Anton chuckles, giving Simus a somewhat incredulous look.
"Pfheh. Too much in one package. What, it would be more practical stripped down? I mean sure, let's see it." He proceeds to demonstrate his words, editing the prototype as he speaks. "Take away the lasers, the amp, the medifoam, the grenades - what's left? An empty shell on four legs, with a huge-ass generator and no way to use it." He brings his hands down on the standing unit's back, careful not to tip the unprogrammed body over. "The R2 variant loses that generator to have extra internal space, because otherwise it has nowhere to put the energy. It also can't use its fire control CPUs much, because it can't dual-wield weapons without special mounting rails. What I've just outlined here is the "deluxe" loadout for the RT - the maximum I designed it to be equipped with. You can always take things away from it, but if you agree that the basic design is sound, why remove the potential to have the extra things? It's not like any of them are useless. If there are things you would have me change that are specific to the stripped-down RT and not the equipment loadout, I'll do my best to comply to them.
And do forgive me for liking aesthetics in design. I will ensure that all my contributions following this one will be as blocky and unpleasing to the eye as possible. Should help endear us to the public, end sarcasm mode. I won't deny that I've designed it this way specifically because it's pleasing to the eye, but isn't it a valid point still?
Also, I can't speak with certainty until I have a fully functional model, but I think it can pretty effectively limp back home on its own with a shot leg. I mean, a human with one working leg can hobble, and you have three here, how is that even worse. Even if it loses both front legs, the movement range on the back ones should be enough to use the tail as a prop-up and... well, it won't do to say "pop a wheelie". "Leggie"? I mean it would be possible to carry the whole body on the two back legs, upright, using the tail as support - or using a teammate as support, if anybody is feeling like helping. Don't forget, it's not going to be a simple machine - with an organic brain it should be capable of adapting to pretty much anything, provided we train it properly."
Anton notices Saint.
"Thanks. No, I didn't test it, I mean, look -" he gives the VR Artee a gentle shove, causing the body to rock back and forth a little until it settles vertically again. "No programming at all. I only recently got back to VR and there's been lots of work here. I just didn't have the time for anything but the design. Programming help would be appreciated, by the way. Those zombie functions won't code themselves. Assuming I get the clearance to work on it, we could spend the off hours working the stuff out.
I'm Anton, by the way. Anton Chernozorov. I'm assuming you're Steve Saint? Nobody else would know of my little presentation. And... that name might have interesting consequences around here, I'm sure you've already been told. Nice to meet you."