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**pcbore** · 21 December 2007, 19:59

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Paul, the mistake youre making is in comparing us solely in Shovearounds favour. Tempests HP is pretty much irrelevent because even if it could technically outpush you, it hasnt got a good shape for it. The best it could is is gradually nudge an immobile robot around.

And besides, you dont need to damage armour to kill a robot from the inside out, which is going to be my goal. Spin up to max power before I even try to go in, try and damage the lifting rack and tear those skirts off too.

But Frank, theyre 12 MM hardox! You cant damage those

True. But hardox skirts are only as strong as what holds them in place, and it wont take that much force to break the hinges. Given the dificulty of bending hardox, its extremely ineffective for making more complex parts which is why Id expect the hinges to be steel or Ali, possibly Ti, none of which are going to stand up to Tempest for very long.

Even failing to kill Shovearound from the inside out, I reckon Ill be good on a judges decision if I can just inflict some visible damage. Remember, you cant push what you cant catch, and being hard to catch was always Tempests speciality.

(Message edited by pcbore on December 21, 2007)

**kodster** · 21 December 2007, 20:03

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Bah.

Good fight, though.

All I can say is...go Tempest!

**paulc** · 21 December 2007, 20:23

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Ive just checked Shovearound 2s stats again Frank, and it says that there is a large shock-absorbing pad wrapped around the internals.

It doesnt talk about WHAT holds the skirts in place, only what theyre made of. But the reason WHY Im being in favour of Shovearound is because hes the number 1 seed, and stands a good chance of winning the heat.

Its nothing against you, or your machines. Its just what I believe will happen.

**pcbore** · 21 December 2007, 20:35

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

It doesnt need to say what the hinges are made of. It takes around 20 tonnes to bend hardox, and its not going to happen when making something fiddly like a hinge. Thats all I need to know to know Ill be able to break them.

**paulc** · 21 December 2007, 20:53

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Good luck for the heat final then Frank

**matty_haka** · 22 December 2007, 00:56

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Welcome to the heat final of Heat A of the Fowler Fic War Series 5 where Shovearound 2 and
Tempest Evil-Est-Oution are about to fight for the first place in our quarter finals.

House robots for this right are Growler and Sergeant Bash

3...
2...
1...
Activate!

And were off to find the first member of our last 16. Shovearound 2 makes the far quicker start and Tempest barely has time to blink before Shovearound 2 is on his case, let alone spin up the shell. He immediately finds himself slammed into the wall and picked up on the forks, tony evidently wanting to get this fight over and done with as soon as possible.

The shape of Tempest makes it hard for the forks to latch onto however, and Tony finds himself with a runaway Tempest, who is moving acorss the arena as fast as his 12mph will take him... which is round about 12mph

He gets the shell partially spun up when Tony catches up with him and slam goes the forks into the bottom ring, not doing any damamge,but sending sparks showering and Shovearound spinning sideways. Frank runs away again towards the CPZ of Growler. Shovearound 2 chases him but once again impacts with a spinning shell, this time the impact sends him straight into Growlers CPZ. Clever manouvre from Frank.

Growler 2 immediately chomps Shovearound 2 up in his claws and Tony is looking extremely frustrated. The jaws arent damaging him but every second spent in Growlers gob is a second where he could be trying to end a fight against extrememly dangerous opposition. Eventually Growler if forced to let go and tony is out like a shot, but he finds Tempest waiting for him who goes straight for the forks. Theres a loud noise and a lot of sparks, and for the second time in this heat, Tempest has seriously buckled the main weapon on Shovearound 2.

Tony curses his luck and comes in again, but Tempest has wasted no time in getting up to speed and charges at him, forks facing forwards, possibly suggesting that he believes they are sacrifical. he comes in again, and this time doesnt get thrown backwards, as he digs in in forward gear, another impact later and the shell is stopped, but his main weapon is resembling a rather mangled beard trimmer as it stands. He doesnt seem to bothered though and turns round to show his back end to Tempest, slamming him into the wall with his rear wedge, and doing a better job of beaching Tempest on his side than he did before with his forks.

Tempest shows no signs that hes bothered by this thiough, as the second shovearound 2 backs off he falls back to the floor. Again, and again shovearound 2 slams him into the fence, not letting him go, sparks flying on each occasion as the titanium shell meets the angle grinders. If it wasnt for the shock proofing inside both machines it would seem a certainty that one or both robots would be limping their way back to the garage by now.

Both robots look in pretty good nick though, though Shovearound 2s weapon is in pieces. He backs off for another big charge at Tempest, but Tempest charges back, shell spinning slowly. As he meets the wedge he flies off it, toppling over and going like some demented spinning top around the arena. Tony sees this as his chance and charges after him, sliding the buckled forks underneath him. He tries to raise them but the actuator appears to be jammed.

