FRA UK Featherweight Championship 2014 hosted by RoboChallenge

[james...venom]

Hi Guys

So you will have all seen the announcements on our FB page with the live draw now complete. Some really exciting battles I'm looking forward to seeing. So far I think Explosion has a good chance to defend the title.

As well as the draw the seeds were also announced with a top 8 ranking. All very competitive machines and we look forward to seeing them in action.

Exciting news was the addition of a new brutal trophy to be won! The Gladiator Cup. 10 machines will go in the arena and much like the annihilator only 1 can survive to be crowned champion. The Annihilator competitors will be selected after qualifying on Friday with the first round on saturday. The Gladiator competitors will be selected on saturday after the first rounds of the knock out stages have begun which means more competitors will be eligible to enter. The Gladiator Cup will take place on Sunday.

Last year the competition and qualifying was extremely tough with 9 points securing a place into the knockout stages. We felt although this meant we had the top machines in the knockout stages, if you had 1 bad round it would be very difficult to get through. This year with 4 qualifying rounds we expect the points to be more distributed and give teams the best chance to get through even if you have 1 bad round. To help this even further we are extending positions to proceed to the knockout stages from the top 10 machines to the top 18! This will really give the mid table teams an opportunity to get enough points to get through as well as those top machines that have a bad round.

The knock out stages will proceed as follows.

Round 1, 18 robots. 9 x 1v1 battles to get 9 winners proceeding. The 9 losers go into 3 x 3 way melees and the winner of each goes through to round 2

Round 2, 12 robots - 6 x 1 v 1 battles to get 6 winners proceeding. The 6 losers will be split into 2 x 3 way melees. Only the loser in knock out! 2 machines from each melee go through.

Round 3, 10 robots - 5 x 1 v 1 battles to get 5 winners into the quarter finals. The 5 losers go into 1 melee with just the winner going through to the quarter finals

Quarter Finals, 6 robots - 3 x 1 v 1 battles with the 3 winners heading into the semi finals. The 3 losers go into a melee with the winner saved and through to the semi finals

Semi Finals, 4 robots - 2 x 1 v 1 battles. There is no second chance from here in. The winners go through to the finals. the losers play off for the last step on he podium

Grand Finals - 1 v 1 Winner takes all.

We really like this new knockout competition as it gives everyone the best chance possible to reach the potential of their machines. If you have a bad luck you can still get back in the competition.

[razerdave]

Loving the sound of that .

[Ellis]

Looks great. Some machines will have a lot of fights!

Can a non-main competition machine (so one for whiteboards only) enter the gladiator comp?

[overkill]

Wow, you really wouldn't want to lose in round 3, that 5 way melee will be tough! Even if you win every single match this is 10 fights to get first place - that is MUCH tougher than in the US.

[Flag Captured]

More fights is always better! Going to be gruelling though, might see a few surprises with that many fights!

Also, I found the prototype HardWired shell from the shed I made out of acrylic instead of aluminium (good idea), I might bring that down for a whiteboard if it's alright to have almost sacrificial robots in there. I'm fairly sure it doesn't failsafe, nor has a proper link though, so that could be a problem unless I leave it switched off... If it's thrown into a spinner demo or something though, I'm sure the shards of robot won't even need to failsafe, because it won't be a robot anymore.

[Revsmin]

Loving the sound of 18 qualifying machines, anyone wanna do the math and work out how many points we need to qualify? I sure can't XD

My predictions:

Friday Q8

Conker v 720 - 720
Flow v Explosion v Bonx – Explosion, but I can still hope :P
Rango v Joule v Cyberon - Joule
Defector v Wedgie v Utopia – Defector
Scruffy v Beauty 2 v LS4 – Beauty 2
Loki v Hatchet v Binky - Binky
DB10 v No Toy v Massacre – DB10
Rabid M8 v Tiny Toon v LH3 – Tiny Toon
Kaizer v Endeavour v NST – NST

Friday Q7

Bonx v Ironside v Ricochet – I think Ricochet can win this one, a battle of the rammers would be fun!
Devils Coach Horse v No Toy v 4 4 Toon – 4 4 Toon
Wedgie v Night Fury v Galactus – Galactus
Carcinus v TS3 v Mr Mangle – Mr Mangle
Beauty 8 v Gianto v Hardwired – Beauty 8, not sure though, not seen it
Drumroll 2 v Hornet v Satanix 1.666 – Satanix 1.666
Diablo v Cyberon v Beauty 2 – Beauty 2

