Right... Here I Go Again

[davids]

Right... Here I Go Again

So the 8 machines are:
1 - Nitro-Gene
2 - Avarice
3 - Death Threat 0.1
4 - Forklift 2
5 - The May Tracks Has You
6 - SOR Hex
7 - Hypertension Mk.3
8 - Axe to Fall

Round 1 Draw:
Hypertension Mk.3 vs. The May Tracks Has You
Death Threat 0.1 vs. Nitro-Gene
SOR Hex vs. Avarice
Axe to Fall vs. Forklift 2

Tactics, Predictions

[paulc]

Right... Here I Go Again

Round 1 Draw:

Hypertension Mk.3 vs. The May Tracks Has You - I predict a clean win for Hypertension via OOTA! Go Matt!

Death Threat 0.1 vs. Nitro-Gene - This seems to be the robot I would be most prefered to fight - it has a high ground clearance, ineffective weaponry (as it wont do anything to my Hardox armour) and I can outpush it on all sides. My plan is to drive into the claws ala Storm 2 vs. Tough As Nails, and shove it around the arena, before flipping it high into the air and throw it OOTA! Good luck Danny. May the best newcomer win

SOR Hex vs. Avarice - Im not sure, as these are both new robots.

Axe To Fall vs. Forklift 2 - Two good robots, but Axe To Fall is more powerful and reliable. Go Martijn!

[kodster]

Right... Here I Go Again

Hypertension Mk.3 vs. The May Tracks Has You

Franky to go through here.

Death Threat 0.1 vs. Nitro-Gene

Death Threat cant exploit Nitro-Gene high side ground clearance. Paul will win here.

SOR Hex vs. Avarice

Would like to see SoR Hexs render. :wink: Anyway circle around him keeping the scoop facing him, and strafe out of the way of any attack he gives. I should be able to right myself pretty quickly if at all I get flipped, and Im not too worried about the spinning bar to be honest; thanks to my 5mm hardox it should take enough punishment. Keep hitting him with the axe, and if I get a chance to get under him with the scoop, take it, and grab him with the axe and shunt him into the pit, and if that doesnt work, smash him into a wall and keep hammering him until hes dead.

Axe to Fall vs. Forklift 2

Forklift 2, I think, can get under Axe to Falls front wedge and toss him over. Then its just a matter of keeping Axe on his back until the eventual OOTA. Forklift 2 FTW.

Looks awesome, Davey.

[majinb]

Right... Here I Go Again

Axe to Fall vs. Forklift 2

I see a small advantage in power for me. I think my titanium wedge can penetrate those skirts, but to be on the safe side, Ill be ramming corners. From there, clamp down and push, and pit.

[tacoman]

Right... Here I Go Again

Death Threat 0.1 vs. Nitro-Gene

Err... To be honest Im not sure what I can do. Avoid the flipper, go for the corners and try to grapple it into the pit, I guess, but Im pretty pessimistic about all this.}

[pcbore]

Right... Here I Go Again

Dave, TMTHY should be between 95 and 98 KGs.

Tactics are to flip Hypertension around until he runs out of gas. I think he may damage himself a little self-righting also.

[matty_haka]

Right... Here I Go Again

Aim for the front and the corners as theyll be the most vulnerable points. Id like to crank the pressure down on my flipper if thats ok as well, more flips, and less power. If Franks gonna flip me that much I need more gas and less chance of dammaging the arm.

If we get him over, turn around and ram him around from his rear end with mine, if he self rights, hell just fall back down that way and manouvre him into hazards or pits etc.

[pcbore]

Right... Here I Go Again

If thats the case, Ill try and get under towards the rear and bring my tyre spikes into play.

[andrewj]

Right... Here I Go Again

SOR Hex vs. Avarice

I have a decent speed advantage here so hopefully my speed will be able to match Avarices straifing ability. Then I can use the new low front wedge and power to drive in and under those skirts and flip it over. From there when its on its side, I need to keep pushing and drive it against the arena wall. Im hoping I can repeat this over and over again, the tactic being that it should have to use a couple of shots with the axe to right itself from the wall. With its full pressure axe and 2.2kgs of gas and my low pressure flipper with double that ammount soon enough that axe will loose all its power and eventually it will loose its ability to self right. If this doent work, then it comes down to the pushing game where I can easily outpush those S28-150s and omniwheels with better power and traction. For the other matches Ill say Hypertension, Nitro-Gene and Axe to Fall will go through.

[davids]

Right... Here I Go Again

Right€¦ Here I Go Again
Round 1, Fight 1

Hypertension Mk.3 vs. The May Tracks Has You

The first vapourbot to enter the ring comes from Matt is a pure and simple wedge with flipper, designed to get underneath and flip the other machines all over the place, but mainly out of the arena. It€™s fast at a nifty 17 mph spread over 2 wheels, it€™s made from Hardox, which should mean its bomb proof, however it has limited CO2, but it€™s Hypo!

