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The corner hammers are button-activated by the teams this season. I read that the center hazards like the spikes and saws are controlled by refs or some other party working the event and they have been instructed to only activate them if the robots are being un-aggressive or just putting on a bad show. I'm really surprised we didn't see any of them come out during Lockjaw v. Overhaul though.
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Jul 14, 2015 17:09
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It's just really striking since I've been watching old episodes and they were such a huge factor.
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Jul 14, 2015 17:26
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The hazards are cosmetic, except maybe the floor spikes could briefly hold someone if they got between wheels. The hammers are riveted sheet metal, and the grinders not much sturdier. We saw someone pushed directly into them while they were running, and the only result was stopping the grinder and bending the screw.
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Jul 14, 2015 17:34
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Spergin about the Battlebox time!  The hammers weigh around 150 pounds. Theyre generally not effective against the armor more sturdy robots like Bronco, but many robots use lexan or plastic on their top to save weight, since there are very few effective overhead striking weapons in play. The damage they cause even to lexan is going to be relatively light due to their large surface area but because of their weight and speed theyre very effective for damaging weapons or other bits that stick out. And the impact can rattle loose internal components like battery cables and speed controllers. The screws are there mostly to trap and lift robots out of the arena. In the older tournaments the arena wall was right up against the spike strip so they werent hugely useful for that purpose. But they certainly look cool and do have some power behind them. In this tournament the walls have been moved back a bit allowing for ringouts, which means theyre very capable of lifting a bot up and high-centering them as seen with Witch Doctor and Plan X. Their design also means you cant really pin a robot against them (unless they break, which happens sometimes) since it will just be dragged around.They also have little pinball flippers on the side, presumably to push robots back towards the arena center. And probably also to prevent damage to the motors in the ends of the screws housing. The killsaws arent saws really, theyre 1/4 inch thick titanium grinding blades. Like the tops of the robots, the bottoms are usually more lightly armored to save weight so its possible they can cut through and damage the internals. In the Bronco/Stinger preview you can see chunks ripped off the bottom of Broncos armor from its brief ride. Bots like Complete Control or Overhaul can make much better use of them by pinning a bot on top of them. Theyre also a serious threat to tires, which obviously can't be protected from directly below. And they make a lot of sparks and noise and can throw lighter bots around which looks great on TV. For this tournament I believe theyre deactivated until the last minute of the fight. Several hazards have been removed from the old battlebox such as the original hellraisers (ramps in the center, replaced by little spikes all over the place that theoretically can get in the way), spinners (which did almost nothing to the heavier robots), the spike strip (replaced by a serrated edged wall to absorb impact while not trapping robots), and the ramrods (which did nothing ever). This was all done to open up the arena floor and give more room for the bots to fight each other instead of just dodging hazards.
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Jul 14, 2015 18:17
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I don't come to watch robot nerd fights to see robot mercy  Also we need more lipo fires.
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Jul 14, 2015 19:23
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Great Beer posted:For this tournament I believe theyre deactivated until the last minute of the fight. Only the first minute of the Bronco/Stinger match is shown though.
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Jul 14, 2015 19:59
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Great Beer posted:Spergin about the Battlebox time! The UK Robot Wars, now those were some arena hazards.
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Jul 14, 2015 20:00
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Battlebots arena hazards: slightly uneven floor planks  complete control
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Jul 14, 2015 20:06
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Madurai posted:The UK Robot Wars, now those were some arena hazards. A hole in the floor and a washing machine. Yeah real hazardous. Drowning In Terror posted:Only the first minute of the Bronco/Stinger match is shown though. Oh right. Well, they dont get much use for whatever reason.
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Jul 14, 2015 20:39
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Sir Kill-a-lot was hardly invincible.
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Jul 14, 2015 20:49
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Aphrodite posted:Sir Kill-a-lot was hardly invincible. Yeah but he was awesome.
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Jul 14, 2015 21:10
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I still wish someone would have started gunning for it, just to go for the gusto.
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Jul 14, 2015 21:13
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I'd rather see some compete. Matilda was pretty durable, and Sir Killalot had a sawblade worth a drat. Toss them in this batch and only Tombstone or Icewave would get anywhere.
