BattleBots: 2015 Qualifiers
June 22, 2015 10:51 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
4 Battles determine which robots will move on in the return of Battlebots.
I'm really surprised that Plan X wasn't able to KO the "walking" robot. The other robot didn't have the maneuverability of Plan X, but Plan just couldn't seem to land a killing blow.
The warrior clan robot executed a perfect flip, sliding under one of Nightmare's wheels and turning it upside down. On paper, nightmare seemed like it should have been able to take warrior clan.
posted by drezdn at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2015
The warrior clan robot executed a perfect flip, sliding under one of Nightmare's wheels and turning it upside down. On paper, nightmare seemed like it should have been able to take warrior clan.
posted by drezdn at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2015
Yeah, Nightmare was a huge design flaw waiting to be exploited. It looked like when the wheel got to full speed, the thing was practically turning itself over. I'm not sold on Warrior Clan generally, though. The minibots don't seem that useful (if they even have replacements, because holy shitballs did at least one get trashed), and that flipper doesn't seem nearly as effective as flippers historically can be.
I couldn't figure out why Plan X wasn't using its spinner until the very end, especially when Wrecks was barely able to move. I don't see it going much farther.
Icewave is a good contender to take the whole thing. That blade is crazy.
I didn't think much of Bite Force, but it held up to Warhead, and if it can grab on to other opponents, it might spoil some badder bots.
posted by Etrigan at 3:20 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I couldn't figure out why Plan X wasn't using its spinner until the very end, especially when Wrecks was barely able to move. I don't see it going much farther.
Icewave is a good contender to take the whole thing. That blade is crazy.
I didn't think much of Bite Force, but it held up to Warhead, and if it can grab on to other opponents, it might spoil some badder bots.
posted by Etrigan at 3:20 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Didn't it seem like cheating that you can have as many bots as you want? Why wouldn't I just make like 50 little bots and totally overwhelm the opponent? (50 duck-sized horse-bots or 1 horse-sized duck-bot?)
posted by bleep at 3:49 PM on June 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by bleep at 3:49 PM on June 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was kind of wondering about that myself. Maybe the rule is that minibots count against the weight limit? But they don't seem to have weight classes in this competition, so I dunno.
posted by Etrigan at 3:57 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 3:57 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't get the minibot rules yet, either. Warrior Clan seemed way more effective using them than Plan X did though.
posted by drezdn at 4:34 PM on June 22, 2015
posted by drezdn at 4:34 PM on June 22, 2015
Why did Wreck not get the 20% weight advantage for walkers?
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
The only good thing about that is that we'll be seeing PlanX get trashed again by a more controlled robot.
posted by Akeem at 2:18 AM on June 24, 2015
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
The only good thing about that is that we'll be seeing PlanX get trashed again by a more controlled robot.
posted by Akeem at 2:18 AM on June 24, 2015
I think Plan X was definitely more in control of the bout, as all Wrecks did was stumble around and hope that Plan X came close enough at the correct angle that it could lumber around to nail it. I don't see either of them getting too far.
posted by Etrigan at 6:26 AM on June 24, 2015
posted by Etrigan at 6:26 AM on June 24, 2015
It looks like there's only one weight class this season. 250 lbs, a bit more than the old heavyweight class (220 lbs). No bonus for walkers. There's no official source on these rules but it looks like someone on Movies StackExchange scraped up these details from a comment by a robot builder on a video and a blog post from another builder.
The old rule for multibots was that if 50% of your total weight is immobilized your robot is considered KO'd. No idea if this is the same now, but it sounds reasonable. Also seems likely that all bots contribute to your weight limit.
I wish the official rules were made available to the public though. I'd like to see exactly what the builders are all working with here.
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
The judges rule based on aggression, damage, strategy, and control. Plan X must have scored higher in the other categories. It certainly had more control.
posted by umrain at 9:07 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The old rule for multibots was that if 50% of your total weight is immobilized your robot is considered KO'd. No idea if this is the same now, but it sounds reasonable. Also seems likely that all bots contribute to your weight limit.
I wish the official rules were made available to the public though. I'd like to see exactly what the builders are all working with here.
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
The judges rule based on aggression, damage, strategy, and control. Plan X must have scored higher in the other categories. It certainly had more control.
posted by umrain at 9:07 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
So this was quite a lot of fun.
I don't get the minibot rules yet, either.
In both cases the minibots seemed to be tiny compared to the master robot, and used mostly as harassing distractions. My wild guesses are (a) there's a limit to how many minibots you can have (maybe 2?), (b) there's a limit to how much of your total mass can be minibots (not much?), which means you always end up with a clearly-defined master to KO.
(Otherwise, yes: could a multibot be two or three identical midsized robots?)
Icewave is a good contender to take the whole thing. That blade is crazy.
It lost all its speed on each clash, though and took a long time to spin back up to full speed. Seemed to me that their opponent suffered a lot by being too tentative, hanging back after each clash. Why not go back in for another hit immediately while their spinner is still idling, rather than giving them time to spin back up?
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
I don't think it was, though? Wreck got one good hit in at the end, but the damage was largely superficial. Those tubular wings on PlanX looked clearly sacrificial to me, and the bots designer said as much in the interview afterwards: "that's what they're for."
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:05 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't get the minibot rules yet, either.
In both cases the minibots seemed to be tiny compared to the master robot, and used mostly as harassing distractions. My wild guesses are (a) there's a limit to how many minibots you can have (maybe 2?), (b) there's a limit to how much of your total mass can be minibots (not much?), which means you always end up with a clearly-defined master to KO.
(Otherwise, yes: could a multibot be two or three identical midsized robots?)
Icewave is a good contender to take the whole thing. That blade is crazy.
It lost all its speed on each clash, though and took a long time to spin back up to full speed. Seemed to me that their opponent suffered a lot by being too tentative, hanging back after each clash. Why not go back in for another hit immediately while their spinner is still idling, rather than giving them time to spin back up?
Why did the judges give that match to PlanX if all damage was done by Wreck to PlanX?
I don't think it was, though? Wreck got one good hit in at the end, but the damage was largely superficial. Those tubular wings on PlanX looked clearly sacrificial to me, and the bots designer said as much in the interview afterwards: "that's what they're for."
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:05 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
It looks like there's only one weight class this season. 250 lbs, a bit more than the old heavyweight class (220 lbs). No bonus for walkers. There's no official source on these rules but it looks like someone on Movies StackExchange scraped up these details from a comment by a robot builder on a video and a blog post from another builder.
One of the commentators said in Ep.2 that it was indeed a 250 lb. weight limit.
The old rule for multibots was that if 50% of your total weight is immobilized your robot is considered KO'd. No idea if this is the same now, but it sounds reasonable.
Also confirmed in Ep.2 when a main bot was immobilized and the minibot was still merrily flaming away. Match was a KO.
posted by Etrigan at 5:34 AM on July 1, 2015
One of the commentators said in Ep.2 that it was indeed a 250 lb. weight limit.
The old rule for multibots was that if 50% of your total weight is immobilized your robot is considered KO'd. No idea if this is the same now, but it sounds reasonable.
Also confirmed in Ep.2 when a main bot was immobilized and the minibot was still merrily flaming away. Match was a KO.
posted by Etrigan at 5:34 AM on July 1, 2015
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posted by drezdn at 11:09 AM on June 22, 2015 [2 favorites]