Friday Q6

Galactus v Conker v Night Fury – Galactus
Satanix 1.666 v Ironside v Beauty 2 – Going by what I saw last year, Satanix
4 4 Toon v DB10 v Cyberon – DB10
Endeavour v Defector v Massacre – Defector
Loki v Utopia v LS4 – LS4
Rango v No Toy v Wedgie – Rango
Drumroll 2 v Bonx v Hatchet – BonX


Friday Q5

Scruffy v 720 v Tiny Toon – Tiny Toon
Cyberon v NST v Flow – NST, if I can get him in the pit Ricochet style I stand a chance though
Beauty 2 v Wedgie v TS3 – Beauty 2
Joule v Gianto v Hardwired – Joule
Bonx v Ricochet v LH3 – I know it can take the hits from LH3, I reckon Ricochet can win this one too
Explosion v No Toy v Diablo – Explosion
Rabid M8 v Kaizer – Rabid M8
Beauty 8 v Hornet v Mr Mangle – Mr Mangle

Thursday Q4

Massacre v Drumroll 2 v Conker – Drumroll 2
Rabid M8 v Ricochet v LH3 – Again, I think Ricochet can outmanoeuvre them both
Satanix 1.666 v Rango v Utopia – Satanix
Gianto v 720 v Flow – 720, unless I can get him in the pit. Knowing Mouldy, that aint happening :/
Hardwired v Carcinus v NST – NST
Binky v 4 4 Toon v Hatchet – Binky

Thursday Q3

Galactus v Mr Mangle v Tiny Toon – Tiny Toon
Hornet v Explosion v TS3 – I actually think TS3 has a good chance here!
Scruffy v Ironside v DB10 – DB10
Night Fury v Diablo v Loki – Diablo
Joule v Endeavour v Devils Coach Horse – Joule
Beauty 8 v Kaizer v LS4 – LS4


Thursday Q2

Conker v Flow v Kaizer – Depends, if I can get under Conker then its game over for Alex, but on the other hand, that beater looks nasty
Ricochet v NST v Drumroll 2 – Yay, spinners! If a repeat of last year happens, there’s a good chance of Ricochet winning
Massacre v Defector – Defector
Night Fury v 720 v Galactus – Galactus
Scruffy v Rango v LH3 – Rango
4 4 Toon v Devils Coach Horse v Beauty 8 – Beauty 8

Thursday Q1

Explosion v Endeavour v Gianto – Explosion
Defector v LS4 v Tiny Toon – Tiny Toon
Satanix 1.666 v Hornet v Diablo – Satanix
Binky v Ironside v Hardwired – Binky
TS3 v Joule v Rabid M8 – TS3
Hatchet v Mr Mangle v Loki – Mr Mangle
Carcinus v DB10 v Utopia – DB10

[PJ-27]

Glad to see 18 robots will now be going through. Fits the new finer points system well.

Even with a potential 16 points to be won there's still a chance that several bots will be on par for 18th place in the competition, so there may even be a play-off.

That means that assuming you end up in the loser's melee but win everytime you could end up doing 15 fights and still win!

The competition is going to be won in the pits, not the arena.

[ChrisKazoo]

Kind of scared that I'm facing Mr Mangle in my first fight :/ and then LS4 and Binky later on. Should be fun though

[overkill]

You obviously haven't seen my driving skills! I predict I will lose to the pit in every single match.

[RobotExtreme]

Hi Nick,

Progess on Mr Mangle, pics or videos of working?

I really liked the detail on tip of beater, im sure will help on hits. Ancious for our fight

[overkill]

I am still waiting anxiously for the welder to finish the frame - hopefully it will be later today (its only 9:40am over here). Once I have it back, there will be plenty of photos and videos. You can also keep a watch on my build log here: http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewto...=74&start=5205

[RobotExtreme]

VERY NICE!!

When you arrive on Birmingham, stay where?

haha, "this bot never seems to break in the videos"...yes, you can win, but never destroy me.

[overkill]

I am staying at the Novotel airport hotel - it seemed the closest one that wasn't booked out.

[RobotExtreme]

Hum....expensive hotel!!!!

No ETAP available?

Yes, very close, you can walk from gate of airport to hotel and from hotel do NEC. I did this way last 2 years, i can adivise, NOTHING to eat near of airport, all close nearly 8pm.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Phew, based on that and the frantic nature of the pits, we're all going to be absolutely knackered come Sunday!
Safe to say though, with a competition structure as comprehensive as that, whoever wins the championship will fully deserve it. In the past, a little bit of luck could help carry you through, but I don't think it will be enough this time. Strong fights and a Formula 1-esque pit efficiency will be key.