Chapter 6812: Overreliance

The entire Design Department continued to design their mechs with gusto.

The Red Fleet truly lived up to its reputation.

Processor clusters such as the SF-02 was one of the many means the fleeters relied upon to maintain technological parity with the Red Association.

Ves gained a better understanding of the differences between the mechers and the fleeters.

The former relied a lot more on human ingenuity to develop superior technology. Their output was rather inconsistent, but once in a while a brilliant mech designer may be able to introduce revolutionary new paradigms that completely changed the game.

The latter relied on a huge quantity of ordinary re


That was a strong counterargument, but Kelsey did not give up so soon.

"How a mech designer makes best use of his weekly quota is a test in itself. The Terran approach grants little agency to the mech designer. Each of them have to fill in the gaps in theories and requests no matter whether they agree with this approach or not. They had no choice on the matter. The Rubarthan approach on the other hand gives mech designers more control. A good mech designer will naturally know how to best use up the weekly quota. A bad mech designer will not learn the right lessons and experience little progress."

This was a reasonable take, but Ves disliked the trial aspect of it. The Rubarthans probably stopped many mech designers from progressing further due to relying on ambiguity.

He rubbed his hairless chin in thought. "I can see the advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. I think that for our clan in particular, the Rubarthan approach is the better choice."

"Why?" Gloriana asked with a frown.

"Because it tests every subordinate of ours." Ves responded. "If a mech designer under our charge wants to coast along and avoid hard work with the help of his usage quota, then he has already failed. If any of our mech designers want to earn our recognition and break through at a higher frequency, he or she must have the resolve to work hard and not avoid difficult design problems. Those who pass this test will have greater discipline, better judgment and burning ambition. These are exactly the talents that we should nurture. Other mech designers are not as valuable and can be left to fend for themselves."

Kelsey added a few more arguments. "Applying a quota on the usage of smart AIs will lead to fewer breakthroughs according to our research, but this is a good development. Those who are able to pass this test have a higher chance of becoming a Senior Mech Designer or Master Mech Designer. Those who failed may have succeeded in another environment, but they have a higher chance of reaching a plateau in their careers. It is better to keep them as Apprentice Mech Designers as they will not be wasting everyone else's time and resources."

"I do have to admit that we do not actually want to welcome too many breakthroughs in our Design Department." Gloriana said. "Journeyman Mech Designers demand much more attention and investment. This can get rather tedious if too many of them advance in the same period." Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

Ves turned to Alexa. "I am hearing a lot of good things about the Rubarthan approach. How can the Terran approach serve as an adequate counterweight?"

She had been waiting to voice a response.

"It is true that the mech designers themselves, cannot control their improvement with the Terran approach, but that is because the power goes to the individual in charge. Ves, you can directly set what theories should present incomplete solutions and what sort of variables must be tampered with. This can enable you to control the progress that mech designers make in specific fields that you have designated. If you think that your subordinates must improve their understanding of hyper technology, you can create more holes in design solutions related to this field. This will cause many mech designers to conduct research and improve their mastery of hyper technology."

That sounded incredibly useful, but Ves had already made up his mind.

"That sounds rather good, if a little too reliant on a center. However, I think we will adopt the Rubarthan approach. I don't care what my subordinates learn, but I do care that the worthiest of them will be able to overcome numerous challenges and climb to the top."