Translator: AnubisTL
Inside the Stellaris train.
Chen Mang stood up and walked to Carriage 2. After spending 1,000 Units of copper ore, he built both a Heavy Machine Gun Bullet Production Line (12.7mm) and a Rifle Bullet Production Line (5.56mm).
With these two production lines, the Heavy Machine Gun mounted on top of the carriage, which had rarely fired, was no longer just a decoration. It could now be put to real use.
It's worth noting that:
After each upgrade, the Heavy Machine Gun only gains increased effective range and firing rate, not increased power.
The true determinant of the Heavy Machine Gun's power is the Bullet Tier.
The higher the Bullet Tier, the greater the power.
Of course, the Heavy Machine Gun can only use bullets of its own Tier or lower. It cannot use bullets of a higher Tier.
For example, a Tier 3 Heavy Machine Gun can use Tier 1 or Tier 3 bullets, but not Tier 4 bullets.
The green-grade Accessory, the "Third-Rate Heavy Machine Gun," was crafted from iron ore and upgraded using the same material.
After consuming 3,000 units of iron ore, he finally upgraded one of the heavy machine guns to Tier 5.
The Stellaris train currently had eight carriages. The first four carriages each had a "Third-Rate Heavy Machine Gun" mounted on top, while the remaining four newly built carriages were still empty.
Like Armor, these heavy machine guns needed to be crafted and upgraded separately. Unlike Vehicle Blades, which automatically came equipped at the same tier as the train's upgrade Tier, no matter how many carriages were added later.
"..."
Chen Mang sighed softly. This thing was a real resource hog. But, as expected of a green-grade offensive accessory, its first Overpowered Effect was truly impressive.
Third-Rate Heavy Machine Gun Tier 5 Overpowered Effect: The Heavy Machine Gun can be linked to the Train Auxiliary AI. As long as enemies are within the Target Acquisition Radar's range, the Train Auxiliary AI will automatically lock onto them, dramatically increasing accuracy.
Note: This effect requires the green-grade Accessory "Train Auxiliary AI" to be fully upgraded.
Chen Mang had already roughly figured out the pattern.
The higher the grade of an Accessory, the better the Overpowered Effect it unlocks.
Offensive Accessories' Overpowered Effects are superior to Functional Accessories', which in turn surpass Utility Accessories'.
Take this Overpowered Effect, for example.
It's essentially an aimbot hack: if an enemy pops their head into the radar's range, they're instantly eliminated.
There was no need to assign thugs to control the heavy machine gun anymore. Not only was that troublesome, but it also did little to improve accuracy. Now, with the Train Auxiliary AI handling it, combat efficiency had increased dramatically.
Normally, green-grade Accessories max out at Tier 3. Chen Mang had long since met that requirement, as his Train Auxiliary AI was already at Tier 5. After connecting the Third-Rate Heavy Machine Gun's Circuit System to the control panel, the machine gun officially became an AI gun.
The remaining three machine guns would need to be upgraded separately before they could gain this Overpowered Effect.
After completing this, Chen Mang turned to the 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun Bullet Production Line in front of him and upgraded it to Tier 3 in one go, consuming 1200 Units of copper ore. He couldn't upgrade it further, as Tier 5 required a staggering 3000 Units of copper ore, and he only had 4210 Units in total.
After reaching Tier 5, he wouldn't have any copper ore left to craft bullets.
Tier 1 Bullet: 1 unit of copper ore crafts 1 bullet.
Tier 2 Bullet: 5 units of copper ore crafts 1 bullet.
Tier 3 Bullet: 10 units of copper ore crafts 1 bullet.
"That's expensive," Chen Mang muttered, his lips twitching as he looked at the bullet prices on the Bullet Production Line. A single Tier 3 Bullet cost 10 units of copper ore. Heavy Machine Guns fired so rapidly that two or three hundred bullets could be gone in the blink of an eye. If they were all Tier 3 Bullets, that would be two or three thousand units of copper ore.
What kind of Boss would he need to defeat to make that back? At least one on par with the man-eating spider, but even the man-eating spider he'd encountered wouldn't have been killed by two or three hundred heavy machine gun bullets.
Although the Bullet Production Line had been upgraded to Tier 3, it could still craft bullets from Tier 1 to Tier 3.
He spent 500 units of copper ore to craft a total of 500 Tier 1 Bullets.
Combined with his existing reserves, the train now held over 800 Tier 1 heavy machine gun bullets. This was enough to ensure the Built-in Security System was fully operational, ready to activate at his command.
The machine guns hanging from the ceilings of each carriage would unleash a devastating purge upon every Member aboard the train.
Power must always be built on force.
This thing might never be used, but it's essential. Those heavy machine guns, their barrels pointed inward, in a sense represented his authority and status.
Finally, he spent another 2,000 units of copper ore to craft 200 Tier 3 Bullets.
At this point—
The resources he had accumulated inside the train over several days were almost completely squandered.
He was left with only 8,239 units of iron ore and 510 units of copper ore.
Chen Mang patted the "Heavy Machine Gun Bullet Production Line," which devoured resources like a bottomless pit. He finally understood the greatest appeal of white-grade train components: their efficiency.
Both the "Vehicle Blade" and the "Heavy Machine Gun" could pierce the defenses of a Tier 3 Boss.
The "Vehicle Blade" only consumed energy stones.
But the "Heavy Machine Gun"? Every bullet was a product of his hard work.
While the latter boasted greater power, longer range, and even an overpowered automatic headshot effect, its resource consumption was simply too high. It could only be used as a trump card, and he was reluctant to deploy it unless absolutely necessary.
The "Vehicle Blade" was still more practical. A little extra time didn't matter; his Tier 3 Armor meant that no monster on the Iron Ridge Wasteland could currently break through his defenses.
The Iron Ridge Wasteland is a low-Tier region.
The highest-Tier train in this Zone is Tier 3, and the highest-Tier monster is also Tier 3, with its armor at the same Tier.
"Let's go."
Back inside the train, Chen Mang sat at the control panel. After checking the still-sufficient energy stones, he retracted the Windfire Wheels, deployed the Mechanical Legs, and slowly pressed the accelerator.
The train, resembling a giant centipede, approached the canyon wall. At the last moment, the Mechanical Legs effortlessly and naturally climbed the wall, quickly scaling the 90-degree surface.
The camera angle pulled back.
In the darkness of the Doomsday Abyss, a train could be faintly seen rapidly climbing the cliff face at a steady pace.
Soon, the train emerged from the cliff. Switching back to the Windfire Wheels, it roared across the endless wasteland shrouded in night.
Target:
To find the zombie horde that had ambushed him countless times.
He had returned for revenge.
Those damn bastards had constantly disrupted his mining, making every day a nerve-wracking ordeal. He'd lived in constant fear of the zombie horde sneaking up on him.
Now, it was their turn to worry.
(End of the Chapter)
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