I wonder if you could make a couple little completely flat mini-bots lined head to toe with supermagents, they could go under every bot and just stick to them, making driving for the enemy bot very difficult. Maybe have the bottom of them deploy little spikes once attached to lift the enemy bot completely up off the ground
Would those fall under the prohibition on entanglement devices?
Or instead of holding them down I wonder how well a crane with a half ton magnetic lifter on it would work
It would wreck your center of gravity when you tried to lift a bot of your own weight and you'd tip over.
You could go more like a gantry crane but I imagine the legs would be pretty vulnerable
I wonder if you could make a couple little completely flat mini-bots lined head to toe with supermagents, they could go under every bot and just stick to them, making driving for the enemy bot very difficult. Maybe have the bottom of them deploy little spikes once attached to lift the enemy bot completely up off the ground
Would those fall under the prohibition on entanglement devices?
Or instead of holding them down I wonder how well a crane with a half ton magnetic lifter on it would work
It would wreck your center of gravity when you tried to lift a bot of your own weight and you'd tip over.
You could go more like a gantry crane but I imagine the legs would be pretty vulnerable
You also have to think about how usable it is under pressure and quickly when you have a bot like Tombstone or Bronco or Icewave bearing down on you. You have to not just be able to lift a bot, but lift one that is dangerous as fuck and quickly moving with the intention of demolishing you.
And if your magnet misses and hits the steel floor..... gg
I wonder if you could magnet yourself to the floor in order use use a weapon that would normally have too much recoil to be useful.
maybe some kind of extremely heavy piston gun.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I wonder if you could magnet yourself to the floor in order use use a weapon that would normally have too much recoil to be useful.
maybe some kind of extremely heavy piston gun.
Many have and do, but usually not in a very controlled manner. Blendo had large permanent magnets under its chassis to reduce ricochet during hits, and Bite Force has magnets this tournament to attempt to improve traction.
I wonder if you could magnet yourself to the floor in order use use a weapon that would normally have too much recoil to be useful.
maybe some kind of extremely heavy piston gun.
Yes you can. You may run into problems when it comes to unsticking yourself from the floor though. And if you can't move because you stuck yourself to the floor, it's still a loss.
I wonder if you could magnet yourself to the floor in order use use a weapon that would normally have too much recoil to be useful.
maybe some kind of extremely heavy piston gun.
Yes you can. You may run into problems when it comes to unsticking yourself from the floor though. And if you can't move because you stuck yourself to the floor, it's still a loss.
Ha! Weapon and magnets so strongth it was ripping up the floor plates. I'm in love.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I am super glad DVR exists for this reboot of the series, since it lets me cut every episode down to 10-12 minutes of actual action.
Tombstone is going to walk away with this, because nobody is 1)Armored enough to take more then 1-2 hits or 2)Maneuverable enough, with a good enough pilot to keep behind it the entire match. If they get another season, I'm hoping they do something with the entanglement rules to slow down the kinetic energy bots. I feel like next season is going to be a ton of armor heavy bots to combat the spinners, which will lead to everyone making wedge bots since they can no longer get through the armor. I really don't want to watch BiohazardBots again, I've already seen that show.
I am super glad DVR exists for this reboot of the series, since it lets me cut every episode down to 10-12 minutes of actual action.
Tombstone is going to walk away with this, because nobody is 1)Armored enough to take more then 1-2 hits or 2)Maneuverable enough, with a good enough pilot to keep behind it the entire match. If they get another season, I'm hoping they do something with the entanglement rules to slow down the kinetic energy bots. I feel like next season is going to be a ton of armor heavy bots to combat the spinners, which will lead to everyone making wedge bots since they can no longer get through the armor. I really don't want to watch BiohazardBots again, I've already seen that show.
Wedges were banned to avoid dull as hell wedge vs wedge fights (and even then there have nearly been a couple due to malfunctions and damage). Also, from a few pages back, Stinger's predecessor beating the living crap out of Tombstone's predecessor:
Biohazard wasn't boring. Hard to beat because of it's design, but not impossible. Bertocchini was also very aggressive with him. I'm so confused why all this hate for Biohazard when it's a better bot then some of these machines that we are seeing here.
