Three years later.
*bzzzt-bzzzt-bzzztsh*
"Phew, I'm finally done putting this vehicle together." I commented aloud, my voice laced with both excitement and relief that this project I had been working on was finally complete.
Turning off my welder, I threw my welding mask aside and started wiping the dripping sweat from my forehead that accumulated whilst I was wrapped up in my work. The instant I finished removing the sweat, I began admiring my newly completed creation.
What stood before me was a 45 foot long 9 foot wide tracked monster with a large armored cabin located at the front of the vehicle and two armored cargo spaces behind it for safely transporting the many things I'll be taking with me to the RobCo Facility. And all of that is powered by a small fusion breeder reactor that is especially armored, so I don't get reduced to a pile of ash if the reactor takes a couple of shots.
While I was busy admiring my newly produced creation, Amata came up to me and presented me with a container of water saying. "Here Harold, you should have a drink since you've been sweating quite a bit when you were welding those last several parts."
"You're right, I probably should thank you, Amata."
Gulping down a couple mouthfuls of water, I thanked her. "Haa, that hit the spot. Thanks again."
"No problem." She replied, happy to help.
With my thirst now quenched thanks to my ever dutiful Amata, I returned my focus back to the monster of a vehicle I had constructed in front of me and started thinking.
Damn, I did make a pretty sick ride for myself, didn't I. Unfortunately for me I won't really be riding it much if at all because I'm gonna have to act as the defense for the vehicle while it transports my automated manufacturing machines and the numerous parts and other miscellaneous materials I plan on bringing to the RobCo Facility.
Despite me probably not getting much use out of it in terms of driving it, Amata, on the other hand, will when I get things set up at the facility and she joins me in the future. She can ride around in it until I find something that can better protect her, like a higher-end suit of power armor, for instance.
Which shouldn't be all that difficult to procure once I get out there, since I have a literal list of locations in my head that should have a few sets available. As for what sort of models and variants I won't know for sure till I get there. So hopefully I can get her higher-end set from one of those locations and, if not, I'll strip the frames of the current model and replace it with a set of my own design and making at the facility.
Moving on from thoughts of power armor, let me see what else I can add to this monster... Installing an auto turret doesn't seem like such a bad idea. It would shore up the defenses, no doubt. That said, I'll make it a laser turret instead of a ballistic turret so I can power it off the vehicle's existing power plant, save weight and space, and eliminate the need to worry about running out of ammo.
Continuing further on with the auto turret idea, I will also need to get some active defenses mounted onto the vehicle that can shoot down or disable incoming missiles, rockets, and other types of explosives that will inevitably come my way when I eventually get ambushed in the wasteland by any number of hostile groups or factions that exist.
More than likely ranging from raiders and super mutants to Outcasts and Enclave. And that's not even taking into account the possibility of encountering other hostile factions and groups that I have no knowledge outside of the areas covered within the games.
Therefore, getting active defenses made will be essential for my survival as well as a good preventative measure for keeping my vehicle from getting disabled and destroyed. That sort of situation would certainly slow my progress by a decent amount that I'm not able to determine at this time due to the number of variables involved...
You know what, I can just have four laser turrets mounted on the roof instead. That will prioritize missiles and other explosives first before moving on to deal with other threats. Doing that would solve both issues with one solution. Yeah, that's a much better idea, although it will require a bit of effort in the way of programming and the implementation of upgraded turret targeting modules on my part to bring it to fruition. Which should be easily doable in the remaining time I have left before my journey.
Moving on from that to a different issue but still pertaining to the vehicle, is that it will be a huge pain in the ass to move this monster of a vehicle through the vault to the vault's main entrance when it's time for my departure given its size and my current workforce, that is made up of a total of 13 worker bots.
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Thus, to remedy this issue, I'll need to produce an additional 12 worker bots on top of the 13 I already possess to make the disassembly and transportation of the many parts of the vehicle more efficient. Haa, another task added to the numerous I already got on my plate. That's just great, but it needs to be done despite me not wanting to spend the time on it.
...
I think I covered everything, but let me see if Amata has any ideas.
"Hey, what do you think about these upgrades for the vehicle?" I asked, while going over what I had already come up with.
"Do you see anything that can be added or further improved upon, Amata?"
"Hmm, the ideas you've come up with seem to cover most of your needs. I don't really see much that you can do to improve it further, other than maybe adding some more defenses and a bed to sleep on. However, you only really built it to move your stuff to that RobCo facility you told me about previously. So there's not much point doing much more than that if that's the only thing you're going to be using it for in the end."
As I was conversing with Amata about the vehicle for a brief period, we were suddenly interrupted by a synthetic male-sounding voice produced by said vehicle we were discussing. "Sir, I require a name."
