Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 288: Can’t Compare

Tom knew very well that the biggest factor limiting the combat power of the Mechanical Disaster was its low intelligence.

After all, it was just an AI, not a true artificial intelligence life form.

And the biggest factor limiting the combat power of a mainstream intelligent civilization like the Havilah Civilization was insufficient industrial capacity.

But now, with the two combined, each using its strengths to compensate for the other’s weaknesses, they could achieve a result far greater than one plus one.

He relied on the zero-delay, cost-free communication between his many clones to achieve the dual peak of intelligence and industrial capacity.

And now, the Havilah-Mechanical Disaster Alliance, through different means than his own, had achieved a similar effect.

This was a truly terrifying monster!

One could even say that, facing such an existence, he no longer had any advantage!

But...

Looking at the dim star in the distant sky, and at the Lyra G16 Solar System behind him, which he had managed like a fortress, Tom gritted his teeth.

At this stage, it was no longer possible to escape again; there simply wasn’t enough time.

And once he escaped, abandoning his current operations, he would lose his only advantage.

He couldn’t run!

Staying here and fighting to the death was his only way out!

Then let’s fight!

Currently, judging by their deceleration progress, it would take several more years for them to reach the solar system.

This period was the last time he could utilize.

So, he would continue to produce, continue to upgrade, not only manufacturing more manned warships but also unmanned warships, space mines, interstellar missiles, and all other combat facilities, and further increase the number of Unified Force Field equipment sets, and further increase the number of factories, even if not immediately needed, they should be built in advance. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Not only that, the number of clones also needed to be continuously increased, and then stored on different planets. This would eliminate the need for different clones to be moved between planets.

Under the all-out preparation for war production, that dim star grew brighter and brighter, eventually becoming like a star, impossible to look at directly with the naked eye.

It was under these circumstances that the massive fleet, which even Tom found somewhat shocking, entered the solar system and anchored about 2 billion kilometers from the orbit of the Third Planet.

There was a relatively large dwarf planet there.

Although resources on the dwarf planet were scarce, it was still a supplement; having it was better than not having it.

Throughout this entire process, Tom did not dispatch a fleet to harass, attack, or intercept them; he merely watched them enter the solar system and then anchor.

The reason was simple: in the era of interstellar warfare, due to the special mode of combat, the so-called ’mid-stream attack’ had no real meaning or use.

Even during the deceleration phase, the opponent could still organize a complete offensive and defensive system; there was no such thing as being caught off guard. Taking the initiative to attack would, on the contrary, cause one’s side to lose the advantage of the unmanned combat system to a certain extent, making it easier for the opponent to exploit.

Only by fighting relying on the planet’s unmanned combat system could one’s home-field advantage be fully utilized.

For this reason, whether it was Tom attacking the Havilah Civilization in the past, or the current Havilah-Mechanical Disaster Alliance fleet attacking Tom, the side on home defense did not dispatch a fleet to attack.

Anyway, time was on the side of the home defense; the longer the delay, the more supplies the opponent consumed, and the greater one’s own advantage. Using the home-field advantage, one should simply wait for the opponent to attack, without needing to play so many tricks.

Tom saw that the Alliance fleet dispatched a large number of industrial and combat Flying Stars, scattering out to various dwarf planets, attempting to collect resources to replenish their reserves.

For those within 19 billion kilometers, Tom would, of course, send a fleet to harass them. Even if the opponent couldn’t obtain much in the way of supplies from the dwarf planets, he would still harass them, so that they would mine as little as possible.

For those beyond 19 billion kilometers, Tom had no choice but to let them be.

Without any pre-war communication between the two sides, small-scale battles had already erupted around the supply lines in the vast space.

The Alliance fleet even dispatched a large number of small-scale fleets, divided into multiple routes, to simultaneously launch probing attacks on the three large planets in the Lyra G16 Solar System.

At this stage, neither side committed too much combat power; it could be considered mutual probing.

But even with just mutual probing, the total military strength committed by both sides exceeded 400,000 warships.

This was almost equivalent to the entire military strength of a normal mainstream intelligent civilization.

Hundreds of thousands of warships fought desperately in every part of the solar system, at every dwarf planet, large planet, satellite, larger asteroid, or in the vast void where no macroscopic celestial bodies existed.

Its cruelty and intensity were no less than those of a true large-scale war.

During this long and brutal entanglement, both belligerents rapidly increased their understanding of each other.

"The development potential of this Human Civilization is truly terrifying. Compared to a few hundred years ago, their technology has advanced so much again.

Fortunately, after forming an alliance with the Black Mountain Civilization, our side can still maintain a certain technological and performance advantage."

Looking at the scattered stars in the vast space, Heimerlan’s heart was filled with solemnity.

On the Second Planet, the clone where Tom’s consciousness resided was also looking at the myriad stars in the vast space.

"The alliance of a mainstream intelligent civilization and the Mechanical Disaster has increased their overall combat power even more than I had previously expected...

With Havilah Civilization warriors operating their warships, they have completely overcome the problems of rigid tactics and slow reactions from before, and the coordination and cooperation between them have greatly improved.

At the same time, with the addition of the Mechanical Disaster, their alliance has also completely solved the problem of insufficient industrial capacity.

Especially, they still maintain a performance and technological suppression over our warships.

And, in terms of unmanned combat systems, I’m afraid I won’t gain too much advantage, and may even be at a disadvantage.

Although Goku AI has been fed with real combat data from battlefields over several hundred years, it ultimately cannot compare to the AI that the Mechanical Disaster nurtured by using the future fate of an entire civilization as nourishment..."

It can’t compare, it really can’t compare.

Goku AI can only decide things on the battlefield. The Mechanical Disaster’s main AI, however, decides the overall strategy of the entire civilization, just like how a person who eats coarse food cannot compare in physical health to a person who eats big fish and meat every day and has comprehensive nutrition.

Even if he fed Goku AI with real combat data from the battlefield, at most it would only be equivalent to upgrading a normal civilization’s coarse food to whole grains, still unable to compare to the Mechanical Disaster’s main AI.

Several years quietly passed amidst the mutual probing and small-scale battles between the two sides.

Tom saw that the Mechanical Disaster Alliance began a slow tactical adjustment, gradually withdrawing the fleets scattered throughout the solar system, and at the same time, large-scale industrial production tasks were restarted around that dwarf planet and Flying Star.

Tom’s heart was filled with solemnity.

He knew that this should mean the Mechanical Disaster Alliance believed they had completed their battlefield data collection and preliminary probing.

The real war was coming.