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[BattleBots] - A New Dawn in the East: King of Bots

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Posts

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    The hammer is way more powerful than youd think from it wobbling around so much, so if it hits something important, it'll break it. But like all hammer and saw robots, it has to hit something important to do anything. Plenty of other robots can hit just about anything and break it off.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Watching this weeks episode, that Huge vs Chomp match was really impressive, even if the minibot didn't work as planned.

  • SealSeal Registered User regular
    I hope Icewave
    in the future puts a little more power into its drivetrain and goes to electric for its weapon so it doesn't take so long for its spinner to get up to speed. Props to Skorpius for exploiting a weakness and playing to its strengths.

  • HandkorHandkor Registered User regular
    see317 wrote: »
    Watching this weeks episode, that Huge vs Chomp match was really impressive, even if the minibot didn't work as planned.
    I'm actually surprised at how well Chomp's armor held up, I though the casing would get torn off

  • ObiFettObiFett Use the Force As You WishRegistered User regular
    Chomp
    constantly and consistently disappoints me. I want it to be a good bot, but its just not.

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    ObiFett wrote: »
    Chomp
    constantly and consistently disappoints me. I want it to be a good bot, but its just not.
    Was Chomp the robot last season that looked like it was using flamethrower bursts to attempt to obscure how much damage its primary weapon was actually doing?

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    That was basically everyone with a flamethrower that wasn't Complete Control.

    Chomp, I'll say it again. She's probably the best engineer in Battlebots, but that's not the same as being the best Battlebot builder. Chomp is immensely over-engineered, and the complexity all serves to diminish the role of the driver and add points of failure.

    There's a reason why shit like Tombstone and Icewave and Yeti are so dominant. Simple drivetrains, simple weapons, good drivers. Chomp is coming in here like a Boston Dynamics product, and as cool as Atlas is, do you think it'll win a fight with an exposed lawnmower blade?

    Hevach on
  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    Yeah I kind of hope she's got a new design kicking around that just isn't ready yet?

    Chomp has always been sturdy, it almost never gets KO'd. There's solid engineering going into that weird pyramid.

    I want to believe there's a champion bot kicking around inside of Zoe's brain but Chomp isn't it.

    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
  • XantomasXantomas Registered User regular
    I've really been thinking the same thing about Chomp lately. I'd love to see her revise the design or just have a whole new chassis that eliminates the extremely exploitable tippy nature of that bot. Love the chompy precision hammer though and incorporating more technology.

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Just got caught up again.

    I'd hand that fight to Skorpios too in the end - Icewave ripped chunks off, but if you let the clock run longer Skorpios would've eventually been able to use hazards to cause it to burn out that motor - it was just too reliably able to prevent it spinning.

    EDIT: Also I love any fight which ends with people putting on hazmat gear and running exhaust pipes into the battlebox.

    electricitylikesme on
  • XantomasXantomas Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Just got caught up again.

    I'd hand that fight to Skorpios too in the end - Icewave ripped chunks off, but if you let the clock run longer Skorpios would've eventually been able to use hazards to cause it to burn out that motor - it was just too reliably able to prevent it spinning.

    EDIT: Also I love any fight which ends with people putting on hazmat gear and running exhaust pipes into the battlebox.

    I'll argue that. Isn't doing damage what matters in a fight? Why wouldn't the points Icewave got for disabling Skorpios' weapon and also chopping some shit off him during the match count for more than getting pushed around and chased for most of the fight? This is why bricks are not allowed anymore right? So you can't just slap a plow on and smash into somebody for 3 minutes.

    Yeah if Skorpios' saw worked he totally might have KO'd Icewave using his speed and ability to tank the damage, and maybe if given a longer fight he might have worn Icewave down. But he didn't. He didn't even damage Icewave at all, he just shoved him around. And even with all that shoving around Icewave still managed to get his blade going enough times to whack on Skorp plenty. I didn't like the decision.

