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I think it's generally agreed here that the Maus was one of the most shockingly wrong-headed AFV designs ever conceived, much less prototyped. What's never been clear to me is what the thinking behind it was. Why did anyone think a 180+ tonne tank was a good idea? Faulty analogy to naval warships? I've always found it surprising how little the Maus actually delivered for being that heavy. The 128mm was a pretty serious cannon, but on a tank that heavy I would expect rather more. Maybe a monster building demolition gun like the sturmtiger/T30 were envisioned to carry, or maybe have it bristle with secondary armament like a proper land battleship so it could be a one-vehicle breakthrough spearhead. But a single 128mm and a secondary 75mm? Seeing as they crammed that same cannon into a jagdtiger, surely the maus looked rather poor in the weight/armament area. Was there any particular logic behind this monster, or did Hitler just say to Porsche "I want a tank that goes to 11!" ?