Xiao had to set aside her champion ant model because her fighting ring match was a higher priority. Since the new challenger had no match history, she had nothing to go on. Therefore, she resorted to working on using a pitchfork weapon and a shield in the simulator. Due to proprietary reasons, she had no template of her cattlemech. Thus, she had to use a more standard cattlemech whose template was abundant online. It was obvious that the cattlemech wasn’t valued very highly if one used their default builds with such ease.
Good thing the simulators have some customizable features.
While she couldn’t change anything about the templates, the young woman could add things like shields to make her mech tankier and thus closer in specs to her own cattlemech. However, there was nothing she could do to match the simulation shield to the titan shield. She simply didn’t have enough data to know what change was necessary.
Will the shield matter in this case?
Xiao wasn’t sure about the best way to prepare against an armadillo mech. Armadillo mechs were defensive by nature but their versatility made them unpredictable. She had a mech overview of the mech which hadn’t given her any confidence.
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Mech Type: Armadillo
Mech Weight Class: Medium
Left Arm (Structure): 120
Left Torso (Structure): 120
Left Leg (Structure): 240
Center Torso (Structure): 240
Right Leg (Structure): 240
Right Torso (Structure): 120
Right Arm (Structure): 120
Armor Type(s): Armor (Improved), Armor (Advanced)
Gyro Type(s): Gyro (Basic), Gyro (Improved)
Engine Core Type(s): Engine Core 10 (Improved), Engine Core 20 (Basic)
Cooling Type(s): Cooling (Basic), Cooling (Improved)
Weapon Type(s): Light Machine Gun, Machine Gun, Small Laser, Medium Laser, AC2, SRM2, MRM5
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If her opponent got advanced armor, then she would have a much harder time getting to the structure. Basic armor saw a ratio of 2 armor per 1 structure while improved and advanced provided 3 armor and 4 armor respectively. That combined with a wide array of weapons meant she couldn’t possibly be ready for all scenarios. In the end, the young woman could only work on her own mastery of the pitchfork. She had some successes so far but, against an armadillo, she had to give it her all and luck alone wouldn't cut it.
With Puhi’s help, she got some medium mech templates to fight against. Among them was the turtle mech which made even the armadillo mech look like a light mech. How engineers managed to fit all that armor without the turtle becoming a heavy mech baffled Xiao. Luckily, it was also great practice as, if she could break through the turtle’s defenses, she could break through the armadillo’s, assuming she had sufficient time. Even after staring at the overview a few times, the young woman still shook her head at the armor.
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Mech Type: Turtle
Mech Weight Class: Medium
Left Arm (Structure): 120
Left Torso (Structure): 120
Left Leg (Structure): 240
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Center Torso (Structure): 240
Right Leg (Structure): 240
Right Torso (Structure): 120
Right Arm (Structure): 120
Armor Type(s): Armor (Advanced), Industrial Armor (Basic)
Gyro Type(s): Gyro (Basic), Gyro (Improved)
Engine Core Type(s): Engine Core 10 (Improved)
Cooling Type(s): Cooling (Basic), Cooling (Improved)
Weapon Type(s): Light Machine Gun, Small Laser, Medium Laser, AC2, MRM5
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Basic industrial armor provided 6 armor which meant some components of the turtle had over a thousand armor, more than the total armor of many light mechs. Her saving grace was the damage of the pitchfork which was several magnitudes stronger than many weapons used by light mechs. Otherwise, she couldn't imagine how long the battle would last, assuming her mech didn't use up all of its power. The only challenge of the pitchfork was focusing on a single location until the structure was exposed, which was no small feat.
For her training exercises. Xiao fought a turtle mech until she was defeated or she won. For the first dozens of tries, she had lost in all of those cases. By giving the turtle the same turning speed as the armadillo, she had erased one of the biggest limitations on the mech. At that point, she couldn’t outdamage the turtle as she had no way of outmaneuvering it. After a dozen matches, Xiao realized how much she missed having jump jets. They might not be useful in all cases but the extra maneuverability gave her mech more survivability. For the simulation and her actual cattlemech, there wasn’t much choice as the mech had to take attacks from the front.
I only have a week before the match. Will I be ready?
With no other way to prepare for the match, Xiao came up with a schedule where she spent most of her week training in the simulations. She had grown to appreciate the pitchfork, a weapon that had proven to be quite reliable. The fact that it took up no slots, produced no heat and used no ammo made it an incredible weapon.
I wonder if the ant can be equipped with a melee weapon. It has to get pretty close to its foes anyways.
During her breaks, Xiao looked through melee weapons, amazed by the wide variety of them. Many of them were never used by mechs due their impracticality but a few caught her eyes. Smaller melee weapons like daggers could be an option as they were light and could be stored on the mech until they were needed. Among the many ant specific subcomponents was one that increased the slots in the torso and arms. If she could use the extra slot for melee weapons, then she would have options if she was out of ammo or needed her mech to cool down.
On the day before her match, Puhi visited her to check up on her.
“Ready for the match against an armadillo?”
“I don’t know! There’s too much mystery surrounding that mech and its pilot.”
“I might have heard a rumor about the pilot being a retired pro.”
“That’s really fair, isn’t it?”
The thing about mech pilots was that experience played a key factor in how good he or she was. Even retired pros had a vast wealth of experience and knowledge to draw from, making them still dangerous opponents. The gap between her and her opponent seemed to be widening more with each passing minute.
“At least it will be a short match then!” Puhi started laughing but stopped after she saw Xiao’s expression. “What did you get for your two crates anyways?”
“Mech organization secret!”
Xiao walked out to resume her training. However, her mind was no longer into it. Thus, she walked past the simulation wing and went to the roof to get some fresh air. As she walked along the perimeter of the roof, a loud commotion got her attention. She went to investigate and discovered an outdoor match that she could watch from the roof. Xiao took out her phone to see what the match was about as the academy was pretty good at listing these events for its students and staff.
Retired pro? Is this a coincidence? Surely, there cannot be that many retired pros still fighting matches nowadays. And one who came to this academy...
According to the event notice, the retired pro was using a flea, one of the weakest mechs out there. Even at the hands of the professionals, it was a glass cannon at best. A few direct hits from most weapons could strip the armor, revealing the structure underneath. From her vantage point, it took Xiao a full minute before she could make out the flea mech. She then glanced at her phone again, confirming that the rules made it so the flea had to fight multiple foes.
Either that pilot has greatly underestimated the students here or the individual is very confident in his or her skills.
Two minutes later, the young woman understood the latter to be the reason. The three mechs were all defeated with ease. Since the academy website provided livestream and updates on the matches, she was informed that all three mechs were taken out due to headshots. Xiao couldn’t help but wonder about the gap between her and a retired pro. She needed a lot of luck to hit headshots but this individual was doing it as if this was merely target practice.
“And that concludes the practice matches! We thank everyone for watching! The retired pro must now rest as she has a match tomorrow at an undisclosed location. I hope you enjoyed the livestream and be sure to watch us in the future!”
A match tomorrow?
Xiao didn’t believe that so many things were coincidences. If the retired pro in the flea was her opponent, then she needed to be aware of the headshots. In addition to that, she wondered what other surprises were awaiting her the following night. Despite all the stress, Xiao was ready to see where she stood compared to a retired pro.