The thing about spinners is they're unpredictable when they land a blow at full speed, and mechanical failure is always an option. Crazy shit can happen, they can ricochet themselves into a solid object or whatever. Let us also not forget that as rounds progress, they will deploy more and more of the battle box hazards and one of those hazards is a shitload of pneumatic spikes that come out of the floor. Hitting one of those would really fucking ruin Tombstone's day.
And Biohazard was a technically spectacular robot that was superbly driven and boring as hell to watch because it was just one giant wedge/skirt and its only attack was to gently turn you over. If you're going to flip someone, do it Toro/T-Minus/Bronco style.
Yup the vicious spinners biggest issue is they are so vicious they are not that much less likely to break themselves during a fight as they are their opponents. In one off matches they are tough to beat but its very possible both icewave and tombstone don't get to the finals due to mechanical failure.
I'm wondering if irregular terrain would completely kill horizontal spinners. Would something like Tombstone still be able to work if the spinner assembly could be tilted up or down, or would the force end up tearing it apart?
It depends on what the terrain is made of, for one. Dirt wouldn't be as much of an issue as concrete or steel. The biggest change would be in the drive systems and overall chassis layouts, raising weapons up a bit while at the same time having to worry about potentially more fragile drivetrains. Driving strategy would also change: if fights were in very 'hilly' terrain, horizontal spinners would be much less favorable due to gyroscopic effects causing their various spinning components to tilt off-plane.
Edit - On another topic, one of the lesser-known facets of spinning weapons is Work Hardening. It has been well understood by blacksmiths for millennia that hammering at metals will make them harder and harder, and in modern times this is even used in practical applications. However, the harder a metal becomes, the more brittle it gets. If your spinning weapon is too brittle it will break, and through use all spinners experience work hardening.
I am super glad DVR exists for this reboot of the series, since it lets me cut every episode down to 10-12 minutes of actual action.
Tombstone is going to walk away with this, because nobody is 1)Armored enough to take more then 1-2 hits or 2)Maneuverable enough, with a good enough pilot to keep behind it the entire match. If they get another season, I'm hoping they do something with the entanglement rules to slow down the kinetic energy bots. I feel like next season is going to be a ton of armor heavy bots to combat the spinners, which will lead to everyone making wedge bots since they can no longer get through the armor. I really don't want to watch BiohazardBots again, I've already seen that show.
Wedges were banned to avoid dull as hell wedge vs wedge fights (and even then there have nearly been a couple due to malfunctions and damage). Also, from a few pages back, Stinger's predecessor beating the living crap out of Tombstone's predecessor:
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Tombstone is entirely unbeatable, I just think it's going to take a little bit of luck for it to happen.
If we get Bronco vs Tombstone, I don't think Bronco can withstand as much damage around the wheels as everyone is expecting. Also with Tombstone being designed to withstand the shock of hitting things with that huge spinner, I'm not sure how effective the Bronco launcher will be, unless he manages to flip him up on the screws of course.
If we get the Stinger vs Tombstone rematch, I still think it's probably 75% in Tombstones favor. In the video Stinger takes 2-3 solid shots to the wheels but still maintains complete driveability. Is that great fabrication by Stinger? Yes. Is it still a little lucky? Yes. I think if you give Tombstone 3 shots at the wheels, 7/10 times it's going to either completely disable or cripple that side. And as good as Stingers pilot is, he's not going to beat Tombstone with a half functioning drivetrain.
It's unfortunate that the two bots that probably have the best chance of beating Tombstone have to meet for the chance to fight him.
I am super glad DVR exists for this reboot of the series, since it lets me cut every episode down to 10-12 minutes of actual action.
Tombstone is going to walk away with this, because nobody is 1)Armored enough to take more then 1-2 hits or 2)Maneuverable enough, with a good enough pilot to keep behind it the entire match. If they get another season, I'm hoping they do something with the entanglement rules to slow down the kinetic energy bots. I feel like next season is going to be a ton of armor heavy bots to combat the spinners, which will lead to everyone making wedge bots since they can no longer get through the armor. I really don't want to watch BiohazardBots again, I've already seen that show.
Wedges were banned to avoid dull as hell wedge vs wedge fights (and even then there have nearly been a couple due to malfunctions and damage). Also, from a few pages back, Stinger's predecessor beating the living crap out of Tombstone's predecessor:
The latest BattleBots Update is out for Episode 4, and there has been an update from MegaBots on Japan's insistence on a Melee component for their bout:
I'm assuming that you're not allowed to deliberately design a minibot to do that, right? Because it seemed like it could be an effective tactic, if you build your robots to take advantage of it.
