I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 589 - 487 Mining Spider Titan
The lack of sufficient resources to produce the Mobile Base is the biggest challenge Chen Xin faces in promoting his plan. ππ£π²ππ¨π²ππ»πΌπ―π²π.π°ππ¦
Itβs like playing a construction game, where to expand production and upgrade buildings, you first need more resources.
To obtain more resources in the game, you either build more mines or miners, or upgrade mining equipment, and in reality, itβs the same.
The country doesnβt lack mines, but changes in the natural environment have made many open-pit and small mines unusable, and the remaining operational mines have decreased production due to environmental impacts, leading to insufficient resources for the country in the short term.
There is more than one solution to this problem, but among the effective ways, improving mining tools is undoubtedly a good choice.
The research center where Chen Xin works has projects related to this in its past work.
"Is this the mining Titan you designed?" Chen Xin, wearing noise-canceling headphones, asked the researcher beside him loudly through a microphone while looking at the machine crushing a test rock in front of him.
The researcher nodded, affirmatively answering Chen Xin: "Yes, from our tests, a humanoid form isnβt necessary, so we adopted a more reasonable structural design."
No wonder the researcher said this, because this Titan in front of them fundamentally differs from those Chen Xin designed and manufactured before.
Four mechanical legs, like those of a spider, maintain the balance of the machine. The body resembles a drider from fantasy adventure games Chen Xin played before, an evil creature where the human lower half is sawed off and placed into a giant spider with its brain removed.
The upper part of the rudimentary exoskeleton-like body encases the pilot, looking quite similar to a standard Exoskeleton except for its larger size, with a large pneumatic pickaxe as a mining gun connected to its arm, lacking any other special features.
However, with its lower body having four legs and a mining bucket like a spiderβs abdomen, it really looks like a drider.
The appearance doesnβt matter because structurally, this design is indeed more convenient than Chen Xinβs original humanoid Titan design.
The stability provided by the four legs allows the machine to carry an additional mining bucket without requiring extra balance design and load, and the passing capability offered by the four spider-like legs is unmatched by two legs or wheels.
For underground mines, this is enough reason to design the mining-type Titan in the shape of a spider.
In practice, the spider design proves very practical. In obstacle testing environments, the four-legged spider clearly runs much faster than a two-legged human.
Moreover, this mining-type Titanβs efficiency is also impressive. During Chen Xinβs conversation with the researcher, it had already crushed the test rock, loading it all into the mining bucket at the back.
"The design is nice, but I remember spiders have eight legs, right?" As the test concluded, Chen Xin jokingly remarked to the researcher after removing his headphones.
The researcher, also removing his headphones, smiled somewhat embarrassedly and explained to Chen Xin: "We initially made an eight-legged Titan; it outperformed this one in both operational efficiency and passing capability. In testing, it could even walk on walls and had more than double the mining efficiency of this one.
Not only that, but it also provided excellent protection for the pilot, with a good seal to resist cold and withstand collapses or flying debris, even outdoors."
In fact, this four-legged mining-type Titan is difficult to consider a true Titan.
Although its size isnβt very different from previous Titans Chen Xin made, considering a mining bucket taking up one-third of its body volume, one can imagine how small the actual body is.
The lower body and mining bucket have no armor or coverings, appearing fully exposed, while the upper body seems directly mounted from disconnected Exoskeleton parts, lacking a true Titan cockpit that fully encloses the pilot.
This is more of an upgraded, enhanced version of an Exoskeleton than a Titan.
However, in terms of power performance and output, it surpasses the Exoskeleton, placing it in the Titan category.
Yet, itβs only a stripped-down Titan.
When Chen Xin followed the researcher to the warehouse beside them, he saw the prototype he mentioned earlier.
Eight slender support legs stood on the floor, holding up an upper body slightly leaner than a regular Titan. Four mechanical arms connected to four pneumatic pickaxes, with the lower body installed with a pair of large pincers like a true spider, to devour crushed ores directly into its "belly," a fully covered mining bay at the back.
If the eight-legged Titan in front of them is described as an SR character in a card game, then the four-legged one outside would only count as an N card fodder.
"Wow, this design is aesthetically pleasing! Add a touch of femininity, and it could easily monetize in mobile games," Chen Xin joked, admiringly tapping one of the support legs before the Titan.
But he didnβt ask the researcher why they didnβt continue development on this one and opted to make the four-legged N card version outside.
The reason was clear: like drawing cards in a game where SR characters cost money, itβs obvious the eight-legged Titan is much more expensive than the four-legged one outside.
Trying out the cockpit, Chen Xin sat inside to feel the seating experience before asking the researcher beside him: "How many of those four-legged ones can we make instead of this model?"
Though Chen Xin doesnβt know the exact cost, he can estimate that producing such a standard Titan without his involvement would be extremely costly, while the simplified four-legged version might not cost as much as this cockpit he is sitting in.
"One standard Titan can make five mining types," the researcher explained, giving the reason they abandoned mass production of the standard Titan.
