Chapter 183 Cangyuan Patrol Frigate
Upon boarding the industrial ship, the players lined the sides to welcome them, creating a lively atmosphere.
Lu Yuan arrived at the smoke-filled, bustling conference room, where a holographic projection of Cangyuan's first space warship was being displayed on the conference table.
Moto, as the Engineer and worker representative, stepped forward beaming, shaking the Executive Officer's hand vigorously.
“You’re back! On behalf of all employees, I welcome you to inspect and guide us on the industrial ship!”
After all, he was a technical director of a central enterprise in reality; that feeling immediately came through, providing ample emotional value first.
“I’m not a professional technical person, so I’m mainly here to see your achievements,” Lu Yuan glanced at the conference table, “Everyone, please take your seats quickly, and let’s begin.”
“Alright!”
“Our current warship design is a modification based on the previously obtained gunboat blueprint. Because we had a base model, the design cycle was very short.
“We retained the gunboat’s original crew pressure cabin structure, significantly increased the length of the weapon bay, increased reactor power, and also increased engine thrust. Currently, the warship is 178 meters long, with a crew pressure hull diameter of 19 meters, and an external maximum width of 39 meters.”
Lu Yuan had seen the gunboat blueprint; it was a very sturdy-looking combat spacecraft, somewhat resembling a giant frog.
The current warship, however, was more slender, and its outer armor, designed for radar stealth, was sufficiently majestic, with no issues in terms of aesthetics.
Lu Yuan was quite concerned about the aesthetic appeal of naval vessels.
Naval vessels frequently conduct diplomatic visits and appear directly before foreign dignitaries and the public, essentially serving as a display of technology and military might, representing the national image.
Warships with elegant or sufficiently imposing exteriors can boost morale and make civilians feel more secure during peacetime.
Most players currently are not “intelligence personnel”; they are simply here to enjoy the game, and they certainly prefer imposing equipment.
A negative example in this regard is the US’s USS Long Beach cruiser, with its rather bizarre appearance.
A positive example is China’s Type 055 destroyer.
Moto turned his head to look over: “Executive Officer, we learned from Yu Gong that a vessel of this size is already considered a destroyer in the Star Alliance, but by pre-apocalyptic human standards, it wouldn’t even qualify as a frigate, only a medium patrol frigate. Which standard do you think we should adopt?”
Lu Yuan pondered.
“The Star Alliance inflates warship standards mainly for political propaganda purposes, so we don’t need to bother with that. We will continue to use the golden age ship standards.”
Over a hundred players in the conference room nodded in agreement; this was exactly what they hoped for.
Since they had decided to revive human civilization, their aspirations had to be high.
They pulled out their pads, picked up their styluses, and diligently took notes on this important decision, their movements quite synchronized.
Moto continued to introduce the warship.
Its general structure was as discussed in the player community before, but the surprise came from the hangar, which had a much larger capacity than imagined. Although its length was less than 40 meters, it could fit six light fighters, or two heavy and two medium fighters.
There is no gravity in space, so half of the aircraft in the hangar were hung on the ceiling or side walls, tightly interlocking with the outer contours of those parked on the floor. This naturally allowed for a full and efficient use of space.
Of course, not all sub-system developments went smoothly.
“The development of the large electromagnetic cannon is very likely to not be completed on time, Executive Officer,” Moto said gravely.
“Our supercapacitor discharge speed is still not fast enough, and the principle of the electromagnetic cannon dictates that the projectile must be energized and maintain physical contact with the rail. This generates a large amount of waste heat due to intense friction during high-speed launching, leading to superconductivity failure, a sharp drop in electromagnetic cannon output, and severe ablation of the rails!”
“Oh, I think I have a good solution for that.”
Lu Yuan said calmly, uploading data from his pad to the industrial ship’s main computer and displaying it on the projection screen.
“This is scientific research data recovered by the exploration team from Emerald Star. The data comes from Infinite Deep Space, a cosmic enterprise similar in scale to Cangyuan, so the quality should be very high.
“Additionally, we also learned a new type of Zero Element Furnace from the local natives.”
“Oh!”
There was a stir in the conference room, and the players excitedly stood up.
The data Lu Yuan brought back was measured in terabytes, and only the directory was displayed for now, but within this directory, Moto had already seen technical names that made his eyes light up.
Superconducting capacitors,
Superconducting liquid metal,
Superconducting aerosol!