    Xantomas on
  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    Damage is 2 points.

    Control, Aggression, and Tactics are worth one each.

    So if you do less damage but win every other category you can still win the match.

    Arguably Skorpios won on all three of those fronts.

    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
  • facetiousfacetious a wit so dry it shits sandRegistered User regular
    Petunia vs. Captain Shrederator:
    Petunia is not the best example, but I really like weapons like the one it has when they get to work and just tear through an opponent. Razer on Robot Wars back in the day is maybe the most successful one that showed the damage that type of weapon can do. That said, in the current meta which is so heavy on spinners, I don't know how effective they are. That sort of weapon relies on long grappling exchanges, not being knocked away any time it gets near.

    "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
    Real strong, facetious.

    Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Aioua wrote: »
    Damage is 2 points.

    Control, Aggression, and Tactics are worth one each.

    So if you do less damage but win every other category you can still win the match.

    Arguably Skorpios won on all three of those fronts.

    I'd have handed it to Icewave if it had been able to disengage successfully at any point, but it never seemed like they could.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    facetious wrote: »
    Petunia vs. Captain Shrederator:
    Petunia is not the best example, but I really like weapons like the one it has when they get to work and just tear through an opponent. Razer on Robot Wars back in the day is maybe the most successful one that showed the damage that type of weapon can do. That said, in the current meta which is so heavy on spinners, I don't know how effective they are. That sort of weapon relies on long grappling exchanges, not being knocked away any time it gets near.

    Petunia's gotten some bites in on all its opponents so far, but never got through to something important. They seemed to keep catching the edges of armor so they're going edge ways into side armor. Shredderator has plastic top armor and I don't gve a shit if your plastic is bulletproof, because a bullet doesn't have a lot of energy or exert a lot of force, Petunia is basically a mid-tier shop press with a sharpened die, it'll cut right through the thickest plastic.

    Hevach on
  • HandkorHandkor Registered User regular
    I really liked that they showed a demo of the Pulverizers on a VCR. It does give you an idea of the force those hammers bring cause often it doesn't look like they do anything to the armored bots.

  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Xantomas wrote: »
    I've really been thinking the same thing about Chomp lately. I'd love to see her revise the design or just have a whole new chassis that eliminates the extremely exploitable tippy nature of that bot. Love the chompy precision hammer though and incorporating more technology.

    Yes if they could make one that had an even half way more sensible center of gravity and wider base it could be really effective. Her current is just to tall with a terrible center of gravity and it just flops around the whole match taking a lot of unnecessary damage/shocks. The fact she really does not get KO'ed shows how solid the internal engineering is while totally failing on basic physics.

  • XantomasXantomas Registered User regular
    I really really love the Botopsy Report. I'm very interested in seeing "mechbay action" behind the scenes damage assessment and some repair work. I'd like it to be a part of every show if there was a fight with spectacular or interesting damage that happened. They should just send Chobot or Haislip or whoever back there and have that be the post fight interview.

  • facetiousfacetious a wit so dry it shits sandRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018
    There are times watching Son of Wyachi where it's hard to imagine it ever losing it. It's such an elegantly simple, yet brutal, design.

    The arms race - or rather armour race - of piling on heavier defenses to make spinners break themselves has been an interesting meta shift. Arguably, Wyachi itself helped start it, right? The more modern spinners have looped it back around to giving spinners, particularly vertical drum spinners, more of an advantage again. The ban on pure wedges is arguably partly to blame/thank for that, too, because devoting more weight to an active weapon takes away some of your dedicated armour weight, not to mention having your weapon broken by a spinner impresses the judges more than just having a chunk or scratch taken out of your panels.

    Also I'm so happy to see Bronco having success again. I think it's had a relatively easy road so far, they're clearly saving some of the biggest matchups for the tournament, but Bronco and the various spinoffs have always been some of my favourite bots.