The 2nd machine to enter the ring comes from the evil mind of legend Frank, it is another flipper, this time the wedge is bolted onto the end of a box, and on the wedge is a nasty set of spikes, like you get in some car-parks and roads to make vehicles go one way, plus the flipper which once more is powerful enough to send a medium-sized toaster into orbit around the earth. It€™s driven by tracks taking it to 20 mph, and again it€™s bomb-proof, it is May Tracks.

Both machines are in the arena, ready to attack, as the announcer begins to announce

3
2
1
Activate

And they are off, as the starting gun fires, May Tracks makes the first move towards Hypo, as both drivers know this match could be over quickly if they do something stupid like driving up the other machines wedge. Frank€™s machine is the fastest of the 2 machines here today, but Matt€™s machine is faster to get to it€™s top speed, as the tracks on May Tracks are messing up the lovely brand new arena floor, by throwing up tidy pieces of MDF, as the tracks dig into the ground, as May Tracks puts on full power towards Hypo.

Matt dodges the attack, and spins around on his 2 wheels to face the rear end of May Tracks, as Frank spins his machine around on the tracks as both machines come face-to-face for the first time, May Tracks is underneath Hypo as Frank fires the first shot of the game, sending Hypo over onto it€™s front, which Matt self-rights it quickly, but not quick enough for Frank, as he rams into the rear end, getting those spikes into play onto the metal wheels of Hypo, as Matt puts on full-power in reverse to shot off May Tracks in reverse, as Frank fires the flipper once more sending Hypo onto it€™s front, and for the 2nd time of the match Matt self-rights his machine, but once more Frank is ready for him, as Hypo lands, pretty much on top of May Tracks.

And it€™s another flip from the machine known as Tracks which Has You in May, as Hypo goes once more onto it€™s back, but Matt doesn€™t self-right at once, waiting a few seconds, before putting on a flip, as May Tracks is waiting for another chance to play with the wedge, as Matt puts on full power, he fires straight at May Tracks, as both machines come into contact once more, another flip from Matt€™s machine and May Tracks goes onto it€™s back, as Frank self-rights his machine, Matt is ready for the final blow, as May Tracks lands, as Matt drives Hypo in for another attack on the rear corner, underneath the skirts, but Frank starts to drive off, Matt flips May tracks over once more, and into a roll across the arena.

May Tracks quickly self-rights and reverses into the near-by pit release, as Hypo is forced to dodge the slowly opening pit, as May Tracks gets ready for the attack.
Both machines come together once more, and as before May Tracks gets underneath Hypo as Frank fires the flipper, sending Hypo onto its back. Matt self-rights his machine once more as May Tracks come smashing into play on the rear end, as Frank has the pit in sight, as Hypo once more tries to reverse up the wedge and away from danger as Frank blinks before pressing the button sending Hypo in a lovely arc, as it lands, the front end over-hanging the pit, upside-down, as Matt tries to self-right, but it€™s too late as Hypo ends up in the pit.

Cease

There is smoke coming from the pit, as Hypo manages to flip itself out of the pit, managing to land just right, but it€™s too late as cease has been called.

May Tracks goes forward into the semi-finals after a tough battle with Matt€™s machine, which could have won if it used that spare 1KG to fit some nifty lead-weights in the front of the wedge to keep it down.

Next time, it€™s the battle of the newcomers as Paul C takes on Danny B.

[kodster]

Right... Here I Go Again

Awesomeness from the Sheppard of sheperds.

[davids]

Right... Here I Go Again

Right€¦ Here I Go Again
Round 1, Fight 2

Nitro-Gene vs. Death Threat 0.1

The first machine into the arena today is from Paul C, and called Nitro-Gene, it€™s basically an invertible 6 wheel drive Hardox box with a flipper at the front powered by Nitrogen, its pretty fast at 18 mph, but it has a high ground clearance on the sides and rear. It is Nitro-Gene, will it flip to victory or will that ground clearance prove to be it€™s downfall against a faster machine?

The second machine into the arena today is from Danny B, it is called Death Threat 0.1. It is an invertible box with tracks; the weapon is a crusher running along the X axis, to crush robots into giving up. However at 10 mph, it is on the slow side and with a ground clearance of 1cm all over the machine, it could be all over in a flash for the machine from newcomer Danny. It is Death Threat, will it crush to victory or will its lack of a wedge prove to be it€™s downfall against another wedge?

Both machines are in the arena, as the announcer begins to say

3
2
1
Activate

And Nitro-Gene is away, getting up-to speed quickly, as Danny is looking on nervous and begins to move Death Threat, trying to stay away from the front wedge of Nitro-Gene. Paul puts on full power and ploughs straight into the front of Death Threat, and going straight underneath the ground clearance.

The tracks on Death Threat are spinning trying to force back Nitro-Gene, but Nitro-Gene is too powerful and soon the flipper flips sending Death Threat 0.1 straight up and over the fence and onto the tracks outside the arena.

