The Crash & Burn Mini-Tournament of Death 4

No problem lewis, always willing to lend a hand :lol:

If the team up is declined, then just survive till the end, flipping as i go, may head for SOTAR as its the big threat here

On 2nd thoughts, team up on SOTAR anyone?

And here we go!

The Crash & Burn Mini-Tournament of Death 4
Final Annihilator Round 1
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Empty Inside vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II vs. Blast

From Brooks, Canada...S.O.T.A.R.!
(created by Tracy Farber)
Winner of the 2010 Best Horizontal Spinner award, and why not? It can put out amazing amounts of power in a very short spin-up time indeed, is invertible, and has enough drivetrain power to escape situations, or even be aggressive when need calls. It's not going to push worth a damn, however, but its overwhelming armour on the ring means nothing in the arena can likely even scratch it. The top and bottom zinc/aluminium alloy will withstand only a few hits though...

From Liverpool...Vertigo!
(created by Lewis Matthews)
Named after the U2 song, this box-wedge has a tough, powerful flipping plate which doesn't hinder its invertibility, and quite a powerful drivetrain. There are stoppers on the wedge to prevent robots driving over it, which an be quite useful in this particular fight...but if it runs out of flipping power, it can only ram. If it doesn't...look out below!

From Northampton...Empty Inside!
(created by Lian Walsh)
Its aim is to empty the arena of its opponents! Its rear-hinged flipper, running the length of the robot, can toss over 300kg easily, and has quite a great number of flips, so it might not run out before you're on the camera tracks! Other notable features are 6mm titanium armour, and A28-400 drive. It won't be as powerful as a few of the other flippers in this tournament, though, both drivetrain-wise and weapon-wise...

From Orpington in Kent...Harraz!
(created by Paul Cuomo)
A Hardox armoured robot with an angular low box shape, it has a controlled lifting arm and plenty of drivetrain power to lift and ram! It will suffer from a lack of actual damaging weaponry, but lifters have been an uncommon phenomenon these days. A black-and-blue colour scheme might foreshadow your eventual beating, too...

From Shrewsbury in Shropshire...Exertion II!
(created by Andrew Jackson)
Very compact design with 1cm thick Ti/V armour, a front lifting wedge and rear ramming spikes, he's a tough nut to crack, and possibly too thin to even be stacked on his side. Despite this, he's got no real damaging weaponry, but he's a pushy blighter and looking to exert some force-power on his opponents.

From Orpington in Kent...Blast!
(also created by Paul Cuomo)
A boxy robot with angled sides and rear (inverse), and a full-pressure flipper at 750psi, able to toss quite much into the air and self-right with that flipper. It's also armoured rather well, but it's not the best pusher with undervolted LEM130s, so it won't do too much 'blast'ing off, unless in a terminal direction.

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Roboteers, stand by...

There's Rorschach in the arena, look at the size of that claw...and Sgt. Bash!

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

Let the Annihilator commence! :proud:

Empty Inside and Blast are immediately after S.O.T.A.R., but they find the plucky spinner already up to speed and looking mightily dangerous early on! Nonetheless, Blast plucks up courage and lays a smack right into Tracy's ring spinner and both robots get smacked away a fair distance! The scoop doesn't seem to have taken much damage, but that's another matter because Vertigo has cheekily attacked Blast and tossed it over! As Blast self-rights, Empty Inside looks to take advantage of S.O.T.A.R.'s stun, but that deadly ring is again at full speed and the Achilles-alike is tossed just as far as Blast was, with a dented flipper to show for it! Harraz meanwhile has attacked Exertion II, and has managed to get underneath it, immediately giving it a vicious shove into Sgt. Bash's CPZ, while the dastardly Sergeant clamps in with the claw...but the flamethrower blazes against Harraz's armour, not Exertion's! Andy's robot is too low, I'm afraid! :proud: Nonetheless, the lifting arm of Harraz activates, and sends both Exertion and the house robot up on an angle, and eventually tips Sgt. Bash onto its rear end into the corner! It drops Exertion in surprise, who lands directly on Harraz! Harraz zooms across the arena to deliver Exertion to an unpleasant place as Vertigo gets in another gigantic toss on Blast and S.O.T.A.R. spins up again! Lian and Empty Inside bravely rush the spinner but another hit just sends them reeling again, the flipper blade now with a large cut in it! But finally this has the effect Lian wanted and S.O.T.A.R. is roughed up against the arena wall! Harraz however interrupts the play by slamming itself into S.O.T.A.R. and Exertion goes flying off! In the confusion Empty Inside manages to get underneath S.O.T.A.R. and toss it...ALMOST out of the arena, but Tracy breathes a sigh of relief as the spinner hits the railing and bounces off, much to Lian's chagrin! Seeing a weakened opponent, Harraz turns on S.O.T.A.R. and delivers it to an empty CPZ, where Rorschach immediately zooms over! Lian's there in no time as well, and Empty Inside tries to get in another OOTA attempt but the angle is poor and S.O.T.A.R. rides the wall, now completely out of danger! To make matters worse, Rorschach is now in Harraz' face for the earlier treatment of Sgt. Bash, and getting under him lowers the crushing beak! Empty Inside leaves the CPZ and chases down S.O.T.A.R., who is spinning again, and this time manages to deflect S.O.T.A.R. across the arena, and over the saws, but they don't pop up in time. Lian dodges the upraised saws, but this means Tracy gets him from the side and the bots are separated in a massive way! Empty Inside's flipper blade is now slashed open!

Vertigo meanwhile is having a blast, heh, with Blast! :proud: Lewis is quite trigger happy, as he tosses Blast all over the arena, missing a few OOTA attempts but not letting Blast recover even once! Paul's teammates are doing all they can but Vertigo is getting under every time! An intrusion by S.O.T.A.R., however interrupts the fun with an absolutely massive shot on Vertigo's side!! The resulting dent in the 4mm Hardox is quite massive and sends Vertigo flipper-first into the arena wall! This does however send S.O.T.A.R. directly into the path of Empty Inside, but S.O.T.A.R. slides off the side of the wedge before Empty Inside can activate the flipper, and it crashes head-long into Blast! Not to be put-off, Lian is under Blast, and gives Cuomo Machine 1 a nice inverting via the flipper; Lewis isn't happy about that cheap shot and is after S.O.T.A.R., but the spinner is proving tricky to catch and Vertigo misses a charge! Tracy makes Lewis pay for that with another hit on the side, denting it up further but sending itself flying towards the resulting house robot scene with Harraz and Exertion, the latter of which is underneath Rorschach and trying to lift him over! Vertigo flies in immediately, and is able to catch S.O.T.A.R. before it can spin-up, but this takes them straight into the rear of Rorschach and S.O.T.A.R. bounces off the house robot...into Empty Inside's path! Thing is, there's an Exertion II in the way and Lian coming in mashes S.O.T.A.R. against Exertion, and then flips her on top of the Shropshire machine. This doesn't bother Andy one bit, though, but S.O.T.A.R. can't seem to get away! Vertigo now tries to flip the house robot, but with Exertion lifting Rorschach up from the side, Vertigo misses most of its potential with the flip and Rorschach is popped up a bit...this does however make the house robot let go of Harraz, who rams into the other side of Exertion and starts to lift it and S.O.T.A.R. over! Empty Inside however responds with a flip and Exertion goes sailing overtop of Harraz, and behind him, while S.O.T.A.R. lands on the upraised flipper! And then Blast 'blasts' in...with an utterly spectacular double flip that overturns both S.O.T.A.R. and Empty Inside! Vertigo gets the hint and rams S.O.T.A.R. as it tries to get away, but accidentally drives into one of the arena spikes and is popped over! S.O.T.A.R. is now definitely away and spins up as Lewis self-rights his machine, but Lian has self-righted faster and tries getting underneath Vertigo; it does, and now tosses Vertigo against the arena wall...uh oh! It looks like Vertigo can't right itself properly from that position...!! ...and how friendly. S.O.T.A.R. has travelled over to Vertigo and walloped the side again, actually freeing Vertigo from its predicament! Lian seems quite furious that his plan failed, but Blast is in there and manages to flip Empty Inside before the latter can respond! Goodness me, what a powerful flip! Empty Inside lands on its back, as Lewis self-rights his own robot from its back, and Vertigo now gets straight under Empty Inside...only for the Bloodmage bot to right itself and have Vertigo sail by! And directly into a hit from S.O.T.A.R.! One of the skirts is smashed open by the hit, sending Empty Inside skittering away...and into Blast! Now Blast tries to get Empty Inside over the fence...but fires a little too late and Empty Inside bounces off the wall...to meet Vertigo! And Lewis makes good on what Blast threatened, and Empty Inside sails over the wall, crashing out!