    And the new Warhead design is even MORE beautiful, but still not super effective. I don't mind it, there's a place for interesting bots that are not pure murder machines.

    Also, a mini-tournament next week sounds pretty cool.

    facetious on
    "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
    Real strong, facetious.

    Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Warhead had that attachment before. The used it to fight that crazy string driven humanoid robot in the last ABC season. I cant imagine many times when it would be better than the drum spinner, and they only seem to use it for narrative reasons - the last time was billed as a knight vs. a dragon, and this time as an ancient shark vs. a dinosaur.

    Hevach on
  • HandkorHandkor Registered User regular
    Yes the mini tournament is a great way of giving a change to someone that had a bad matchup or equipment failure to try again. Also as an audience, we just want to see more fights. We are 10 episodes in this season and one of the host said this was mid season, I was surprised, I only expected 13 episodes or something.

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    This ep seemed to have quite a few effective flamethrower uses, which was impressive. I like seeing "unconventional" weapons be effective.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    This ep seemed to have quite a few effective flamethrower uses, which was impressive. I like seeing "unconventional" weapons be effective.

    I also like seeing drones get mulched.
    So, great episode all the way around.

  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    see317 wrote: »
    This ep seemed to have quite a few effective flamethrower uses, which was impressive. I like seeing "unconventional" weapons be effective.

    I also like seeing drones get mulched.
    So, great episode all the way around.

    What happened to the Spitfire drone is suitable for highlight reels from now until the end of time. That was gruesome, like an industrial accident.

  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    It's so satisfying to watch Bronco work

  • SealSeal Registered User regular
    Solid matches this week, Bronco doing good work as usual and Son of Wyatchi's stability seems to have come a long way over the years.

  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    I like how in the intros the commentators say that Bronco "only" has enough juice for about 15 flips

    Then Bronco uses their first (most powerful?) flip in the pre-fight activations

    If they flip a bot even 10 times and it's still in the fight I'd be amazed

  • XantomasXantomas Registered User regular
    Yeah that drone in the screws was just epic.

  • The DeliveratorThe Deliverator Slingin Pies The California BurbclavesRegistered User regular
    Rius wrote: »
    I like how in the intros the commentators say that Bronco "only" has enough juice for about 15 flips

    Then Bronco uses their first (most powerful?) flip in the pre-fight activations

    If they flip a bot even 10 times and it's still in the fight I'd be amazed

    If Duck hadn't gotten stuck OOB Bronco probably would have run out of steam. Duck is a simple and unassuming looking bot, but it's built like a tank. All those flips it took and it didn't seem to have any issues at all.

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Is there any way to actually watch this, without a cable subscription?

    jothki on
  • hawkboxhawkbox Registered User regular
    I was honestly cheering for Duck all the way. It was to bad they got flipped out.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Duck's a spinner breaker, and he can't break a flipper. Bronco's not going to get a KO but hes going to rack up points all day.

    That said, Tombstone's little brother Last Rights went up against Whoops, which is basically duck without the bill, and...
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VDmpxLXpAFo

    Duck's a weird robot in this tournament. He could seriously beat Monsoon or Tombstone in a KO and then lose to Royale with Cheese (ok, maybe not them, but Basilisk? Subzero?) because after 3 minutes of nothing happening the judges throw up their hands an flip a coin.

    Hevach on
  • facetiousfacetious a wit so dry it shits sandRegistered User regular
    There haven't been any new episodes on the Discovery website in the last two weeks.. is the show on a break due to Shark Week, or is the website just being lazy? I can only watch via the website.

    "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
    Real strong, facetious.

    Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
  • a nu starta nu start Registered User regular
    Two week vacation. New episode this Friday. I believe it's that little mini-tournament of all the underdogs.

    Number One Tricky
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Duck's a spinner breaker, and he can't break a flipper. Bronco's not going to get a KO but hes going to rack up points all day.

