Chapter 9 Lambda Cannon
This is actually the most hesitant part of Mingyu's entire design.
Mu Boxing initially chose to load the standard Nuke cannon. While lightweight and low-powered, it quickly accelerated particles, charging from charge to discharge in less than a second, with a maximum continuous firing time of ten seconds and a peak instantaneous energy value of 100 energies. The Lambda cannon, on the other hand, was even more powerful, with a continuous firing time of up to thirty seconds. While it weighed about the same as the Nuke and had a peak instantaneous energy value of 500 energies, its biggest drawback was its slow charge time, requiring ten to fifteen seconds.
Ten to fifteen seconds is enough time for most starship observers to notice the changes and accumulation of energy waves and prepare to respond.
A dozen years ago, Lambda cannons were typically used in large-scale, concentrated fire bombardments. However, five years ago, the newly developed button cannons used new technology to increase their instantaneous energy to 1,000, with a recharge time of only five to seven seconds. Lambda cannons were subsequently eliminated from the weaponry of most starships.
Ming Yu: "Although the button cannon is more powerful, it weighs 1.5 times as much as the Lambda cannon. Exploration starships are not designed to carry weapons, so I want the weight of this part to be as small as possible."
Mu Boxing obviously also had this consideration.
He leaned against the wall, staring at Mingyu and listening to him attentively.
"I've tried to improve the Lambda cannon's energy accelerator before."
That was actually an open-ended question in the Intermediate Designer Exam Review Materials. This type of question is the final question, and the author of the question didn't expect the examinee to draw a truly feasible design draft, but only wanted the idea of solving the problem.
But Mingyu happened to have insomnia that night, so he simply revised his design draft, went to the modeling room to make models several times, and finally worked hard for two weeks to produce a version that passed the test.
"The acceleration time can be reduced from ten to fifteen seconds to five to seven seconds," Mingyu said. "It should be enough for the first round of competition."
Aside from the military, most observers' detection time was between five and seven seconds, and their reaction time after detection was approximately one second. The Star Navigation Competition, intended for talent selection, prohibited participation by military personnel, registered exploration teams, or those with more than seven years of experience in the Star Navigation Department.
So as long as Mingyu and his team don't encounter high-level awakened humans like Mingyan, they won't be at a disadvantage during a firefight due to energy storage issues.
You can even take advantage of the other party's inherent impression to catch them off guard.
There are tens of thousands of teams participating in the first round, and their levels are uneven. Mingyu feels that among tens of thousands of teams, the probability of frequently encountering big-name teams should be small.
"But these are just theoretical values. My design has never been implemented."
The modeling instrument only provides reference values. The improved accelerator will definitely shorten the charging time, but Mingyu is not sure whether it can be shortened to five to seven seconds.
This was the reason why he hesitated before.
Mu Baixing nodded and pulled the light screen over to take a closer look.
Mingyu's theoretical data represents a remarkable improvement. It reduces the energy storage rate without any other losses, and it is not unique, so it can be expanded and applied to a class of barrels similar to the Lambda cannon.
Mu Baixing looked at Mingyu calmly.
The young man must not be a student of the Design Department of Xinghang College, otherwise his tutor would have found a model machine for Mingyu to experiment with long ago. If the experiment was successful, he would definitely publish this contribution on the academic platform with great joy.
But Mingyu obviously didn't have this opportunity.
"If you feel it's unsafe, just change back to the Newx cannon." There was no reluctance in Mingyu's tone. He was not frustrated because his hard work was replaced, nor did he want to experiment with his own design results. He was simply discussing the best solution with Mu Baixing.
It is not utilitarian at all, straightforward and neat.
The young man's eyes are the same, frank, clean and clear.
Mu Baixing didn't say anything.
He knew a lot about starship design, but he couldn't tell from a blueprint how much the actual performance of a gun barrel would differ from the theoretical value. The modeler was only responsible for checking the feasibility and general performance of the starship, and it didn't have a simulation module.
If they wanted to know how the gun barrel would perform in the Star Navigation Competition, the safest way would be to pay to rent a more advanced simulated starship laboratory. However, firstly, the laboratory rental fee was expensive, and secondly, the detailed calculations would take weeks, and they couldn't wait.
Mu Boxing entered the Star Navigation Competition because the rewards of the competition contained what he needed.
