Mechanical Maelstrom Season 3.0

*Opening music plays to various pictures of robots being destroyed in previous seasons*

They came to fight... They came to destroy... They came to win...
The Box Is Locked, The Lights Are On - Let The Wars Begin!

Welcome back robot fans! Quite a while ago we saw the opening fights of round 2, with some rather surprising results in the form of the seeds Gabriel V and Traffic Warden both falling to newcomers - Delirium Tremors and Eye of Ran II respectively!

Battleboard
Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Back to Rock III [#10] vs. Wedginator X

Tonight we have two more battles on this menu, featuring Season 1.0 veterans Spin Dash Unleashed and the bot that knocked it out of Season 2.0, Back to Rock III. They€™re both fighting relatively new machines that debuted in Annihilation, but were refined for competition this season. The question is will two more seeds fall prey to new blood, or will the newbies end up in the loser€™s melee with more experienced opposition?

Ranked #8, Spin Dash Unleashed!
MMpts ~ 14
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ FrenZy, SOTAR, Nitro-Gene 5.0

Mobile Failure 2.5!
MMpts ~ 7
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Assegai, Knyfe, Sheer Heart Attack 2 [#1]

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Braveheart
Booth Blue: Team Alt

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

Immediate aggression from both parties in this round, as the low blue box of SDU gets out of the starting square with imminent velocity and spins up the saw blade with a nasty whirring noise, heading in Failure€™s direction! Tracy comes forward to meet her opponent though and Steven backs off, not wanting to put himself within reach of that deadly axe. Failure comes forward though and shows aggression, swinging her axe over in an attempt to whack the seeded machine, but Steven reacts quickly and dodges away before quickly driving back on the attack, slamming into the front corner of Mobile Failure as it€™s axe slams uselessly onto the steel floor with a huge noise! Steven rams Tracy backwards across the arena and into the spike strip, the saw making a good attack of this against a tyre of MF2.5, but Tracy is far from beaten so soon in the match and squirms into position, launching another onslaught and putting a large dent in the top of the seeded machine with her pneumatic weaponry! Pinning the blue robot Tracy guns her lynch motors and begins to drive SDU backwards across the arena, but their drive is very similar and with two extra wheels Steven wins the sumo this time, pushing MF2.5 back against the spikes, but losing his weak grip in the process and allowing the newcomer to drive away before coming back on a swift attack, this time successfully out-manouevring the blue box to get the hinged wedge under the side skirt of the experienced bot and Tracy brings the axe over again, this time right onto the bottom right tyre of SDU!

The crowd €œooohs!€ as the painful puncture is made, with Tracy latching on tight and ramming SDU across the arena now, into the spike strip on the opposite side of the arena! She retracts her axe, pushing further underneath before she brings it down again, this time onto the tyre in front of the one she previously axed! Steven winces in the control booth, and Tracy hangs on doggedly until the judges rule that 30 seconds of pinning have elapsed. She grudgingly relinquishes her grip and reverses across the arena, allowing SDU some breathing space, which he quickly makes use of, turning around in a large U and slamming the saw into the side skirt of MF2.5! However, he now moves with a severe limp, bumping up and down slightly due to the worrying punctures on his right side. The saw munches away at the skirt for a few seconds, but SDU has lost a lot of his pushing power now and MF2.5 is able to back away before driving back in on the attack, getting underneath the front corner of the machine and bringing the axe down into play again, turning the former dent into a rather large crater! Wasting no time on attempting to pin SDU this time Tracy swiftly retracts and refires the axe multiple times while Steven attempts in vain to escape, reversing away as fast as his hindered drivetrain will allow! MF2.5 is just as fast and more manoeuvrable though and follows the ranked robot, repeatedly using its weapon to good effect until with one mighty blow it breaks through the hardox completely, burying the axe head into the low frame of SDU and pushing the Scottish machine backwards across the arena and into the barrier!

