LIGHTNOVELONLINE WM Aero Swarm
He made out basic sketches and typed up basic descriptions to just record his thought processes when creating the model. In 3 days time, he had a solid model that he wanted to now create.
Within the centre of the swarm would be so-called co-ordinator drones. These would use EM pulses to communicate with the other drones within the swarm. They would advise the others in terms of formations, and other information that they couldn’t figure out or process themselves.
Being the backbone of the swarm, he made sure that they would have significant armour and thrusters to avoid enemy fire.
Along with the co-ordinator drones would be worker drones. The worker drones would be the main attack and sensory force with the drones and could also convert into makeshift co-ordinator drones if they received sufficient damage.
With this swarm, he wanted them to work in units of around 15 to 20, with 4 co-ordinator drones and the rest being worker drones.
Cael meticulously mused over possible formations and co-ordinations that the drones could utilise in the swarm. Conducting ample research, he observed several different methods of organising the swarm.
There could be layers of drones so that they resembled a 3d object. Additionally, they could operate like a fleet, all at the same elevation but just in different orientations like a circular or arrowhead shape.
Each individual model didn’t need to be extremely large or even impressive for that matter. The swarm’s functionality derived from it being a unit, not from the utility of each individual drone.
Cael swiftly began to work on this design, and the creation process drew him in the longer that he did it.
With his greater intelligence and creativity, he could manoeuvre his way around the challenges of handling internals much more easily.
The managing of the metals and plates was also a relatively seamless process. The challenge was more on his mind, instead of his body failing to do what he wanted it to.
The swarm would consist of three different types of drone, so he decided to begin with the co-ordinator units since they were the most useful. They would be equipped with basic-to-moderate level sensory equipment, and energy blasters that would be described as self-defensive.
They weren’t intended to cause substantial damage to enemies, but just to subvert harm being caused to the drone itself in the form of warning blasts.
Using co-ordination required him to write large volumes of code, and it was always a struggle. With other parts of the creation process, he felt it going a lot smoother. However, with code, he would just end up coding more complex functions as he advanced – inevitably running into similar issues, as a result.
However, he had no desire to back down. Time was running out, and he had to squeeze out every minute from his day that he could.
He didn’t even have enough time to further his skills in the vault, but he believed there would be ample time for that after completing this quest.
With about 15 days left, his first design was complete. His code was functional and didn’t turn out as he intended it to. It was more basic, and he couldn’t realise all of the goals that he had in his mind but he just accepted that as a core part of the development process with writing code. It was hard to tell how hard it was to conjure up equivalent syntax for the ideas he thought of.
The co-ordinator was the largest of the drones, and he painted it a military-style dark green. it gave the drone an alluring aesthetic, and made it seem more professional as well.
[Design Complete!]
[Name: WM Swarm Co-Ordinator]
[Type: Sensory Drone]
[Evaluation]
[Speed: 45/100]
[Agility: 64/100]
[Durability: 67/100]
[Sensor Accuracy: 60/100]
[Sensor Versatility: 35/100]
[Range: 29/100]
[Overall Rank: 58/100]
Cael felt a little surprised by how high the overall rating was. Also, he was confused about this drone being just labelled a ‘sensory drone’. He assumed the system couldn’t find a great descriptor for this unique drone, but still gave it a high overall rating as if it had taken into account its co-ordinating abilities.
Nevertheless, he was happy with the rating and just hoped that he could achieve a design description for his swarm as a whole.
If so, his versatility would be bound to reach new heights. With only 2 weeks left, this was pretty much his last chance. If this didn’t work, it’d be game over for him.
Swiftly moving onto the attack drone, he found the designing process to be even more seamless than the co-ordinator. He was more well-versed with managing his designs with the thought of combat in mind.
At the end of the day, that’s what he had been taught from a very young age. Incorporating that mindset into the mechanical sides of things augmented his designs a noteworthy amount.
After making significant progress on that design, he began working with the sensory drone alongside it. He actually decided to work with his Vulture XR-1 Titan as a base, allowing him to save a lot of time.
The framing design and layout was already decided by those that had made the Vulture XR-1 Basic and so, he could focus more on adding additional components and the external armour layout.
In a week or so more, Cael fell back onto his bed with a sigh of relief as his designs were complete. He attentively inspected the three floating designs within three platforms of the TechForge Simulation Lab. All of them donned a signature dark green spray on the exterior and varied quite significantly in shape and size.
The attack drone was the largest, followed by the co-ordinators in a distant second place. The sensory and co-ordinator drones were of similar sizes since they served similar purposes. Both drones would have sensory capabilities and would have to use agility to evade incoming fire due to their abysmal firepower.
[Design Complete!]
[Name: WM Swarm Attacker]
[Type: Attack Drone]
[Evaluation]
[Speed: 58/100]
[Agility: 50/100]
[Durability: 63/100]
[Firepower: 54/100]
[Power Efficiency: 45/100]
[Range: 55/100]
[Overall Rank: 55/100]
[Design Complete!]
[Name: WM Swarm Sensor]
[Type: Sensory Drone]
[Evaluation]
[Speed: 41/100]
[Agility: 65/100]
[Durability: 45/100]
[Sensor Accuracy: 63/100]
[Sensor Versatility: 50/100]
[Range: 39/100]
[Overall Rank: 49/100]
The ratings for the items weren’t all that bad, and it really didn’t concern him that much. The value in these units would come from them working together, instead of on their own. He just hoped that the system would have a different sentiment upon forming these designs together into his envisioned swarm.
Cael decided to open a fourth panel, that was now at the side of his bed and not at the base. His projector had four different TechForge panels being simulated at the same time, and had no problem running each one smoothly.
This allowed Cael to move between them with absolute ease, forming the swarm while making micro-adjustments to the following three designs.
With the base swarm layout -a circular grouping of drones- the fourth panel donned the main formation of the swarm.
The co-ordinator drones would be snugly housed in the centre, while the attack drones took position at the ring of this circular grouping. In between these two drones were the sensory drones.
Depending on enemy fire, the drones could expand from each other to give themselves more room, or become tighter in other circumstances.
Co-ordinators could also broadcast new formations, and the drones would intelligently re-organise themselves into such new formation.
Cael smiled with accomplishment and achievement as he had realised this transformative design. He hadn’t seen very much attention being brought to this design but didn’t quite understand why.
Well, it wasn’t like everybody in the world had a system quest specifically detailing them to make a design with above 70 versatility. Much to Cael’s delight, a system message appeared to name the swarm design ahead of him.
[Design Complete!]
[Name: WM Aero Swarm]
[Type: Swarm Drone System]
[Evaluation]
[Speed: 39/100]
[Agility: 71/100]
[Durability: 72/100/100]
[Sensor Accuracy: 48/100]
[Sensor Versatility: 74/100]
[Range: 80/100]
[Overall Rank: 63/100]
“WOOOHOOO!!” Cael thought, laughing as his eyes immediately latched onto the versatility stat for his swarm.
Cael was really liking the look of the number beside his sensor versatility stat and was grateful that his hard work ultimately paid off. Living off several cups of coffee, he felt like he needed a well-deserved rest to get his body back to a healthy level.
Endless hours of working against the clock meant that he would routinely work past midnight, and even into the early hours of the morning. With only a handful of hours to slumber, it gravely affected his performance in the exosuit cadet institute.
However, instead of being berated by Arlo for his lacklustre performance, he was a lot more understanding. He could see that Cael also had other ventures -like him being a mechanic- and was tolerant of his visibly apparent fatigue. He still did frequently advise him to try and get back to a healthy sleeping schedule as soon as he could.