The rewards for the preliminaries were only money, while the rewards for the star region competition included the energy ore and energy plants that Mu Boxing needed. Therefore, he had to pass at least three preliminaries.
Now is not a good time to take risks.
But he did not immediately refuse to use Mingyu's gun barrel design.
He frowned slightly, pulled back the light screens that Mingyu had just pushed aside and looked at them carefully without saying anything.
Mu Baixing pondered the dangers and solutions of the cannon's firing speed failing to reach theoretical values during the competition, imprinting the data on each screen into his mind. A few minutes later, his fingers touched the screen that Mingyu had pressed down on the bottom.
What is shown above is the result of Mingyu's design draft passing the feasibility test in one go.
Mu Baixing: “…”
Mu Baixing raised his eyes and looked at Mingyu again.
Although he had changed his mind many times in the past two days, this randomly matched designer was still better than he expected.
"No," he finally said, "Try it."
Mingyu paused.
During the long silence, he was already prepared for Mu Boxing to exchange for the Newton cannon.
Mingyu blinked and said in surprise, "Aren't you afraid that the charge will take too long and your attack won't hit?"
Mu Baixing: "Afraid." The man said calmly, pointing at the starship projection and offering a solution, "Add another mental force drainage tube to the gun barrel."
Mingyu: “…”
Psychic drainage is the fusion of psychic tentacles with weapon systems, combined with the function of a gun barrel, to form a non-standard psychic weapon. One of the most famous psychic weapons in history is the New Star main cannon, recreated in "New Star Funeral." It is said that it can eject a giant energy body that materializes, like a cosmic god, with immense power.
Adding a drainage tube to the barrel can indeed transform the ordinary Lambda cannon into a spiritual weapon, using Mu Boxing's spiritual power to accelerate energy storage. But...
Ming Yu: "...Can your spiritual realm withstand it?"
"Psychic weapons require very high mental endurance, and the pilot must also strictly control his mental power. Otherwise, he might directly blow off his own gun barrel, or even blow up his own starship, causing it to crash..."
Mu Baixing raised his eyebrows.
"Ga," he said. "It can't crash."
Mingyu: “…”
He and Mu Baixing exchanged glances, and after a moment, his expression relaxed as he said, "Okay, add it!"
Since Mu Baixing believed in his design, he also had to believe in Mu Baixing's ability.
Isn't it just a matter of taking a gamble?!
Mingyu quickly added the mental power lines to the weapon system and inserted the blueprint back into the modeling machine. The simulation data from the previous run was still stored in the system, and the additional computational effort required for this minor change was minimal, so the simulation completed quickly. Ten minutes later, the modeling machine again spit out a feasibility result.
"Is this okay?" Mingyu glanced at the time. There was still one day before the opening day of the Star Navigation Competition. "Is there anything else you want to change?"
"No." Mu Baixing said simply, "I paid it."
He is not a man who likes to procrastinate.
Mingyu was more cautious than him. He carefully checked his design draft and modeling data again. After confirming that there were no problems, he opened the Star Navigation Competition page and submitted the design draft.
Mu Baixing leaned against the wall and looked at him.
The man's eyes were like distant stars in the universe, seeming to contain the depth and coldness of the boundless universe. His gaze fell on Mingyu, and he really couldn't ignore it.
Mingyu didn't know what he meant. When he looked away, his eyes caught sight of Mu Baixing's injured arm.
Mingyu felt pain for him.
More than an hour had passed since Mu Boxing entered the modeling room. He had been standing in one spot without moving, and the blood that had dripped from his arm onto the ground had formed a small puddle at his feet.
"Aren't you going to the treatment center yet?" He couldn't help but ask again. Seeing that the other person looked calm, he thought for a moment and said, "If there is any problem with your body...will it affect your performance tomorrow?"
Mu Baixing's expression paused slightly.
Although I haven't had much contact with designer LUCE for a long time, it's not difficult to judge that he is not too old and should have been living in a safe star field. He has some understanding of star navigation but not in depth, and is probably an amateur star navigation enthusiast.
He grew up in an environment where blood was not common, so he had this concern when he saw the wound on his arm.
Very normal.
Mu Baixing didn't say "it won't affect you" and instead said, "Go."
He looked at Mingyu, paused for a moment, and spoke for the second time: "Also, let me make another deal with you."
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