Chapter 88: Goku
Tom was filled with joy, having finally effectively resolved a significant portion of the battle power plummet caused by communication delays.
Moreover, Tom knew that with his continued large-scale combat drills and the massive amount of combat data generated, the combat AI would become even smarter, leading to a greater increase in battle power.
Furthermore, with the continued development of his chip technology and the further surge in supercomputing power, perhaps in the future, his operational radius would expand even further, allowing his fleet to maintain high combat effectiveness even with a round-trip communication delay of up to an hour—which corresponds to 30 light-minutes, or 540 million kilometers.
At that time, even if he were on Earth, he could remotely command interstellar battles located outside the Asteroid Belt!
Especially, Tom had another idea at this moment.
While combat spacecraft controlled by humans certainly had their advantages, even with communication delays of up to an hour, he could always, by controlling his Clone, continuously perform tasks that intelligent programs couldn’t, such as internal repairs to the spacecraft, high-difficulty tactical maneuvers, and overall strategic planning.
Unmanned spacecraft did not possess this advantage.
However, they had other advantages.
They could be built very small and be more agile. Their average combat power was far inferior to manned spacecraft, but their numbers could be vast, allowing them to overwhelm opponents through sheer quantity.
Most importantly, unmanned combat equipment, such as unmanned spacecraft and armed satellites, could be fully handed over to the combat AI for operation, requiring no effort from him!
They were certainly not intelligent enough, as he couldn’t directly control them. But it didn’t matter, as long as there were enough of them!
In this way, even if he were on Earth, he could deploy armed forces at distances of ten billion or even one hundred billion kilometers from Earth!
Although Tom could not yet build unmanned weapons that met the requirements and had practical combat significance, it did not hinder him from laying the groundwork and contemplating combat theory at this moment.
"Thus, my future combat style will be as follows:
First, large-scale and widespread deployment of supercomputers, and a large number of unmanned combat facilities, allowing the combat AI to fully automatically control them in battle.
At the same time, with my main body as the core, I will deploy fleets composed of manned spacecraft within a certain surrounding range.
These fleets are the core of my entire combat force, and as the battlefield situation changes, manned fleets can move conveniently.
In this way, manned plus unmanned AI plus my own intelligence, two layers of combat power cooperating with each other, will be able to unleash combat strength far exceeding that of a single control method...
Almost the instant he considered this possibility, Tom realized that manned plus unmanned was almost certainly the universal method for future interstellar combat.
Not only himself, but other civilizations, including the Blueprint Civilization that was about to arrive, would almost certainly adopt this fighting style.
There was no other way; manned plus unmanned, large-scale unmanned spacecraft and unmanned combat weapons, plus elite manned combat spacecraft—the combination of the two offered too many advantages.
At the same time, Tom also perceived the advantages and disadvantages of ordinary interstellar civilizations in this combat mode, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of his own unique existence.
His advantages were obvious: with everyone united and no internal friction, he could achieve a significant increase in the combat power of manned fleets within an operational radius with low communication delays. At the same time, his unmanned combat forces would certainly far surpass opponents of the same technological level.
Because his productivity was higher.
However, the disadvantage was that in areas far from his main body, where communication delays were high, the combat strength of his manned fleets would inevitably be lower than that of his opponents.
This was because his opponents’ manned combat spacecraft could be independently decided upon by intelligent life individuals, without needing remote command from a commander.
The advantages and disadvantages of opponents with the same technological level were exactly the opposite of his.
"Having understood the advantages and disadvantages, future combat strategies and tactics are easy to arrange. It is simply about leveraging strengths and avoiding weaknesses, maximizing unmanned combat forces, and simultaneously minimizing the use of manned fleets to engage opponents in areas with high delays."
Having confirmed this, Tom’s mind couldn’t help but begin to envision his future combat mode.
Within the Solar System, numerous interconnected supercomputers would be deployed in various locations, as far as Loshen Star and God-Enemy Star at the edge of the Solar System, while the Inner Solar System would be covered by every major planet and moon. The entire Solar System would be filled with unmanned combat forces controlled by the combat AI, and his core elite manned fleet would traverse the entire galaxy with the support and assistance of these unmanned combat forces...
The combat AI was the top priority for Tom’s future interstellar combat, second only to his main body.
"Since that’s the case, it’s necessary to give you a specific name.
Which mythological figure is most related to combat?"
Tom pondered for a moment and instantly locked onto a figure.
"Good, from now on, I’ll call you Goku! In the future, you will be in charge of all unmanned combat forces, and at the same time, assist me in manned combat!
You are still very weak and not intelligent enough now, but it doesn’t matter, I will continue to feed and train you."
Under Tom’s command, fleets A and B once again ascended.
One of them was directly controlled by Tom, while the other was controlled by the Goku AI, and both sides engaged in fierce combat in space.
Amidst this fierce battle, an endless stream of data, like rivers flowing into the sea, converged into the newly built supercomputer, becoming nourishment for the Goku AI.
Having completed this significant technological breakthrough, Tom still did not relax.
His main attention immediately shifted to another matter.
Miniaturization of nuclear fission reactors!
Over these years, Tom had never relaxed his efforts to upgrade and transform nuclear fission power plants.
He always understood that the method of energy acquisition was the most important thing for him at this stage, and it was the foundation and support for all his other endeavors.
For example, the unmanned combat system led by the Goku AI: without sufficiently advanced energy sources, how could unmanned spacecraft and unmanned weapons fight?
Relying on chemical fuels?
It was likely that even if Tom transformed all his fleets into fuel transport fleets, they still wouldn’t be able to supply the unmanned combat system.
At the same time, without a sufficiently high-quality energy supply system, new engines would be out of the question, and the cruising speed of combat weapons would always be limited to extremely low levels.
Now, after more than a decade of consistent and persistent research, Tom’s nuclear fission technology finally achieved a major breakthrough.