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Jul 14, 2015 21:26
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Sighence posted:I'd rather see some compete. Matilda was pretty durable, and Sir Killalot had a sawblade worth a drat. Toss them in this batch and only Tombstone or Icewave would get anywhere. Or any wedge since the house bots were mostly top heavy and didn't have any way to self right. The only reason killalot was any good was because it weighed over 500kg. They listed it at 250kg though so competitors would build for that amount and fail. In fact most of them exceeded the shows weight limit. Matilda was the only one in regulation and had to be upgraded with a better tail weapon when the weight limit was increased. They were built for style and merchandizing, not combat effectiveness. And drat did they look cool. If you want something really sad in your day, think about this: after the show ended the house robots were given to the guy who built them. But at some point the BBC changed their minds and took them back. They've since been forgotten in a warehouse somewhere. 
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Jul 14, 2015 22:19
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Yeah, no mercy for robots. If someone's robot breaks down you go in and absolutely destroy that poo poo. It's for the good of America. Also, there has to be a loving royal rumble or some poo poo where the 8 losing bots all go in at once and the last bot standing gets another shot or some poo poo. That's good television.
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Jul 14, 2015 22:32
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TurboFlamingChicken posted:Yeah, no mercy for robots. If someone's robot breaks down you go in and absolutely destroy that poo poo. I really hope they do that... There should only be 3 battles for the final... so maybe they will stick in a battle royal at the end? One can only hope we get a battle royal with Tombstone and Bronco running around... SLICK GOKU BABY fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 02:39
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Great Beer posted:Several hazards have been removed from the old battlebox such as the original hellraisers (ramps in the center, replaced by little spikes all over the place that theoretically can get in the way), spinners (which did almost nothing to the heavier robots), the spike strip (replaced by a serrated edged wall to absorb impact while not trapping robots), and the ramrods (which did nothing ever). This was all done to open up the arena floor and give more room for the bots to fight each other instead of just dodging hazards. The hazard density in season 3 was ridiculous, with the pistons as well as the spinners, ramrods, killsaws, hellraisers. It was at the point where two superheavyweights couldn't move anywhere without one of them touching a hazard at all times. The pistons determined a lot of fights on their own too. Definitely not a good hazard. The worst hazard in the original battlebox, which was sort of unintentional, was the slight ramp in the corner near the entrance. I remember a lot of bots, particularly lightweights, getting KO'ed on it. I don't know if that's still there actually. I wasn't really looking for it. SLICK GOKU BABY posted:I really hope they do that... There should only be 3 battles for the final... so maybe they will stick in a battle royal at the end? One can only hope we get a battle royal with Tombstone and Bronco running around... I think they may have had an exhibition match with Chinkilla again. Perhaps that'll be the 4th?
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Jul 15, 2015 07:06
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TurboFlamingChicken posted:Also, there has to be a loving royal rumble or some poo poo where the 8 losing bots all go in at once and the last bot standing gets another shot or some poo poo. That's good television. More of an eight-way dance than a royal rumble, but I like that idea. Put eight in there, no time limit, last one able to move wins. Give TFC the book at battlebots! SLICK GOKU BABY posted:One can only hope we get a battle royal with Tombstone and Bronco running around... Tombstone's cutting up bots left and right, Bronco flips tons of bots, they face toward each other from across the box and strobelights go off everywhere. Just one more reason they need to go full pro-wrestling and predetermine the fights. NowonSA fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 07:17
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Just have a battle royale with a room full of spinners. It'd be like watching a giant blender and be a glorious spectacle.
