Proximity Mines
The battle lasted for over a hundred hours, Riken Race fleet was never able to get close enough to get within their firing range.
If the Riken Race were to charge headlong into the enemy lines, they could certainly reach their position, but by then their fleet would likely be nearly wiped out, and once inside, retreating would be virtually impossible.
However, they weren't entirely without success. Although they couldn't hit the Swarm fleet, the Swarm fleet didn't actively approach them either. So the Swarm fleet was kept confined to a small area.
Moreover, although more than fifty warships were withdrawn from the battle, it was only temporary. Due to the timely evacuation, none of the warships were completely destroyed.
After such a long bombardment, the Swarm fleet was not without losses.
"Your Majesty, our Ancient Class beings don't have much metal reserves left. If we continue fighting like this, it won't be long before our Electromagnetic Cannon run out of ammunition." Terra was the chief guard during Queen Sarah's reign, but after transforming into Intellect, they were now on equal footing.
Even after they were all brought into the Blade and became subordinate to each other, they still addressed each other by their first names. However, due to Rowan's interference, Terra still addressed Sarah as Her Majesty the Queen, and not only Terra, but other Intellect also did so.
Since Rowan wanted to remain completely hidden behind the scenes, the Swarm needed a visible leader, and Sarah, who had once been a queen of the race, was very suitable for this position.
Sarah was among the first to be transformed into Intellect. Those who came before her were either her teachers or her subjects, so this transformation of identity was very natural and reasonable.
"Reduce the number of shelling attacks, give the Riken Race some hope, and don't scare them away," Sarah replied calmly. Compared to being an empress, she preferred the feeling of commanding a fleet in battle, especially the kind of experience of soaring through the stars and exchanging gunfire with ships—just thinking about it excited her.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" An act must be performed completely, and etiquette cannot be neglected in the slightest.
The Riken Race immediately noticed the reduction in the Swarm's artillery fire.
This is very obvious. Even without advanced equipment monitoring at all times, ordinary soldiers who have been bombarded by artillery fire for over a hundred hours can tell that the current bombardment is far less than before.
"They've used up too much ammunition; they're not as reckless as before," a captain shouted excitedly.
"According to calculations, although the shelling frequency has not changed, the number of shells is only 47% of what it was before," a staff officer reported the data he had just obtained.
"Excellent! Keep it up! If we can exhaust all of their ammunition before reinforcements arrive, even if we don't destroy any of their units, the credit will still go to us!" Hamis shouted encouragingly, while secretly wiping the cold sweat from his brow.
They had been dodging artillery fire but unable to retaliate, and the morale of the troops was extremely low, because no one knew whether their vehicle would be hit by a shell in the next second.
In this situation, every second felt like an eternity for the Riken Race, an extremely agonizing ordeal.
And despite the Swarm's heavy ammunition consumption, the Riken Race's consumption is also quite high.
More than 700 warships ran at full speed for over 100 hours, consuming an astonishing amount of energy. At the same time, because they had to constantly change their direction and angle of travel, the crew members were in a state of high concentration. Even though each warship had three crews who took turns resting, they had reached their limits under the oppressive atmosphere.
On the contrary, the ordinary armed personnel only needed to pray that they wouldn't be hit by artillery shells.
Now that they have the good news that the enemy can't hold on any longer, everyone knows that what they did wasn't in vain, which greatly boosts morale.
Although the actual number of artillery shells decreased, the number of waves of attacks remained the same, only the coverage area was somewhat sparser.
In numerical terms, this means the hit rate dropped from 2% to 1%, which is practically no different; it's still a matter of luck. But for the Riken Race, this change felt completely different; statistically, it was a difference of almost double.
For the next few days, the two sides maintained this stalemate, with the Riken Race circling the Swarm forces while the Swarm bombarded to prevent the Riken Race fleet from getting close.
The Swarm's artillery firepower has now weakened again, with the total number of Electromagnetic Cannon firing estimated at only two thousand, less than 30% of their full strength. Meanwhile, the Riken Race has also seen a new development, with some strangely shaped functional ships arriving on the battlefield from the interior of the star system.
There are a total of 32 of these functional ships. Their overall shape is similar to that of warships, but the number of main and secondary guns on the exterior of the ships is very small, with only two main guns and eight secondary guns.
These are Mine-laying Ship that have only recently joined the combat fleet. They are capable of rapidly deploying mines in space. These mines come in several models, ranging in size from half a meter to two meters. Their destructive power is directly related to their size; the larger the mine, the greater its destructive power.
These landmines are equipped with external solar panels, allowing them to remain operational in space for extended periods. They also feature automatic target acquisition systems. When an enemy unit approaches within a three-kilometer radius, the landmine activates its jet engines, rapidly impacting and attaching itself to the target before detonating.
In addition, they have an outer layer of cloaking coating that can absorb and refract radar waves. Although they can be easily observed with optical systems or even the naked eye, the distances in space are thousands of kilometers, and radar is the primary means of navigation. By the time the naked eye can see them, it is too late to evade. Therefore, their cloaking coating is still somewhat effective.
These Mine-laying Ship can quickly deploy mines in a certain area. Hamis brought these ships here to block the Swarm army's operational space.
In a few days, Laze will reach its nearby orbit. Laze Planet has no atmosphere to shield it, and although the Riken Race have taken appropriate measures to conceal it, if the Optical Observation system is advanced enough, it is still possible to detect some abnormalities on the planet's surface.
There are some unknown protrusions that defy the laws of nature.
However, the Zerg fleet did not react to this, leading senior commanders such as Hamis to speculate that the opponent's technology was relatively backward, so they deployed targeted Mine-laying Ship.
Firstly, it's to prevent the Zerg from escaping. They've been playing with firecrackers here with their opponents for so long; if the enemy retreats first at a crucial moment, that wouldn't be good.
Secondly, if the opponent's observation equipment is inadequate, and they accidentally run into a minefield while turning around, not only will they save a lot of effort, but they can also gain a lot of credit.
Thus, under the cover of the First Space Fleet, these Mine-laying Ship circled the Swarm alongside the fleet while simultaneously laying minefields in specific areas.
Due to the limited number of landmines they carried, it was impossible to deploy them all over such a wide area. Therefore, they only deployed some minefields in a targeted manner, while also leaving passageways for their own troops.
Abyss Order and reader 20210408112748130 for the 100 Qidian Coins reward. Thank you everyone for your subscriptions and votes.