Adding Fuel

As the area of contact between the two sides' forces expanded, the intensity of the war gradually escalated, and casualties naturally rose along with it.

Through data analysis, the alliance discovered that the number of those new unmanned fighters aboard Epoch Clan warships had not reached full capacity. The Inner Circle Alliance was still very familiar with the specifications of standard Epoch Clan warships. Moreover, such modifications were difficult to conceal, since their size could be confirmed through external observation. While the interiors could be altered, the original structure had already been refined through countless iterations into the optimal design. Altering it rashly would only weaken the vessel's defenses.

Presumably, the Epoch Clan would not reduce the combat strength of their own warships for such unnecessary modifications.

Based on the size of the new unmanned fighters and the dimensions of Epoch Clan warship hangars, the Inner Circle Alliance concluded that each warship could carry a full complement of three thousand new unmanned fighters.

Yet according to complex battlefield data analysis, Epoch Clan warships were not carrying so many new-type warships—probably less than half that number. At first, the Inner Circle Alliance suspected that the Epoch Clan had not filled their hangars because they were still carrying older unmanned fighters.

However, as the war dragged on, no old fighters appeared on the battlefield, nor did wreckage from old fighters drift out of destroyed warships.

From this, the Inner-Ring Civilizations reached a conclusion: in order to conceal the existence of these new fighters, the Epoch Clan had not built up an excessive stockpile. The ones currently in use had likely only been manufactured over the past few decades. Since warships were also being produced in large quantities, their fighter complements had never reached full strength.

For the Anti-Epoch Clan Alliance, this was