Compared to an offensive laser cannon, a defensive laser cannon has much smaller power, mass, and volume.

The overall structure of a laser cannon resembles a telescope, with an outer barrel and precise optical components inside.

The barrel diameter of a precision laser cannon can reach up to 10 centimeters, with a length of several meters. However, for a defensive laser cannon, the maximum barrel diameter is only 1.5 centimeters, and the length is only about 30 centimeters.

Its area of expertise is also completely different from that of an offensive laser cannon.

The divergence angle of an offensive laser cannon is extremely small, allowing it to attack relatively distant targets. A defensive laser cannon, on the other hand, does not require a high divergence angle because its targets are usually close, having already breached the defensive electromagnetic cannon's perimeter, and are only tens of kilometers or even hundreds of meters away from the spaceship.

Its maximum attack range is only a few hundred kilometers; beyond this distance, the beam will diverge, causing it to lose its lethality.

Its power is also lower, and its lethality is quite low. After all, its targets are only tiny projectiles, so there's no need for such immense power.

Compared to its inferiority in other aspects, its activation time and duration are far superior to those of an offensive laser cannon.

It doesn't even require charging or preparation time, allowing for instantaneous activation. At the same time, due to its overall lower power and less need for heat dissipation, it can be used for extended periods, running continuously for several hours at most, which is much more efficient than an offensive laser cannon that needs to rest for tens of seconds after operating for tens of seconds.

This is also tailored to its tactical requirements.

After all, in an interstellar battlefield, the number of electromagnetic cannon projectiles can be extremely high, requiring it to intercept a large number of targets.

If the startup speed is slow, the high-speed electromagnetic cannon projectile might hit the hull before it even starts. If the duration is short, how can it intercept the overwhelming number of electromagnetic cannon projectiles?

Combining these various demands led to the completely different designs and performances of the offensive laser cannon and the defensive laser cannon.

After continuous iteration and research over a long period, the defensive laser cannon has now been preliminarily perfected and is ready for practical combat.

Thus, Tom has now mastered all four weapons: offensive electromagnetic cannon, defensive electromagnetic cannon, offensive laser cannon, and defensive laser cannon.

With the high-speed radar having undergone three more rounds of optimization, its reliability and stability have greatly improved, while its volume and mass have significantly decreased, Tom seems to have met all the requirements for building a truly "modern" warship.

But Tom knew it was not enough.

A crucial component was still missing.

The high-speed bogie.

In interstellar combat, both offensive and defensive weapons have extremely high demands for accuracy and reaction speed.

A spaceship might streak past the friendly side at high speed, with the offensive time window lasting only a few tenths of a second, or even a few milliseconds.

Or a projectile might suddenly appear, flying toward the friendly side at high speed, with the interception window lasting only a few milliseconds.

The radar has detected it, and the defensive weapon has the ability to hit it, so what else is missing?

Aiming accuracy and reaction speed.

The muzzle of the offensive or defensive weapon must complete the corresponding turn in an extremely short time, from aiming in another direction to aiming at the target, and then immediately fire.

The reaction speed must be extremely fast; it must turn immediately upon detection. The turning accuracy must be extremely high; even a slight deviation would make it impossible to hit the target.

For a projectile 50 kilometers away from the friendly side—a very close distance given interstellar battlefield and projectile speeds—if the friendly defensive electromagnetic cannon or defensive laser cannon's aiming angle is off by one ten-thousandth of a degree, after 50 kilometers, the error will expand to approximately 8.7 centimeters.

And an electromagnetic cannon projectile, even a heavy one weighing 5 grams, typically won't be larger than 1 centimeter.

An error of 8.7 centimeters is a world of difference.

After a simple calculation, Tom confirmed that to accurately aim at a target 50 kilometers away, the accuracy of the electromagnetic cannon or laser cannon must reach one hundred-thousandth of a degree.

It can be confirmed that in interstellar combat, laser cannons and electromagnetic cannons must always be in motion, constantly changing their aiming positions, potentially changing direction dozens of times per second.

The spaceship might be constantly undergoing violent maneuvers, transfers, or vibrations and shaking. In such circumstances, moving the muzzle dozens of times per second, with each movement requiring an accuracy of one hundred-thousandth of a degree, demands an incredibly high level of precision and speed.

Even Tom himself is not confident he can achieve this now.

This technology has also been under development for decades.

Initially, Tom, using the most advanced materials he could find and the most precise equipment, could only manage to move the muzzle once per second, achieving an accuracy of one hundredth of a degree, and that was under completely stationary conditions.

This performance was actually quite high. But it was still too far from the requirements for practical combat.

Tom could only, like with other key technologies, mobilize a large amount of manpower, material resources, energy, and brainpower to continuously iterate and tackle this technology.

After a long period, and pushing the technical level to its limit, Tom could only improve the accuracy by about a hundredfold, still not meeting the combat requirements.

After reviewing the entire research process, Tom finally determined that there was only one way left to break through the existing accuracy limit.

Develop tougher materials with less wear and tear, and simultaneously, further improve metal processing technology.

Improving metal processing technology is straightforward; it's just a matter of slow grinding. But the development of new materials is full of uncertainty.

Having been involved in materials research for so long, Tom increasingly felt that developing new materials was essentially no different from what ancient humans called alchemy.

Throwing some inexplicable things into an alchemy furnace, only Heaven knows what will ultimately be produced.

Materials science research is the same.

Using various raw materials, through various processing methods—heating, freezing, stirring, resting, chemical treatment, and so on—only Heaven knows what materials will be generated and what properties they will possess.

Existing chemical, physical, and materials science theories are still too rudimentary; it's impossible to develop suitable materials solely through theoretical calculations.

Since that's the case... then there's only one ultimate move left.

Following rough theoretical guidance, Tom directly established 500,000 materials research teams, with two clones per team. Each team would attempt a new formula, directly adopting a brute-force approach to this materials science research.

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