This isnt a huge disaster though as Franks not going anywhere, he tries to spin the hsell up, but the angle hes at means the teeth are just hitting the floor. He keeps trying though and in the end it pays off, as they haul him off the forks, albeit now inverted, marking the end of a good attack from Tony. Tony decides he has to bite the bullet and goes for the pit release button but is followed by a spinning Tempest who slams into the side panel buckling the hinges.

Tony is not about to let that put him off though and uses his back end once more to slam into Tempest, using his opponent to push the pit release button instead, which is ripped off by the blades of Tempest, and rolls into th epit its just opened. Tony pins tempest against the wall, prveneting him from spinning up, and slowly but surely tries to edge away and push him towards the hole. spinning round he manages to catch Tempest with the edge of his back wedge but Frank isnt falling for it. He moves away but Tonys suprior speed comes to the rescue as he comes round the side and nudges him with the forks just as he passes the pit. The impact sends Tempest away and spinning full speed, he teeters on the edge of the pit, unable to move. Tony comes at him for one last time and nudges him in, smoke rises and cease is called like this...

CEASE

Tempest turned into just a comedy of errors. Shovearound 2 stood strong and the champ makes it into the last 16.

**matty_haka** · 22 December 2007, 00:57

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

and so onto heat 2 and a reminder of the draw.

Achilles (3) v Knock-out v CRAPBAG
GeForce (19) v MegaByte v Liar

Thoughts, tactics, predictions, comments?

**kodster** · 22 December 2007, 01:05

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Going to revise my predictions/tactics every heat now.

Achilles (3) v Knock-out v CRAPBAG

Knock-out to be flipped OOTA, just like Orka was by BPQ and Mina.

GeForce (19) v MegaByte v Liar

MegaByte out. Hell be flipped immediately, and no matter how many times he tries to self-right, GeForce and Liar will bully him too much...yeah, Im predicting that Andy and Martijn will team-up.

Awesome first heat Matty! Simply CANNOT wait for the rest!

**craig_anto** · 22 December 2007, 03:13

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

I posted my tactics earlier, it involves an early end ofr knock out, avoiding Achilles but if needs must i dont mind teaching some fly lessons to the 3rd seed, more likely at this stage to receive a lesson or two but youve got to be confedient havent you

**paulc** · 22 December 2007, 06:39

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Me and Alex have agreed to gang-up on CRAPBAG for those who dont know. So my tactic for this fight is that I launch attacks on CRAPGAGs rear, pin it against the wall and beat it with the axe.
If Achilles flips CRAPGAG over, block him self-righting and smash the base-panel apart and then lay into the internals.

Awesome heat final Matty! I hope this next heat will be just as good!

**majinb** · 22 December 2007, 11:31

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

GeForce (19) v MegaByte v Liar

Andy, fancy a teamup to flip that MegaByte to hell and back?

**swiss_tony** · 22 December 2007, 16:59

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

I bet Frank by saying avoid Forcepower

XD

I think I better cut that out. Lordy knows Im not getting away with it much longer.

**pcbore** · 22 December 2007, 20:21

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Great battles. However...Sulk mode ACTIVATE!

**andrewj** · 23 December 2007, 12:20

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

GeForce (19) v MegaByte v Liar

Yep I think its time to team up with Martijn and throw MegaByte all over the place. For the other match I expect Knock-Out to be... knocked out. Great to see FFW back again!

**matty_haka** · 23 December 2007, 20:05

The Fowler Fic War Series 5

Welcome to the first round of Heat 2 of the Fowler Fic War Series 5.

Firstly a word of thanks for all the kind comments left both on the forum and on MSN, its nice to know that my writing is appreciated, and thus it shall continue

But without further a do lets meet the machines for our first fight.

First in, seeded number 3, Achilles.

Alex holts machine was the champion of FFW 2 and has never been far away from success since. The renowned vapourbot has won other majors including PTT5 and NSBFL6. He main weapon is a lifter which can be changed from pneumatic to hydraulic to maintain control over an opponent, while an additional grappling hook adds to this. the motors give good pushing power however no damaging weapons as well as comparatively thin side armour means Achilles could have exploited his own heel

FFW History

In FFW3 - (seeded 1) Achilles started off his defence of the title in grand fashion, defeating Hexadecimator and Heart of Fire, both in under a minute in rounds 1 and 2 respectively. The heat final proved a more tricky affair as he came across Andy Jacksons GeForce, however the persistent slams from Achilles ended up being enough to dump him out of the context on a judges decision. The semis went just as swimmingly for Alex, defeating Typhoon 2 in a one-hit KO, before defeating Squishiest, despite taking a couple of vicious slices from the crusher. The grand final went horribly wrong for him though, losing both his battles, first to Whirligig 4.0 and then to Manic Monsoon, leaving him in a still very respectable 4th place