Tracy pulls the axe free of her opponent, but only momentarily, not allowing Steven any chance to escape this bloody attack before she slams the huge weapon down again, surely breaking something inside SDU purely with the force of her attack! She misses the hole made earlier this time, but the blue machine shudders violently with the blow before making an attempt at it€™s own attack now, turning and bringing the saw into play on the skirt it crumpled earlier on, this time breaking it at the front hinge by ripping at the corner, and now this will greatly hinder MF2.5€™s mobility, as the skirt drags along the floor when Tracy moves! She attempts to go back on the attack, swinging over the axe again, but narrowly misses this time, striking the floor with a smattering of sparks instead. Steven continues his valiant attack, pushing against the side of Failure and now ripping off the skirt entirely, leaving his saw free to play with the tyres of the white and purple machine, pushing it against the barrier as the saw comes into play, slicing away at those tyres hungrily! Tracy panics and tries to reverse away, managing to do so, but driving over the saw with both wheels on one side as she does so, adding to the damage already caused to them and detracting from her manouevrability considerably! Up in the control booth she looks concerned, but all the same drives back on the attack of SDU and smashes Steven€™s successful rammer with her axe one last time before the buzzer sounds to signal the end of the match! The axehead slams directly into the hole made earlier, splintering the edges of it and sending tiny fragments of hardox flying in all directions, having made a damaging point quite significantly at the end of the match there.

CEASE!

Both robots are still mobile (barely!), so let€™s go to the judges!

Judge€™s Decision:

Damage ~ Mobile Failure 2.5 not only punctured two of SDU€™s six tyres, but put a sizeable hole in the top armour which it later expanded. Numerous hits from the axe cratered the top armour and scored a lot of points for Team Alt in this category. On the other hand, Spin Dash Unleashed sawed away at a lot of Failure€™s armour and also ripped away a side skirt before causing severe damage to the tyres, so Steven must also be heavily credited in this category.
17/13 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Aggression ~ Both robots were very aggressive throughout, even when they had taken a lot of damage in previous onslaughts. Spin Dash appeared slightly more aggressive in a pushing match early on, but so did Mobile Failure when moving in one for final attack later in the round. A close call, and fairly even, but the repeated attacks by Mobile Failure in the middle of the round edge it in favour of Team Alt.
11/9 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Control ~ Both robots suffered damage to their manouevrability throughout the round, with SDU coping slightly better due to it€™s six wheels as opposed to Failure€™s four. It also won a pushing match earlier in the round, although MF2.5 pinned SDU against the barrier for the full thirty seconds earlier on, again just edging the category in favour of Team Alt.
6/4 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Overall ~ 34/26 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] is the next seed to fall; Mobile Failure 2.5 advances to the quarter-finals!

Battleboard
Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Back to Rock III [#10] vs. Wedginator X

Ranked #10, Back to Rock III!
MMpts ~ 12
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Sauron, Intriguality, Bio-Hazard

Wedginator X!
MMpts ~ 9
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Typhoon 2, BIACS-By Popular Demand, Gehenna 2 [#11]

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Varying Everyday
Booth Blue: Team Zlayerz

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

Both contestants are off to quick start here, with Back to Rock III making the initial onslaught and heading on the attack of Wedginator. Kody is playing a more tactical match and drives out cautiously, keeping his front end facing BTRIII for now. Martijn attempts to drive in quickly and get underneath Wedginator and does so, but only for a brief moment, as Kody spins away and slams into the side skirt of Team Varying Everyday€™s robot, but fails to thwart it on this occasion! Still, no harm done to either machine and Wedginator quickly reverses before driving back on the attack. Martijn turns to face Kody and goes on the attack, this time being far too fast for the Team Zlayerz machine and getting in underneath the front blade, pushing Kody quickly backwards across the arena and into the spike strip! Kody looks concerned from the control booth, but digs his heels in and attempts to push Martijn back across the arena, but to no avail, as the seeded machine has the benefit of having more wheels and a more powerful drivetrain. Martijn now activates his lifter and levers Wedginator up slightly, pushing forward to slam it against the barrier and bring the saw blade into play! An aesthetically pleasing shower of titanium sparks is produced, but no real damage caused. Martijn makes the most of this attack though and holds Kody against the barrier for a few seconds before the unranked competitor fires its flipper, loosening its opposition€™s grip and knocking itself sideways to the floor!

