The Mech Touch

Chapter 6133 Immature Tech

The problems that Ves encountered during the development of Woodsap mechs taught him an important lesson.

A price had to be paid for mech pilots to form a bond with an elemental Carmine mech.

Baseline or regular augmented human bodies could not tolerate the substitute medium used by one of the five as-of-yet-developed elemental Carmine Systems.

This was a major problem and setback. It effectively meant that anyone who wanted to pilot an elemental Carmine mech needed to make a drastic sacrifice in order to make use of its power.

Was it fair to ask his customers to undergo extreme life-changing physiological transformations just to bind themselves to really weird versions of Carmine mechs?

"The biggest question is whether it is worth it." Ves furrowed his brows.

He was unable to answer this question because he had yet to produce an actual elemental Carmine mech.

He intended to turn the Elegant Rage into the first mech of this new sub-category of mechs.

However, his plan required him to persuade Venerable Lanie to act as a test subject for a new and completely untested design application.

Even though Ves believed his planned implementation of a Woodsap Carmine System was theoretically sound, the lack of empirical verification meant that there was always a risk of accidents.

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He needed to talk about his problems. He felt too burdened by what he had to impose on his customers just to make his elemental Carmine System concept work.

His wife thought he was moving way too quickly.

"You haven't completed the development of a mature Carmine System yet." She poke as she held Marvaine in her arms. "Trying to develop a more advanced version of this tech will lead to many preventable problems. Have you ever thought about slowing down and taking this step by step? You will be in a better position to develop a proper Woodsap mech in a decade."

Ves shook his head. "I can't wait that long! Look, I don't disagree with your logic, but reality is forcing me to move faster than I am comfortable with. There is only one chance to convert the Elegant Rage into a Woodsap mech. If I refuse this opportunity and turn the mutated mech into a standard Carmine mech, then that represents a lot of lost potential. Venerable Lanie will not be able to derive as many advantages from her Blood Pact."

"And that matters how, Ves? Last I heard, our clan has exiled Venerable Lanie Larkinson. Her interests are no longer important to us. We are supposed to maintain our distance from her, or else the exile will have no meaning anymore."

"That is how exile should work in theory, but it doesn't work that way in practice." Ves patiently explained to his wife. "No matter what, everyone will look at her record and her last name and assume she is still a representative of our clan. Her conduct, performance and accomplishments will inevitably reflect on our clan. It is in our best interest to make her as powerful as possible, especially if she chooses to pilot a living mech that is originally ours. The more she manages to stand out among the mechers, the more those snooty fellows will appreciate our work."

Gloriana briefly thought about it, but then proceeded to plant a kiss on Marvaine. "Your bias is showing. Your family affection towards Lanie is clouding your judgment. From what you have described, Woodsap mechs go much further than Carmine mechs in imposing demands on mech pilots. There are too many chances that this will go wrong. If you insist on pursuing this, then you must be thorough in order to avoid this gambit backfiring on you. Do not be afraid of consulting the Red Association for technical support."

Though his wife was not as helpful as he hoped, she reminded him of a few important considerations.

Ves turned to another mech designer for additional feedback.

His student Alexa understood his dilemma, but she did not think the requirements were excessive.

"To be honest, sir, the mandatory requirement that the mech pilot must be paired with a single mech for the rest of his or her life is the most onerous one. Once a mech pilot agrees to form a Blood Pact with a Carmine mech, that individual has already made the bravest and most life-changing decision of his career. If you subsequently ask that mech pilot to undergo radical body modifications in order to become eligible to pilot a Woodsap or Bloodfire mech, then that is not a particularly heavy demand."

"You make it sound as if we are entrapping our potential customers and clients with a sunk cost fallacy." Ves flatly responded.

The former Terran shrugged and smiled. "That is because it is true. If we try to entice a pilot to commit to using a single Carmine mech for the rest of her life, she may as well make the most of this decision and make a greater commitment. When a pilot decides to form a Blood Pact, she has already chosen to reject a normal progression trajectory. Any soldier who is willing to go above and beyond is more likely than not ambitious. As long as your elemental Carmine mechs are stronger than other products, and as long as you have gathered solid proof that a more exotic Blood Pact can increase the probability of breakthroughs, you will find that demand for this solution will skyrocket."

Her argument made a lot of sense. It all came down to whether a Woodsap mech or other elemental variant could deliver solid benefits to its mech pilot.

As long as such a mech was able to provide both enhanced performance and greater growth prospects, Ves would not have to worry about running out of customers!

"Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, Alexa. How well do you think Woodsap mechs will catch on in the Terran mech market?"