In FFW4 - (seeded 2) Achilles once again breezed through rounds 1 and 2 of his heats, first of all knocking out Jack Kennedy with the help on Van Tango, before throwing Axe-O-Lotl out of the arena in round 2. The heat final once again proved his toughest fight of the heats, where he narrowly defeated Metal Sonic Spin Dash in the closing stages of the fight via pitting, though his skirts did take a battering along the way. Round 4 he caused an upset defeating many peoples favourite to go on and win the title Forcepower, before a far easier fight in the quarters saw him disposing of Wedginator out of the arena. In the grand final he lost to the outsider and eventual chamption Shovearound 2, before going on ebetter than the series before, grabbing 3rd place by pitting the number 25 seed Flick of the Wrist.

FFW Points -
FFW3 - 16/2 = 8
FFW4 - 24
Total - 32 (seeded 3)

Next in is Craig Danbys first attempt at a vapourbot, CRAPBAG. well armoured in 4mm Hardox this multi-angular wedge is armed with a pneumatic flipper with a similar set up to 8645t, capable of throwing robots out of the arena. the motors and speed give a good potential for ramming opponents around, but this is Craigs first attempt at a vapourbot and he could be left rueing a lack of experience.

FFW History

In FFW3 - Did Not Enter

In FFW4 - Did Not Enter

FFW Points -
FFW3 - 0
FFW4 - 0
Total - 0 (unseeded)

Finally before I introduce Pauls entry a note of warning for the rest of the contest. There are a number of robots in this tournament that I BELIEVE to be overweight. Not being a builder myself I have no way of knowing for sure, therefore I will not be removing these robots from the tournament. However I will be heavily biased against them when it comes to my writing. Im sorry to make an example of you Paul you are not the only person I aiim this at, however, this is the first machine in the tournament that I believe falls in this category, I will not be giving warnings in future. Thank you.

And onto to the robot himself, Knock-Out. Armoured in 7mm Hardox and 8mm Aluminium Boron Carbide, with 450 weight-reducing holes drilled in, Knock-Out has a 15kg Terrorhurtz style axe made of Hardox. The drive comes from 2 Eteks at 48V and all in all this would be a dangerous robot... in the super heavyweight category.

FFW History -

In FFW3 - Did Not Enter
In FFW4 - Did Not Enter

FFW Points -
FFW3 - 0
FFW4 - 0
Total - 0 (unseeded)

Lets go ringside, where your house robots for today are Mr. Psycho and his pet Growler.

3...
2...
1...
Activate!

Its CRAPBAG that comes out of his blocks first, aiming straight away for Knock-Out. Achilles goes after CRAPBAG however, lunging underneath him and toppling him over with the arm, which today is in pneumatic flipper mode. Knock-out tries to bring the axe down on the base panel of CRAPBAG, but Craig is too quick and self-rights leaving Paul to slam at the floor, where his axe gets caught. Unable to lift it up, Craig sees this as an opportunity to make an impact on his fellow newbie machine, firing the flipper, and turning him over, getting the axe unstuck from the arena floor in the process.

Paul starts flailing with the axe to try and self-right and eventually manages it, masses of CO2 streaming out with each blow. Achilles and Knock-out both go for CRAPBAG, but Craig sees it coming and veers towards Achilles, sliding underneath the front lifter, and tossing him over onto his back with great ease, Achilles self-rights immediately, but CRAPBAG is looking extremely impressive and is already back onto Knock-out attacking from the front. The axe comes down, dentign the 4mm Hardox, but hes thrown over almost immediately and once again has to flail around in order to self-right.

While Knock-out is flailing around Achilles and CRAPBAG are locked in some deadly robotic waltz, circlign one another, until eventually Achilles gets fully side on and slides underneath, shunting him with full speed into the wall and nearly throwing him out of it in the process under the force of the slam. Achilles felt the force of that slam as well and the corner of the front spatula seems slightly bent compared with before. CRAPBAG on the other hand looks concussed and waits a miment to regain control before charging over towards Knock-out who has just recovered from self-righting. Hes not expecting a side on attack from CRAPBAG however, who charges across the arena, slides underneath and heads straight for the fence. One flip from the middle of nowhere and its all over,as Knock-Out goes soaring over the fence and into the other side.

CEASE

Knock-Out waddled around like he was knocked-up. CRAPBAG was nowhere near one, and the 3rd seeds have a chance to heel

Lets get straight on with the second battle

First in, and seeded number 19 is GeForce. Originally one of Aarons machines, GeForce was bought by AJ in the era of vapourbot Ebay and the premise is still the same, a sloped sided low wedge with an extraordinarily powerful pneumatic flipper the robot has a choice of 2 sets of wheels for different surfaces (the wood floor ones will be used here) as well as LEMs giving great pushing power. The armour is 3.25mm Hardox, and all in all, this seems like a good little contender.