Nice moves from the Team Zlayerz camp there, and Martijn is forced to think quickly and j-hooks away from the arena wall, but Wedginator is quickly back on the attack and drives in underneath the front corner of BTRIII just as the lifter resets, now powering across the arena and firing the flipper to send the #10 ranked robot tumbling onto the arena floor flipper! The hazard fires, flipping BTR onto its back, as it had done a complete barrel roll onto the flipper. Martijn quickly self-rights, but Kody isn€™t relenting and drives underneath BTRIII again, now slamming it against the arena wall and fires the flipper again, throwing the seeded machine up onto the barrier! It teeters precariously, and Martijn activates the lifter hoping to upset the balance correctly, but it€™s too late! A pneumatic flipper perhaps would have been able to fire quickly enough and with adequate power to catapult itself back into the arena Roobarb-style, but BTR had already rocked in the wrong direction and the use of it€™s electric lifter only served to propel itself out of the arena quicker! What a shock result as yet another seed is confined to the loser€™s melees!

CEASE!

Back to Rock III [#10] needs to go back to the drawing board; Wedginator X advances to the quarter-finals!

Battleboard
Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Back to Rock III [#10] vs. Wedginator X

Next up...

Battleboard
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Autoism 4.0 [#12]

What a seed massacre this round has become!! :uhoh:
Brilliant battles Lewis; great to see something coming out of this tourney after such a long/sudden break. My tactics for the next fight is somehwere in this thread :proud: Good luck finding them, as well as writing a battle with them.

w00t! :proud:

Great battles as ever, Lewis.

*Opening music plays to various pictures of robots being destroyed in previous seasons*

They came to fight... They came to destroy... They came to win...
The Box Is Locked, The Lights Are On - Let The Wars Begin!

Welcome back robot fans! Last time we saw another 2 seeded robots fall to the depths of the loser€™s melees as Back to Rock III tumbled over the barrier and Spin Dash Unleashed lost out on a judges decision. Wedginator X and Mobile Failure 2.5 advanced to the quarter-finals to stand proudly alongside Delirium Tremors and Eye of Ran II, but who will join them there?

Battleboard
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Autoism 4.0 [#12]

At least one seeded robot will reach the quarter-finals, as we can see from the line-up - both Hypertension MK3.5 and Autoism 4.0 are ranked. The question on everybody€™s lips is whether or not the highest seed left in the competition can live up to that distinction, and whether hotly tipped newcomer The Servant€™s Assistant can follow up that fantastic round one thrashing in which it threw allcomers from the arena. Let€™s get down to the Annihilation Stadium and find out!

Ranked #5, Wedga Ennea!
MMpts ~ 18
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Iron Awe 6, Hexadecimator, Under Pressure

The Servant€™s Assistant!
MMpts ~ 5
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Supersonic, Psychosis [#7], Orrion

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team ???
Booth Blue: Team Bloodmage

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

A very aggressive start to this match! The Servant€™s Assistant comes roaring out of the starting square on the attack of the seeded robot, using that insane speed boost to dodge the flipper of Wedga Ennea - but the 4WD of Andy€™s machine turns neatly in defence while the 40mph 6WD of The Servant€™s Assistant crashes straight into the spike strip! It€™s not a great start for the plucky newcomer, and Wedga Ennea quickly takes advantage of their collision, driving straight underneath the 8mm ground clearance at the side of The Servant€™s Assistant, and with a flick of the flipper the brightly coloured newcomer is tossed over the barrier and out of the competition! In a stunning display the seed reminds us why it was given that distinction, and sends the newcomers packing! Team Bloodmage isn€™t quite out yet though - they still have the loser€™s melee.

CEASE!

The Servant€™s Assistant is put back in it€™s place; Wedga Ennea [#5] advances to the quarters after just 7 seconds of combat!

Battleboard
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Autoism 4.0 [#12]

Ranked #2, Hypertension MK3.5!
MMpts ~ 21
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Tough as Nails, No Consequences, Axeon 4.0

Ranked #12, Autoism 4.0!
MMpts ~ 9
Season 3.0 Hitlist ~ Pit-Bull, Venus Fly Trap II, O.I.D

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Devil€™s Incarnate
Booth Blue: Team Insanity

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

And the final round two battle gets underway! Hypertension MK3.5 looks more aggressive at the beginning of the round, going on a head on attack at Autoism, but the lower ranked machine seems uninterested, reversing backwards across the arena and slamming into the pit release button! Hypertension is on the attack though and slams into the side of Autoism, managing to get underneath! Zarte goes on a rush to turn into the right direction to throw Paul out of the arena and fires the flipper, but Autoism was already driving up and over the wedge and is so merely flipped over backwards! This actually puts Team Insanity in a very good position, and Paul slams in underneath the rear of Hypertension MK3.5, levering it up and over with the claw! Team Devil€™s Incarnate aren€™t worried though, and quickly fire the flipper to self-right - however, they crash against the barrier and fall back to the ground, still upside down! Autoism backs away, wondering if the fight could possibly be over already, but on the second attempt at self-righting Hypo stacks itself on the barrier, and with another flip is back down to the ground!

