This was a "Five levels of realization" thing to me. I mean, the Rotunda looks like a sedan, and even the description says that it's supposed to resemble a saloon car. But as I was reading the wiki page, I noticed that it carried a ton of ammunition for the SRM-2. I get the ton of ferrofiberous armor, but where does the ton of ammo go?
Then I realized that what I thought was a medium laser was actually a large laser. The armament carried by this 'sedan-sized' scout car weighs more than a pair of Ford F-250s, and I'm not talking your basic bitch model.
Then I re-read the technical specifications, and it sank home. This thing weighs twenty tons. It's a twenty ton scout car.
You know what else tips the scales at twenty tons?
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Surely, Quirel, there's no way the Rotunda is street legal." Well, you'd be wrong. We move combine harvesters like the 8240 on the roads all the time. As per the revised code of Washington,
a two-axle vehicle can weigh up to 40,000 pounds, provided that the wheelbase is ten feet or longer. So long as the Rotunda is as big as the
Mercedes S-Class W222 and has all the proper signal lights, it is perfectly street legal!
In summary, we have a twenty ton vehicle the size of a sedan with a fusion powerplant that can push it to ninety miles per hour. If that doesn't strike fear into your heart, I don't know what will.
But wait, there's more! This bitch is armed with a Large Laser, which does eight points of damage on the tabletop. In 2013, Catalyst Labs released Technical ReadOut 1945, which statted the Tiger tank's 8.8cm kwk gun as a medium rifle, which does a meager 3 points of damage.
That's right. The Rotunda is armed with a laser that does nearly three times as much damage as that class of gun, and a missile launcher that can hole a WWII heavy tank/postwar tank in one shot.
So. What do I do?
Well, after briefly mourning the loss of my beloved car, I hop in this car and take it for a spin someplace far away from state troopers and prying eyes. It's got a fusion engine, so what do I have to worry about gas?
In the long term, I get together some experts and some people I trust, and incorporate Laskar Technical Dynamics. Our first project will be reverse-engineering the Amdecker 300 Large Laser, followed by the materials in the missiles and the ferro-fiberous armor.
By the way, that would remove about eight tons of armament and material from the vehicle, which will make it easier to take places. It'll also, you know, bump up the top speed. Just a bit. From what I understand about the rules of Battletech, it should go somewhat close to... oh, a hundred and fifty miles per hour or so.
As soon as we have the capital and the investors, I am going to (Very reluctantly) remove the fusion engine from the Rotunda and reverse-engineer it too. As much as I like being the only guy with a car that doesn't have to stop for gas, I can't pass up the opportunity to benefit all of mankind with the technology of sustainable fusion power. The fact that I'll get rich and stick it to the greens at the same time is also nice. I mean, seriously. By the time I'm done I'll be able to afford building and certifying a fusion-powered airship with giant neon "Eat A Plate Of Dicks, Sierra Club" lights on the side.
😛.
