Chapter 214: Executive Officer, Welcome Aboard
Lu Yuan awoke in the industrial ship's captain's quarters, his heart filled with anticipation for the day ahead.
This feeling inexplicably reminded him of his elementary school days, when he had snacks ready and was about to watch the school sports meet, filled with excitement.
His distant past life was truly nostalgic.
The Punishment Fleet was expected to arrive in five days. Now, it was time for a grand review to check the results of the recent military production.
“Good morning, Executive Officer. You look especially energetic today!”
The butler was already waiting outside the door.
“Hmm, I feel pretty good.”
“That’s good. The Cangyuan Home Defense Fleet is in its final stages of formation. Would you like to personally board and inspect it? A transport ship has already been prepared for you.”
“Of course.” Lu Yuan nodded. “But before that, let’s go see Jubian first.”
“Understood. Then perhaps you could have breakfast on the industrial ship first.”
In the industrial ship’s mess hall, the marines, who had been urgently recalled, were also eating breakfast.
Most of their power armor still retained the jungle camouflage from Emerald Star, adorned with various “local specialty” decorations. Carbonized tungsten bone blade spikes from the Whip Wielders were installed on their shoulder pads and flight packs, and unique necklaces made of various monster fangs were worn around their necks.
They looked like characters from a villainous faction, exuding a chaotic aura!
However, Lu Yuan didn’t care at all.
He noticed that the elite players of the First Battle Group had evolved considerably in temperament since the attack on Oasis City, now possessing a wilder and more ferocious, murderous aura.
Especially the melee players; although they were casually sitting at the dining table chatting, it was as if invisible blades surrounded them.
This is good, this is exactly what we need!
We need to make the enemies feel fear, thereby eroding their morale.
After eating, Lu Yuan went to the second level of the industrial ship’s factory area and found Jubian.
“Executive Officer! Please allow me to present our latest heavy space fighter—the Diāo Xiāo!”
Jubian pointed to a full-bodied, large fighter parked in the factory.
The moment Lu Yuan saw this guy, he knew it was a formidable one!
“I referenced eight different models of Star Alliance fighters that we purchased previously, fused their strengths, and then, based on the heavy fighter blueprint from the industrial ship, I completed this design.
“It is 35 meters long, almost the size of a small gunboat. It is equipped with our most advanced and smallest Xenon gas fusion reactor, which has a higher energy density compared to a Helium-3 reactor of the same volume, allowing it to support more power-hungry advanced radar and weapon systems.
“In terms of armaments, it simultaneously carries four retractable blue laser cannons. Each cannon has a continuous output power of 180MW. If all four concentrate fire on a single point, they can produce power comparable to a battleship’s laser cannon!”
“Good, but are there no electromagnetic weapons?” Lu Yuan asked.
He always felt that kinetic weapons were a man's romance!
“Oh, we indeed don’t have those.” Jubian shook his head.
“I discussed it with the military Engineers, and we all ultimately agreed that installing too many weapons simultaneously is not a good idea. For a space vehicle of a fighter’s size, many factors constrain damage output, such as the total reactor power, heat dissipation capability,
and the volume required for capacitors. The number of weapons is actually the least important factor.”
Lu Yuan generally understood.
“Meaning, installing an additional electromagnetic weapon system would be counterproductive?”
“Yes! At least I believe so. To achieve the same bombardment power, a full electromagnetic cannon system is much heavier than a laser cannon, much heavier! Both the projectiles and the sabot have additional weight. If we have that much excess weight, it would be better to install something else, like a warp drive!”
Oh?
“This is a warp fighter?” Lu Yuan confirmed, surprised.
“Precisely! Its maximum cruising speed is 60% of the speed of light, just like the Tianwen.”
This is definitely a plus!
Warp travel would provide much greater tactical flexibility, which is indeed far more significant than carrying an additional type of weapon.
Judging from the progress of the Apollo-Galan Joint Punishment Fleet, their warp speed should not reach 60% of the speed of light; it is estimated to be only about 40% of the speed of light.
Or, more precisely, at least some of their warships can only reach this speed at their fastest.
As a result, the remaining ships have to slow down appropriately to allow the entire fleet to coordinate and act in unison.
This also means that whether it’s the Diāo Xiāo heavy fighter, the Qinling-class frigate, or even the four second-hand warp warships previously exchanged from Xiu, Cangyuan has the capability to pursue the arrogant Punishment Fleet from behind.
They won’t escape! This creates the conditions for a “complete victory”!
Finally, Lu Yuan inquired about the production rate of the Diāo Xiāo and learned that its production consumption was quite high, roughly equivalent to seven bóláo niǎo light fighters.
So far, with the industrial ship working overtime, they have only barely completed a pulsating production run, totaling 12 Diāo Xiāo, all allocated to the elite pilots of the First Air Group.
There is no perfect weapon in the world, and for the “Diāo Xiāo,” which is heavily stacked with materials, its drawback is its cost.