Zarte wastes no time, wanting to get back into the fight ASAP and drives on the attack of Autoism again, but Paul pushes the Big Nipper-style weapon down against the floor, giving it what is technically a less than zero ground clearance, and he gets underneath Hypertension again, now driving it backwards across the arena and lifting it up and over as he does so, pushing it towards the arena floor flipper! Zarte however self-rights as soon as he is flipped, but the neat somersault puts him back on top of Autoism, so Paul valiantly drives on and pushes the 2nd seed onto the arena floor flipper! The hazard fires and tosses Hypertension over yet again, prompting Zarte to self-right one more time. Paul reverses against the side of Hypo when it lands and pushes it a few metres sideways across the arena, but Zarte now turns and charges in underneath Autoism 4.0, firing the flipper and throwing it high in the air! Paul grimaces in the control booth as Autoism sails through the air, but it lands inside the arena - JUST! Stacked against the arena side wall, Autoism swiftly uses the claw to push itself back down onto its wheels and drives back on the attack, quickly getting underneath Hypertension and lifting it up onto its back! Zarte fires the flipper to try and upset the weight balance and rock Hypo back onto its wheels, and just about manages to do so, but Autoism is quickly back on the attack and rushes Hypertension back across the arena with a massive slam against the spike strip, lifting the Season 2.0 semi-finalist up and over again, this time onto its side between two of the arena spikes!

Any roboteer knows this isn€™t a good place to be in and Zarte looks worried, but fires the flipper to try and get Hypo back into the fight, but succeeds only in pushing itself free of the spikes and towards the centre of the arena - it€™s still on its side. Paul rams in on the attack and buries his claw into the workings beneath the open flipper - can be grab onto anything? What he can do at the very least is stop his opponent from self-righting for a while and rack up some points. The claw of Autoism 4.0 closes and Paul lifts Hypo into the air, parading him around like a toy as the wedged machine vents co2 gas! Perhaps the tank itself has been pierced, or maybe the rams are just damaged? Whatever has happened, Zarte has to be worried as Autoism, weighed over by it€™s cargo, is heading towards the open pit with Hypertension in tow, and dumps the promising veteran into the pit to disappear in another cloud of gas before slowly releasing its grip, allowing the higher ranked machine to disappear into the abyss.

CEASE!

Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] goes to the loser€™s melee; Autoism 4.0 [#12] advances to the quarter-finals!

Battleboard
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Autoism 4.0 [#12]

Next up - the loser€™s melees!

Battleboard
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Back to Rock III [#10]

Quality stuff, Lewis. :)

Gabriel V [#3] vs. Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant

Not too sure. Maybe Gabriel?

Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Back to Rock III [#10]

Hypo, probably. Both these matches hard to predict accurately...

Brilliant second round Lewis, made even better by the fact I won :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
FINALLY Autoism is having some success! I couldn't have dreamed of this 2 years ago when I made it. I am amazed. Well done Matty for making it worth the while :talker:

My opinion on the losers melees are that I think that Back To Rock/Hypertension to win through (Traffic Warden will be flipped out the ring quite quickly due to it's size and ground clearance) along with maybe Gabriel V, who will stack both the competitors, maybe pit one of them.

Then second round :proud: Regardless of who it is I'm facing, keep the claws facing them and go for quick easy wins.
I think so far the robots with the best chance (of the currect six) are:
Eye Of Ran II, for sheer destruction.
Wedga Eenea (5), for it's good power in the drive and flipper mixed together.
Wedginator X, for simplicity at it's finest.
Autoism 4.0 (12), for the fact I'm an overly biased douche 8)

But good luck to all concerned, espeically Lewis who is writing an amazing tourney :proud:

*Opening music plays to various pictures of robots being destroyed in previous seasons*

They came to fight... They came to destroy... They came to win...
The Box Is Locked, The Lights Are On - Let The Wars Begin!

