"We've all grown tired of joking about the Raleigh. No, sorry, I misread that. You've all grown tired of joking about the Raleigh. I still think it's hilarious, and I'll die on that hill - which is a fate I'll share with most of the people who've tried to pilot one in combat. IPS-N have always been obsessed with their down-home, country-boy aesthetic, but actually trying to turn that into a mech? Well, to say that it was 'a bit naff' would, frankly, be rather too generous. Themes and gimmicks have always been SSC's game; IPS-N tried to reach for style, failed to grasp it, and along the way they managed to lose all substance - well, other than the kind you'd flush.
"But. Every failure is a learning opportunity - or that's what my wife tells me, at least. IPS-N took their hard knocks, knuckled down, and went back to the drawing board."
"And this time, they're sketching out a classic!"
"The Tortuga takes nearly three and a half centuries of IPS-N know-how compresses it down into one concentrated brick of mobile armor. Everything that they learnt from building the Drake, every complaint they received about the Vlad, every hard knock the Blackbeard took, every good feature of the Raleigh - yes, it had some! - it's all here. This is a raw, unadulterated fighting machine.
"Ladies and gentlemen, IPS-N have found their substance once again - and it can cut diamonds!"
