Chapter 250: Gradually Mechanized
Emerald Star, in front of the research institute ruins, outdoor dungeon core area.
An armed transport plane descended from the sky, landing smoothly on the recently completed helipad.
"I heard new items are coming to the shop?"
Players who were leveling up had already been waiting nearby.
The tail ramp opened, and numerous cargo boxes were moved out one by one, then opened on site.
"Oh, this is!"
"The result of the second major procurement, the best power armor on the New Hope arms market, the 'Venom' MK3!"
The pilot player responsible for the delivery introduced it to everyone.
What met everyone's eyes was a power armor they had never seen before, clearly a high-end item at first glance.
Compared to the previously seen imitation Apollo "Wolfhound" power armor, it had a more curved shape, with a slender waist and calves, appearing lightweight and aesthetically pleasing.
At the same time, its shoulder pads and backpack were quite large, meaning they carried more weapons and electronic equipment. Its overall style differed greatly from the previous Apollo "Wolf" power armor, leaning towards a Gundam-like mech style.
"Can this work? It looks so thin-limbed. We're not buying this thing to display it in a showcase; we're actually going to wear it into battle!"
"Yeah, yeah, it doesn't feel sturdy enough; it doesn't look safe."
Of course, it was predictable that not everyone would like this mech style.
"Everyone, the slenderness is just for weight reduction."
As a key decision-maker in weapons and equipment procurement, Jubian stepped out from the crowd, explaining that he hadn't misjudged.
"The 'Venom' utilizes pre-catastrophe technology recovered by the Star Alliance through archaeological restoration. The volume of its joint motors is less than half of before, yet their torque is three times greater, and the number of motors installed is four times higher!"
"What's the use of installing so many motors?" Someone asked, "Besides increasing the premium—"
"Well, for example, like this!"
Jubian raised his right forearm and rotated it 180 degrees, changing from the back of his hand facing up to his palm facing up.
"Anyone who has worn power armor knows that for small movements like this, the 'Wolfhound' provides little assistance, affecting many close-combat moves like flicks, parries, and blocks, preventing them from achieving their intended effect."
"But inside the 'Venom,' hundreds of motors precisely mimic almost all human muscles, allowing every movement to receive ample assistance, and you'll no longer feel any clumsiness!"
"Additionally, the 'Venom' has discarded the bulky external flight backpack, integrating a total of 12 miniature ion nozzles into its calves, forearms, hip joints, and buttocks, allowing the wearer to control flight in a more intuitive way, greatly reducing the learning and training costs!"
"Oh—like Iron Man, flying wherever he wants!"
"This isn't 'flying wherever he wants,' but it's close enough!"
"This kind of power armor must be very expensive, right?"
"Indeed. Our procurement price is a full 10 million star alliance credit points, four times that of the 'Wolfhound'! The first batch procured is 100 units, and the Executive Officer has decided to sell them to us at the original price."
"Even without a markup, no one can afford it—"
Jubian: "No worries, no worries! Now that we have the Guild System, everyone, regardless of level, can receive a 99% off coupon as long as they accumulate enough Guild Contribution Points!"
"And I can tell you in advance, these Contribution Points can be earned by teaming up, or you can even hire experts to grind them for you! As long as you can agree on a price privately!"
"Currently, all professional guilds are Level 1, meaning each member can claim a maximum of one equipment discount coupon. In the future, when guild members' Contribution Points accumulate to a certain extent, the guild will level up, which will increase the maximum number of coupons members can claim, as well as the discount amount! This will help everyone purchase their own fighter jets, yachts, and even battleships!"
"Oh, oh! What a great policy!"
Some players applauded on the spot, indicating that the benefits were good.
In fact, the money to purchase these new power armors ultimately came from the employees themselves.
Lu Yuan, as the leader, could have directly allocated the best equipment to the most powerful elite players.
The reason for setting up the coupon acquisition mechanism was neither to restrict players' equipment upgrade progress nor to artificially increase the difficulty of graduating from the current version of the game.
