"Good, very good!"
The effects-laden footage faded away, and the director walked over, clapping. "Your acting was outstanding, Marshal. Every movement you made conveyed power. Just standing there, you were the best advertisement we could ask for!"
"Ha, I thought so too!"
After taking off his exoskeleton armor, Xi Yan laughed heartily in the studio.
Using a game to introduce recruitment and slipping in a Helldivers reference-this was way too much fun!
When the military first approached him about helping shoot a recruitment ad, Xi Yan had initially refused.
But after looking over the script, he found it quite entertaining, then used his privileges as marshal to make a few little changes!
Much better!
Xi Yan warmly shook hands with the actors one by one, then watched the finished cut.
It was utterly ridiculous, but also incredibly rousing.
Yes, blue laser research was nearly complete. Xi Yan and the military were preparing to massively expand the navy, arming their empire with large numbers of blue laser frigates.
Expanding the military inevitably meant recruiting more people, especially technical personnel. They could either recruit directly from universities or select people from the Army.
Prigozhin: "I object!"
Xi Yan: "Oh, give it a rest. What the hell is your Army good for? They'd be better off learning some technical skills and flying ships in the navy!"
The Army was made up of living, breathing imperial citizens. Xi Yan couldn't bring himself to use them as cannon fodder to hold the line and trade blows with powerful aliens.
It wasn't that he pitied them. It was simply too wasteful.
With that population to spare, why not research Cybrex Warforms instead?
Xi Yan suddenly remembered that his Ring World seemed to be called Cybrex.
His favorite precursor civilization, bar none.
That was why he had