor plates a dark gray metallic texture distinct from those of the Titans, clearly cast directly from a template provided by a holographic solid-state mold. Its rugged appearance evoked a mechanical aura not often found on Imperial equipment plastered with inscriptions.

The overall outline of the mecha is an angular square, and the overall power supply is provided by the plasma reactor that is already very mature in the Warhammer world. The plasma reactor also powers the two plasma cannons on the arms of this mecha.

This plasma cannon from StarCraft wasn't exactly high-tech, and its principle wasn't as advanced as the plasma gun from Ryza in Leon's hand. However, its size and manufacturability made up for most of its shortcomings.

In addition to the two plasma cannons, the Thor's shoulder armor is equipped with four 250mm cannons on the back. These cannons can usually serve as anti-aircraft firepower, and when necessary, they can also be slid onto the shoulder armor to provide a barrage of fire covering lightly armored targets on the ground.

As for the place where the missile launcher should have been installed, Leon stuffed a shield generator into it.

This shield generator temporarily uses the energy shield technology that Leon has mastered. Although the characteristic of the energy shield is that it can defend against everything, its energy consumption is also extremely alarming.

Currently, this problem can be ignored when fighting on the Forge World. However, if we are to fight a series of bad battles, it is obvious that the Void Shield, which can only intercept high-speed weapons and energy weapons, is more suitable for the local customs of the Warhammer world.

But unfortunately, there was no void shield production line on Maxim, so Leon could only settle for the next best thing.

At least he had created a heavy-duty platform that was between the Warhound and Reaver classes, and could handle the same firepower as a Warlord against non-heavily armored targets. Other improvements could be left to future considerations, just like siege tanks.

The reason Thor can pack firepower comparable to a Warlord-class Titan at this size is his compactness.

This experimental Thor cobbled together by Leon did not have a passage for crew members to pass through, unlike the Titan. Instead, there was only a slightly protruding part at the front, which was protected by a tempered glass cover and contained a small single-person cockpit.

Christina, who was invited to watch, remained noncommittal: "It doesn't look like a human creation."

PS: I just noticed the comments about the orcs in the comments section today. First of all, thank you for your careful consideration. I occasionally read some official novels, but I am not an orc player and have never read the orc military book, so my understanding of orcs is indeed not that deep.

Chapter 102: Our Warhammer style.

"That's because the people here are too superstitious."

Leon was merciless in his complaints, and although he understood why humans in the Warhammer world had reached this point, this did not prevent him from thinking that the aesthetics of the Adeptus Mechanicus were a bit too extreme.

Does that hunched-back mecha really look good?

Look at what he came up with, this is pure science fiction!

"Also, the cockpit is too small, and there are no passages inside. I don't know how to operate this mecha. Compared to the Titan, this thing looks more like an enlarged version of the Knight Mecha..."

Christina continued to give sharp comments, but these comments were interrupted directly by Li Ang.

"That's because He only needs a driver."

This statement obviously startled Christina. She turned her head to look at Leon, her eyes filled with surprise.

"It's actually the same as the Knight Mecha? How did you do it?"

While many Knight mechs share the same style as Titans, their most significant difference is size. Aside from the now-discontinued Rapier-class Titan, the largest Knight mech is only comparable to the Warhound-class Titan.

In this comparison, it seems that the Titan is completely defeated by the Knight Mech, but in fact, both sides have their own advantages.

A Knight Mech only needs a pilot who can afford a Machine Soul to operate - although there are very few Knights who can meet this condition, it is much more relaxed than the Titan, which requires several professional Titan Order members to maintain operation.

Even the smallest Warhound-class Titans required seven or eight crew members to operate in coordination. But this mechanical behemoth, only slightly smaller than a Predator-class Titan, only needed one pilot?

In fact, this Thor mecha is derived from Titan technology.

The larger the drawings, the more effort it takes to reproduce them. After the battle with Maxim, Leon recovered a lot of wreckage of Warhound-class Titans and Predator-class Titans from the spaceport.

The process of dismantling the wreckage gave him a lot of inspiration, but he worked hard and only completed this powerful weapon after fighting the greenskins.

But he encountered obstacles in the process of localizing the Thor mecha.

In the Terran Empire of another world, those humans who didn't live in the cesspool of the Warp naturally mastered highly intelligent and integrated technology. The military manifestation of this technology was that even large mechas only needed a single pilot.