"Star Sea" did not need these inferior planning methods to stimulate player activity and revenue, even though they were very popular in the mobile game industry and were often proven to be very "effective."
The reason for doing this was, first, to increase players' enthusiasm, giving everyone something to look forward to, and preventing low-level players from feeling like they could never catch up to old players, leading them to give up and lie flat.
On the other hand, and more importantly, the goal was to encourage old players to support new players.
Under this system, old players who wanted more coupons would have to spend some time teaching their accumulated game skills to new players and taking them on quests together.
Or they could provide benefits within the guild, giving their old equipment to newcomers.
Only in this way would the guild level rise at the fastest rate.
In the past, in traditional online games, top players often had closely guarded tips and tricks, such as optimal paths for grinding loot and leveling, obscure mining spots, "mystical" methods for forging and refining equipment, and even some unknown system bugs.
These were the prerequisites for them to always remain in the T0 tier and enjoy the pleasure of being a superior person in cyberspace.
The closed beta players of "Star Sea" were naturally no exception.
But for Lu Yuan, this behavior of not sharing secrets definitely needed to be restricted, otherwise, it would severely affect the overall strength improvement of the company.
In the end, he, as the boss, would be the one losing out.
However, it couldn't be completely forbidden. Not only would it be useless, but it would also dampen the research enthusiasm of elite players.
The best way was to introduce the guild and clan system, guiding players to independently explore master-apprentice and even "sect" gameplay.
This would allow elites to enjoy the satisfaction of being a "sect elder" surrounded by followers, while also passing down their accumulated game secrets within a limited circle, generation after generation, to the players who truly needed them.
After understanding the performance parameters of the new equipment, Guo Li Cheng made up her mind.
Since she had previously invested in a home appliance factory with Dan Ta, she had already accumulated 100,000 cangyuan coin, so she immediately purchased a "Venom" on the spot and had it painted blood-red.
Afterward, she basically spent almost all of her dungeon coin savings, which were top-ranked among all players, to purchase a large number of close-combat modules, fully equipping her new power armor in one go.
Once this woman's shopping impulse was triggered, it could only be described as quite terrifying!
"Oh, right, there's one more thing I almost forgot to mention," Jubian finally said to the crowd, "Although our war with Apollo and Galan isn't over yet, the Executive Officer has decided to issue a wave of battlefield currency in advance so that everyone can significantly improve their strength! Please check your accounts!"
Guo Li Cheng quickly opened the corporate announcement page and found that 12,000 production capacity had indeed been credited.
Although it wasn't as high as the pilots of the First Air Squadron, it was enough for another beyond-limit major modification of her power armor!
Through the player community, she sent a message to Black Smoke, who was currently far away in New Hope.
"Uncle, can you help me modify the capacitors, circuits, and motors in my power armor to be superconducting? I'll pay with battlefield currency."
The other party was silent for a few seconds.
"You still think you haven't cut enough? Are you going to solo the Radiant Dragon—"
"Oh, well, there might be strong enemies in the future! Just tell me if you'll take the job or not."
"I'll take it! Superconducting technology can allow your power armor to overload significantly for a short period, but I must warn you, excessively fast limb movement can easily lead to muscle tears and sprains."
"No big deal. My current bare strength is 53, and my physique is over 30, so I should be sturdy enough."
"...Awesome, alright then, I'll bring a small team over. Wait for me."
Soon after, Black Smoke brought three apprentices who "teleported" over. Providing technical support to other professions and creating new equipment prototypes was already an Engineer Guild development goal approved by the Executive Officer. Both parties hit it off immediately.
After a few hours of tinkering, the Engineer team successfully completed the superconducting modification of the power armor, enabling it to have an overload mode that could activate quadruple strength.
Wearing the heavily modified "unique" power armor, Guo Li Cheng squatted slightly to gather strength, then made a super jump, directly leaping onto a tree branch over twenty meters high.
"Well, I'll be—"
Black Smoke below stood with his hands on his hips, taking a puff of his cigar.
"I think as long as there's a qualified pilot, the combat power limit of this power armor is probably far higher than we previously imagined!"