Ch.609The Time for ‘Real’ Ship Modification Has Come. (3)

# Chapter 609. The Time for ‘Real’ Starship Modification Has Come. (3)

And now our heavily modified Dreadnought, or rather, something that only resembles a Dreadnought on the outside, has finished its modifications.

If I just left this alone, I might end up wandering around later with no idea how to actually use this thing.

“The heavily modified Dreadnought… no, that’s too long. From now on, we’ll call it the Ma-Dreadnought.”

“That sounds pretty terrible.”

“Commander, can’t we use a different name?”

“Do you have any better suggestions? It’s only a common rank, so its performance has limits, and we could mass-produce this structure if needed.”

“Ugh…”

“I think we should just keep calling it Dreadnought Unit 1. If the performance turns out better than expected, you’re going to change all of them to this structure anyway, right?”

“…You caught me.”

There was a brief squabble about naming it, but I quickly put that down.

“Dekabaria, I’ll give you Dreadnought Unit 1, a Paladin-class, and 10 destroyers as escorts. Go subdue one of those unaffiliated pirate groups that’s been floating around.”

“Yeees, hmm, is this a test for the special starship?”

“That’s right. This battle is to test the performance of that heavily modified Dreadnought, so use the other ships mainly as support, except for Unit 1.”

“Understooood.”

Instead of Berial, who commanded the main force during the event, this time Dekabaria would command the fleet… well, given its size, the “squadron” would be more accurate, to conduct the field test.

—

Following my orders, Dekabaria, whose speech is slow but actions are quick, took the squadron and launched.

After crushing the unaffiliated pirate groups that had been terrorizing my cute forward base, while simultaneously conducting various tests:

“Commandeeer, may I share my honest impressions?”

“By all means, go ahead.”

“To be completely honest, it feels too extremely maximized in only certain directions.”

“…It definitely gives off that strong impression.”

How should I put this?

To sum it up in one word, it truly had a structure that made you say “peculiar” involuntarily.

It’s not bad, but maybe because Griyanar and Nero went too extreme with their first major modification.

If the original Dreadnought was a hexagon, the modified Dreadnought Unit 1 was a “triangular star” with just three vertices insanely extended.

After Dekabaria who used it, Berial who returned from completing daily quests, Pashtra and Dornia who were deeply versed in “firepower,” and finally Austria who operates the most battleship-class vessels came to examine it from all angles:

“Hmm.”

“Adding the Annihilation Ship’s main cannon, the Annihilation Cannon, was a good idea, but…”

“Perhaps because it’s a siege-class weapon that can’t be fired rapidly even with the Dreadnought’s power source, once you fire it, the attack power drops exponentially for quite a while♡”

“There are still two main turrets left, but with just two, the firepower is even weaker than battleships or battle cruisers.”

“And since all the secondary guns were removed, there are no additional means for sustained attacks.”

Firepower: good for one shot, but severely lacking in sustained firepower.

“Its self-defense capability is sturdy.”

“Since they covered everything, even where weapons should be, with armor plating, the pure defensive power is decent.”

“But it’s literally just raw defensive power that’s increased, aren’t there too few interception means to block attacks from enemy fleets or carrier-based aircraft?”

“That’s why there’s a flight deck to launch interceptors, and CIWS too.”

“Hmm, but both were modified in monster style, so the efficiency is…”

“Hey, that’s not an issue with the monster style, but with the numbers.”

“Dreadnoughts were originally made to directly engage enemy fleets. They only need just enough self-defense against aircraft or missiles.”

“Plus, due to power efficiency issues, not only physical weapons like 250mm or 500mm CIWS, but also beam gatling close-range air defense systems have been drastically reduced.”

Defense: “body tanking” itself has increased, but other indirect defense systems have weakened, making it ambiguous.

Especially ship-based air defense capability and small ship response capability rely too heavily on carrier-based aircraft, so if the aircraft are wiped out, there are too few countermeasures.

“Mobility is…”

“It’s honestly just at the level you’d expect from a Dreadnought, so there’s not much to discuss.”

“Just plain slow.”

“To be frank, the speed itself is the same as a typical Dreadnought. The problem is that maneuverability aspects like changing direction are quite inefficient due to changes in the power system structure.”

Mobility: failing grade except for speed.

There was a lot more discussion about various other things, but to summarize, as mentioned above, it had a “triangular star shape with three vertices extremely enlarged.”

Its inherent performance could fairly be described as peculiar in many ways.

However, despite Griyanar and Nero becoming dejected due to the other superhumans’ thoroughly cold evaluation:

Such harsh assessments were only when considering it as a “single ship.”

“Still, when operating as part of a fleet, its weaknesses are minimized and its strengths are maximized.”

“I think so tooo. Honestly, at this point, a reduction in a single Dreadnought’s firepower doesn’t make much difference, does it?”

“That’s true.”

The lack of sustained damage output due to reduced main turrets, secondary guns, and VLS capacity?

As long as you don’t do something crazy like firing the Annihilation Ship’s main cannon without aiming properly, it was much better than a regular Dreadnought’s full salvo.

Originally, in fleet battle units, insufficient firepower could be adequately covered by other ships, so it wasn’t a major issue.

And regarding defense, similarly in fleet battles, “strengths are maximized, weaknesses minimized”:

“I said this earlier, but… honestly, if Unit 1 were to be pummeled by small ships or carrier-based aircraft in actual combat, wouldn’t that mean the battle line has already been broken?”

“Rather than the battle line breaking, it would mean the enemy fleet got too close.”

“But this isn’t a ship meant to operate alone, and with plenty of other ships and escorts nearby, is there really any need to worry?”

“That’s true.”

“There is some concern, buuut it is using a Dreadnought-class hull after all.”

“Unlike typical Annihilation Ships, its armor is sturdy, so a strategy of taking hits while enduring is possible.”

As our commander friends mentioned, in fleet battles, “other nearby ships” could adequately cover for it.

Above all, Unit 1’s hull was ultimately a modified “Dreadnought” hull, with even more reinforced armor.

After earnestly exchanging opinions back and forth, with the developers Gri-Gri and Nero-Nero’s moods riding a roller coaster according to the meeting atmosphere:

“Commander, may I present our conclusion?”

“Go ahead.”

“Overall, while the single-ship evaluation is ambiguous to say the least…”

“The single-ship evaluation is ambiguous, you say.”

“In fleet battle units, I believe it can fulfill its role sufficiently.”

“I see.”

After hearing Berial’s report as the meeting representative,

I nodded, deciding to solidify in my mind that Unit 1 could be used as is going forward.

Naturally, Gri-Gri and Nero-Nero beside me were delighted that their masterpiece(?) received positive evaluation, even high-fiving each other.

But in response to our reaction, Berial brought up one more thing:

“By the way, Commander.”

“Hmm? Is there something else to discuss?”

“Due to Unit 1’s overly specialized structure, it absolutely requires escort from other ships, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right… wait, don’t tell me?”

“Yes, I believe making additional ships in the same style as Unit 1 would not be a good choice.”

With words deeply implying “making more of these would be unmanageable, good luck with that,”

After a moment of contemplation, I found her reasoning sound.

I immediately nodded, agreeing with Berial and gently setting aside my inner thoughts of increasing the number of Unit 1 modified versions, tossing them into the mental trash bin.

Of course, watching this exchange, Gri-Gri and Nero-Nero trembled like Chihuahuas beside us.

Since my fleet wasn’t meant to be Gri-Gri and Nero-Nero’s fun sketchbook, I decided to draw a firm line on this matter.