The driver only needs to give the most direct instructions, and most operations will be taken care of by the assistance system.

But this is Warhammer 40K, where intelligence is the biggest taboo. Semi-intelligent systems that cross the red line are also valuable assets that the oil men never reveal.

If Leon wants to maintain the characteristic of the Thor mecha that only has one pilot, his only choice is to imitate the Knight mecha.

He covered the entire body of the Thor mecha with the most basic electronic processors, and then concentrated the signals of these electronic processors into the cockpit.

These signals are ultimately processed by the pilot, who is connected to the cockpit via a neural link. The pilot uses his or her brain as the computer for the entire mecha, allowing him or her to control it.

But this is precisely the main reason why the Knight Mech can’t do it – the larger the mech, the more data it needs to process.

There is an upper limit to the computing power of wetware. If the size is not restricted, the massive amount of feedback signals when operating the mecha will burn the driver's brain.

The size of the War Dog class is already the limit for most Knight pilots, let alone the larger Predator class?

What's more, there are so-called machine spirits in the Warhammer world...

The Machine Soul is one of the underlying codes of the Mechanicus. This mysterious entity can indeed protect the machinery itself from invasions of the Warp and the chaos of the physical laws of the real universe. This also makes the magic of the Mechanic Priests truly effective.

If they lose the protection of the Machine Soul, the Deputy Inspector of Casting who was previously beheaded by Leon will be the best reference for the Mechanical Priests when facing the power of the Warp.

But for those who need to connect their nerves directly to the machine, the existence of the machine soul will also increase the mental pressure they need to bear when operating the machine.

This mental pressure combined with the huge amount of computing required to operate a large mecha makes it almost impossible for this 18-meter-long Thor mecha to be operated by a single person.

But if we were to build a massive cockpit like the Titan, and then create a maintenance passageway for over twenty crew members to move back and forth in the Thor, the mecha would have to be larger, and the manufacturing process would be more complicated, with parts having to be custom-made rather than modularized...

At that time, all the problems that Titan has will be reflected in Thor one by one.

So what Leon made was not the Thor mecha, but a replica of the Titan.

Things like that have no meaning to Leon.

This is also the reason why Leon found Christina.

Christina is a biological priest who specializes in brain science and has become a Titan pilot. Her success seems to be due to her unique technique that can reduce the pressure from the machine spirit.

Judging from previous battles, Christina seemed to be very comfortable controlling the Warlord-class Titan. Unlike other pilots, she wasn't affected by the Machine Spirit.

If I could get this technology...

Leon said nothing, just staring at Christina who asked the question.

Christina, who originally wanted to further ask Leon how he managed to operate such a large mecha alone, immediately understood what Leon meant.

Wow, no wonder he invited me to watch, it turns out he wanted to rob me?

“That’s a multi-thinking technique.”

Christina made no secret of it, but she was clearly unwilling to elaborate: "The principle is to separate different personalities to share the mental stress, and then eventually combine the memories of different personalities to operate."

This technology sounds like something the Alpha Legion would use.

Li Ang seemed to be lost in thought, but as he was in urgent need of developing his military, he had no intention of changing his mind: "This technology can indeed help alleviate mental stress..."

"There's also the risk of personality disorder. And even if you can alleviate the Machine Spirit's mental stress, how do you plan to solve the computational complexity issue?"

"Just modify the pilot and implant an auxiliary computer in his brain."

"Even if we keep the maneuverability of this mecha to a minimum to reduce the pressure, continuous high-intensity combat will eventually burn out the pilot's brain."

"So I also have a super cooling system."

The carrier platform sent Leon and Christina to Thor's cockpit. Leon called the cockpit and showed Christina his unique technology from another world.

An operating system inherited from the Armored Core.

The humanoid combat weapons in the armored core are extremely maneuverable. In order to combat the G-force pressure on the driver during high maneuverability, their humanoid mecha cockpits have an external fluid circulation system.

The system can pump fluids out and pump them back in, reducing the stress on the driver.

But in the Warhammer universe, what circulates here doesn't necessarily have to be body fluids, it can also be coolant.

Leon summoned a modified mecha servant and demonstrated this cycle to Christina - the other party's brain was connected to the mecha as wetware, and the high computing pressure caused his brain temperature to rise sharply.

