Erwin Jaxon had left the meeting room where the future of the Inner Sphere had been discussed and felt... a little light-headed.
It had been a week ago, yet he still couldn't get over the fact that they had the designs to build jumpships. It would take a while to get everything established, especially with the need to build Crippen station first... but they had the option now, they could do it!
Still, he had to focus, that wasn't his job.
He was instead focusing on the fact that there were several different individuals that he was meeting, machinists, scientists, plain old data analysis researchers.
Simple names to describe some of the most influential people in the Lyran Commonwealth.
While their job titles wouldn't garner a second glance, the fact that their words alone could dictate corporate policy? That was something that couldn't be imagined by those of limited imaginations... like certain Social Generals.
Establishing themselves here as the 'retrotech research division', the men and women of the major companies of the Lyran Commonwealth had moved with alacrity to station themselves in what they considered the 'core' of a retrotech revival.
It was not as if there were any point trying to hide their research. Not when it was using publicly available information from Terra. Or from the worlds around Terra that still maintained their records of the primitive tooling and equipment used on pre-spaceflight Terra. All of it was available, freely as well.
For those involved, there was very little incentive to act territorial about the information. This was not classified R&D, not something that someone had poured billions into, to create their own unique intellectual property. Anyone could walk into a library or a publicly available database to retrieve the information, if not from the museum on Blackjack itself.
All of this ensured that, at the end of the day, there was little concern about keeping everything private, everything proprietary. It was better to pool their talents together and understand the technology, lest they find themselves on the receiving end of a product line failure. Worse, to find that they had been outmatched by the opposing side's designers, fielding weapons that were better than theirs in every way. This was not the Succession War paradigm anymore, where generally everything was well understood, where stagnation was the name of the game. Now was a time of rapid innovation and development. Where the known had become unknown.
Which was what this meeting was about, Erwin thought to himself. Stepping into the conference room, he was joined by several hundred different individuals, all interested in the results which had finally been collated. The research teams working around the clock to solve the glaring deficiencies in armour design that had been identified with the introduction of retrotech cannons.
Weapons that had been making themselves extremely prominent on the Solaris circuit, the guns able to punch through standard armour at all ranges through sheer attrition from volume.
Things were going to happen, extremely bloody things, if the current changes everyone was working with continued the way it was. For the Combine and the Free Worlds League? Eh, who cared. But when it impacted the Lyran Commonwealth?
That was a problem.
There had been no offensives planned, the Commonwealth had to digest their new gains after all. However, when they inevitably attacked, or the Combine innovated and no doubt launched yet another suicide attack... the casualties for the Lyran Regiments would be horrendous.
Taking a seat at the table, each person seated around a small table where they had their personal devices or preferred alternative writing implement. The small bottles of water and snacks, clearly saying that someone with experience in these things had planned this out.
At the front, there had been a stage erected. This room being in the Administration Hex. The individuals involved migrating from their own sections or Hexes from across Blackjack. The fact that Guðlaug Jónasdóttir had spearheaded a move to make the Hexes even cheaper than the first price discount, had been the reason why so many had been built on Blackjack over the last year. Why so many of these people felt safe here on Blackjack, safe enough to fill a room 150 metres long and 150 wide.
Any corporation with half a brain had established some kind of permanent structure, or was renting one to be close to where all the retrotech action was taking place.
One never knew when something might be relevant and change the Inner Sphere again. Like the retrotech weapons, then the Hexes, then the media blitz, then education... Eggers General Utility was certainly making a name for itself.
Being directed to his table, Erwin peered at the different name tags in front of each seat.
Hmmmm, he recognised a few of these. Nashsan and Defiance heads of retrotech research were seated here, as well as Bowie and a few others.
Huh.
Someone was thinking highly of Eggers Armaments, that much was certain. Sitting him here being a clear indication that they thought he was worth the 'honour', or deserved to be somewhere befitting his status... such that it was.
He just needed to wait now... these things took a long time. You didn't want to rush in and get squished, or to lose your dignity by looking like you were too eager.
Seriously, the machinations at some of these companies was ridiculous.
Now that he thought about it, why not check his horoscope, maybe this final presentation on the findings of the armour development team would be a good one.
The sun rises, the moon sets. The tides ebb and flow. Be calm and allow the stream to guide you.
Erwin let out a long sigh. Right, go with the flow, nothing was going to change even if you tried.
He settled back, figuring he might as well take a nap while he was waiting.
+_+
The introduction were out of the way and the research team had made their way forward. Their prop this time was a hunk of metal with two dozen shells sticking out of it.
Impressive really, how did they get that to work?
Armour usually flaked, to...
Oh.
Oh, he could see where this was going, as could some of the more far-sighted individuals in the crowd.
"Good afternoon. We are presenting the final research findings regarding the less than optimal protection of standard armour versus retro armaments."
