Current Events > BattleBots: Fight Night week 6 discussion topic *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

MasterGakke posted...

because the axe is stupid. It should be a spike to impart all it's force into a single point, the axe just ads surface area to the impact and removes it's ability to penetrate into armor.

It's not a pointed spike because it's not meant to penetrate armor. The plan isn't to fire once and get the spike stuck inside the opposing robot for 30 seconds, which is exactly what would happen if it was a spike. It's meant to bludgeon the opposing robot with repeated hits, break chunks off the robot, and jar the insides of the robot loose to immobilize it. John Reid and Team Hurtz learned that lesson 17 years ago, and then Terrorhurtz became a 2-time UK champion and the most successful axe bot of all time because of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKMbsTw3e5Y" data-time="&start=668

Watch these fights. This is from the first Robot Wars tournament that Terrorhurtz used their new and improved axe. Watch Terrorhurtz bludgeon multiple higher-seeded bots, including a former UK champion and a former UK championship runner-up, into submission with a similar kind of blunt axe that Ragnarok has. Ragnarok are trying to essentially use the same strategy as Terrorhurtz did, right down to also having a spinner-killer wedge on the front like Terrorhurtz added later on in its life. It can work, John Reid made it work, and I believe Team Ragnarok can make it work as well.
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I dunno, man, I love the Hurtz bots but that's Robot Wars, where general bot quality isn't quite as good as Batttlebots, especially when it comes to materials, where every good Battlebot is rocking tank armor. The Hurtz bots are also completely built around the most powerful hammer possible to the point where the armor is more crafty than thick, where Ragnarok is just a hammer on top of a very heavy wedge.

You're right that it has worked, though. John Reid is a bot legend, though, Ragnorok isn't trending in that direction, at least right now.
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MasterGakke posted...

I dunno, man, I love the Hurtz bots but that's Robot Wars, where general bot quality isn't quite as good as Batttlebots, especially when it comes to materials, where every good Battlebot is rocking tank armor. The Hurtz bots are also completely built around the most powerful hammer possible to the point where the armor is more crafty than thick, where Ragnarok is just a hammer on top of a very heavy wedge.

You're right that it has worked, though. John Reid is a bot legend, though, Ragnorok isn't trending in that direction, at least right now.

But that's the thing: we haven't actually seen what Ragnarok is capable of yet due to these quick fluke KO's that it's suffered. We don't know how powerful its axe can be, or if their wedge is durable enough to stand up to a powerful spinner, because Monsoon never hit the wedge and Valkyrie's first hit was luckily bounced above the wedge and right into the gears and motors of Ragnarok. Bad luck ended the fights far too soon.

It may be 0-2, but it's essentially an untested bot due to how it lost those fights and how little we saw of it. Trust me, if I thought Ragnarok was trash and had no potential, I wouldn't be defending it at all, much less raising comparisons to Terrorhurtz. If it avoids a fluke KO and then the axe doesn't do shit in its next fight, or if it takes a few hits right on the wedge and then dies, then I'll agree with you. But we just haven't seen enough yet.
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Calwings posted...

If they lose their next fight and the loss isn't something fluke-y like the Valkyrie one, then I might agree with you. But not yet.

Either way, the Desperado Tournament is a must-participate affair for Ragnarok. The bot hasn't demonstrated anything worthwhile to the judges. Now, the bot's initial history is different from its potential, but the selection committee can only go by demonstrated prowess.
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MasterGakke posted...

Ragnarok sucks because the axe is stupid. It should be a spike to impart all it's force into a single point, the axe just ads surface area to the impact and removes it's ability to penetrate into armor. The bad luck they've had is just the robot fighting gods punishing them for their awful design choice.

I love that Hydra won, all hail Hydra!

This. Although they would probably need some sort of mechanism to get the spike out, since it's liable to get stuck after smashing a hole in the other bot. But as is an axe is fucking stupid.
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I think the wedge is a drawback for them. It funnels bots right into the weapon mechanism and puts them under the arm rather than the danger zone.

They're basically removing the effectiveness of their own weapon and opening themselves to critical damage. If they could make a V shape to hold opponents in the sweet spot they might be better off
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Heads up to anyone planning to watch it on Science channel tomorrow. It has been pushed back again to 9 p.m. eastern.
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KFHEWUI posted...

Heads up to anyone planning to watch it on Science channel tomorrow. It has been pushed back again to 9 p.m. eastern.

Thanks!
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Axe Backwards is pretty much done for the season.
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It's an odd bot. I can't see an effective path forward for it, tbh
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Short but sweet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mRTh3vIsug" data-time="

Just note if your bot is piss weak or a total joke, you're going to get carded with Tombstone, easy.
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MI4 REAL posted...

Short but sweet:

Just note if your bot is piss weak or a total joke, you're going to get carded with Tombstone, easy.

To be fair, they were one of the reserve bots of which there were 4, think it's because BETA couldn't compete that season as they had trouble getting parts flown over. Even though the bot was already there, it just didn't have spares or something preventing them from competing. So we could have had BETA for 2 seasons instead of just the one we got.

They also aren't that terrible in some of their other fights elsewhere. They just made a very questionable choice in rushing in and going sideways giving a clean attack. At that point they should have just rammed and hoped the upward swing worked to upset and toss. Only chance they really had.

The only reason the weak bots get carded against tombstone is due to the inverse seeding method. Tombstone is almost always 1, thus it fights 16 or 48(depends on which bracket it is), which is the very opposite end and thus the weakest based on whatever parameters. 2 fights 15/47, 3v14/46, etc. This current season airing hasn't yet reached the seeding part, but I'm expecting tombstone to be 1 and fight 16, so whoever slips in... like bombshell last year.

powerman1426 posted...

