After lunch, they all headed to the couches in the testing room to enter the virtual reality simulation for the cockpit testing. They were just simple virtual reality headsets, but it was good enough to do the modifications to the design that were needed at this stage.
This setup would allow them to modify the interior, as well as add and remove standard items to make the design more user-friendly. Fortunately, they had a variety of body sizes in the team, so they wouldn’t need to call anyone else in for the user function verifications, which would save them a lot of time between finishing the digital design and getting the physical prototype made.
The simulation was just the cockpit and internal structure area of the Mecha, as well as the structure of the pod that it mounted in, including shielding and the final layers of ablative armor. Unlike Cygnus which used ejection pods, the cockpits of the Kepler Super Heavies were a black box, intended not to be breached, even if the Mecha was destroyed.
Max was a fan of the ejection method, though he did realize that there were many drawbacks to being helpless in a small pod that could be buried in rubble or carried away by enemies, instead of being trapped in hundreds of tons of disabled Mecha.
They helped the Pilots survive, especially in a space battle, but at the same time, they were often hard to track, and there were known instances where they were lost entirely after a battle, with neither side claiming recovery of the Pilot inside.
With Lilith at his side, Max tested out the cockpit ergonomics, adding every conceivable tool, spare part, and an excessive amount of personal gear to the storage, modifying and shifting it until they could easily store and access everything within the confines of the space they had.
Building storage into the upper folding bunk turned out to be the winning recipe for the last of their storage needs, being used for items that needed to be accessed in a hurry, including the medical kit, the diagnostic tablets, and the two occupants’ emergency sidearms and survival kits.
They always took up a large amount of valuable space, since they needed to be accessible in seconds, but there wasn’t usually a good space for them. Increasing the thickness of the upper bunk a little let them be placed out of the way, and made them even faster to grab in an emergency.
Nothing was left unmodified. Even the layout of the standardized head compartment, with its vacuum toilet and an overhead shower, was reworked.
“What does everyone think? I know you were working on the upgrades to the armor to deal with Disruptor weapons, but head inside in pairs and tell me if you find anything awkward or inconvenient.” Sister Lilith instructed, sending her team in one after another.
This led to a short argument and another minor redesign. The food preparation station was made modular, so the user could switch the locations around after it was pointed out that a left-handed user had a hard time using the coffee pot in the position by the back wall.
The removable canisters for the spare raw materials to be used for repairs were a big hit with everyone, and they fit into the standard maintenance cart, so nothing on a ship’s inventory needed to be modified to work with the new mecha, other than the hangar bay securements.
[Nico, where did you put the auxiliary sidearms on the X109 Fast Attack Mecha.] Max asked when concern about the overhead locker being thrown open by impact and dropping a rifle on someone’s head was raised.
[Two rifles in the back of the seat and a pistol under the control module by the right knee.] Nico responded, and Max took a moment to consider if they might have gone too light on the firepower. Nico had as much firepower for one person as they did for two.
“Hey, Lilith, pull up the Pilot seat from the X109. I heard they redesigned it for weapons storage, so we can make the bunk storage less critical, and maybe open from the top under the mattress.” Max suggested since he didn’t know where the file would be found in the server mainframe.
The two models were nearly the same, but one had an opening back plate, which stored a pair of rifles, a small water tank, and a week’s rations. Once they switched out both forward seats for this model, they now had enough storage to keep the pilots provisioned in the case of extended breakdown. Part of the insert could even be pulled out, making a small backpack full of water and food.
“Now I understand why they were so upset with her in the design team. This seat is a great improvement, but making it so complex had to be a nightmare for the team.” Lilith smiled, reaching for the coffee pot before realizing they were in the simulation and there was no actual coffee available.
“Should we fix the bunk and send this to mockup for physical construction?” Max asked while considering what the bunk could be used for now.
“Why don’t we make it a large open cabinet, accessible from the top? It could hold formal uniforms or function outfits flat, or extra rations and provisions.” Lilith suggested.
“We have so much stuff in the lockers now, there’s no need for more clothing storage. But something to hold more food and drink, then put an assistance ram on the bunk to offset the expected extra weight.” Max decided, letting Lilith redesign the upper bunk.
By the time they finished, the others had modified the armor to be sufficiently improved that they would feel confident if they were the ones in the Mecha on the front lines. That was the standard Uncle Lu insisted on, and they weren’t sure that he wouldn’t actually send them to find out in person if there were complaints about the Mecha being subpar.
The design was incredibly rushed though, so everyone was sure that despite their best intentions there would be issues once it hit combat and battle damage was introduced.
That reminded Lilith that she wanted to test the Tech Adept skeleton on simulated internal damages, to check the level of access that was available without going outside the Mecha. If it was a limb, there was no other choice, but a torso, hip, or shoulder joint should be repairable, as well as most of the main wiring loom and hydraulic system.
The flexible whip arms turned out to be much more versatile than expected. The small manipulation arm and material welder could reach all the way to the elbow joint to repair damages, using the access holes for the wiring and hydraulics. With that level of access, they could even get at the backside of most of the weapons, so small repairs like a blown capacitor could most likely be done without leaving the Mecha, keeping the technician much safer.
“Alright, we’ve done what we can for the day. Let’s get this sent off for finalization and come back tomorrow.” Sister Lilith declared, booting everyone out of the simulation before she sent it away to become someone else’s problem for the night.