The figure was barely visible save for the enormous screens on both sides of the hall, allowing his pale face to be visible. A pale face slowly turning red as the glare of the floodlights threatened to cook him alive.
"Better him than me," muttered the researcher from Nashsan sitting to his right, looking smug that he managed to get out of the presentation.
Erwin agreed, with the way that the floodlights beamed a sheer... flood of photons on the target. Meaning, that it was incredibly difficult to see anything in the audience, one's eyes filled by the floodlights.
"To summarise our findings, we have reached the point of a technological see-saw. In other words, primitive armaments have proven to be surprisingly effective against standard armour, especially in relation to weight and cost. Standard weapons have proven themselves to be extremely effective against primitive armour. Yet primitive weapons tend to be less effective against primitive armour, and standard weapons against standard armour."
The presenter pointed at the different displays that were backing up his point on the matter.
"In short, Retro gun good vs standard armour, Retro gun not good vs retro armour. Standard gun good vs retro armour, Standard gun not good vs standard armour."
"Please understand we are looking at investment cost and weight of the gun systems when factoring in these judgements, while a PPC can do a great deal of damage to standard armour, 7 tons of retro guns can do an even greater level of damage."
The second presented stepped forward again, motioning for the armour slab to be brought up.
"To find a counter to the highly effective nature of retro-weaponry, which, when fielded by the enemies of the Commonwealth, cause significant harm to our 'standard' equipped forces, we have spent the last six months searching for an answer. Our solution is retro armour. Specifically, the hyper-dense, spaced armour, also known as composite armour or dense and soft rolled homogenous steel armour, RHA for short. Utilised by all major powers until the advent of standard armour, it has, in sufficient thickness and composition, proven impenetrable by most grades of retro cannon."
He waved his hands at the sheet of metal behind him.
"This is second generation tank armour, rolled homogenous steel armour at forty centimetres. As we can see, every shell in the World War 2 conflict, save what, was classified as above 100mm in calibre. All defeated by this slab of steel. No layers, no composite armour, just steel."
A murmur went through the hall.
This... changed a great deal of things if it was true... which it probably was.
"This is using steel that we created to World War 2 specifications. This slab was shot at by weapons of the same era, at the same range, with the same projectiles... but is manufactured to 'modern' standard."
The next slab was brought forth. This one having small dents, divots, and a few small craters but nothing more.
"This is MIL-DTL-12560 standard Rolled Homogenous Steel. Designed in the 1970s, it served as the Western Alliance's standard RHA steel for as long as the Western Alliance, and then the Terran Alliance used steel as armour. During its lifetime, it was super seceded by the predecessor to what we refer to as Standard Armour." The listening crowd nodded, they could now see where this was going.
"Composite armours replaced RHA, and were designed to counter increasingly lethal projectiles and weaponry. If this sounds familiar, it should. Composite armours were replaced in time with Standard Armour. Which is designed to ablate because even the best composite armours could be penetrated by the hyper-lethal munitions that were being deployed. With certain munitions able to penetrate over 8 metres of RHA and composite equivalents."
This time, a screen displayed the effects of different munitions on blocks of armour... the video clearly from a time before holo-videos were common. Small holes in the front, gaping hunks of molten metal pouring out the back. The words 'HESH testing, 1968' were clearly visible underneath.
"As such, we moved to Standard Armour. Yet now we are facing the fact that the munitions designed to defeat the dense Rolled Homogenous Steel are also effective in damaging Standard Armour. While it may not be a great deal compared to equivalent Autocannon calibres, the weight and cost more than justify the asking prices. With the development of the Smialy, which most groups represented in this room have experience with in assisting the design process, this threat only increases in scale. Consider the Draconis Combine or Free Worlds League developing their own versions and deploying them en-mass."
The room nodded. The sight of a 'Gun-Las' or a Gun Atlas with four shoulder mounted 155mm cannons for artillery support, and eight 105mm heavy rifles, four on each hand, obliterating its opponents at all ranges had gone viral across the Inner Sphere. Imagining cheap swarms of retromechs stomping around with their primitive guns was a nightmare scenario.
"The solution that we have come across is simple in theory. Deploying layers of Homogenous Armour in the same manner as it was used in the 2000s period of Terra. Hard and dense enough to block incoming rounds, which will either ricochet off or flatten on the armour. Preventing retro-cannons harming our vehicles and structures. If we layer this with our Standard Armour structure, it will provide less overall protection per ton... but will substantially increase survivability in a retro-cannon rich environment. This should be paired with an external shield made of composite armour to block primitive shells."
The screen demonstrated how a sheet of steel did not ablate as armour usually did. Rather, it held firm, denting and deforming slightly as the different rounds were fired at it, causing many to bounce off and ricochet around the testing chamber. Others still embedded themselves in the metal. Some penetrating through the sheet halfway through, stuck... as if it were an art installation.