These technologies are enough to solve the difficulties in developing large electromagnetic cannons.
As for the Entropy Zero Element Furnace, it is an even more revolutionary breakthrough.
Everyone opened the files and carefully studied them. After some discussion, they concluded that there was a complete possibility of developing a large electromagnetic main cannon and a ship-mounted Entropy Zero Element Furnace within a month.
If they couldn't develop it, there were alternative firepower solutions.
At this stage, the patrol frigate is equipped with large ultraviolet laser cannons in four directions—up, down, left, and right—on its hull, with a maximum effective range of 3500 kilometers in a vacuum environment.
However, to burn through even moderately decent armor plating, it would likely need to fire within 1000 kilometers, or even closer.
Another weapon is the large nuclear missile equipped with a Mass Effect Zero Element Furnace, approximately 15 meters long. Some players prefer to call it a “Star Torpedo,” finding it sounds cooler.
The advantage of the Star Torpedo is its long range and powerful destructive force; its disadvantage is its high cost.
The enormous size of this missile reminded Lu Yuan of the Soviet P-700 anti-ship missile from the Cold War; aside from not being able to carry a pilot, it was essentially an aircraft.
Lu Yuan approved these alternative firepower solutions and planned to install them all on the warship, as they could continue to be used as secondary weapons even if an electromagnetic main cannon was developed in the future.
The more, the merrier.
As for the ship-mounted Entropy Zero Element Furnace, it was acceptable if it couldn't be developed in a short time; once successful, it would be a huge win.
“Alright, the plan will be like this,” Lu Yuan said, “Leave space for the electromagnetic main cannon and the Zero Element Furnace installation. There’s nothing else that needs modification.”
This class of patrol frigates was ultimately named the “Qinling” class.
Everyone unanimously agreed that the famous mountains and rivers in reality have T0-level naming standards, good meanings, and symbolize the warships being as majestic as mountains, so they could definitely be used!
“Now, let’s talk about the enemy’s situation. Do we have any intelligence on the warships at Apollo Headquarters?”
Moto: “This, perhaps Yu Gong himself should speak about it!”
Lu Yuan: “Then have him come in quickly. We’re all ears.”
The Executive Officer had spoken, and the players applauded and cheered, inviting Lao Yu to come in and speak.
“Thank you! Thank you, descendants of Earth, for your trust in me!”
Lao Yu took it very seriously and had already prepared his report materials. He was previously a small boss of an archaeological excavation company and had seen the world.
Although he was flattered at the moment, he did not get stage fright due to the crowd.
According to his introduction, the Apollo Headquarters fleet’s technological level was significantly higher than that of its branches, having largely phased out chemical artillery. Its firepower output solutions were similar to Cangyuan’s: a trinity of electromagnetic cannons, lasers, and nuclear missiles.
For defense, they primarily used composite armor made of carbon-based composite materials and high-performance titanium alloys, and metal-ceramic armor was also present.
However, Lao Yu also specifically reminded that he previously worked in a civilian shipyard and only dismantled retired Star Alliance warships, never having encountered advanced warp warships.
One must assume the worst from the enemy. Lu Yuan realized he couldn't relax; construction on Li Star needed to be expedited, archaeological work on Emerald Star couldn't stop, and at the same time, they needed to find ways to obtain more intelligence.
These three things could ultimately tip the scales of victory.
At the end of the meeting, Moto reported on the production progress.
Previously, Lu Yuan had approved his request to install Zero Element Furnaces on the SCVs. After two fully equipped SCVs landed, they immediately hauled thousands of tons of pipelines to the construction site in the Desert.
Drivers worked in three shifts, achieving the feat of laying 100 kilometers of oil pipeline in one day, completing the severely delayed oil pipeline project in three days.
It is estimated that by tomorrow at the latest, the industrial ship can begin large-scale production of carbon fiber and carbon-carbon composite materials. At that time, the orbital space dock can be perfected while shipbuilding begins.
The two tasks would not interfere with each other.
“It’s all thriving, feels like someone hit fast-forward while we were away—”
Black Smoke exclaimed.
“Hehe!” Moto winked at him, “There’s been a huge change, whoever’s missing would be embarrassed!”
“Go on, go on~”
The bickering between these two “rivals” elicited widespread good-natured laughter.
Amidst the laughter and cheer, Lu Yuan had already thought of new player missions.