On that note, though, I'm sure we could also use Phenom's current reactor for a discount on building (or restoring, as the case may be) another Jaeger. I mean, it's perfectly logical- it's been stated that the majority of the cost of building a new Jaeger lies in the reactor, so if we've already got one we can subtract its build price from the Jaeger's, right?
Mark I-II Reactors are dirt cheap nowadays. The Hypercompact Nuclear Reactor costs a thousand Resources. 1000R. A Mark I Jaeger frame costs 35000 Resources.
A Nuke Vortex Reactor costs 14000R while a Mark III frame costs 68000R. That means 54000 is just the frame cost.
Also, you say "if we don't spend money like water," but that's much easier said than done. Remember, most weeks we spend almost all our Resources, and that's not considering the cost of bringing Everett up to par (which will probably take another couple weeks to accomplish) or repairs (which could set us back 2-3 weeks at a time depending on how badly we get damaged). I'm not gonna run the math on that yet, but I'm reasonably sure your "5-6 weeks" would probably turn out more like "5-6 months." And frankly, I'm not that patient, and I doubt anyone else is either.
We don't spend all our Resources almost every week. If anything we remain in a cycle of saving up a lot then spending a lot as we pursue our next big goal. Phenom was one such goal, then Everett, now we're planning for the next one, and after that there will be the Mount Saint Helens Breach assault.
As for the other points:
Bringing Everett up to par is an ongoing project that will advance as Phenom kills Kaiju atacking Everett, we increase the city's Manufacturing and install Augments. Neo-Seattle is not the only source of income for that city.
Repairing a whole arm, including armor, cost us less than our Manufacturing after bonuses.
I
did run the math back when we were in the middle of the fight. A Polaris Reactor costs us the equivalent of 6 Cat IVs. 5 Cat IIIs equal one Cat IV, while a Cat V is equivalent to two Cat IVs. We can hunt Boreas to get a guaranteed Cat IV. We have four Cat IIIs in the list as well.
For heaven's sake our income this turn was over 16000 Resources. 16725 Resources to be precise. The winning plan, which included a whole lot of spending aside from the Resources spent on Everett, cost us 18965 Resources.
Our net loss in total resources this turn was 2240 Resources. Were it not for having to replace an entire arm we would still have come out of this with profit.
And next turn? It might not be as profitable without a Cat IV, but we won't have to spend nearly 6000 on a Skadi, or just over 3500 to replace an arm.
Self-piloting KKVs like Waltz had would be great. Similarly, any kind of energy weapon would be idea for the hovering types. Possibly something that shoots grappling hooks into the kaiju and then punches it in the other direaction, foul up the enemy balance and suchlike.
The things that really interest me though are Bits, because there've been some pretty good suggestions for those. Telemetry swarm, automatic reloader, ablative doom scales, robot first aid kits...
Well, if you make a Research proposal for those Fangs, I'll vote for it next week. My best ideas are "High-speed Machinegun Tank", "Laser Airplane" and "Lightning-shooting Airplane", so better ideas are more than welcome.
