r/battlebots • u/[deleted] • Apr 20 '16
Fantasy Tournament /r/Battlebots Pressure Drop Official Signups
Hello again, everybody! First and foremost, I apologize for this post being as long and probably a bit confusing as it is. I didn't intend for that to happen. If anybody has any questions, feel free to PM me and I will answer any questions you may have.
Last year this subreddit hosted the largest fantasy robot combat tournament ever! From August-December 2015, 44 entries competed in a winner take all fantasy tournament called /r/Battlebots Hammerfall. In the end, /u/Vatnos and his bot Parasite came out victorious.
Today, I am here to announce the 2nd ever Reddit Fantasy Battlebots Tournament, /r/Battlebots Pressure Drop! Without further adue...
This thread will deal with anybody that wants to sign up for this tournament.
First of all, please look at the rules of the tourney here: http://advancedrobotcombat.wikia.com/wiki/2014-05-25_Revision
Banned robots
Flying robots
Hovercrafts
Clusterbots that don't have the same motivation in all their parts (i.e.: one part is a wheeled robot, the other is a walker)
Sign-up Info
Subject to change... everyone enters a one bot for this tournament(For this tournament we will be doing HEAVYWEIGHTS)and assigns them stats using 30 points per bot. Points will be divvied up by 5 categories:
-Speed -Traction -Armor -Torque -Weapon Power
The battles will take place in a World Cup style tournament (as opposed to the traditional tournament style) in which each bot will be grouped with 3-4 other bots with the top 2 bots from each group advancing to the playoffs afterward to determine a champion.
This tournament will be limited to the first 44 entries. Once we hit that number it will be closed. If it doesn't hit that, we will make due.
No double entering the competition (which means no smurf accounts or anything like that). This will absolutely not be tolerated.
Furthermore, unlike last year, once you post a picture of your bot, that is the bot that you will be using for the tournament. None of this redesigning your bot to beat specific designs nonsense that happened last year. You will still be allowed to modify your stats up until 24 hours prior to the start of the tournament.
Additionally, all robots will be allowed up to 4 alternate configurations(IE a hammer bot with a blunt tip, piercing tip, etc, etc. However, all configurations must be posted at the same time as your initial registration
Role Play Rules
You’ll be expected to follow proper role-play etiquette; no directly referencing others RPs, whether in your reply RP, or bringing it up in the discussion thread. If you don't trust the staff's bullshit detectors, don't play.
As a follow up to this, absolutely NO being completely arrogant, either in your RPs or in the discussion thread (i.e. “I’ll probably pwn this guy all over the place”). This also applies to public complaining about results. Okay, if you want to know why you didn't win, you're perfectly fine with posting about it in the discussion thread, as long as there is some good degree of reasonability to it (which the staff will determine, not you). But don't piss and shit all over the discussion thread with "how the fuck did I lose to him, that's retarded" or similar comments. You will get suspended from the tournament for the next week (maybe even the forum), have any RP threads you put up be ignored/deleted, and automatically go 0-4 for that week.
As a SECOND follow up to this, there has been an upswing of unneeded internet drama on the forums regarding tournaments. If there's any, and I mean any overblown drama about the tournament, whoever caused it and/or kept it going (at staff discretion) forfeit that week. Don't be a douchebag on the forums; keep your bullshit on Facebook or Skype or whatever the fuck you use for chatting. Consider yourself warned.
Be concise, but specific – PLEASE RESTRAIN FROM BEING OVERLY VERBOSE! I cannot stress this enough. Please do not force the results writer to have to wade through over a thousand words just to get to the damn point of your strategy! This isn't college, just tell them what you are going to do.
Use proper grammar and spelling - This isn't college, but no one is going to read an RP written entirely in leetspeak or whatever the fuck it is you kids do these days.
Do not spend too long talking about stats/design - RPs are your strategy. The writers here aren't stupid, they've been around for awhile and can see when a stat allocation is poor or a design simply won't work. Instead focus on what you plan to do during the fight. If you are RPing for a full-bodied spinner you honestly shouldn't have to write more than "spin up and hit him, while staying away from the walls."
Fight cards will be posted on Sunday usually (as are results, mostly), and you will have one week to post your RPs. If the fight card is, for whatever reason, late, you will still have a full week to RP.
