Chapter 789 Light Armament Deployment
“In other words, our existing weapons are basically no match for these war machines.” Gaia turned to Hughes. “My lord, our army needs more powerful firepower.”
Hughes was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Gaia, Tata, and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Hughes had agreed.
Hughes was taken aback, then said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "What, you think I won't allow it?"
Everyone quickly shook their heads, but their eyes all drifted elsewhere.
In fact, Hughes himself did reject many of the military-related proposals.
It wasn't that he didn't want to upgrade the army's weapons; the main problem was that his men were just too radical.
Currently, Castells is mainly divided into two factions: the radicals believe that troops should be sent in all directions to conquer the entire continent.
The conservatives believed that the radicals were too conservative and that, in addition to this continent, troops should also be sent to conquer the southern continent.
That's just how this era is. The bigger the fist, the more naturally it will beat up the surrounding area first, occupy the land first, and so on. They are all war-mongering civilizations.
Hughes's idea was more advanced. He wasn't playing a map coloring game, so why expand so quickly?
The most important thing is to focus on advancing the technology tree. Once the technology is advanced, we can crush anyone.
Wars are only considered when there is a shortage of people and resources, and Castells has neither now.
The end result is that Hughes has to suppress his subordinates' unchecked expansionist demands, and sometimes he goes too far in trying to correct the situation.
Therefore, although some new things were developed in the laboratory, they were not deployed on a large scale.
Besides these obvious reasons, there is actually another reason.
That is, Castells's technology tree has now tilted significantly towards the mystical side.
Research on purely technological creations is a long process. Starting with basic education, it takes a long time to cultivate a group of suitable talents, and perfecting a theoretical system is not something that can be done overnight. Hughes can indeed accelerate this process by directly providing ideas and blueprints, but ultimately it must be done step by step.
However, it would be much faster to directly use various mystical creations.
The saying goes that scientific research relies on archaeology. Whether it's the storm generator or the bio-modification technology of the Mechanical Sanctuary, these are things that can be used with slight modifications. There's no need for research or risking cognitive interference to understand the theory before they can be directly deployed to the battlefield.
Even with the Dragon Breath Cannon, Castel still doesn't fully understand how the pollution works, but that doesn't stop Grandma from using the Dragon Breath Cannon to blast away superhumans.
This trend is very bad. If we only pursue results, who will do basic science? Without corresponding theoretical support, Castells might become the next mechanical temple a hundred years from now.
Those mechanical priests worshipped relics whose principles they couldn't understand at all. If Castells were to follow that path, then all the sacrifices of so many people would have been in vain.
Therefore, Hughes had to control this steel behemoth no matter what and steer it in the right direction.
"Okay, let's start by talking about the products you have that are more reliable."
Gaia, Tata, and Richard exchanged glances, all eager to try.
They have accumulated a lot of relevant technologies, and now many things can be deployed on a large scale. This is the perfect opportunity.
"I'll go first," Gaia said, raising her hand.
She was in charge of the military production line, and most of the technologies she could use were very mature.
"First is the grenade launcher, as everyone knows, it has already been officially deployed. Everyone has detailed information on it, so I will just mention the key points."
"This weapon is a little heavier than a bolt-action rifle, but it can be carried by a single soldier. It needs to be set up with a tripod to fire, but it won't take too long."
"It has a range of about 800 meters, and its accuracy is not very good, but its power is quite good. It can currently use two types of ammunition."
"One type is the hand grenade, which is also a new type of weapon, which will be discussed later. It is mainly used for personnel casualties, and its kill radius is 15 meters."
Monica burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" Gaia glared at her fiercely.
“I… I thought of something funny.” Monica glanced at Ash. “If Ash straightens up, she can be over fifteen meters tall. You could tie a grenade to the tip of her tail and it wouldn’t blow up her head.”
Hughes glanced at her and tapped the table: "Ash."
Ash straightened up, grabbed Monica by the back of the neck, and threw her out of the window.
Gaia coughed awkwardly, "We'll talk about the grenades later. This grenade launcher can also throw another type of ammunition. It has some contaminants mixed into its charge. When throwing grenades, the range is about 300 meters, while when throwing these shells, it can reach a range of 700 meters."
"This type of shell has a kill radius of up to 30 meters, and due to the special nature of its contaminating explosive, it can be used for attacking fortified positions!"
"What's the deal with this peculiarity?" Hughes raised his eyebrows with some interest.
"Our research has shown that while mixing contaminants into the explosive charge does not significantly increase the explosive power, it can significantly increase the temperature during the explosion. Combined with the directional metal jet, this can effectively penetrate armor!"
"Like the Dragon's Breath Cannon?"
“That’s right!” Gaia exclaimed excitedly. “The contaminant generates a bright, high-temperature jet when it explodes, which is very effective against metal armor. It’s somewhat similar to thermite, but it’s much better in terms of both duration and adhesion!”
Hughes nodded. As expected of something that could be burned, the energy contained within the pollution was indeed enormous.
"However, this method requires setting up a special tripod and calculating firing parameters. But that's not a big problem; it's a basic course in the Holy Scriptures, and almost everyone knows how to do it."
Overall, it resembles a combination of a mortar and a grenade launcher from Earth, except that thanks to Castel's contamination technology, it can provide more powerful firepower with a reduced amount of explosives.
The main drawback of this weapon is its limited power. After all, it is a weapon carried by a single soldier. It can indeed be used for attacking strongholds, but its power is still somewhat lacking.
When it was first developed, it was intended to be used for urban warfare. Although it was considered weak in Castel, most houses at that time were still made of brick and wood.
The Guardians of the Faith have enough supplies for the main battlefields.
“Besides that, there are hand grenades. These weapons are also designed for lightweight, individual combat, and are quite effective against people. But as Monica said, their power is quite limited.” Gaia shrugged.
"Alright, both of these weapons have already been officially deployed, but neither of them can deal with steam tanks. Let's talk about heavy firepower instead," Hughes said.
(End of this chapter)
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