Chapter 247: Expanding the Fleet
On Xianyang, everyone's faces showed joy.
This ship graveyard, which might just be a scrap metal recycling yard for Apollo, was, for Cangyuan, with its black technology scanning capabilities, simply a treasure trove!
Were there still some complete reactors or advanced engines within the ship wreckage?
If they scanned a few more large pieces of wreckage, could they piece together a blueprint for a complete warship?
This was hard not to imagine!
Currently, if Cangyuan insisted on building warships hundreds of meters or even kilometers long, it wasn't impossible.
After all, humanity completed Cangyuan 1 in the 21st century, and as early as the 20th century, they could build giant sea mountain oil tankers nearly 500 meters long. The structural design of ship compartments was never a difficulty. The remaining design work was merely to stuff more nuclear fusion reactors into the power room and mindlessly increase the electromagnetic main cannon's capacitor capacity and acceleration rail length.
However, if the technological level didn't advance, the combat power of new warships would only scale proportionally with their increased volume by about 30 times. At that point, construction costs would skyrocket, and the single ship's strength would still be no match for the Super Democratic Empire's main battleships.
The key issue lay in how to significantly increase the energy density within the reactor chamber and develop new weapon energy output schemes. This, however, exceeded Cangyuan's current technological reserves, leaving Lu Yuan with a subtle sense of unease.
Now, with the discovery of the UEG warship graveyard, there was finally an opportunity for a further increase in technological level.
To say he wasn't happy was impossible.
Lu Yuan looked at the images sent back by Chang Kong, took a deep breath, and remained calm.
"Don't worry about those wrecks for now. Try to avoid them. Enemies might be hidden among them. Keep tracking the target."
A month ago, Vice Admiral Sige was lured by the bow section of Cangyuan 1, leading to his loss of vigilance—a failure case still fresh in memory. He couldn't make the same mistake himself.
Chang Kong and Loulan immediately raised their vigilance and planned their route.
Soon after, both reported that they indeed found heat sources among the wreckage. It seemed Apollo, or more accurately, Dark Sun, was using an engineering vessel equipped with a plasma jet device to cut large pieces of wreckage, appearing quite busy.
"Good heavens, they're actually recycling scrap!"
Ye Xing looked disdainful.
Such wanton destruction would undoubtedly reduce the subsequent benefits gained from scanning, so it had to be stopped quickly.
Two stealth fighters cautiously exited the wreckage area. At this moment, three "thundercloud" fighters appeared and began escorting the warp yacht.
"Can this be evidence that Apollo and Dark Sun are one and the same?"
Chang Kong asked.
Lu Yuan shook his head.
"No. We can't prove that's Apollo's warp yacht, nor can we prove those are Dark Sun's fighters."
"Hmm—that's true."
"No rush. Since we've already found the 'Pirate Nation,' we won't have trouble finding their dirt later. Continue tracking and maintaining reconnaissance."
"Understood!"
After the call ended, Lu Yuan rose from the captain's chair and went to the holographic sea chart table, bringing up Cangyuan's current military information.
Finding Dark Sun's headquarters was only a matter of time; it was time to plan for the next military operation!
Unbeknownst to them, Cangyuan had already captured 10 warships from Apollo and Galan, all military sales products from Paradise Island.
Objectively speaking, Paradise Island's design and construction did have some skill.
Especially in terms of ship structure, many load-bearing components employed deep weight-reduction designs, retaining only the basic topological structure and then "hollowing out" as much as possible on that basis, achieving maximum structural strength with the least material and production capacity.
Worth learning!
Among them, the three Apollo warships were in the best condition.
Their weapon configurations were relatively balanced, possessing both large and small power lasers, as well as missiles and a small number of electromagnetic railgun weapons, unlike the Jialan who relied entirely on Moras Missiles for long-range anti-ship combat.
These three warships had long since been moved back to Li Star orbit, providing numerous repair tasks and experience for the Engineer players. With the assistance of a large number of industrial drones, repair progress currently exceeded 80%, and they were expected to rejoin the fleet in four or five days.
