The ACEV-94B Borer system is a massive, powerful machine. 45 feet tall and 123 feet long, it is designed for one purpose: Eat through rock. The Borer is part of the ACE (Alpha Complex Expansion) program, and the 94B marks an incremental upgrade to the slightly smaller 93K model. What makes it truly NEW, however is the experimental Trailing Tunnell Reinforcement Ring. The TTRR is a massive ring mounted on the rear of the ACEV-94B, which produces astonishing amounts of heat when activated. In theory, the TTRR should melt the loose rock in the tunnel walls the ACEV-94B creates, and then blasts them with liquid nitrogen, converting them into load-bearing rock. The practical use of this system has not yet been fully tested, hence the Troubleshooter involvement.

Part 1: Mean and Sharp
The Borer is essentially a massive tank with huge drills and rock-crushing tools mounted on the front. The main drill is huge. It has sonic-burst devices and pulse cannons in the tip, and it spins and crushes stone, passing it up and out to the 6 smaller drills mounted on the sides. These peripheral drills move outward and inward to expand the walls of the tunnel, crushing most of the remaining rock to powder. On top is an articulated boom, which sports a massive wheel of spikes. If the borer needs careful or precision drilling, it can be extended and rotated. The boom also has a sonic disrupter to break up tough stone.

Part 2: Big, Big Engine
Mounted centrally behind the drills is the awesome engine of the borer. A nuclear core powers the drills, treads, boom and accessory devices that keeps the borer moving.

Part 3: The Cockpit
Sealed inside the Borer is a large cockpit complete with a bot-brain to drive and control the drills and powerful crushing tools. The cockpit can seat 6, generally a driver, navigator, two explosives technicians (for really tough spaces), a mechanic and communications officer. It's unlikely the team will be given any of these jobs, since the bot is capable of doing them all itself anyway. The cockpit is protected by a massive metal screen that runs across the top of the borer.

Part 4: The Borer... minus the TTRR
The ACEV-94B is a perfectly capable machine and a fine addition to the ACE program. It's big. It's powerful. It knows what it's supposed to do. It's really good at doing it. The bot is a bit conceited for this reason, and while it will take directions from a capable team of experts, Troubleshooters are another matter. Troubleshooters might be boring at times, but they're not borers (had to get that out of the way) and the bot will find them noisy, troublesome and inept. Regardless, if ordered to do so, it will follow directions until such time as they screw up... after which it will be less and less likely to listen. The vehicle is darn near indestructable anyway, but the bot will get very annoyed if they try to damage it.

Part 5: The TTRR
The TTRR creates a ring of super-hot ion streams that melt the rock in the tunnel around the Borer. In the center of the ring is a liquid-nitrogen sprayer that fires back and out to cool the rock, creating a solid ring of stone. It has worked in field trials, but the troubleshooters will likely be taking it farther than it has ever gone before and are likely to run into problems:

• How well the rock/dirt/etc reacts depends on the type of earth being moved through. Deep stone, shale, marble and clay work fairly well, but softer stuff like limestone and soil will not work at all. The troubleshooters will have a cave in behind them... and probably on top of them.
• Coal doesn't react well to high bursts of heat... neither does the methane that is found near coal deposits.
• Crude oil is similarly bad.
• Metal deposits like iron, gold, silver and copper will melt instantly, flooding the floor of the tunnel.
• Underground water sources are also bad places to go.

Gameplay
The borer is designed to be a prop piece (McGuffin) for an adventure. The team will be ordered to build a tunnel from point A to point B in Alpha Complex, presumably through some tough stone. If they were to do this directly, it would mean a boring few hours in a big tank that's doing everything for them... but this is Paranoia. They'll go off course, they'll get lost, they'll encounter less-than-ideal drilling environments. They'll tick-off the bot. They'll try and kill each other with a machine the size of a 4 story building.