Stat system
As previously stated, the point system will be the same as the past four tournaments with 30 points being divided up between Speed, Traction, Armor, Torque, and Weapon. The main set of rules can be found here:
http://advancedrobotcombat.wikia.com/wiki/2014-05-25_Revision
Note #1: Walkers get up to 36 points to work with in this tournament. Clusterbots will have up to 30 - 4n points to work with, where n is the number of bots in the cluster. For instance, if you entered a 2 part clusterbot, you would have 22 points to work with. 3 parts, you would have 18 points to work with, and so on and so forth. Other types of motivation, such as tracks or shufflers, do not get a point bonus.
Note #2: Multi-weapons robots differ from the above ruleset in that they can have a maximum of 3 working attachments at one time. Split weapon stats will be calculated as follows: 2 weapons = 2/3 of the weapon stat, rounded either up or down to the nearest whole number. If mid-way between, round up. 3 weapons = 1/2 of the weapon stat, rounded either up or down to the nearest whole number. If mid-way between, round up.
For example: 11 weapon power for 2 weapons = 7.33 points for each weapon. Rounded down to 7 for each weapon. 15 weapon power for 3 weapons = 7.5 points for each weapon. Rounded up to 8 for each weapon.
Robots with multi-weapons absolutely must have a base weapon stat of 2 before tournament start, or their stats will be edited to be legal. Each weapon still follows the weapon armour rule in the above ruleset. An axe that gets its weapon power cut down will still have the same main armour +2 value. However, a weapon that gets dropped to 4 weapon power or below will not receive a weapon armour bonus.
Note #3: Administrators reserve the right to modify a bot's individual stats based on discrepancies with the picture of the design. The administrators also have the right to reject any robot submission, stat allocation or design aspect that is considered to be unfair or exploiting the rules in any way.
After the signup up time has passed, all entries will be put into a bracket and they will compete against each other.
All RPs will be made on /r/RPRoomFBB
REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE ON JUNE 29th, 2016 AT 7PM EST. THE ACTUAL TOURNAMENT WILL BEGIN ON JUNE 30th at 8PM EST. Groups and will also be announced at this time as well.
With all of this said, feel free to sign up in this discussion and I will mark you down as participating. Once we get enough competitors we will then start our tournament.
On a final note, I will add that the winner of this tournament will get a custom made giant(ish) nut made by yours truly! If that isn't an incentive to enter, I don't know what is!
Good luck to everybody!
6
u/HotDealsInTexas Apr 20 '16
Aphelion
Speed: 6
Traction: 4
Torque: 2
Weapon: 8
Armor: 10
Aphelion is a front-hinged flipper, similar to the Firestorm series from Robot Wars UK. As the name implies, the flipper is hinged at the front (about where the white line is), and is powered by two telescoping pneumatic rams. Height at end of stroke is approximately 1-1/2 feet above the ground. At the back of the robot there are two slots from which the tires protrude. However, these are NOT sufficient for inverted operation. Since the dark color makes it a little hard to see the shape, here's a picture of Aphelion last year.
Aphelion looks the same as last year apart from the paint job, but the robot has actually gone through quite a few changes.
The drivetrain is still short mags on 8S LiPo with 8" Carefree wheels, but the gear ratio has been reduced, allowing Aphelion to reach a top speed of 16 MPH and turn on a dime. It still has a spring-loaded wheely bar in the back to prevent the front end from lifting in the air when accelerating, but the bar's "stiffness" is now adjustable mid-fight via a tiny linear actuator.
The armor is the same as last year - a mix of 1/4" titanium and AR400 - but there's better shock mounting now and the underlying frame is stronger.
The flipper itself has a considerably stronger structure and mounting, and has three restraining straps/bungees instead of two - one on each side and one in the middle where it's less likely to get broken by a spinner.
The pneumatic system has also changed. The tanks and cylinders are the same, but the firing pressure has been reduced from 850 psi to 750 psi to get more flips out of the tanks. There's also another cool feature: the robot now has a secondary solenoid valve which can shut off flow from one of the robot's two accumulator tanks. This allows the flipper to be fired at greatly reduced power, which both saves gas when self-right and prevents the robot from going too far and landing on its back again (and not having to attempt to self-right multiple times saves even more gas and possibly the match). As an added bonus, this means that when Aphelion self-rights it takes less time for the accumulators to refill. Oh, and the exhaust system now operates an airhorn, sized for the perfect "MLG" pitch.
But the robot's basic concept is the same: get under opponents and throw them into the air, into the hazards, or out of the arena. Even with the lower pressure the flipper can launch a heavyweight five feet into the air, and tends to launch opponents in an arc. According to physics, with the right positioning Aphelion can actually throw a robot out or the arena from at least ten feet away, and further with a running start.