FFW History

FFW3 - Started off in good fashion, knocking out the number 17 seeds Gravity via a straight KO. Round 2 proved nearly as easy, with Chameleon proving no issue for AJs machine with Steves robot going out via the perspex around the arena. The heat final proved too much though, as this heats other seed Achilles shoved him aroun dfor fun and he was disposed of via a judges decision. Could there be a rematch later in the heat?

FFW4 - (seeded 26) FFW4 followed an almost identical pattern for GeForce, first of all disposing of Chaos 2 in round 1, almost exactly as he had disposed of Gravity in round 1 the series before. Round 2 saw him disposing of Daves robot with a name I cant spell, out of the arena exactly as he had done to Chameeon. and then a tight fight in the heat final saw him narrowly missing out, however this time the fefeat was to eventual champions Shovearound 2. No shame there.

FFW Points
FFW3 - 3/2 = 1.5
FF4 - 3
Total - 4.5 (seeded 19)

Next in is the first machine from Aarons squad MegaByte, one of the most feared real robots from America. A truly devesating full body spinner, MegaByte is capable of destoryign anything. It also has the rare ability for a full body spinner to self-right, though it doesnt always work as it relies on throwing itself into the air by spinning the shell against the floor. It doesnt move very fast, and is vulnerable if not spinning. Could MegaByet have been off more than it can chew?

FFW History

FFW3 - Did Not Enter

FFW4 - Did Not Enter

FFW Points -
FFW3 - 0
FFW4 - 0
Total - 0 (unseeded)

And finally in is Martijns first entry into the tournament, Liar!

One of the most bizarre shaped robots weve ever had, Liar is like Wheely Big Cheese, without the invertibility, with a thinner front nose and 2 little sticky out bits on the side... technical or what?

There is a reason though. as well as the powerful front flipper, he also uses the 2 side wedges in what he calls Stinger mode which allows him to get robots attack the back onto the flipper and flip them over. The pushing power is minimal however, and the armour might not stand up to more dangerous machines

FFW History

FFW3 - Did Not Enter

FFW4 - Went out at the first hurdle, being rammed and battered into oblivion via a team up from 11th seeds Tengu and NSBFR-X

FFW Points
FFW3- 0
FFW4- 1
Total- 1 (unseeded)

Lets go ringside where your house robots for this fight are Cassius Chrome and Sir Killalot.

3...
2...
1...
Activate!

Liar and GeForce come straight out and go after MegaByte, but by the time they get to him hes already partially spun up, and makes the first impact on GeForce who spins across the arena in a shower of sparks, the attack allows Liar to go after the slowed down full body spinner however and he slides underneath him with the flipper and throw him over. aaron spins MegaBytes shell and the US realie flails in an extremely non-graceful fashion back onto his wheeks before movign away to try and spin up again.

GeForce has recovered in this space of time and chases after him, but another slam and the side Hardox is dented, showing the force of the hits from MegaByte. Once again Maritjn is there with Liar to try and dispose of him however and he slides the flipper underneath and shunts him to the side wall, tryign to flip him out of the arena. The flip doesnt pay off though and MegaByte just goes sideways allowing him to run away and spin up once more.

Its Liar that goes after him this time, but he decides to play a game of chicken with MegaByte goign into flail mode and seeign wholl make the first move. Aaron bites the bullet and goes in and the resulting impact sends both robots spinning across the arena in a shower of metal as Liar finds the edge of one of his side wedges totally obliterated.

The impact has sent MegaByte flying into the arena wall though and once again hes stopped spinning. GeForce decides this is a chance to prove hes worth his seeding and comes in with the flipper. He fires the flipper after gettign close, and catches one of the blades thats starting to get up to speed. He manages to throw the US bot over, but gets sent away in a spin at the same time, MegaByte proving how powerful that shell is.

This time he seems to find it far harder to get back on his wheels and Liar appears by his side in flail mode waiting for him to fall onto his wheels. He duly does, and the non-damaged wedge slides underneath and gets him back onto the flipper throwing him once more. Aaron knows he has to do somethign to sort his situation out, but AJ isnt about to let him get the chance as he manouvres GeForce into a position aroudn the flailing MegaByte and fires the flipper at the optimum moment. The flip sends him slamming on his back against the arena wall. He moves over again and repeats the manouvre. this time its enough as MegaByte goes out the arena.

CEASE

The second of 2 surprisingly short first round fights. MegaByte has bitten the dust while Liar is showing his true potential. GeForce is more Gee whizz

And so to round 2, the battles...

Achilles (3) v Liar
GeForce (19) v CRAPBAG

Thoughts, Tactics, Precitions, Comments?