Welcome back robot fans! Over the last few episodes we saw seed after seed tumble into the abyss until Wedga Ennea toss The Servant€™s Assistant out of the arena and 12th seed Autoism 4.0 progress to the quarter-finals.

Battleboard
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Back to Rock III [#10]

Tonight we have the two loser€™s melees - another chance for the round two losers to reach the quarter-finals and join Wedga Ennea [#5], Autoism 4.0 [#12], Delirium Tremors, Wedginator X, Eye of Ran II and Mobile Failure 2.5. Let€™s get down to the Annihilation Stadium and find out who it€™ll be!

Battle One

Ranked #3, Gabriel V!

Ranked #8, Spin Dash Unleashed!

The Servant€™s Assistant!

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Picus
Booth Blue: Team Braveheart, Team Bloodmage

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

And we€™re off again! This is the first ever loser€™s melee in a Mechanical Maelstrom tournament, and these three bots all want to be the first winner of one! Spin Dash Unleashed is the immediate aggressor, spinning the saw blade up and ramming across the arena at Gabriel V. Joey comes forward to meet the attack, but Lian€™s also in on the destruction and drives at Gabriel too, forcing Joey to turn his nose cone in Team Bloodmage€™s direction! This causes The Servant€™s Assistant to run straight up the pyramid shaped machine and to be swiftly tipped up and over by the third seed, but Joey has left himself open to attack from SDU, who slams into the side of Gabriel and slices in to the aluminium skirt! Steven grins and pushes on, ramming Joey against the spike strip while Lian self-rights stylishly with a huge somersault! The Servant€™s Assistant lands back on its wheels and resets its flipper, quickly taking advantage of SDU being vulnerable to attack from behind and ramming in, getting the wedge underneath the 8th seeds and firing the powerful flipper, stacking Team Braveheart€™s machine up on the wall! Steven grimaces at this compromised position, while Joey sighs with relief and reverses across the arena to safety.

Lian turns to face Gabriel V, forgetting SDU momentarily as it is stacked on the wall to be counted down and out by the audience, but the blade is grinding against the floor noisily and the ranked machine eventually manages to bump itself back down to the ground! Meanwhile though Gabriel V and The Servant€™s Assistant have charged at one another, with Team Bloodmage gaining the advantage this time and allowing TSA to throw Gabriel V high into the air and come crashing down onto its back! Joey quickly rights himself, but comes under attack again from SDU, who slams into the already damaged skirt and this time rips it loose, driving Joey across the arena and onto the floor flipper! The flipepr goes up, but Gabriel was on the far side of it and tumbles over against the corner barrier to be roasted by the flamethrower! SDU itself is popped up and over by the flipper, but Gabriel is noiw stuck between a rock and hard place and needs to get out of there quickly! The Servant€™s Assistant sees a good opportunity to take on Spin Dash though and the two drive at each other, the blade of SDU clattering against the titanium armour of TSA and sending sparks flying, but Lian valiantly drives on, getting right underneath the Season 1.0 bronze medallist and firing the rear hinged flipper to toss Team Braveheart€™s entry high up off the ground! It sails through the air helplessly, turning over as it does so to crash against the macrolon protecting the audience before falling down onto the camera tracks to rest, out of it€™s third competitive season.

Gabriel meanwhile has managed to free itself by repeated use of its flipper and after driving down the raised floor flipper is back into the fight, now turning to drive on the attack of The Servant€™s Assistant and doing so effectively, managing to get under Lian€™s machine while the flipper was still raised, and Joey rams the box-wedge design across the arena before slamming it against the spike strip with his own flipper! Lian is again quick though and self-rights impressively before turning and getting the blade of his flipper under Gabriel V€™s skirtless side, and Team Bloodmage sense victory! Yet again, the 6WD comes to life and quickly accelerates across the arena, reaching unimaginable speeds for a robot before Lian fires the flipper and launches another seeded machine up into the air and over the fence, where it comes to land, broken and beaten, just a few feet away from SDU! The Season 1.0 runner-up and bronze medallist are both beaten in the same fight by the same phenomenal newcomer - after an unfortunate hiccough in the second round, The Servant€™s Assistant is back in business!

CEASE!

Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] & Gabriel V [#3] are on the camera tracks; The Servant€™s Assistant will join us in the quarter-finals!

Battle Two

Ranked #2, Hypertension MK3.5!

Ranked #4, Traffic Warden!

Ranked #10, Back to Rock III!

