Ch.209Nice Boat. (4)

What exactly is a strategic missile platform-equipped battleship?

To put it bluntly, by our standards, it could be described as a missile-spamming vessel commonly known as an “Arsenal Ship.”

More precisely, it would be the battleship version of such a vessel.

Anyway, my initial joy at the appearance of “Hresvelgr,” an Arsenal Ship version of a battleship, was short-lived.

As my mind gradually stabilized from its state of confusion and elation, I began to notice the actual structure of the newly arrived Hresvelgr.

But looking at it more carefully… how should I put this…

“Hmm… that’s…”

“It looks like a space oil tanker.”

“…Damn!!”

Although Jessica beat me to the punch, causing me to blurt out an exclamation.

Unfortunately, the exterior of Hresvelgr did strongly resemble an oil tanker, to be honest.

‘If you’re going to give it such a cool name and class, couldn’t you have made the design cooler too? What is that thing?’

With its lumpy potato-like appearance, it had a structure that somehow deflated the spirits of anyone looking at it.

That’s why not just Jessica and I, but also Berial, Pashtra, and Ignis, who had come to see the new ship, unanimously commented on how ugly the ship’s design was.

“It’s quite… um, an original design.”

“It looks like an eggshell.”

“It reminds me of the capsules I used when training with Marian♡”

But unlike us, Sumeragi, who must have seen various things while serving beside the former Commander, looked around the ship with a serious expression, nodding before speaking.

“Commander, you don’t need to worry about its appearance.”

“Huh?”

“That’s just a protective cover applied to prevent the ship from being damaged by spatial erosion during dimensional causality fixation to arrive here.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Hearing that, I finally recalled a setting from over four years ago.

“Oh right, there was such a setting.”

“Pardon?”

While Superhumans are only the size of a single person and thus have almost no chance of encountering problems…

According to the setting, large vessels like cruisers and above are so massive that…

During dimensional travel through causality fixation, they could be deformed or destroyed by some mysterious phenomenon called “spatial erosion,” so they arrive wrapped in such protective equipment.

Of course, as for what exactly “spatial erosion” is, unfortunately, the developers turned that setting into a MacGuffin…

Nobody knows exactly what happens.

Honestly, from an external perspective, it was nothing more than an homage to the once-popular capsule gacha.

Even I, who had thoroughly read the setting books, had barely registered this background information as it had such little presence…

It was only natural that I’d only remember it now.

Of course, Jessica couldn’t know about my realization.

“Commander, what does that mean?”

“I see, you don’t know…”

I decided to answer Jessica by showing her the wiki tab containing the information I had just been pondering to myself.

“Take a look at this.”

“…I see.”

==========

Anyway, after that minor commotion, the confusion had completely subsided.

I couldn’t help but be impressed by the true appearance of “Hresvelgr” after the gacha capsule… I mean, protective equipment was removed.

Not only was the ship enormous, but how should I put it…

Its overall exterior was based on a rectangular “airship” with various structures attached all over, with no distinction between upper and lower sections.

Its shape and armaments had a manly form that literally embodied the identity of an “Arsenal Ship.”

From the weapons configuration alone, it screamed “I am an Arsenal Ship!”…

Despite being classified as a “battleship,” it only had 3 main guns.

And those were just low-output, rapid-fire particle beam cannons that could only effectively damage destroyer-class ships or below.

The rest of its armaments consisted entirely of countless missiles and torpedoes.

Actually, what we would call the “deck” was almost completely covered with VLS (Vertical Launch System) systems.

Additionally, on both sides of the hull were large and impressive launchers presumed to be the “strategic missile platforms” mentioned in its class designation.

As if to show off to me, the Commander, the open launch bay revealed the head of a massive “missile” the size of a light cruiser.

‘Wow.’

Although it might be a stretch to call it a “big ship, big guns” type, I was quite satisfied to recognize that it was at least a manly, firepower-focused vessel.

Of course, separate from that, it had already been proven multiple times that appearance and performance weren’t proportional in this game.

And since the Hresvelgr was a ship that didn’t exist when I was playing…

I immediately pressed the gallery’s wiki tab to gather information about the Hresvelgr.

—————————————-

Title: SSS-Class Arsenal Ship ‘Hresvelgr’ Review

Author: Wiki Historian mk-25

Content: [‘Hresvelgr’-class Strategic Missile Platform-equipped Battleship Concept Art]

This is one of the ultimate mindless missile and torpedo spam vessels

It has the firepower projection capability equivalent to 5-6 regular battleships or battle cruisers

More precisely, it’s a “ship that allows a single user to mindlessly spam missiles and torpedoes”

There are ships that can fire even more missiles, but those require clan-level gacha spending and manufacturing, which is ridiculously difficult, so not worth mentioning

Anyway, regarding its performance:

Its firepower is extremely powerful with long range, but its tracking radar is somewhat inferior, resulting in poor accuracy

I asked a veteran player to test it before being bound here

If you just deploy this alone without any buffs, not only is the accuracy terrible,

but the radar detection range is so poor that it gets one-sidedly beaten by same-class battleships or cruisers

Even if you put Superhumans with accuracy and radar range buffs inside, and station fleet support Superhumans nearby, the ship itself is still trash on its own

So why is it considered extremely powerful and rated SSS-class?

To properly utilize this ship, you absolutely need reconnaissance forces and radar linkage to compensate for its radar range

If you charge in without knowing this, you’ll end up looking like you have a disability

But if carrier-based aircraft or other ships provide vision instead?

Then from that point on, it one-sidedly bombards enemies with mindless missile spam from outside their range

Anyway, here are the pros and cons assuming you have support ships and reconnaissance forces when operating this:

Pros:

1. Due to the nature of missiles and torpedoes, you can inflict one-sided damage on enemies from extreme range in a kite-and-run meta

˪Especially in small fleet battles, the physical limitation of each ship’s interception capability makes it impossible to block all missiles

2. Apart from the fixed “strategic missile platform,” users can freely customize the rest of the armaments

˪Whether loading fragmentation missiles with micro-missiles to make interception impossible by increasing the already numerous missiles, or deliberately filling it with medium torpedoes to create a death spear

3. The strategic missile platform is extremely powerful

˪One shot can heavily damage large armored carriers or battleships

˪One of the few death spears that allow Dreadnought-class or lower vessels to face Super Dreadnoughts or higher

Cons:

1. Terrible durability, practically no defensive capabilities

˪You can tell just by looking at it, right? Take a wrong hit and it’s a fireworks show

2. Don’t try kiting tactics against battleships with proper main guns

˪If you do, you’ll be hit by battleship main guns that have much longer range, hurt more, and are faster than most missiles or torpedoes, leaving you in a groggy state

3. If you allow enemies to get close, even smaller ships will kill you

˪In close combat, all you have are missiles, torpedoes, and three token particle beam rapid-fire cannons

˪If caught, you’re dead, period

Comments:

-[Thanks for the info]

-[Good content]

-[So what’s the conclusion?]

-˪[A glass cannon, or rather, a glass missile launcher] (Author)

—————————————-

After reading such a long review, I looked up again to gaze out the window.

Watching the Hresvelgr-class gracefully entering the docking facility, I couldn’t help but shake my head.

‘Why don’t we ever get durable ships?’