Edit: It looks like at least some events have rules that cover that as vision obstruction.
Though I do wonder if you could just take two quadcopters and have them dangle a sheet of paper right in front of your opponent's window.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Kenny Florian was on Carolla's podcast today and they talked about the show, no spoilers or anything other than it seems they're getting a new season and it will be filmed in LA rather than outside San Francisco.
And then I find out Kimmel and Carolla actually participated in the show back in the day when they went up against The Tonight Show's Chin-chilla, where Carolla said they were basically given a kit robot in the back to drive and the entire controls were reversed because the robot was placed upside down to start the fight, and when he asked why not just flip it the right way around, they didn't care because they needed to just film it and get it over with.
It's here, 37 minutes in, lasts about five minutes, kind of a shitty fight:
Highlight is the post match interview, Traci Bingham asking what went wrong and Kimmel says "we were distracted by your breasts."
So, with Gunn being semi serious about having his own bot, and Carolla being a fan of it (who is also friends with Gunn and has a shop to make stuff and a son who loves the show), I think you can really try and carve out a few more celebrity spots for exhibitions or serious competition next season.
I went and listened to those parts of the podcast as well, and while it does seem tenuous it's another pointer toward a potential Season 7/Season 2.1. A huge amount of interest and momentum is building up again, and the consistently good ratings even following such a different show is a great sign.
As far as Celeb bots go, I'd be most interested in teams focused around different FX houses competing in that capacity. Imagine a rumble with ILM, Weta, and Legacy Effects robots in the ring.
I went and listened to those parts of the podcast as well, and while it does seem tenuous it's another pointer toward a potential Season 7/Season 2.1. A huge amount of interest and momentum is building up again, and the consistently good ratings even following such a different show is a great sign.
As far as Celeb bots go, I'd be most interested in teams focused around different FX houses competing in that capacity. Imagine a rumble with ILM, Weta, and Legacy Effects robots in the ring.
That would be awesome.
I'd love to see Weta put a full body spinner in, have it painted up to look like The One Ring.
ILM fielding an up armored R2. Maybe a head mounted hammer or some front mounted spinning disk/drum.
I'm drawing a blank on Legacy to be honest, but I'm sure they'd put something just as iconic and awesome in the box.
For quadcopters I'm thinking death from above. Get as high as possible, deploy a spike and just crush the target from above. Hard as hell to hit though.
I think if the mini bot rules are loose enough, they're a great way to integrate some really off-the-wall ideas along with what's tried and true. For example, from Bronco vs Witch Doctor, we know that wedges work surprisingly well even at such a reduced weight while at the same time being balanced by their reduced durability (Nightmare vs Warrior Clan). At the same time, having a flying mini bot that could try to act as a kamikaze against bots like Ice Wave or Tombstone and physically jam either their exhausts (for Icewave) or weapon transmissions with their frames would be a novel way around the existing rules barring entanglement devices and smothering gasses.
This was the best episode this season so far, and possibly for the whole season if Rumbles or Grudge Matches are not included in the final episode. My take on the matches:
Bronco vs Stinger
This match was great due to both robots' resilience, driving skill, and Bronco's incredible weapon. I wouldn't have guessed it was to end so soon after the 720, but that kind of hit takes a little for the driver to reorient from, wrapping things up nicely for Bronco going into the Semi-Finals.
Tombstone vs Witch Doctor
As it turned out, we didn't get to see how Tombstone would have to deal with Shaman, Witch Doctor's minibot. My bet though is that Shaman was fine, but they decided to take use of the onsite welding resources to make their front armor with 30lbs of extra steel rather than taking Shaman into this match. As it turned out, that was a solid decision: they were able to easily withstand direct hits from Tombstone and even deliver hits of their own, but the inability to test the new armor configuration hid the fact that it shifted Witch Doctor's weight too far forward. Had they more time to balance out the weight distribution for Witch Doctor and avoid high-centering their robot when inverted, the match would have ended very differently. Since there were no tap-outs in this tournament, Tombstone would have been eviscerated in short order.