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Devil€™s Incarnate, Team Varying Every Day
Booth Blue: Team Braveheart

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

So soon after the shocking result of the first melee, the second one gets underway! All ranked robots here, so we know we€™re dealing with some serious pedigree. Back to Rock III makes the first move, immediately heading across the arena to take on Traffic Warden. Steven comes forward to meet him though, eager to make amends after losing the last loser€™s melee and activates the clamps, gripping onto the sides of BTRIII as Martijn drives in underneath. It€™s an interesting combination, and Traffic Warden begins to drive Back to Rock III across the arena, but Martijn activates the lifter, taking Team Braveheart€™s traction away and allowing Team Varying Every Day to push back and slam their cutting blade against the titanium armour of Traffic Warden, prompting some pleasing sparks. There are three robots in this match though, and Hypertension MK3.5 comes roaring in out of nowhere, getting in underneath this bot tango and firing the powerful flipper - however, Zarte was only in underneath Back to Rock III, who is now thrown out of Traffic Warden€™s grasp and over onto its head! Traffic Warden was though on the lifter of BTRIII and so in turn is tossed up and over by the attack, before quickly turning and driving back on the attack of Hypertension, getting in before the flipper has fully reset and ramming Zarte back across the arena floor as the clamps come into play, holding Hypertension in position as it is slammed against the spike strip! Quickly rights himself and as he is in a prime position for it he reverses against the pit release button, giving Steven an incentive to wrestle the second seeds in the direction of the pit before he powers forward with the 38HP drive and dumps the wedge shaped robot into the chasm! It€™s a huge shock and the audience roars with with surprise as the ranked #2 machine bows out of the competition far earlier than expected before Traffic Warden relinquishes its grip and reverses across the arena in search of Back to Rock III.

Martijn also has a thirst for blood and speeds across the arena, driving into the side of Traffic Warden (cue more sparks) and lifts it up and over as he does so, now pushing down with the scoop and managing to drive the ranked #4 machine in the direction of the pit! However, Steven manages to turn sharply and catch BTRIII side on now, pinning the clamp below the raised scoop of BTRIII and the other against the rounded rear of Martijn€™s ranked #10 robot. It isn€™t the world€™s finest grip, and the machines are well-matched in power - Back to Rock III€™s 6WD lynch motor drive versus the 4WD E-Tek RT powerhouse of Traffic Warden. An immense struggle entails, and the gargantuan forces of the two machines playing an almighty tug of war against one another forces billowing clouds of tyre smoke from the robots! There is finally a let up though, as the hydraulic clamp of Traffic Warden stutters against the bottom of BTRIII€™s scoop, allowing the scoop to press down against Traffic Warden as Martijn had been trying to do - however, this proves to be fatal for Team Varying Every Day, as this downward force lifts Back to Rock III€™s two front wheels off the arena floor, causing it to lose it€™s traction advantage, and Traffic Warden surges forward, powering across the arena to drop the ranked #10 machine into the pit on top of last season€™s bronze medallist, signalling the end of the loser€™s melees as Team Braveheart receive a lucky wildcard back into the competition!

CEASE!

Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] & Back to Rock III [#10] fall into the abyss; Traffic Warden [#4] joins us in the quarter-finals!

Battleboard
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Spin Dash Unleashed [#8] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Hypertension MK3.5 [#2] vs. Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Back to Rock III [#10]

And next up - the quarter-finals!

Battleboard
Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Wedginator X
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. Delirium Tremors
Autoism 4.0 [#12] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
Eye of Ran II vs. Mobile Failure 2.5

And also, introducing the arena hazard for the quarter-finals - it€™s... the BUZZ saws. These powerful circular blades are petrol driven and rise from the arena floor via pneumatic rams - weak base armours and flippable robots, beware!