It's an odd bot. I can't see an effective path forward for it, tbh

I think Axe Backwards and Subzero are like the two worst bots that consistently appear. Yeah there are pure garbage bots like Nelly and the Cheeseburger, but they typically go away. These two keep popping up.
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Gheb posted...

powerman1426 posted...

It's an odd bot. I can't see an effective path forward for it, tbh

I think Axe Backwards and Subzero are like the two worst bots that consistently appear. Yeah there are pure garbage bots like Nelly and the Cheeseburger, but they typically go away. These two keep popping up.

And Blacksmith.

That bot is incredibly weak. The fight with Kraken they hit it with the hammer like what 20 times and there was no visible damage at all on Kraken.
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I'm going to post this again tomorrow when I make this week's thread, but here's the fight card for tomorrow's new episode.



It's the last episode before the mid-season Desperado Tournament, and I believe after that the show goes on break for a bit because of Shark Week.
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Aw, yeah! Tombstone, baby!
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Tombstone
Cobalt
Sawblaze
Rail Gun Max

^My predictions. Hopefully Duck! as well but Lock-Jaw is pretty good.

I don't recognize Shellshock, Gemini, or Tantrum.

Have we seen Icewave yet this season? I remember it getting ripped apart by (I think) Rotator.

Typhon posted...

I don't recognize Shellshock, Gemini, or Tantrum.

Shellshock is a rookie, and (I think) they already had one untelevised fight before this one. No idea if they won or lost though. Gemini and Tantrum are returning bots. Gemini is a clusterbot (essentially a pair of middleweight bots fighting as one heavyweight unit) and for that they're pretty unique, but they went 2-2 and didn't make the postseason last year. Tantrum only had two official fights last season (went 1-1 and missed the postseason) and then volunteered to be completely annihilated by Tombstone in an exhibition match at the end of the season.

Typhon posted...

Have we seen Icewave yet this season? I remember it getting ripped apart by (I think) Rotator.

Icewave isn't competing at all this season. The builder's wife gave birth shortly before the taping, so he decided to stay home this year to be with them. The Rotator fight you're thinking of was last season, in the first round of the postseason tournament.
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KFHEWUI posted...

And Blacksmith.

That bot is incredibly weak. The fight with Kraken they hit it with the hammer like what 20 times and there was no visible damage at all on Kraken.

Blacksmith is a complete potato. I see why it keeps getting into the competition but have no idea why they keep putting it on tv. It's hammer is so flimsy it breaks before damaging anything and flamethrowers are useless. Yeah, flames are impressive visually but there are other bots with flames that are less pathetic to fill the "useless but entertaining" role for tv.
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Purple_Cheetah posted...

MI4 REAL posted...

Short but sweet:

Just note if your bot is piss weak or a total joke, you're going to get carded with Tombstone, easy.

To be fair, they were one of the reserve bots of which there were 4, think it's because BETA couldn't compete that season as they had trouble getting parts flown over. Even though the bot was already there, it just didn't have spares or something preventing them from competing. So we could have had BETA for 2 seasons instead of just the one we got.

They also aren't that terrible in some of their other fights elsewhere. They just made a very questionable choice in rushing in and going sideways giving a clean attack. At that point they should have just rammed and hoped the upward swing worked to upset and toss. Only chance they really had.

The only reason the weak bots get carded against tombstone is due to the inverse seeding method. Tombstone is almost always 1, thus it fights 16 or 48(depends on which bracket it is), which is the very opposite end and thus the weakest based on whatever parameters. 2 fights 15/47, 3v14/46, etc. This current season airing hasn't yet reached the seeding part, but I'm expecting tombstone to be 1 and fight 16, so whoever slips in... like bombshell last year.

Didn't get that far. I've noticed that a lot of oldskool battlebots have an "As Seen on TV" sticker, and a lot sponsored by Vex Robotics.

Counter-Revolution had an interesting design. Just wasn't powerful enough.

Now Tombstone vs Radiation was the most one-sided fight ever.
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As for Ragnarok and his axe....all manner of weapons get stuck on other bots, so the question is, can Ragnarok push harder? If he can then his opponent can't get away and he can control the fight and drive his opponent into the Killsaws and Pulverizer.

An old rule does specify that if they are entangled like that for too long the match is timed out and the bots dislodged, though it can probably be shirked depending on the fight.
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MI4 REAL posted...

An old rule does specify that if they are entangled like that for too long the match is timed out and the bots dislodged, though it can probably be shirked depending on the fight.

IIRC that happened, off air, for the first match between Quantum and Blacksmith. But after they got stuck several times the decision went to Quantum.
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Tombstone
Deathroll
Cobalt
Gemini
Duck!
Sawblaze
Rail Gun Max
Ribbot

Deathroll/Quantum and Duck!/Lock-Jaw at my biggest question marks. Quantum's defense seems shaky and Deathroll's weapon is solid. I think the longer the fight goes on, the worst chance Quantum stands. Duck! vs Lock-Jaw is even harder to call. I'm not sure Lock-Jaw's weapon has the firepower to really hurt Duck!, but on the flipside I'm not sure Duck!'s offensive strategy of break their fist with your face will be particularly effective against Lock-Jaw.
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I'm trying to remember, but doesn't Lockjaw tend to have some decent speed to go with the above average driving skill? If Lockjaw can get to one or both of those back wheels it should win on a decision, even if it doesn't chew through Duck!'s ridiculous front plate.
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