At that time, they could be used for practice by new Sailors, solving the current awkward situation where many Sailor players were waiting on dry land for warships.
As for the remaining 7 Jialan warships—
It was hard to believe that the biggest difficulty in rejoining the fleet was not in repairs, nor in the unreasonable weapon allocation, but in the stench from the bridge and pressurized compartments that went straight to the top of one's head.
This foul odor made one suspect whether Jialan soldiers had a habit of relieving themselves anywhere on their warships.
Engineers had tried spraying various deodorizing chemicals, but with little effect.
In the subject of producing odors, the Jialan's talent seemed to transcend technology and chemical principles.
It made one suspect that psychic components were involved.
In short, this was actually a big problem. Although players were not afraid of pain, they truly had no counter-measures from the game system against bad smells and nausea, not tolerating it at all.
It truly came with its own anti-capture function.
There was no other way. The Engineers' final conclusion was that they could only be cut and dismantled, then used as a source of raw materials for remelting, contributing approximately thirty thousand tons of alloy and twenty thousand tons of carbon materials.
Hopefully, the flames could purify the filth left by the Jialan.
A few pieces of equipment not within the pressurized sections, such as radar, could theoretically be salvaged, but in reality, their maintenance was extremely poor, so they could only be used as spare parts.
Alas—
Galan really was infuriating on all levels. Post-war reparations must not let them off lightly.
Additionally, the four warships previously purchased from Hugh were undergoing modifications.
The specific plan was to cut them in the middle and add an extra 40-meter-long compartment section to accommodate kinetic energy shields, Entropy Zero Element Furnaces, and a small hangar, while also improving living conditions for personnel and removing the Y-shaped heat dissipation suite which was very detrimental to stealth.
Then, a 100-meter-long electromagnetic railgun axis pod, with its own reactor energy, would be externally mounted, providing one-quarter of the output power of the "Qinling" main cannon, which was sufficient for hitting ships without kinetic energy shields.
After the modifications, these four warships would experience a significant drop in maneuverability due to the substantial increase in weight, but their firepower and defensive capabilities would multiply. They would be perfectly suited to escort merchant fleets, which already had poor maneuverability.
On Li Star, two "Wuyi"-class frigates were under accelerated construction.
Due to the accumulated shipbuilding experience and the fact that over 60% of their compartment structure was identical to "Qinling," progress could only be described as miraculous. The main structure was nearing completion, and outfitting work had already begun.
Furthermore, more space docks were under construction.
Lu Yuan calculated that in another 10 days, the two "Wuyi"-class ships would be in service. At that time, he would have 11 warships available for deployment. He planned to have four of these escort warships continue their original duty, protecting merchant fleets while guarding against potential sneak attacks from the Jialan or other forces.
Two "Qinling"-class, two "Wuyi"-class, and three captured Apollo warships would form a task force, which would penetrate the star systems controlled by Dark Sun at an opportune moment to conduct a surprise attack.
This journey would require at least 26 wormhole jumps, taking at least 16 days. In other words, the battle would commence in approximately one month.
Without warp drives, troop deployment in space was still quite a lengthy process.
Lu Yuan had to admit this point.
However, compared to the gains after victory, the wait was absolutely worth it.
It was like waiting for a new version or new map update for a favorite game—a supreme form of delayed gratification.
Time flew by, and another week passed. Chang Kong and Loulan's mission was successfully completed!
The warp yacht they had been secretly tracking finally reached its destination, and that was a planet with an unusual appearance.
This planet's orbit was filled with various debris and trash, as if covered by a layer of mist.
Through this "mist," one could see the metallic sheen and complex structure of the planet's surface.
Those were the remnants of giant cities, massive skyscrapers that hadn't completely collapsed, with residual sections still over 1 kilometer tall!
Ruins Star had finally been found.
And it, as Lu Yuan had predicted, was indeed the headquarters of Dark Sun.