"Since it's a small shipyard, it can only produce three types of void ships: light cruisers, frigates, and destroyers," Donia explained simply, her fingers gently tapping the data slate, seemingly pondering how to make Alex better understand the current limitations. "The Mariupol Forge World is just a relatively ordinary small Forge World, lacking the production licenses for those rare ship types.
So, I only managed to get production licenses for Dreadnought-Class, Dauntless-Class, Sword-Class, Firestorm-Class, and Cobra-Class, all of which are common ship types in the Imperial Navy, much like the standard issue bayonets distributed by the Department of Military Affairs—though not flashy, they're enough to pierce the throats of the Empire's enemies."
She paused, projecting holograms of various ship types through a mechanical tentacle, while her gaze fell on Alex, seemingly awaiting his reaction.
Alex nodded slightly, indicating that he understood, and motioned for her to continue.
"Among them, the Dreadnought-Class and Dauntless-Class are light cruisers, the Sword-Class and Firestorm-Class are frigates, and the Cobra-Class is a destroyer, all common ship types in the Imperial Navy," Donia continued, her gaze on Alex filled with curiosity, scrutiny, and even a hint of a test. "So, have you decided what the first ship will be once the shipyard is built?"
The first ship after the shipyard's completion holds immense significance for the entire shipyard.
It not only symbolizes that the shipyard can begin operations but also carries important religious symbolic meaning within the Adeptus Mechanicus faith.
The birth of every ship is an offering to the god of machines, an embodiment of Adeptus Mechanicus doctrines.
Alex had heard of this, so when Donia asked, he pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Do you have any recommendations? I think the first ship should be chosen carefully, primarily to accumulate experience and familiarize ourselves with the process."
Donia nodded, a hint of approval flashing in her eyes.
"Your idea is correct; the first ship cannot be a risk," she paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts, then continued, "I personally recommend the Cobra-Class destroyer. As a versatile basic destroyer of the Imperial Navy, the Cobra-Class is equipped with light Macro cannons and torpedo launchers, possessing both reconnaissance and close-range strike capabilities. It is also inexpensive, making it suitable for quickly forming combat power through the Imperial Navy's customary 'wolf pack tactics'."
Her tone gradually became more enthusiastic, as if she were describing a grand blueprint: "Its variant, the Widowmaker-Class, further enhances reconnaissance capabilities, equipped with dual torpedo launchers, effectively detecting enemy movements and assisting the fleet in controlling the battlefield situation.
Overall, the Cobra-Class destroyer is an excellent destroyer with high maneuverability, multi-mission adaptability, and cost-effectiveness, suitable for rapid strike, reconnaissance harassment, and other tactical scenarios."
Alex noticed that when Donia mentioned 'wolf pack tactics,' the projection changed to several Cobra-Class ships and began demonstrating what 'wolf pack tactics' entailed.
At this point, Donia paused, looking at Alex with a confident gaze: "Choosing this for the shipyard's first ship is indeed very suitable, and its technology is very mature, so there are no insurmountable technical difficulties in its production and manufacturing."
"I hadn't thought that far ahead; I just felt that choosing it could very well compensate for the problems the Rostov Fleet currently faces," Alex shrugged, then said helplessly, "The Rostov Fleet has too many cruisers, and instead lacks ships capable of routine patrols and small-scale operations. I need to supplement a batch of frigates and destroyers to expand the fleet's size and enable it to undertake more tasks."
While cruisers are inherently positioned as versatile medium-speed vessels capable of performing various missions and are the backbone of Imperial Navy fleets, even within the Imperial Navy, cruisers are generally not used for routine patrol tasks.
Because that would indeed be too wasteful.
Normally, a cruiser can already serve as a flagship or capital ship for a Sector fleet. General patrol missions, or tasks such as supporting a certain planet or clearing pirates active in shipping lanes, are typically assigned to frigates and destroyers.
It's not unheard of to use cruisers for routine patrols, but that's done only in areas with higher combat intensity or where the Sector's status is extremely important.
Under normal circumstances, a formation of two or three Sword-Class frigates is already sufficient to handle most routine tasks the Imperial Navy would encounter.
And given the current composition of the Rostov Fleet and the area they are responsible for, Alex could completely use one cruiser with three or four frigates or destroyers to form a squadron, and then have multiple squadrons perform patrol missions.
Under this configuration, the security of the entire Rostov Sub-Sector would be adequately guaranteed.
Of course, the prerequisite is that a certain Necron Dynasty isn't directly awakened and brings its entire army to confront him head-on. If that happens… Alex can only call for reinforcements while pulling out his trump card to block the enemy's assault.
After all, it's an entire Necron Dynasty; no matter how embarrassing, Tomb Ships are still something they possess.
This is not something Alex can currently stop with what he has on hand. If the enemy launches a full-scale attack, Rostov can only rely on fortress-like structures like the Starport to resist.
And to withstand their attack, Alex would have to bring out the hidden Primaris Space Marines.
But if that happened, although he could indeed block the Necrons' attack, the Imperium would probably come to deal with him after repelling the Necrons' assault.
If such a situation truly occurred, the great foundation he had built here in Rostov would likely have to be abandoned.
After all, if various problems were truly uncovered, even if he was a Planetary Governor personally appointed by the Emperor and a Lord Inquisitor, he wouldn't be able to cover it up.
Thinking of this, Alex suddenly asked Donia, "Do you have any thoughts on the Necrons warship that escaped last time?"
"Thoughts? Do you think they'll come back?" At the mention of this, Donia's eyes changed, and her entire demeanor became much more serious.
Although the previous tomb raiding incident caused a great stir, overall, the gains were very good. While the Mariupol Forge World did not undergo major changes as a result, that was only because many of the gains still required time to be assimilated.
However, even with a large amount of 'meat' still unswallowed, the Mariupol Forge World wouldn't mind taking another large, juicy bite.
Especially for Donia, she now needed something to compensate for the loss of half of 'her Forge' being taken by her good sister. It should be noted that this loss was not just personal but also concerned her entire faction.
She needed something to compensate for these losses of interest.
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