"That is a complicated question, sir. The Terran mech market is notoriously hard to enter. It is oligopolistic, which means that it is large but also dominated by many large competitors. The customer base is predominantly made up of large and medium-sized organizations, each of whom prefer to establish long-term relationships with trusted mech companies. It is difficult for a new entrant to persuade Terran customers to try out experimental mech models that have yet to prove themselves on a wider scale. Strict regulations also limit the release of highly innovative products that have not undergone extensive field testing. This is meant to stabilize the mech market and ensure that every product is safe and reliable to use."

Ves frowned. He knew that Alexa was not wrong in this. The Terran mech market was insanely profitable, but only for the large players that had already carved out their own market positions.

Not just any mech company could succeed in the Terran Alliance. The company in question needed to possess capital, relationships, regulatory advantages in abundance in order to gain a solid foothold in the market!

The rather extensive suppression of new entrants prevented the Terrans from getting their hands on the latest and most cutting edge technologies unless they went private and made use of other channels.

That was not to say that there was no room for innovation in the commercial mech market. The Terrans simply looked up to the largest and most reputable mech companies to keep up with industry trends and make sure they remained competitive.

Most Terran customers simply had no reason to take a look at the eclectic and unreliable products sold by smaller players.

"What about the Rubarthan mech market? I heard that it is a lot easier to get started over there." Ves proposed.

"The Rubarthan mech market has its own challenges." Alexa chuckled. "The good news is that the mech market is not as dominated by an oligopoly. The customer base is also more adventurous and willing to try out more experimental mechs designed by smaller players. The issue is that competition is extremely fierce. Not only will competitors try to compete on price, they may also choose to license your designs to hijack your product advantages or develop their own technological substitutes in order to steal your customer base. As long as the mech companies do not go too far and break any hard rules, they are allowed to fiercely compete against each other. Only the fittest of competitors deserve to survive in this cutthroat market environment."

Ves huffed. It was typical for the Rubarthans to maintain a more liberalized mech market. This resulted in a considerable uptick in chaos, market disruptions and other unpleasant business.

Despite all of these downsides, the Rubarthans felt it was critically important to promote competition and to prevent any market leader from becoming too complacent.

"So I should have a better shot at introducing Woodsap mechs in the Rubarthan mech market, is that what you are saying?"

"Not necessarily." Alexa replied. "The Terran mech market is not as inaccessible as you think, especially for a mech designer as famous as you. There are two different strategies that you can choose from. The first strategy is that you can prove the concept of your Woodsap mechs by introducing them to the third-class and second-class mech markets. This is the strategy that I am currently pursuing for my own living mechs. It will take years to prove that your innovations are promising and reliable enough to be applied to first-class mechs, but it will allow you to retain greater control over your own works, assuming that a first-class mech designer did not manage to develop a substitute before you are ready to enter the first-class mech market."

The Evolution Witch pretty much forced Ves to adopt this approach for his standard Carmine mechs. That meant that even a god pilot saw a lot of merit in this strategy.

"What about the other strategy?"

"Partnerships. If you want to produce results in a shorter time frame, then you can approach an established player in a first-class mech market such as Isthmus Manufacturing. You will be responsible for providing the mech designs, while the mech manufacturer is responsible for production, shipping, sales and aftermarket services. This is a common arrangement in every industry, but is the best way for new players to enter the first-class mech market."

Ves saw the merits of this strategy, but the price was also considerable. The LMC would have to give up a lot of profits as well as an extensive amount of control.

Was this the most suitable approach to take for his elemental Carmine mechs?

"I don't mind the premise of giving my partners a fair share of the profits, but I do not particularly like the sound of relinquishing so much control." He said.

"The partner is not a pure profiteer, sir. The Terran and Rubarthan mech manufacturers are highly experienced and have a large staff of mech designers and other experts at their disposal. They can not only help you tailor your mech designs to their mech markets, but also provide extensive R&D support. For example, you can obtain immediate and extensive support from a willing Terran or Rubarthan mech manufacturer if you are willing to sign a contract related to Woodsap mechs. You only need to convince them of the value and the future potential of your speculative innovation."

That was easier said than done, but it was a valid direction that Ves could take with his Woodsap mechs.

It was too soon for this, though. Ves only sought to convert the Elegant Rage into a Woodsap mech. He was still far from developing a mass production model that incorporated a more tested version of the Woodsap Carmine System.

"I will take your advice under consideration." He told Alexa. "You have given me a lot of ideas and reminded me of the options that I have available. For now, I want to keep things as private as possible. For now, I just want you to search for research institutions that can help me increase the phasewater tolerance of Emperor Wood and more specifically ebony wood. The priority shipment from Reticula Corein V is due to arrive on another day. We can experiment with real samples by that time."

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