Chapter 54: Three Goals
Tom was quite satisfied with this battle record.
Although his combat power was only strong under the current technological level, and he still didn’t know the opponent’s technological level, he had at least reached the limit of his current technical capabilities.
It was just that the fuel consumption was a bit too much.
As he piloted the Mercury-class Battleship back, Tom sighed softly.
Just a few hours of combat had consumed a whopping 50 tons of fuel.
Not only that, but several tons of bullets, shells, and interstellar missiles were also depleted along with it.
"This was just one battleship fighting for a few hours.
A space war would surely involve hundreds of battleships, right? And it would last for months or even years, right?
Not to mention the total consumption over the entire war cycle, just 500 battleships making one sortie and fighting once would consume at least 25,000 tons of fuel and thousands of tons of ammunition..."
Tom had always known the saying, "War is about logistics," but he had never truly understood it before.
After the expeditionary force annihilated the Monster Birds swarm, consuming thousands or even tens of thousands of tons of combat materials in one go, he thought he had understood the saying.
But at this moment, he realized that his understanding of that saying was still too superficial.
"Since so much combat material is consumed, then when war breaks out, the model of launching battleships from the surface of Loshen Star will no longer work."
Launching from the surface of Loshen Star into space first requires accelerating to about one kilometer per second, which would obviously consume a large amount of fuel.
"The best way is to build a large, comprehensive logistics base in space.
When there’s no combat, battleships can be docked at this logistics base, maintaining a speed of about one kilometer per second at all times, ready to set sail immediately when combat is encountered.
At the same time, methane, liquid oxygen, bullets, shells, missiles, and various consumables needed for combat can all be stored in advance at the base for easy access.
Even spaceship repair factories can be built here, allowing for quick repairs once damaged.
It’s just, how big would such a logistics base have to be...?"
If the fuel and supplies stored in the logistics base were too little, it would obviously be meaningless.
To be truly effective, it would have to be very large, storing at least millions of tons of supplies.
Adding in various facilities and its own weight, a single base would probably have a total mass of over two million tons, even larger and heavier than the previous space laboratory.
Especially since such a large logistics base would inevitably become a key target for the enemy, it would have to possess thick armor and a massive defensive weapon system.
This would likely push the total mass straight past four million tons, with even higher being possible.
"But there’s no other way; I must have such a base to support any potential future wars."
Tom gritted his teeth and made up his mind: "Then, the key projects I need to undertake next are three.
First, expand battleship production capacity with all my might to rapidly build more battleships.
Second, fully construct a large, comprehensive logistics base.
Third, the Deep Space communication network must be established."
When the number of battleships and spaceships increases, various communication, positioning, and interaction demands will surge.
Once his battleship numbers grow, how would he determine the position of each battleship? How would he dispatch them?
This would require a complete Deep Space communication network.
Having determined these three key construction projects, Tom looked worriedly at the nearby dwarf planet—which he had now named God-Enemy Star, signifying the enemy’s planet—and sighed again: "I wonder when they will make their next move.
I hope they can give me a little more time. It’s a pity that at this stage, I still cannot launch a probe there.
But it shouldn’t be too long. Once the Deep Space communication network is built, not only will spaceships and battleships receive information support, but Deep Space probes will also be able to, and then I can launch them."
At this moment, Tom’s maximum consciousness connection count still hovered around 700,000.
To maintain a state where 700,000 Clones were working at all times, the total number of Clones currently utilized by Tom was approximately 1.4 million.
The reserve number of Clones was around 1.6 million, making the total population 3 million.
However, the workload of the 700,000 Clones connected to Tom was almost saturated.
At most, they could only support the production of Mercury-class Battleships at the current production level, which is an average of one every two days; doing anything more would likely be beyond their capacity.
After all, battleships are much more difficult to build than ordinary cargo ships. Not only do they require higher precision, but they also have a larger tonnage.
"Building a Deep Space communication network doesn’t require too many people, but it’s a technical job, and there are still some technical problems that haven’t been overcome. It’s estimated that about 10,000 Clones will be needed for research, and another 10,000 Clones for logistics, to have a chance of overcoming them in a relatively short period.
For the rest, building a comprehensive space logistics base will probably require no less than 200,000 Clones.
This doesn’t even account for the problem that if battleships and spaceships increase, they will consume more fuel, requiring more personnel in mining and refining.
My consciousness connection count will probably need to increase to 1 million to barely be enough."
Tom looked towards the biotechnology experimental area of the space laboratory.
There, a dozen Clones in white coats, hats, masks, and gloves were carefully operating something in the cleanroom.
"Whether we can cultivate higher quality Clones depends on this time."
Time passed quietly, and in a blink of an eye, more than ten days went by.
At this moment, the Clone who had returned to the culture dish observed it carefully, and a feeling of joy arose in Tom’s mind.
He saw that under the cultivation of the newly configured culture medium, the experimental mice, rabbits, and human cells all showed a trend of rapid division and rapid development!
Clearly, their vitality was stronger!
"Good, this is it!"
Having obtained the firsthand experimental data, Tom immediately mobilized over 20,000 Clones, who quickly entered the culture medium configuration factory and the Clone cultivation factory, respectively, upgrading and modifying the equipment according to the latest requirements.
Thus, just a few days later, the first batch of culture medium, enough for a hundred people, was successfully produced.
Without waiting for more culture medium to be produced, Tom immediately began the cultivation of these mere one hundred Clones.
In any case, he had to increase his consciousness connection count first. As for the average quality of the Clones, that could be gradually improved later.