But the body's fluid circulation system pumped coolant into his semi-mechanized body, which took away excess heat and kept his brain at a warning line close to melting but not actually burning.

"As long as it's combined with your technique for reducing the pressure on the Machine Spirit."

Li Ang announced, "This mecha can truly be operated by one person."

Christina stared blankly at the servitor strapped to the cockpit. Although it was just a demonstration, she could already imagine what it would be like for the pilot of this mecha inside.

They would be tied to the cockpit, enduring the torture of a data deluge and the risk of split personality while operating this massive mecha, their only solace being the coolant that replaced their blood...

Where did this demon engine come from?

But she could indeed see that if she was willing to assist, they could indeed create a large mecha that could be piloted by a single person!

The thought excited her. As a former mechanical priest who was also fascinated by innovation, she had already begun to imagine how such a mecha would wreak havoc on the battlefield.

But she kept a tight poker face, trying to look more serious: "What can I get in return?"

"The only reward I can give you is that you won't be alone anymore."

Leon's meaning was very clear. As long as Christina agreed to share technology, these created Thors would be added to her Titan Legion, which only had a half-crippled Warlord-class Titan left.

Christina was a little surprised. She just wanted to find a reason to convince herself, but she didn't expect Leon to be so direct.

Even though this means Leon has plans for her Titan Legion...

She was very satisfied with Li Ang's answer: "Deal."

Leon held Christina's hand, and the last obstacle to the machine being put into actual combat was resolved.

The Thor mecha, which is piloted by only one person, is obviously not as effective in combat as a Titan of the same size but with more than 30 professional crew members.

The attempt to cram as much firepower as possible onto a smaller platform also resulted in the Thor's structural strength and flexibility being inferior to the Titan's.

Its defensive performance is far inferior to that of the Titan, and since its maneuverability has been cut to maintain the advantage of having a single pilot, it is impossible for it to engage in close combat boxing like the Titan.

But it's easy to mass-produce and has low driver requirements - these advantages more than make up for any problems.

Li Ang cut out a series of driver protection measures such as dampers and anti-heat kinetic energy nets, which greatly accelerated the manufacturing efficiency of Thor.

Even at current production levels, the modular castings coming off Maxim's assembly line can produce a Thor mecha like this within a year.

If Li Ang were to personally oversee the production, this time could be shortened to just over a month. This was primarily due to Li Ang's personal involvement in production, which eliminated many of the necessary consecration steps even for modular castings.

But even if we calculate it based on the original efficiency of the Mechanicus, where one has to kowtow to produce a part, one year is still much faster than other forging worlds where it takes decades to produce a Warlord-class unit.

If the opponent can be defeated with firepower and numbers, why must the problem be solved in close combat, which requires flexibility?

Leon was also not worried about handing over the Thor mecha to Christina for command.

The production technology of this mecha is currently only in his hands, and Christina can only get supplements from him.

Although Christina and Leon participated in the Maxim Rebellion and the Greenskin Defense War, to avoid the risk of subsequent Martian prosecution, Lifar was nominally Maxim's Director. The "Gate of Destiny" Titan Legion, with only one Warlord-class Titan remaining, was still considered Maxim's Titan Legion.

Maxim actually belongs to Leon now, so he can naturally dispatch the Titan Legion belonging to this forging world.

But this place was too close to Mars after all. Perhaps he would have to consider migrating Maxim's technology and resources to other planets, just like the sages who had previously evacuated Maxim.

But other things are easy to take away, but a Titan legion is not so easy.

If you want to make a Titan Legion completely powerful, you must first give them some sweet rewards.

As for now...

"This mech still has many areas that can be improved and tested, but it's already usable. When the war breaks out again, we'll have at least two Thors ready to deliver to your Titan Legion. If you wish, we can also modify the Thor's arm and temporarily attach it to your Warlord-class Titan."

Li Ang explained his future plans to Jiandan Christina.

The Thor mech possessed boundless potential. This massive combat weapon was currently only a barely combat-ready prototype. Leon envisioned recruiting a group of soulless individuals to pilot the mech. This way, the mech would be able to operate even in the ravages of the Warp's energy without the protection of a machine spirit. This would also reduce the mental strain on the pilot, allowing him to equip the Thor with more weapons.