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Jul 15, 2015 07:36
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I can't believe that witch doctor wasn't a useless piece of loving poo poo this time, what a surprise
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Jul 15, 2015 09:29
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Witch Doctor's costumes make me vaguely uncomfortable.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:08
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Henchman of Santa posted:Witch Doctor's costumes make me vaguely uncomfortable. Their whole schtick is pretty racist, so yeah, you should. Toxxupation posted:I can't believe that witch doctor wasn't a useless piece of loving poo poo this time, what a surprise Well getting flipped out in the first ten seconds would make anybody look pretty useless. Maybe the producers or whoever saw some potential in the exhibitions or proving grounds or something which got them the wild card. I felt at first that the WC pick was pretty stupid bullshit, but after this second go-around I feel like it was a bit more justified. I still don't really appreciate two things about WD, though - minibots and vertical spinners. I've never thought that splitting your weight limit into two or more bots would be effective or desired. The squeeze doesn't seem to be worth the juice, like ever. All the weight your second bot needs just in drive train, wheels, and power is taken from your main bot - and on top of that you need to outfit them with an 'active' weapon to boot. This is probably why all the minibots have a flamethrower, it seems to be the lightest and simplest active weapon. Now vertical spinners, either they have to be huge and tall which makes flipping a nightmare, or smaller and almost drumlike. The big ones are good KE weapons, but so unwieldy. The smaller drum type like WD has can be effective, but only as a flipper - and to get that to work you have to elevate the other bot up to your drum/disc. You can make it lower, sure, but that means your drum has to be lower and/or smaller, and so needs to spin faster increasing your power/gearing requirements, etc. Drum spinners just don't seem to be worth it.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:32
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drums are pretty good weapons actually. their matchups tend to be a mix of what spinners and flippers matchups are like. i don't know of any vertical spinners that have won a title in a heavy weightclass though... pretty much ever in lighter weightclasses like feathers and antweights, vertical discs become really good though
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Jul 15, 2015 16:21
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LeJackal posted:I still don't really appreciate two things about WD, though - minibots and vertical spinners. Several of the bots entered are older bots that for refits for this competition. Witch Doctor was a middleweight that got a new weapon and Shaman rather than a complete rebuild. Warrior Clan was originally just the main bot, Warrior. Its two mini bots were added to make up for the increased weight limit. Minibots aren't the best use of weight but the competitors didnt have a lot of time to prepare and new designs are expensive.
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Jul 15, 2015 17:34
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Shaman is also pretty small and I can't imagine it really takes too big of a bite out of WD's weight. But whatever! WD gonna prove all the haters wrong.
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Jul 15, 2015 18:19
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Yeah, the entries in this season are largely defined by the rushed schedule. Also WD is a great bot, anybody can look bad against Bronco.
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Jul 15, 2015 18:23
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LeJackal posted:Now vertical spinners, either they have to be huge and tall which makes flipping a nightmare, or smaller and almost drumlike. The big ones are good KE weapons, but so unwieldy. The smaller drum type like WD has can be effective, but only as a flipper - and to get that to work you have to elevate the other bot up to your drum/disc. You can make it lower, sure, but that means your drum has to be lower and/or smaller, and so needs to spin faster increasing your power/gearing requirements, etc. Drum spinners just don't seem to be worth it. The Whole Internet posted:drums are pretty good weapons actually. their matchups tend to be a mix of what spinners and flippers matchups are like. i don't know of any vertical spinners that have won a title in a heavy weightclass though... pretty much ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0dHUahUDRM Bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baP6W0mZWTo
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Jul 16, 2015 01:43
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I wondered for a moment if Shaman was tiny enough to get under Tombstone's weapon, but after looking at pictures it looks like there's barely any clearance under it at all. We might seen another exploding minibot. WD's spinner is a little bit better than I expected but I don't think it matters even if they can get some free hits on the back of Tombstone. That fight's going to be another massacre.
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Jul 16, 2015 02:13
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Coaaab posted:Touro poo poo son!
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Jul 16, 2015 02:16
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 The box is locked, the lights are on, it's Robot Fighting Time!
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Jul 20, 2015 02:02
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nice legs
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Jul 20, 2015 02:03
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Bronco v Stinger... who you got? I want Stinger to pull it off.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:06
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I have been looking forward to Bronco vs Stinger 
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Jul 20, 2015 02:07
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Bronco for sure, always been a fan of toro and that other bot they had. I dig the flip power.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:07
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Someone make a gif of bronco flipping stinger while he's on fire.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:11
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That was beautiful but ring outs are bullshit.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:11
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Bronco is officially a badass. 720 an opposing robot. Ride the arena rails. Total ring out an opposing robot in the one area Stinger couldn't escape.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:12
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Tombstone v Witch Doctor is next... Raw spinning power beats out  cat ears is my take.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:13
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I don't remember ring outs ever being a thing in the old show. I don't like em but those flips were mean. Also witchdoctor stands no chance up against tombstone.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:13
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Robnoxious posted:Tombstone v Witch Doctor is next... Witch Doctor is the one with the team that's actually dressed cool and in theme with their robot. Not the MIT turbo nerds.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:14
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