    That said, Tombstone's little brother Last Rights went up against Whoops, which is basically duck without the bill, and...
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VDmpxLXpAFo

    Duck's a weird robot in this tournament. He could seriously beat Monsoon or Tombstone in a KO and then lose to Royale with Cheese (ok, maybe not them, but Basilisk? Subzero?) because after 3 minutes of nothing happening the judges throw up their hands an flip a coin.

    I love watching a good spinner dance.

  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    Rotator vs Skorpius:
    Yeah, I admire the announcers for even attempting to pretend this was a close match. Skorpios never landed a hit with their saw! And then they were gloriously de-sawed. And Rotator's weapons were active the full three minutes.

    Ultimo Destructo vs Witch Doctor:
    Guess all of Ultimo's fights so far were off camera? Cool modular flipper design I guess.

    Oh, I see, it's modular for easy disassembly :rotate:

    Overhaul vs Warhawk:
    Damn, how do you call this one? Lots of damage to both boots. Warhawk had mobility problems that could have led to a game-ending flip, but the minibot stepped in to control the fight.

    Didn't expect the judges to go unanimous, but upon reflection it makes sense. I think it was overhauls match to lose, and they did.

    Chomp (???) vs Dino-Warhead (?!?):
    ... Why are we seeing this match? A bot at 0-3 looking for a "statement win" vs a cool bot inexplicably using their stupid dragon head? I want to see some more box traversing dancing on it's head Warhead.

    Oh, they wanted a flamethrower battle. Ok.

    I'm amused that all Chomp had to do was turn down the speed of the hammer.

    Sigh. I've spent most of this match typing this instead of paying attention, lol.

    Tombstone vs Whiplash:
    Holy shit I honestly thought Whiplash was going to pull this one out. I don't understand how Tombstone's weapon can be so powerful and yet the bot itself can be so durable at the same time. It was perpendicular to the floor, throwing itself around the arena! Amazing.

  • HandkorHandkor Registered User regular
    Yes Chomp and Warhear sigh.

    I hope next year when they invite Zoe again with a new version of Chomp that she will have seriously redesigned it keeping in mind everything she has seenso far. She is a great engineer but Chomp was built to solve a different problem that what is encountered in the battlebox. I think most bots could just stand still and let Chomp go at it for 2 minutes and still win, that hammer has not been effective enough against top armor.

    Ultimo Destructo really wears it name well. oh boy.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Ultimo Destructo isn't just a flipper. The middle section can be swapped for entirely different weapons. In the fight card image they have a baby's first Tombstone horizontal bar spinner, and apparently have a pneumatic spear and vertical spinner option, all of which are exactly as good as their flipper.


    As for the Skorpios fight, I think it's sour grapes they were trying to say it was close. Both announcers made no bones about the Icewave decision, believing Skorpios got it's ass kicked.

    Hevach on
  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Handkor wrote: »
    Yes Chomp and Warhear sigh.

    I hope next year when they invite Zoe again with a new version of Chomp that she will have seriously redesigned it keeping in mind everything she has seenso far. She is a great engineer but Chomp was built to solve a different problem that what is encountered in the battlebox. I think most bots could just stand still and let Chomp go at it for 2 minutes and still win, that hammer has not been effective enough against top armor.

    Ultimo Destructo really wears it name well. oh boy.

    It does not help that the platform is so unstable that the very action of swinging the hammer down tends to throw it off angle so it rarely hits things squarely. So what power it has does not get brought to bear effectively. I am also dubious hammers like that are useful vs the top contenders most have enough top armor that you just won't be able to hit the same spot enough to penetrate to hit anything vulnerable.

  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    unless you figure out a way to anchor your bot to the floor hammers are always going to suck
    it's just physics
    throwing your hammer down throws you up into the air, your force is limited based on your mass

    you're better off turning it upside-down and being a flipper, there you can push as hard as you like

    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
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