Chapter 125: Solar System Development
Similar to the previous electromagnetic artillery, due to their immense size and mass, these nuclear missiles could still only be installed on Venus-class and Earth-class battleships; Mercury-class battleships could not accommodate them.
After the successful development, Tom immediately began to consider how to integrate them into the existing spacecraft layout to maximize their combat effectiveness.
Dozens of plans were quickly formulated by Tom.
Tom adopted the same method as with the electromagnetic artillery, building multiple Venus-class battleships according to various different plans, allowing them to present the best solution directly through a process of natural selection on the battlefield.
With the addition of electromagnetic artillery and nuclear missiles, along with the previous electromagnetic cannons and laser cannons, Tom knew that his weapon system was finally complete.
Thus, after several more years of live-fire combat drills, and once the optimal plan was finally determined, Tom finally initiated the full-scale shipbuilding task.
This large-scale construction not only involved battleships; Tom also pioneered another weapon system.
Unmanned weapons!
Unmanned battleships, unmanned turrets, unmanned satellites, missile clusters, small unmanned ship clusters, and so on.
Based on different specifications and models, unmanned battleships were also divided into multiple types.
The largest unmanned battleship was only 20% smaller than a Mercury-class battleship, with a total mass of over 200 tons, fully loaded with various weapons and ammunition, possessing extremely strong combat power.
The smallest unmanned battleship weighed only about one ton, with a length of no more than two meters and a width of no more than half a meter.
It was only equipped with the weakest electromagnetic cannons and laser cannons, with low attack power, low defense, and low maneuverability. On the battlefield, it was purely cannon fodder.
But it didn’t matter; this thing was created to be cannon fodder anyway.
Unmanned turrets, compared to unmanned battleships, had much greater power.
Their size could be made extremely large, allowing for the installation of powerful electromagnetic artillery and laser cannons, as well as electromagnetic cannons and nuclear missiles.
Their attack power was extremely strong, and their defense was equally strong.
Under the control of their own tactical version of Goku AI, they could autonomously attack surrounding targets and easily change positions under the command of the strategic version of Goku AI.
Unmanned missile clusters involved pre-positioning missiles, with their warheads and fuel stored separately, throughout the starry sky. When not fired, they were like venomous snakes hidden in the dark; once fired, they were like assassins, going out with no return.
With the massive deployment of numerous new weapons and equipment, the live-fire combat drills around the Jupiter system, which had already lasted for over a decade, became increasingly brutal, and tactics grew more unpredictable.
In over a decade, more than 5,000 battleships and over a hundred thousand clones had perished in the star sea!
To support this exercise, the total amount of supplies Tom provided here had reached over tens of billions of tons!
Such enormous consumption yielded incredibly astonishing results.
Under the nourishment of countless real battlefield data, Goku AI had become increasingly intelligent and its combat power grew stronger.
At this point, Tom made a new decision.
It was time to initiate the Solar System Development Project!
Firstly, his technology was already sufficiently advanced to undertake construction and transportation tasks across the entire solar system.
Secondly, although the live-fire combat drills were effective, the consumption of materials was too astounding, to the point where even the entire Jupiter system could barely sustain it.
Given this, extracting energy and resources from other planets became an inevitable task.
Thus, the aerospace carriers that had once carried Tom from Loshen Star back to the inner solar system were brought out again by him.
After modifying their propulsion systems, a full 50 aerospace carriers, each carrying several million tons of mass, set off for different planets in the solar system.
The first to arrive was the closest asteroid belt.
Dozens of the larger, resource-rich asteroids and dwarf planets within it became the focus of Tom’s development.
With the computing power of the supercomputing spacecraft and the decision-making and maintenance of numerous clones, the already highly perfected Hestia AI undertook the vast majority of construction tasks.
On planets that were spherical, elongated, or irregularly shaped, countless machines roared throughout the day.
Further inward, Mars also welcomed a massive construction effort.
Mars was the planet Tom valued the most.
The reason was simple: it was most suitable for large-scale development, and at the same time, it had the largest resource reserves.
It was not like Earth, which held special significance for him and thus could not undergo large-scale industrial development; nor was it like Venus, whose surface environment was too harsh, making large-scale development difficult even with his technology; nor was it like Mercury, which was too small and too close to the sun.
Compared to the moons of the other gas giants, Mars was also large enough to fully support industrial development on a sufficient scale.
To expedite the process of Mars’s large-scale development, Tom even directly transmitted his main consciousness to Mars, personally directing the clones to complete the most difficult and complex initial construction challenges that Hestia AI could not solve. He stayed there for a full two years before returning to the Jupiter system to continue his large-scale production.
Venus and Mercury also welcomed the arrival of aerospace carriers.
Although these two planets had their respective drawbacks, it was still necessary to undertake some development, though on a smaller scale.
Outward from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, these three gas giants also welcomed visits from aerospace carrier fleets.
Under the control of Hestia AI and the decision-making and maintenance of the clones, large-scale construction commenced.
Thirty years passed swiftly.
At this moment, all eight major planets in the solar system, except for Earth, had changed their appearance.
The formerly desolate and lifeless planets were covered by factory buildings, one after another.
Giant chimneys, towering blast furnaces, and countless roaring and thundering machines ran rampant across the planets’ surfaces.
On Mercury, Mars, several dwarf planets in the asteroid belt, several moons of Saturn, and several moons of Uranus, giant space elevators, reaching heights of thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers, appeared.
The aerospace carriers previously used for travel to and from these planets were all decommissioned, replaced by larger, faster large-scale carrier ships.
Thus, the entire solar system was connected by Tom.
Every moment, large numbers of spacecraft shuttled within the solar system, and every moment, vast quantities of supplies converged on the Jupiter system.
At this moment, the continuous live-fire combat drills had been ongoing for decades and were still in progress. The only difference was that the number of participating battleships had now reached one hundred thousand, and the exercise grounds were no longer limited to the Jupiter system but had spread out, with their footprint covering every planet in the solar system.
The solar system at this time presented a situation where bustling cargo transportation occurred alongside fierce and brutal space battles.
Both proceeded simultaneously, without interfering with each other, seemingly existing in two different worlds.