This thing falls apart on California freeways, does anyone anywhere think it's going to last more than fifteen minutes in an actual warzone, even if it is not immediately targeted as the most obvious thing to shoot at

https://gizmodo.com/militarized-cybertrucks-are-here-2000488469

The Cybertruck Heads to War With Militarized Upgrades

A company is offering to up-armor Cybertrucks and Chechnya's dictator rolled a machine-gun armed Cybertruck through the streets of his country's capital.

Gizmodo

@scalzi

achieving a whole new level of meta with a technically-a-technical there

@scalzi If they were smart, they wouldn't shoot at it. A cybertruck is more likely to do more damage the side it is fighting on than any amount of enemy action.
@scalzi It already looks like something from Battlezone, so it'll be an easy target.
@InstantArcade @scalzi Does it explode in a cascade of low-res polygons when hit?
@sethrichards @scalzi There's really only one way to find out!
@sethrichards @InstantArcade @scalzi that's what they remind me of - thank you

@sethrichards @InstantArcade @scalzi

this made me laugh so hard i scared my cats, thank you lololololololol

@InstantArcade @scalzi lol, vwoo-wah-wah will be announced when a CBT is spotted
@scalzi I predict friendly fire
@scalzi You could puncture the side of a Cybertruck with a tack hammer and a screwdriver. But it looks like what a stupid person thinks a small futuristic tank would look like, so...
@scalzi (I thought California freeways were a warzone...? (Probably just my prejudices talking...?))

@steinarb @scalzi

Come on, we haven't had a stolen tank incident on our freeway for DECADES now

@scalzi "Tank taken down by water balloons" would be a great headline.
@scalzi "Their important person is in that thing, deal with it."
@scalzi BUT IT MAKES MANLY WARLORD LOOK EVEN MORE MANLY AND POWERFUL, PITIFUL ENEMY WILL BE FRIGHTENED AND RUN FROM SUCH MANLINESS

@scalzi where do they think they will find a charging point.

Just get a hilux.

@scalzi i wonder if the ECU is programmed to play the benny hill theme if it can measure that its being fired upon, because having it blast yakety sax while its panels are falling off as its being riddled full of holes would be poetic
@Viss @scalzi Would really like to know what its radar cross-section is

@scalzi Speaking as a former US Army cavalry scout: HAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, good luck with that.

@scalzi yeah, it doesn't even survive a car wash ...

@scalzi "even if it is not immediately targeted as the most obvious thing to shoot at"

Not to mention a violation of the Geneva Conventions. At least, I assume "inducing the enemy to claw their own eyes out" counts as a blinding weapon...

@scalzi shoot at it? Why waste ammo when you can just spray it down with soapy water?

@scalzi Let's put rich people in them and find out.

The funniest part is that if they catch fire, they can't be put out, and they ain't moving. So a techno futurist version of the flames in a barrel.

The panels are 'reasonably' bulletproof, the windows are not, and everything else about them is....yeah.

@scalzi but how till the gun protect it from RAIN!?
@scalzi an electric truck. In a war zone where one of the Russian tactics has been to attack the power infrastructure? Gonna need a real long extension cord to charge that thing
@scalzi I can't picture many better uses for a CyberTruck than Ukrainian target practice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@scalzi

Saw a wankpanzer and their truck buddy out driving yesterday with big ass flags on them and some Trump Youth riding in the beds.

Got to yell "WEIRDOS!" at them. That was fun.

@scalzi seen the whistlin diesel review of it?
@scalzi that guy was probably voted "most likely to be the target of a friendly-fire incident" in highschool
@scalzi
Shiny, weirdly shaped, gigantic decoys.

@scalzi

That is so Cybertruck attitude defining it should be standard equipment.

@scalzi

That piece of shit isn’t even waterproof let alone bulletproof. It’s recommended not to expose it to the elements for an extended period of time. In fact, I wrote a post about it months ago:

I’M A GENIUS! I’M SMARTER THAN ELON MUSK!
Not that that’s at all difficult to accomplish.
I found the solution for corrosion of the CyberTruck!

@scalzi

just throw some sandbags in front of it.

Instantly immobilized.

@scalzi not gonna pretend I’m not looking forward to FPV drone footage of this thing getting taken out.
@scalzi Don‘t shoot at it; just hammer it into oblivion.

@scalzi

Well that explains why Ukraine is investing in a Raccoon Corps.

@scalzi @lisamelton I don't like war, I don't like it when people get killed, but I wouldn't mind a cyber truck like that getting blown to pieces.
@scalzi more seriously than my flip over the top comment, when the battery pack gets a few holes punched through it that thing will blowtorch its own insides. Good luck there Mr. Warlord.
@scalzi I support giving warlords vehicles that actively try to kill their owners. Lets hope that cybertruck succeeds in that endeavour.
@scalzi I’m looking forward to seeing how it just deals with winter in the United States.
@scalzi It’s really hard to aim when you’re laughing.
@scalzi the one thing it does well is intimidating civilians. And I can totally see that being the main application these warlords have in mind for the cyber truck, as a shock and awe vehicle to spread terror among pedestrians and bikers.
@scalzi With the armor upgrades, guns, and all-terrain tires, I bet that thing gets at least 20km/charge.
I am not seeing the downside of selling "Armored Cybertrucks" to the type of person who'd buy one, given what you just said.
@scalzi Made for “TikTok war zones”

@scalzi

But will it survive a car wash?

@scalzi And once again, art becomes reality, as Elon Musk attempts his version of Monty Python’s “Funniest Joke in the World”.
The Funniest Joke in the World - Wikipedia

@scalzi Maybe some good will come out of this. Maybe Musk will immigrate to Russia.
@scalzi it completely sounds like just posturing, a wink to the fashs in Elmo's fanbase, since they tend to be pro russian anyway.

@scalzi

It let's you LARP like you're in a war zone though