To continue on from the previous post...WOOT I'M IN THE QUARTER-FINALS :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Ah, I'm hyper. On a more dire note, I didn't get any predictions right, ah bum :sad: Never mind, it'll get better. And on the plus note, what quick writing; I'm very impressed with the speed/quality of your writing...wow, I'd better do some writing now :proud: But first, predictions and tactics:

Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Wedginator X
Well, Traffic Warden got through the flipper/lifter combo of last time. However, with a robot like this, it's pretty much the worst shape to face off against Wedginator with. In terms of specs, Traffic Warden has 38hp, Wedginator just 18hp, however, I think that Kody is going to constantly get underneath and take away the traction for either an OOTA or a pitting. Then again, I've guessed out Traffic Warden in EVERY battle so far, so I may be wrong :lame:

Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. Delirium Tremors
I think that Delirium would've been fine against any robot here, except Eye Of Ran, or Wedga Eenea :proud: If he can get hits on Wedga Eenea on the boxy lower-body enough to knock something loose, then I predict Matty to stride through here. However, given the slow speed, and the vulnerability to box-rushing, I'm gonna say for AJ to win the day - ULTIMATE RHYMING WIN :rofl:

Autoism 4.0 [#12] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant
This is a match-up I'm happy with, for two reasons:
1. REVENGE FOR SUPERSONIC! :angry:
2. There isn't too much difference between TSA and Hypertension, except TSA is harder to control, has a less powerful flipper, but has more flips.

Looking at the options open to me, I have this idea in mind. This time, I'm gonna leave the pit until the last minute, just for variety's sake, and also because I can do many more things to this robot than pit :twisted: Firstly, because the armour is Titanium and because my weapon can double as a flipping and crushing forms of attack, try and crush the sides. If I'm lucky, my claws will pierce, making the possible judges decision more likely to go in my favour, and I can also keep hold and take him into stuff, in particular, the chainsaws :lame:
Also, use the tactic in the fight against Hypertension here - because it worked really well - of stacking him against the wall, and letting him waste flips getting back down. This will weaken the flipper so it'll be harder for him to OOTA me, and because I may be able to catch him with the flipper open, and then cause more inside damage.

If all this is failing, or he's too hard to properly KO, then lift him up, and carry him to the pit and press the button before powering him in.

Good luck Lian :talker:

Eye of Ran II vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
This match could go either way. However, given the amount of stuff MF has to tear off it, I think it'll go to a judges where Eye Of Ran shall win on damage.

Good luck everyone, and well done Lewis for making this tourney so awesome :proud:

Paul, I think you are severely overrating our bots here. Wedginator has around 4hp, not 9hp, or 7.6hp, which is what is advertised. Even the ETEKs Steve has in his stats don't give off 19hp each. Those are peak horsepower ratings, robots will hardly ever reach a peak horsepower rating.

Anyway time for some tactics and predictions!

Traffic Warden [#4] vs. Wedginator X
Without sounding arrogant, I have no idea how Traffic Warden has made it this far. However, I intend to make sure he goes no further.

The dimensions of Traffic Warden (90x150x25) and the picture shown tell me there is little chance he is going to properly clamp me, so even if I make a mistake and drive straight in I should be able to get out even with his ETEKs. If not, I'll just spin about and upset his pushing line, I'm more manoeuvrable. But anyway, my main focus is to drive into one of the clamps or front corners, get under, and flip him while moving forward still, then get under again and stack him on his clampers against the wall. They're so flat, I don't think I should have much trouble doing this. Keep trying to do this the whole time; if I'm lucky I may even get an OOTA thanks to his small-ish length. Go straight for him if he tries opening the pit, I do not want it opened. Take him right back from it and toss him about. If the pit's open, stay well away from it. Also, stay away from those buzzsaw hazards. I'd like to keep my tires. :P

Good luck Steve, m'boy!

Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. Delirium Tremors

Strangely reminded of Wedga vs Tira in the Returners Tournament where Tira won...think Zarte can keep ripping and flipping here.

Autoism 4.0 [#12] vs. The Servant€™s Assistant

Lian's lack of proper control to bite him in the arse as Autoism pits him.

Eye of Ran II vs. Mobile Failure 2.5

Again strangely, reminded of Intriguous vs Eye of Ran II in P.T.T.R. where Intriguous won...only this time I think I'll go with Joey to totally trash Tracy, sorry. XD

Such spiffing spars thus far, Lewis! :proud:

meh, rather annoyed I didn't get the time to post tactics for Gabriel but I can't argue over the result I guess...

Eye of Ran II vs. Mobile Failure

oh no I don't want to do this
sorry Tracy XD Start side-on, and then use one of the side wedges to keep MF at bay till spun up...then hit it a lot, avoiding the axe, until it is no longer necessary, and do no further damage if the fight is won. Keep away from the house robots and arena hazards, be sensible in my manoeuvres.

Good luck Tracy...