"Yeah, I guess it's about time you received a name. You got any ideas, Amata?" I replied before asking Amata for assistance with naming my newly created robotic vehicle.
"Well, what about Hauler? That is what you're going to be using it for." She replied after contemplating for a couple of seconds.
"That'll work. Your name will be Hauler from now on, big guy. Though I may change it in the future if something more fitting appears."
"Very well then, sir, my name has been registered as Hauler in my database." The robotruck responded.
"Also change the way you call me to boss since I like the sound of that better than sir Hauler." I told Hauler.
"Okay, no problem Boss."
Alright, with that over and done with, let's move on to some of my other projects like my weapons and armor.
"I'm gonna head over to my other projects and give them a look over. Do you want to stay here and look at Hauler some more or come along with me?" I asked Amata.
"No, I'll come with you. I've looked at Hauler enough." She responded, shaking her head.
"Okay then, let's go to my new weapons first and once we're finished there, we'll go look at my armor. Oh also, if you have any ideas that could improve any of them, please let me know since they could be potentially life-saving."
"Of course." She replied lastly before we headed over to where my new main weapon was resting.
What entered our view upon our arrival was a large gatling gun sitting on a sturdy metal rack. Walking up to it, I stood in front of it and began looking it over for the following few minutes. After I was done giving it a once over, I couldn't help but recall my memories of how I ended up creating such a fearsome weapon and thinking about whether there was anything else I could add to it that would improve it even further.
With the decision to make a new weapon years ago, I ended up deciding to go with 7.62 instead of 5.56 since I've been growing like a beanstalk over these last few years. And as a result of all of that growth, I now stand at a height of 6 feet 3 inches while also weighing 262 pounds or almost 119 kg, so I shouldn't have too much issue handling the recoil produced from the 7.62 rounds.
Adding to that, I made two more upgrades to the weapon. Those being the addition of 2 extra barrels to the gatling gun to up the lifespan across all the barrels and making every barrel a heavy barrel so I wouldn't have to worry about the barrels overheating and warping as much anymore. Unless I fired a stupid amount of rounds through them without allowing the weapon to cool down for a few minutes.
Because I added those extra upgrades, the weight of the weapon went up quite significantly, resulting in the recoil being reduced by quite a bit, which was an overall plus in my book. As for the fire rate, I decided to make it variable with a 5-setting dial by the trigger that goes from 2,000 rounds per minute all the way up to 6,000 rpm.
Expanding upon that further, that 5-setting dial can also change the fire rate of the gatling gun on the fly. I'm sure I'll find that feature quite handy in the future, whether I want to conserve ammo or just turn whatever I have my weapon directed at into nothing but a bloody stain on the ground with only small chunks of flesh remaining.
For the magazine, I went with an armored backpack magazine capped at 10,000 rounds for the additional armor and so I wouldn't have to reload nearly as often with drums. The only problem with this setup is that reloading is kind of a pain in the ass due to me not being able to carry another magazine on my person because they're absolutely massive and take up the entirety of my back. Thankfully, that issue I encountered was resolved with the new perk I got from my strength finally reaching 11.
| Herculean Strength | Requirements 11 Strength: You've surpassed human limitations for strength, thus you are granted these abilities. For every point in strength, you can now exert a force of 100 pounds per square inch per point instead of the default 50 pounds per square inch. A one time +350 carry weight, a +100 carry weight for every point in strength instead of the default 10 per point, along with access to an item box of sorts based on said carry weight. Additional information, item box carry weight is separate from your person.
So with this new perk I can now reload my primary weapon with one of the spares magazines I prepared relatively quickly instead of having to set myself up with spare magazines nearby to reload with. Which would take a lot of time to do that I may not have in a combat situation. Lastly, both the stats of the weapon and the magazine ended up having in the Pip-Boy were pretty phenomenal, especially in the DPS department.
| Mulcher |
Damage: 50
DPS: 1,666-5,000
Fire rate: 2,000-6,000 (Can be changed with the five setting dial by the trigger)
Capacity: 10,000 Armored Backpack Magazine
Reload: 5
Weight: 120
Ammo Type: 7.62
Value: 56,900
Attachments: Laser sight, Heavy Weapon Sling
Item Description: A huge 8-barreled 7.62 gatling gun that was created for the expressed purpose of slaughtering large radioactive mutants and cleansing the wasteland of filth.
| Mulcher Armored Backpack Magazine |
Capacity: 10,000
Resistances: DT 70
Weight: 100
Ammo Type: 7.62
Value: 7,500
Item Description: A large heavily armored backpack magazine made for the Mulcher gatling gun.