Bite Force vs Overhaul
While a little slow early on, this was a very even match. My guess about why the judges went for Bite Force was that it really did control most of the match, and Overhaul was unable to do an appreciable amount of damage in the last portion under its direct control. In fact, I would say the only way Overhaul could take the match would have been to immobilize Bite Force or destroy one of its treads on a killsaw.
Icewave vs Ghost Raptor
While a bit anticlimactic, Icewave lost to another example in a long history of inter-match modifications. It's great to see more of these this season - we already saw Bite Force change their wedge design for HyperShock and Witch Doctor improve their armor for Tombstone - because they are one of the best ways to even out matches and to display each team's ingenuity. Here's hoping for more Icewave in the form of a rumble or grudge match!
Well, that was really impressive. I was very impressed with Witch Doctor, I thought that Tombstone was going to just walk over the other bots, but seeing this? It may be in trouble, just if they can absorb it's hits, it'll destroy itself. I mean, if Witch Doctor could've righted itself, it would of taken it.
Also, does anyone know anything about a season 2? I hear that it's doing REALLY well in the ratings, but haven't heard anything bout it.
FTC: honk.
FTC: HONK.
PAX Prime 2014 Resistance Tournament Winner
I loved Ghost Raptor's mod. It reminded me of a big kid keeping a little kid at arm's length by putting his hand on the little kid's head.
Witch Doctor gets a little bit of a pass here due to their major modification, but in general I don't understand what someone could be thinking designing a bot that can't self right (or doesn't need to). Insanity.
Biteforce continues to be Most Overrated Bot.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Bronco #1.
Tombstone's weakness is it's too awesome, Witch Doctor did nothing but be the Battlebot equivalent of a pusher in tennis, if they somehow won they would cement their Dat Phan status.
Bite Force is overrated and seemed like even with the lift they didn't know what to do with it because it was so used to just wedging people, but the cool MIT kids deserved to lose because of cat ears. Also, gratuitous moment for the judges to walk out just to examine robots, when it seemed like it was more for Chobot than the others.
I both hate and admire Ghost Raptor, because they were innovative with the arm, but at the same time they're constantly a duh about operating the robot to be offensive. The lawnmower blade wasn't really able to hit the hipster robot in the first round, it broke the second so they had a turrrrble wedge, and now it was trying to push Ice Wave away.
I do hate that Bronoc and Tombstone can't be a final now, that's gonna lead to a disappointing final.
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You could go more like a gantry crane but I imagine the legs would be pretty vulnerable
twitch.tv/tehsloth
You also have to think about how usable it is under pressure and quickly when you have a bot like Tombstone or Bronco or Icewave bearing down on you. You have to not just be able to lift a bot, but lift one that is dangerous as fuck and quickly moving with the intention of demolishing you.
And if your magnet misses and hits the steel floor..... gg
maybe some kind of extremely heavy piston gun.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Many have and do, but usually not in a very controlled manner. Blendo had large permanent magnets under its chassis to reduce ricochet during hits, and Bite Force has magnets this tournament to attempt to improve traction.
Ha! Weapon and magnets so strongth it was ripping up the floor plates. I'm in love.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Tombstone is going to walk away with this, because nobody is 1)Armored enough to take more then 1-2 hits or 2)Maneuverable enough, with a good enough pilot to keep behind it the entire match. If they get another season, I'm hoping they do something with the entanglement rules to slow down the kinetic energy bots. I feel like next season is going to be a ton of armor heavy bots to combat the spinners, which will lead to everyone making wedge bots since they can no longer get through the armor. I really don't want to watch BiohazardBots again, I've already seen that show.
Wedges were banned to avoid dull as hell wedge vs wedge fights (and even then there have nearly been a couple due to malfunctions and damage). Also, from a few pages back, Stinger's predecessor beating the living crap out of Tombstone's predecessor:
And Biohazard was a technically spectacular robot that was superbly driven and boring as hell to watch because it was just one giant wedge/skirt and its only attack was to gently turn you over. If you're going to flip someone, do it Toro/T-Minus/Bronco style.
Edit - On another topic, one of the lesser-known facets of spinning weapons is Work Hardening. It has been well understood by blacksmiths for millennia that hammering at metals will make them harder and harder, and in modern times this is even used in practical applications. However, the harder a metal becomes, the more brittle it gets. If your spinning weapon is too brittle it will break, and through use all spinners experience work hardening.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Tombstone is entirely unbeatable, I just think it's going to take a little bit of luck for it to happen.
