Interception

"But what if the enemy's small and medium-sized combat units ignore the fighter jets and head straight for the warships?" Masai thought of another problem.

"We've already considered this. We've found that missile attacks have limited effectiveness against the enemy, while Close-In Weapon System) are far more effective. Although they eventually broke through our fire network in the last war, that was only because they had the cover of our aircraft and the number of CIWS was too small. Therefore, we've removed the missile launchers and installed more Close-In Weapon System to intercept their approach with more ferocious firepower."

"Moreover, if they ignore the fighter jet group, the fighter jet group itself can provide powerful fire support. Under the attack of dual crossfire, they will be destroyed even faster," Hamis said confidently.

Masai then considered several other issues, all of which were resolved. Finally, the plan to intercept Laze Planet was approved unanimously.

What the Riken Race didn't know was that Rowan and several Blades had watched the entire highly confidential closed-door meeting from Grandpa Chloe's perspective.

"Indeed, your enemies know you best. Although we've recognized many of your shortcomings, they're nowhere near as detailed as the Riken Race's summary," Rowan chuckled.

"My Overlord, shall we continue?" Sarah asked.

"Why not? We can't be without flaws. We can't avoid battle just because they've discovered our weaknesses. Our intelligence warfare capabilities far surpass those of the Riken Race. Knowing our enemy and ourselves is enough to offset these flaws. Besides, our battle plan doesn't take these things into account. Consider this a practice run, and I hope you can gain more war experience," Rowan said earnestly. In the future, once the territory controlled by the Swarm expands, he can't do everything personally; these Blade must all be capable of standing alone.

Subsequently, the Swarm forces encountered the same situation as discussed in the internal meeting of the Riken Race, while orbiting Laze Planet.

More than 5,000 Ancient Class warships were intercepted by more than 800 Riken Race warships. Although the number of ships was vastly different, many of the first Ancient Class to arrive on the battlefield were transport ships, accounting for half of them.

Most of these transport-type Ancient Class were only equipped with one Electromagnetic Cannon, so their long-range firepower was not strong.

In terms of size, the Ancient Class are generally only about 500 meters tall. This is because they can absorb very little energy during interstellar travel. Even if they have energy-producing organs like Atomic Furnace, most of the energy they generate is used for power output, and some is transferred to the small and medium-sized Space Octopus inside their bodies to ensure their minimum energy consumption.

After all, these little guys don't have Atomic Furnace, and they can't be exposed outside their bodies during the voyage.

Therefore, they did not grow much during their journey. However, the first few batches of Ancient Class satellites that arrived at the outer edge of the Riken Star System grew considerably in size after being idle for a period of time, but they were still only close to 600 meters in length.

However, the warships of the Riken Race are generally over 1,000 meters long, with some newer models exceeding 1,500 meters, and their weapon systems have also been upgraded. Therefore, although their numbers are small, their firepower is by no means weak.

However, the Riken Race's plan to use speed, range, and rate of fire to continuously wear down the Swarm has undergone some changes.

Through years of development and independent research, the shortcomings of Swarm computing have gradually been overcome.

It has been nearly a century since the first capture of the Cat Ear Spaceship and the seizure of its artificial intelligence, Celia. Through reverse engineering of the Riken Race's computer hardware and software technology, and by applying its theories and innovating, the Swarm has finally developed a Bio-Computer.

This Bio-Computer, combined with the Knight's cooperation, forms the Swarm's new Fire Control System.

This computer was completed in the third year of the military expedition to the Riken Star System, and then underwent several rounds of testing. Therefore, the first few waves of Ancient Class that arrived in the Riken Star System did not have this configuration.

Fortunately, the Bio-Computer itself was just an add-on module. The Swarm concentrated its resources and produced a large number of them in a short time, which were then transported to the front lines along with the subsequent troops.

It was only after the Ancient Class transporter of the Bio-Computer arrived in the Riken Star System, was deployed, and all personnel were fully configured, that the Swarm launched its attack.

In other words, all of these more than 5,000 Ancient Class are now equipped with the new Fire Control System.

Actually, compared to the energy and beam weapons of the Riken Race, the Swarm's Electromagnetic Cannon, although the projectiles travel much slower after being fired than the energy itself, are still formidable weapons.

However, because Electromagnetic Projectile lose less kinetic energy mid-course, the Electromagnetic Cannon's range is actually much greater than that of the Riken Race's energy weapons.

The Riken Space First Fleet, with its eight hundred ships, is difficult to conceal in space, especially since they lack the Swarm's stealth technology.

The new Fire Control System of the Ancient Class aircraft carriers quickly locked onto the Riken Race fleet, then gathered energy and fired a volley of shells.

Although half of these 5,000+ Ancient Class were transport ships, they carried a total of over 8,000 Electromagnetic Cannon. This volley of over 8,000 solid projectiles, each more than a meter in diameter, carrying immense kinetic energy, swept towards the Riken Race fleet.

The two fleets are currently 100,000 kilometers apart. The Electromagnetic Cannon railgun projectile is flying toward the Riken Race fleet at a speed of 100 km/s and is expected to hit the target in seventeen minutes.

Of course, this is assuming the target remains stationary.

Would the Riken Race fleet just stand there and wait to be attacked? Obviously not.

The Riken Race were, after all, an advanced civilization. They had already analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, and had taken into account that their weapons had a shorter range than the enemy's.

However, range is not always the key to victory. For example, here we have a projectile flight time of up to seventeen minutes. If it were a surprise attack on Riken Race warship, the warship might not be able to evade such an attack within seventeen minutes of starting its engines and taking cover. But in this situation, the fleet is already at high speed, and even if the warships are not very maneuverable due to their large size, seventeen minutes is enough to evade the bombardment of the Ancient Class.

As the Ancient Class Electromagnetic Cannon charged, the Riken Race's latest monitoring instruments detected it, and Vice Admiral Hamis, commander of the First Fleet, ordered the fleet to take emergency evasive action against the shelling.

Seventeen minutes later, a barrage of projectiles flew into the distance from 200 kilometers above and to the side of the fleet.

A few minutes later, the second volley of shells flew past the fleet again, a hundred kilometers away.

The Riken Race fleet then evaded several more rounds of shelling and advanced 30,000 kilometers forward, bringing the Swarm Ancient Class ships within range of the Riken Race warships' main guns.

Thank you for the 100 Qidian coins reward from Abyss Order.