After inspecting the new heavy fighter, Lu Yuan immediately boarded a transport ship and ascended into space to inspect the two self-produced Qinling-class warships, which were about to undergo their first sea trial.
The lead ship and the second ship of the Qinling-class frigate were currently docked neatly side by side next to the space dry dock.
Through the transport ship's porthole, Lu Yuan gazed at the two majestic warships, finding it hard not to feel a surge of emotion.
He knew this was the starting point for Cangyuan's dominance of the Star Sea.
Now, by his own decision, these two frigates were named after ancient cities at the foot of the Qinling Mountains: Ship 101, “Xianyang,”
and Ship 102, “Chang’an.”
The capitals of Great Qin and Great Han.
Lu Yuan didn’t know if these two cities still existed on Earth now, but he was certain that civilization would not stagnate because of a single doomsday catastrophe!
From the source of the ancient Yellow River to the end of the Star Sea.
It will continue its journey until it embarks on an endless expedition!
“Welcome aboard, Executive Officer!”
Upon boarding the Xianyang, Black Smoke enthusiastically led Lu Yuan on a detailed tour of the brand-new warship.
Undoubtedly, the “Qinling,” designed with high standards and strict requirements from the very beginning, far exceeded the standards of a Star Alliance Tier 1 warship in terms of power, firepower, and defense.
Shipbuilding was a monumental task for players, especially Engineer players.
They could not tolerate working hard for half a day only to end up with a half-baked product.
If they were going to do it, they had to do it best! All areas that could be top-configured were top-configured, with values maxed out under current technical limitations, emphasizing a beauty of strength!
Finally, the completed and launched “Qinling” had a total length of 218 meters, significantly longer than the initial version, with a total mass of 12,000 tons, more than half of which was the weight of the external armor.
In terms of power, it uses three Tokamak-style reactors to provide energy. Six engines are installed at the stern of the warship: two relatively “quiet” electric propulsion engines provide cruising power, and four “violent” fusion direct-injection engines are responsible for acceleration and deceleration during combat.
If necessary, the fusion direct-injection engines can, through a fuel bypass, inject additional gaseous molecular working fluid into the combustion chamber to further enhance acceleration, much like a fighter jet engaging its afterburner.
Thanks to the zero element physics data recovered from the Emerald Star Research Institute, as well as the related bionics data of the Radiant Dragon, the Qinling’s Mass Effect Zero Element Furnace is highly advanced.
Under normal non-warp cruising conditions, her maximum cruising speed reaches 12% of the speed of light, and her maximum acceleration can reach 9G for short periods, giving her agility comparable to a space fighter.
In terms of firepower, the warship is equipped with long-range, medium-range, and close-in laser cannons on its upper, lower, left, and right sides.
The mounting positions of these laser cannons provide excellent firing arcs. When facing enemies from any direction, three cannons of each specification can always fire simultaneously, ensuring maximum target destruction.
In addition, it is also equipped with a full range of missile weapons and a hangar.
Of course, these are not the main weapons of the “Qinling”; its main weapon is a heavy electromagnetic cannon.
This cannon was continuously upgraded during its development, with original plans being overturned based on scientific research achievements from Emerald Star.
The entire cannon extends from the reactor room in the mid-to-aft section of the hull all the way to the bow. Its acceleration rail has a total length of 150 meters, exceeding two-thirds of the warship’s total length. Along with numerous superconducting capacitors, the system’s total volume exceeds that of a fighter hangar and also exceeds the combined volume of all missile vertical launch tubes, making it a veritable “Cangyuan Supercannon.”
When this monster fires an unguided projectile at full charge, it can launch a 600-kilogram tungsten rod at a speed of 120 kilometers per second, with a single-shot power equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT, reaching tactical nuclear warhead levels.
Additionally, it can also launch a 2-ton guided tungsten steel warhead at a speed of 30 kilometers per second, with a single-shot power of approximately 215 tons of TNT.
1,000 tons and 215 tons of TNT equivalent may seem insignificant at first glance compared to fleet nuclear warheads that often exceed millions of tons of equivalent.
But in reality, considering that all this kinetic energy is concentrated on a trajectory with a cross-sectional area of less than 0.1 square meters, the heavy electromagnetic cannon is far more terrifying than nuclear warheads.
Lu Yuan knew full well that in terms of pure “attack power,” the “Qinling” would exceed a Star Alliance Tier 1 warship by about 10 times.
The equipment was fine; next came the tactical arrangements.
This task was not simple.
Fortunately, the players had by now completely disregarded the “meta-gaming” real-time communication, which was practically cheating, so he could openly contact Xian Yu, who was 100 light-years away, and invite him, along with Prairie, Black Smoke, and others, to join the discussion and share the mental labor.
Five days later, after a long journey, the Punishment Fleet finally arrived in the “Assassin” star system, which was adjacent to the Li Star System in terms of travel routes.
After passing through the last Jump Point, they would be in the Barbarians’ homeland!