I Am The Swarm-Chapter 654: Methods

Seeing the conversation veering off in an unexpected direction, Knox promptly interrupted it. However, the earlier discussion about real-time strategy games wasn’t entirely without merit. After all, real-time strategy games were developed to simulate various war scenarios, and many of the tactics in these games evolved from real-world strategies. Translating game tactics into real-world strategies wasn’t out of the question.

The so-called “tower defense” strategy involved building a large number of defensive structures in the early stages when one’s forces were at a disadvantage, in order to protect other buildings and support units.

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While this porcupine-like strategy lacked offensive power, it had its own advantages. It artificially created a favorable terrain advantage, delaying the situation until one’s own forces gained the upper hand.

However, this tactic wasn’t actually pioneered in games. It had been documented as far back as the ancient wars fought on planets by various races. Regardless of its origins, the current situation did seem to align somewhat with the Swarm’s approach.

“Maybe we should report this speculation to the higher-ups.”

“You don’t actually think your brain is better than those of the strategists who specialize in tactics, do you? Whatever you’ve thought of, they probably figured it out centuries ago.”

“Hmph, if they were as good as you say, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this pointless discussion. Besides, they’re working with second-hand information. How can their conclusions be as accurate as ours, based on firsthand experience on the front lines?”

Knox nodded, agreeing with both sides of the argument. In the end, however, he lowered his head and edited a message before sending it out.

“Seriously, though, if—and I mean if—the Swarm really has some kind of trump card that destroys our ships, what should we do?”

“What else can we do? Fight to the death, of course. The Swarm doesn’t take prisoners.”

“Sigh, is there really no other way?”

“If it were like the beginning, where only a few of our ships were in this situation, then the outcome of these few ships wouldn’t affect the overall course of the war. We’d be the same—if we failed, we could just abandon ship. There are plenty of other ships around for us to land on. But as we’ve already discussed, the Swarm has now divided the large battlefield into countless small ones. The outcome of one or two small battles won’t determine the overall direction of the war. But what if all the ships are dragged into this game? Based on our current experience, who do you think would win the war? Looking at the bigger picture, how many of these small battles do you think would go our way?”

Gale’s lengthy speech once again dampened the squad’s morale. But she wasn’t wrong. Each small battle was separate yet interconnected. If the proportion of lost small battles reached a certain level, it would affect the entire war.

Moreover, when everyone was involved, even if they failed and abandoned their flagship, where would they go? Escaping would only mean moving from one small battlefield to another.

The Confederation’s strategy department was also engaged in heated discussions about this. Although they weren’t on the front lines, they were close enough to receive nearly real-time firsthand intelligence. Naturally, they had reached conclusions similar to those of Knox’s squad.

“The Swarm’s intentions are quite clear. From the very beginning, they never planned to defeat us in a firepower exchange.”

“Exactly. All their previous actions were just to delay the war until it reached this point. Now, it’s us who are in an unfavorable position.”

“This is all the fault of the intelligence and reconnaissance departments. If they had discovered the Swarm’s plans earlier, we wouldn’t be in this awkward situation.”

“It’s too late to assign blame now. What we need to discuss is how to break out of this situation.”

“The Swarm meticulously prepared for this, sacrificing so many combat units to set this up. It’s not going to be easy to break through. I can’t think of any good solutions at the moment.”

“Actually, the solution is simple. If we can find a way to detect those traps, we can clean them up before the Swarm is fully prepared.”

“That’s right. The fact that they haven’t launched an active attack yet means they’re not ready. This is our last chance to turn the tide, and we must seize it.”

“Everyone knows that, but how? Who can come up with a method?”

“What about our research department? They’ve been well-fed and well-paid all this time. Why haven’t they found a solution yet?” one of the strategists shouted.

“You try it!” a research scientist participating in the discussion as a special consultant retorted angrily. “Don’t you know? We can’t dissect the Swarm’s technology. Without dissection, we can’t quickly figure out how they operate.”

“So there’s no other way?” another strategist asked.

“Sigh,” the scientist sighed. “Right now, we can only use crude methods. We’ll keep modifying our detection instruments based on their behavior and then test them.”

“How long will it take to produce results?”

The scientist frowned. He really didn’t want to answer such a pointless question. But considering everyone’s tense nerves, he suppressed his urge to vent and sighed again, shaking his head. “It’s hard to say. It could be the next second, or it could take months, or even years.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have that much time,” the strategist said, thinking that “the next second” was unlikely. Even taking a middle estimate, it would be far too long. With the initiative in the Swarm’s hands, no one knew how long they needed to complete their preparations. Were they really going to lose this victory?

“Is there any way to speed this up?” the strategist asked, unwilling to give up.

Surprisingly, the scientist nodded in response. “There is!”

“What is it?”

“We need live Swarm units. Only then can we conduct rapid experiments instead of relying on luck for every new result,” the scientist said, shrugging.

The strategist understood what he meant. The instruments modified by the research department had to be tested to see if they worked. But to conduct these tests, they needed live Swarm trap units.

The problem was, no one knew where these traps were hidden. The only way to test the new instruments was when the traps activated, and by then, it would be too late.

Worse, once the Swarm’s trap units were discovered, they would immediately launch suicidal attacks, leaving no chance to capture them alive.