Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 781 Battlefield Central Hub
"How to become stronger? Well, of course, it's..." Nini swallowed hard.

"Of course, we should add more arms, have more strength, use more powerful weapons, and take on greater loads!"

Nini is not an equivalent believer. Well, not an extreme equivalent believer.

After all, the concept of equivalent quantity is indeed useful. Increasing the equivalent quantity can solve 99% of the problems. If it doesn't solve the problem, then there's a 99% chance that the equivalent quantity isn't large enough.

The people around nodded in agreement; whether they were banshees or humans, most agreed with Nini's line of thinking.

If you have enough strength, you can wield a Gatling gun; if you have even more strength, you can wield a dragon's breath cannon; increasing your individual strength allows you to use even more powerful weapons.

Even the weakest Banshee (Monica) is far more powerful than the strongest mortal warrior; at least she can wield several guns simultaneously.

"Is that what you all think?" Hughes looked around.

“I think we can enhance the Banshee Armor. We’ve analyzed a lot of the Mechanical Sanctuary’s technology, and now we can wear thicker armor without affecting our mobility,” Gaia said, stepping forward.

“Not bad either, thicker armor means more brutal beatings.” Hughes nodded.

"Hmm, is something wrong? From what you're saying, our approach is off-track?"

Hughes didn't answer directly, but looked at Nini: "Nini, what do you think is your biggest advantage on the battlefield?"

Nini was taken aback. She looked at her snake tail, then at her six hands, and hesitated for a moment: "My... strength? I can lift heavier weapons."

"Rebecca, what do you think?"

The girl whose name was called jumped, pointing to herself in surprise: "Me?"

She's only been in Castells for a few days!

She was just a carpenter's daughter who had never been to the battlefield and knew almost nothing about combat.

Rebecca scratched her head in slight distress, then looked at the tall Nini: "Hmm, I think it should be six arms, right? Six arms can wield six weapons, that must be really powerful."

"Erwin, what do you think?"

Erwin raised an eyebrow, glanced at Rebecca, and gave a look of sudden realization.

He was the commander of the mortal forces and had personally participated in many battles, possessing rich experience in battlefield command.

Hughes called him out by name, probably wanting to make a judgment from the commander's perspective.

If he were to command the banshees in battle...
Erwin pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he exclaimed, "I believe it's the ability of mind linking!"

The hall fell silent immediately after these words were spoken.

People looked at Erwin with some surprise, as the Banshee's abilities were mostly for combat.

Examples include rapid movement in water, shared life pools, and rapid healing.
Mind linking is one of their few abilities that is unrelated to combat.

Erwin met everyone's gazes but did not back down: "In the battles I commanded, the biggest problem on the battlefield was not insufficient ammunition, or even logistical support, but rather—communication problems."

"As you all know, the current Christian Guard forces often design tactics around airships."

"Initially, it was because we needed the firepower from the airships, but our firepower was often excessive." The enemies of the Guardians of the Church were mostly ordinary people. Bullets fired from bolt-action rifles and bombardments from dragon breath cannons made little difference to ordinary people; both could be fatal.

As long as the Christian Guard carries a few heavy machine guns, they will never lack firepower. The bombing of airships is usually only used when attacking fortified positions.

However, the Guardian Army now almost always calls for airship support during combat.

"Ranger airships are the most popular thing on the battlefield right now. These miniature airships have pitifully weak firepower, not even as good as Ms. Nini's three hands, but their role on the battlefield is equivalent to an entire Banshee squad."

Erwin looked intently at the crowd.

"That's because airships can directly command battles from the air!"

"Everyone can see the airship when they look up. It can transmit orders to any unit on the battlefield in the first instance. Even if the information transmission is significantly delayed, it can still multiply the army's combat effectiveness!"

"A dramatic increase?" Zoe asked in surprise. "Is that an exaggeration?"

"It's not an exaggeration at all. Moreover, the more people on the battlefield, the greater the improvement. In large-scale battles, a dedicated airship is more useful than the banshees personally going on the battlefield to provide support!"

Hughes once tried to develop a radio for use on the battlefield, but because electricity in this world was too difficult to use, the radio he created was frighteningly large and almost impossible to move.

It can only be installed on airships.

Commanders on the battlefield would use flag signals to transmit orders to the airships, which would then use specific patterns and symbols to relay them to the front-line troops. At the same time, the battle situation would be transmitted to the rear command post via radio.

This kind of relayed instruction can convey a limited amount of information, but even so, it greatly improves the efficiency of the entire battlefield.

Yes, it can even airdrop commands when transmitting complex instructions, such as micro-management like moving a machine gun position.
At this point, everyone looked enlightened.

Hughes gave Erwin a satisfied look; his summary was already very close to the concept of modern warfare.

"Gentlemen," Hughes clapped his hands, "this is what I wanted to say. I believe the Banshee's greatest strength lies not in fighting herself, but in becoming the command center on the battlefield!"

"Imagine this: instantaneous information transmission, efficient tactical discussions via telepathic links, and even better, what if the enemy wanted to carry out a decapitation strike—"

Hughes gestured for everyone to look, and there stood Ash, fully armed. Her heavy armor and imposing, powerful physique were breathtaking.

"The Banshees will be the most powerful and versatile central nodes on the battlefield, stabilizing the front line like nails. Imagine the Banshees wielding heavy firepower, directly directing beyond-visual-range shooting on the battlefield, making it impossible for the enemy to break through or escape."

"Nini, do you remember the battle group we set up before?"

Nini was startled, then her eyes gradually widened.

When she applied to fight in the North, Hughes approved the Banshee's request to form a war correspondent group to go to the battlefield as a team.

This team is not just composed of banshees; each banshee must form a battle group, mainly supported by mortals, led by the banshees. Hughes also requires them to practice coordinated combat.

But Nini didn't take it seriously; she just organized the training step by step.

In her view, ordinary people couldn't keep up with her charge at all. She could handle the enemy on her own, so why bring these auxiliary troops with her?

Now she has encountered an enemy she cannot handle alone, and looking back, Hughes has already assembled the legion.

(End of this chapter)