If we get Bronco vs Tombstone, I don't think Bronco can withstand as much damage around the wheels as everyone is expecting. Also with Tombstone being designed to withstand the shock of hitting things with that huge spinner, I'm not sure how effective the Bronco launcher will be, unless he manages to flip him up on the screws of course.
If we get the Stinger vs Tombstone rematch, I still think it's probably 75% in Tombstones favor. In the video Stinger takes 2-3 solid shots to the wheels but still maintains complete driveability. Is that great fabrication by Stinger? Yes. Is it still a little lucky? Yes. I think if you give Tombstone 3 shots at the wheels, 7/10 times it's going to either completely disable or cripple that side. And as good as Stingers pilot is, he's not going to beat Tombstone with a half functioning drivetrain.
It's unfortunate that the two bots that probably have the best chance of beating Tombstone have to meet for the chance to fight him.
I would not be surprised to see the battlebox hazards at least making a fight hard on Tombstone at some point.
Perhaps the most entertaining match I've seen yet!
Finally, I leave you all with another great match: Sewer Snake vs Death and Taxes
Edit: It looks like at least some events have rules that cover that as vision obstruction.
Though I do wonder if you could just take two quadcopters and have them dangle a sheet of paper right in front of your opponent's window.
And then I find out Kimmel and Carolla actually participated in the show back in the day when they went up against The Tonight Show's Chin-chilla, where Carolla said they were basically given a kit robot in the back to drive and the entire controls were reversed because the robot was placed upside down to start the fight, and when he asked why not just flip it the right way around, they didn't care because they needed to just film it and get it over with.
It's here, 37 minutes in, lasts about five minutes, kind of a shitty fight:
Highlight is the post match interview, Traci Bingham asking what went wrong and Kimmel says "we were distracted by your breasts."
So, with Gunn being semi serious about having his own bot, and Carolla being a fan of it (who is also friends with Gunn and has a shop to make stuff and a son who loves the show), I think you can really try and carve out a few more celebrity spots for exhibitions or serious competition next season.
As far as Celeb bots go, I'd be most interested in teams focused around different FX houses competing in that capacity. Imagine a rumble with ILM, Weta, and Legacy Effects robots in the ring.
I never finish anyth
That would be awesome.
I'd love to see Weta put a full body spinner in, have it painted up to look like The One Ring.
ILM fielding an up armored R2. Maybe a head mounted hammer or some front mounted spinning disk/drum.
I'm drawing a blank on Legacy to be honest, but I'm sure they'd put something just as iconic and awesome in the box.
FTC: HONK.
PAX Prime 2014 Resistance Tournament Winner
Yes that was a great match.
I'm not too happy about the last two matches of the evening though.
Bronco vs Stinger
Tombstone vs Witch Doctor
Bite Force vs Overhaul
Icewave vs Ghost Raptor
Do the matches go up anywhere?
In time, here or on ABC's site for the full version.
Also, does anyone know anything about a season 2? I hear that it's doing REALLY well in the ratings, but haven't heard anything bout it.
FTC: HONK.
PAX Prime 2014 Resistance Tournament Winner
Witch Doctor gets a little bit of a pass here due to their major modification, but in general I don't understand what someone could be thinking designing a bot that can't self right (or doesn't need to). Insanity.
Biteforce continues to be Most Overrated Bot.
Tombstone's weakness is it's too awesome, Witch Doctor did nothing but be the Battlebot equivalent of a pusher in tennis, if they somehow won they would cement their Dat Phan status.
Bite Force is overrated and seemed like even with the lift they didn't know what to do with it because it was so used to just wedging people, but the cool MIT kids deserved to lose because of cat ears. Also, gratuitous moment for the judges to walk out just to examine robots, when it seemed like it was more for Chobot than the others.
I both hate and admire Ghost Raptor, because they were innovative with the arm, but at the same time they're constantly a duh about operating the robot to be offensive. The lawnmower blade wasn't really able to hit the hipster robot in the first round, it broke the second so they had a turrrrble wedge, and now it was trying to push Ice Wave away.
I do hate that Bronoc and Tombstone can't be a final now, that's gonna lead to a disappointing final.