Cease

Nitro-Gene doesn€™t break into top gear as Paul flips Danny€™s machine over the fence in a matter of seconds, and moves into the semi-finals.

Fight 3:
SOR Hex vs. Avarice

[kodster]

Right... Here I Go Again

Moral of the story: dont have a high front ground clearance against a powerful flipper.

[paulc]

Right... Here I Go Again

Unlucky Danny, but a good fight from my retrospective, and also +1>MY FIRST WIN

[davids]

Right... Here I Go Again

Right€¦ Here I Go Again
Round 1, Fight 3

SOR Hex vs. Avarice

So it€™s fight 3, two machines have already got their place in the over-sized bowler hat for the semi final draw, so which of these 2 machines will join them?

The first machine into the arena is the latest version of Son of Ripper, SOR Hex. This version keeps its front flipper and rear spinning bar, plus side skirts and Hardox armour. It can run inverted as well as using the flipper to self-right, with 2 wheel drive, with some Lems to power the machine around. It is SOR Hex from Andy Jackson.

The 2nd machine in this match comes from former out-cast Kody, and it is a rarity these days that the machine is a bloody great axe with a chassis attached to it, but what makes it more special is the rollers instead of wheels giving it unrivalled movement around the floor, however that movement comes at a price, it has limited traction to put back and a low top speed of 8 mph, plus limited co2 for that axe. It is Avarice from Kody.

And both machines are in the arena ready to go

3
2
1
Activate

Both machines are away, SOR Hex crossing the arena, to try and get an early attack with the flipper as Avarice gets ready for the attack and moves sideways waiting for the attack to dodge. SOR attacks, but in a blink of an eye Avarice shifts off diagonally away from danger spinning the machine around so that the front scoop is facing SOR, which spins around for another attack, and it is like Dj  vu as Avarice dodges once more.

SOR speeds off away from Avarice as Andy turns the machine around to drive into Avarice, Kody spins the controls and Avarice once more jumps out of the way of the charging bull, spinning around on the rollers as the first weapon fires, as the axe comes crashing down onto the arena floor, causing some damage, the axe comes back to rest as Avarice dodges another SOR attack, and Kody fires the axe, this time getting lucky as it slams into the top of SOR, bouncing off the top with only making a tiny little dent in the paintwork.

SOR comes back onto the attack, driving straight at Avarice before it has the chance to re-load the axe, and using a counter-dodge gets underneath the front end and flips Avarice onto its back. Kody fires the axe to self-right Avarice, but SOR is there and re-flips it, pushing it towards the arena wall. Avarice fires the axe to self-right away from the wall, and dodges another attack from SOR and spins away, to get the front scoop facing SOR. Kody knows that he it keeps on the defence, he would lose the judges decision if it comes to it, and so he spits out his gum into the provided bucket in the booth and gets ready to attack.

Andy gets ready to make another attack with the flipper, as both machines are coming together, as Avarice manages to dodge SOR€™s front flipper end and rams into the side skirts, the front scoop going up the sides, but the axe comes down, once, twice, 3 times and a 4th time in quick succession, each making a little dent in the top of SOR, nothing too damaging apart from the 4th axe blow which stuck the exposed wheel with all the force, making it slightly bend under the force. SOR responses with a flip, but you can see that damaged wheel is slowing SOR down a bit, as it hops when moving, flipping Avarice against the arena wall, not having enough power to get the big old machine over the fence, Avarice self-rights again and SOR attacks it again, this time Andy spins around and brings the rear spinning bar into play, ripping off the side skirt in one clean cut.

Kody self-rights once more and as SOR comes in with another attack with the spinning bar, hitting into the front scoop, causing sparks to fly as the axe comes down for another series of hard-hitting attacks, as Kody aims for the already damaged wheel to damage it further. The front scoop is hanging on one side only, as SOR speeds away hoppling, the wheel damaged, as suddenly it spins around in a circle, one wheel is locked up, as Andy tries to do his best to unlock the wheel, but a slight bang is heard, but that is explained by Avarice hitting into SOR once more, this time attacking the other wheel, once twice, three times, each time the axe is getting slower, as SOR spins around and fires the flipper as Avarice goes up on it€™s rear but comes crashing down, the front scoop comes away, as Avarice spins away from SOR, still spinning on the spot, as Andy holds up the white flag.

Cease

Avarice€™s attacks on the aluminium wheel bent it so it couldn€™t spin freely, as the power from the motor ripped into the gearing of the stalled wheel, causing the wheel to lock up, apart from the wheel, and a few minor dents in the top of the 3mm Hardox, SOR Hex is fine to fight another day, however Avarice has some major damage to the scoop and skirts, plus on further inspection the force of the axe blow has started to pull the pivot away from the rest of the body, but it goes into the semi finals.

Next time:
Fight 4
Axe to Fall vs. Forklift 2

Predictions, thoughts on that tight match?