Chapter 79: Gold Star Level
As a combat warship one tier higher than the Mercury-class Spaceship, its combat effectiveness would naturally have to be a tier higher as well.
It needed stronger defenses, greater firepower and maneuverability, a more sensitive Radar System, longer operational range, and so on. Every single aspect required a massive upgrade.
If these goals couldn’t be met, simply building a larger spaceship would be meaningless.
A ship like that would just be a sitting duck on the battlefield. Not only would it be useless, but it would also drag down the entire fleet.
Spaceships, and combat warships in particular, are exceedingly complex. They involve a vast and intricate range of technologies, with connections to nearly every discipline in the entire scientific system. Not a single one could be omitted.
Thanks to the all-out research efforts of the preceding years, Li Qingsong had made great leaps in his understanding of every scientific discipline.
In the field of materials science, the Clones had incrementally improved the performance of materials—from connectors and fireproofing to cushioning, heat resistance, radiation shielding, armor plating, and anti-corrosion materials. This progress was the result of countless upgrades, a gradual accumulation of knowledge, bit by bit.
In weaponry, the Clones researched one firearm design after another, studying how to create ammunition better suited for the vacuum of space and developing more advanced radar. This, too, was the result of countless small accumulations that ultimately advanced the technology to its current level.
Factoring in the research into countless other subsystems like fuel, spacecraft structure, power, and life support, combined with the recent successful development of a new high-efficiency engine and the steady stream of supplies now flowing from Enemy God Star, Li Qingsong finally made his decision.
The development of the Venus-class Warship would require a total mobilization of all of Li Qingsong’s factories, bases, and scientific disciplines.
For this massive undertaking, Li Qingsong first assigned approximately ten thousand Clones to preliminary research. Their task was to survey all current technologies, establish a framework for the warship, and identify the technological gaps and necessary advancements required to build the Venus-class Warship.
This work was completed with incredible speed. In the end, Li Qingsong reached a conclusion.
To truly build the Venus-class Warship he envisioned, he would need to achieve technological breakthroughs in approximately 9 major categories and 377 subcategories, encompassing around 16,000 specific technical challenges.
These projects ranged from small-scale problems, like resolving interference between power lines to improve stability, to large-scale challenges, like manufacturing a new type of high-speed Deep Space radar.
Once the objectives were clear, the path forward was set.
With the help of the Jade Emperor AI, Li Qingsong’s production efficiency soared to unprecedented heights. As a result, a large number of Clones were temporarily "idle," so Li Qingsong funneled all of them into the scientific endeavor.
Including the Clones already assigned to research the Venus-class Warship, the total number Li Qingsong committed to the project instantly surpassed one million!
Nearly one-fifth of his total consciousness connections were now dedicated to this single task.
What terrifying research capability could be unleashed by one million top military experts, all possessing pan-disciplinary knowledge, working 24/7 without rest (with backup Clones taking over during rest cycles), and operating with zero internal friction or communication barriers?
Li Qingsong had never before undertaken a research project on such a massive scale, but he had a rough estimate of their potential.
Li Qingsong estimated that the research efficiency of a single Clone was at least equivalent to ten human scientists. One million Clones, therefore, were equal to ten million scientists.
To cultivate ten million scientists of that caliber would require a nation with a population of over a billion, and that’s assuming it cut all other expenditures to fully support the effort.
By a rough calculation, the research efficiency of these one million Clones was roughly equivalent to the entire research output of a nation with over a billion people dedicating itself completely to the task!
Now, the research capacity equivalent to that of an entire, massive nation was focused on this single project.
In the Armor Research Institute, countless types of armor with different materials, structures, densities, and designs were brought in. Machine guns roared day and night, relentlessly bombarding them.
At the Firearms Research Institute, the scale of research into machine guns suitable for the space environment was even more immense. Several thousand machine guns, each built with a different design philosophy, were tested. On average, they consumed tens of millions of special-purpose bullets every day.
For firearms to be effective in space, they first needed a high rate of fire. Space is simply too vast and bullet travel times are too long to rely on a few precise shots.
The only viable solution was to increase the rate of fire, unleashing a massive volume of projectiles in a short time and relying on sheer numbers to cover an area.
Beyond the rate of fire, there was muzzle velocity.
Muzzle velocity also had to be high. The reason was simple: higher velocity meant higher kinetic energy, which in turn meant greater destructive power.
Without having mastered Electromagnetic Cannon technology, Li Qingsong could only achieve these two goals by optimizing the firearms’ structure, improving their heat resistance, and enhancing the performance of their propellants.
In the Radar Laboratory, Li Qingsong’s Clones tested one material after another, desperately searching for a composition that could enhance the Radar System’s performance.
In the Propulsion Laboratory, an improved version of the high-efficiency engine was undergoing test runs, its exhaust plumes firing day and night.
In the Spacecraft Structure Laboratory, the Clones constructed one frame after another, testing their stability in a variety of extreme environments to find any structural flaws.
...
With a total of one million Clones working at full capacity, and with approximately 5,000 laboratories operating day and night, Li Qingsong spent two full years finally conquering all 16,000 specific technologies on his project list.
The Venus-class Warship had finally reached the manufacturing stage.
Since an assembly line had yet to be established, all the components required for this first Venus-class Warship had to be custom-made.
Finally, all the various parts and components converged at the final assembly plant. With the help of various precision machines, a massive, spherical warship finally took shape before Li Qingsong. It had a radius of 10 meters and a total height of 20 meters—roughly equivalent to a seven-story building on Earth. Its fully loaded mass reached 800 tons, seven times that of a Mercury-class Spaceship.
Ignition!
At Li Qingsong’s command, the four high-efficiency Thrust Devices on its underside simultaneously erupted with brilliant white flames. They propelled the massive sphere skyward in an instant, and in the next moment, it vanished from sight.