"However, the problem is that this armour is designed using a completely different philosophy than Standard Armour. Its protection emerges from its density, which adds a great deal of mass. At 7.8 grams per cubic centimetre, ~hisssss~, it is enough to add several tons to any frame for negative protection against standard weapons. It is possible that composite armour will serve more effectively in this role, in exchange for volume and size."
A clip showing a laser simply melting through a solid metre of steel greeted their eyes. The following an autocannon simply punching hole after hole in another block of steel. Even the composite armour, labelled as such, looking for all the world like layers of an ice-cream sandwich, fared no batter against laser or cannon.
"Therefore, we have designed a stopgap measure, a composite shield that can be deployed as we continue to research means to apply dense and protective armour to Standard Armour without weight and volume issues. Alternatively, a thicker, but lighter shield made of composite materials would be possible and can be deployed. All material specifications and processes have been made freely available due to their age. The findings will be published tomorrow morning and sent out to all interested parties."
"Wait, why can't we just use standard armour? Standard armour uses steel as the first layer in its composition!" The voice from the audience called out.
"The steel used in Standard Armour is specially processed to create an extremely hard, yet brittle substance. Capable of breaking projectiles on impact, or ablating if it is overwhelmed. This is backed by a boron nitride layer that catches the fragments and plasma generated on impact, before itself ablating." The presenter had been caught off guard but was rallying admirably.
"Compare this to primitive armour, both RHA and composite, where upon impact, the armour whilst hard, is still soft enough to deform. Serving in the same role as the steel in standard armour does, it shatters softer projectiles, while protecting against hard ones by deforming. In deforming, it retains its structural integrity, maintaining overall protection. It does have the danger of spalling, which requires a secondary coating on the inner layer to prevent this, in the same manner that the boron nitride layer acts. Using this technique to replace the steel in standard armour will essentially create a soft-steel replacement which will allow projectiles to penetrate through instead of ablating, lessening its effectiveness. Remember that RHA and Composite use density and volume to protect. Standard Armour must be thin and ablative. The two, at the moment, are incompatible until our researchers discover a means to combine the two.."
"Thank you for answering, no further questions."
The speech was over, the room clapped politely... and broke into discussion.
They had a solution for the armour vs retrotech issue. Hard and dense steel armour. Or Hard and spaced composite armour.
The issue they now had was that it was heavy as well.
A shield would work, but only as a stopgap measure. It would weigh several tons and severely reduce speed, at the same time the question had to include... the Smialy that was about to enter mass production in a few months.
If there was no solution... and the Combine or FWL developed their own variant..., how were they going to protect against it?
Erwin rubbed his head, things were going to get exciting.
"Erwin, the Smialy design... do you think that there can be a variant that holds a shield?"
One of the engineers at the table leaned over and spoke, his voice a whisper. Well, more normal speaking volume, but in this room, at this moment? It resembled a whisper more than anything else.
Erwin paused to think about it. He wasn't a mech designer, more the one who ran herd on all the designers.
That being said, it had two detachable arms, why couldn't it hold a shield?
"I don't see why not. You just need to replace the arms with one that holds a shield, maybe a 2 pounder on the shoulder for self-defence?"
"Well, if shields become something necessary in the near future as a stopgap... we will definitely need those melee weapons we have been working on. Shooting down a wall is definitely one way to leave yourself open."
"Are you sure? Surely, we could shoot them from outside the range, the shields will protect the Smialy... but it's four metres tall, what about our Heavy and Assault mechs? No need for the shields or melee weapons when the ones it needs to protect can't hide behind them anyway."
"No, no, it can't be that simple..."
Erwin sat back, right, he was going to be stuck here for a while.
In his mind, when they had the shield issue worked out, the fact that you were able to get in close with a shield... well, you were going to need some kind of stabbing implement to handle those that were now up close... and personal.
Especially when the gun was hand loaded.
There were going to be big masses of mechs and retromechs moving about, trying to get in close to bring 'standard' weapons to bear as both sides plinked away with their retrotech. Protecting the damage dealers, manoeuvring until a final, clear path to charge through can be identified.
Big knightly charges like on ancient Terra. Where men rode on big animals, that shat everywhere, to ride into other men that shat everywhere when spiked on long sticks. For all that technology advanced, it appeared that things were desperate to stay the same.
He had to hand it to the Little Boss. His push for melee weaponry had been... well... a bit coincidental, perhaps. Adding an extra tool to the Smialy's arsenal... but with this revelation? Well, clearly he saw the truth faster than anyone else. How had he known that battles would manage to get up to knife fighting range... when he himself had introduced the retrotech, which had stretched the battlefield to kilometre ranges?
Erwin hoped to never gain the foresight that Huu Eggers had, it would probably drive a lesser man insane.