Nico got right to work on the upgrades to the Ion Cannons for the Koleska army while Max started on the improvements to the energy blades that they used. They weren't terrible, but they suffered from a lack of efficiency against the War Walkers' armour.
That wasn't all that surprising. Either weapons or armour was always a generation ahead of the other, so one would be relatively ineffective, but he could bring the blades up to standard with only a little bit of work.
If he integrated a different power field generator into them, they would cut through the armour much more easily but would suffer a bit against the energy shielding. That meant they would rely a bit more on the new Ion Cannons to take out the shielding before the War Walkers made it to close combat, but they were already very ranged weapon reliant.