Meanwhile, Harraz and Exertion II have lifted over Rorschach and have taken turns ramming the house robot...behave you two!

CEASE!

Well, Empty Inside certainly said what it is on the tin! It's out!

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Round 2
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II vs. Blast

WOOTAGE ONCE MORE :mrgreen: tbh, I wasn't completely sure one of my machines would be getting through that, so I'm quite happy both are still in. Unlucky Lian, still, life goes on :talker:

Round 2
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II vs. Blast
Well, the tactics for Harraz worked pretty well, which is a good thing, thus they shall stay the same: attack Exertion/whoever Blast isn't attacking :proud: and try and stack them against the wall or pit them, or shove them into walls and house robots till something breaks.

With Blast, I think he was VERY lucky to survive the last round, so play it a bit conservative this time; still aim all my efforts on SOTAR or Vertigo, mostly the latter as due to lack of skirts he's easier to get under and attack, and either OOTA him straight off, or shove him into SOTAR to slow the spinner and try and get rid of Tracy instead :proud:

Good luck Lewis, Tracy and AJ, let's see how the rest of this Annihilator goes :talker:

Wargh.

Final Annihilator Round 2
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II vs. Blast

Roboteers, stand by...

House robots are Dead Metal...and Cassius Chrome!

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

Off we go with the 2nd round! Blast is again after S.O.T.A.R., and Harraz after Exertion, the Cuomo bots on their respective targets immediately! Vertigo meanwhile isn't doing much, but is simply waiting. Blast however is actually unable to catch up to S.O.T.A.R., whose acceleration seems to best the machine she faces! Getting around the scoop however is another matter, but made simpler by the fact that Blast is charging recklessly in, she gets a free shot at the titanium skirt and rips into it! And I mean RIPS into it...not only did a gash get torn into the skirt, but it bent back into the spinner for another hit, which tore it wide open, and sent both bots away! Vertigo is after Blast like a shot, and manages to get past the scoop to get under and flip it over! A good flip that's stacked Blast against a wall for a brief moment and - ...goodness me, what a quick one! The pride of Liverpool should certainly be proud of that one, as Blast has been sent over the fence! And while this has happened, Harraz managed to overturn Exertion, and ram it into the arena wall. But what's done is done, and indeed well done from Vertigo!

CEASE!

Blast and Team Insanity are sent 'blasting off again!' :proud: The team must rely on Harraz now...

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Round 3
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II

:proud: Ah well, that was hardly gonna keep up forever; at least Blast got into the top 5, which given it's previous pedigree, is quite an achievement :proud: To be fair as well, I'm amazed Blast was able to get past Round One after the abuse that fell upon it, so never mind, all is well :talker:

Round 3
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II

Well, with the variety of robots left in, I'm left with a few options:
1. Ram into Vertigo, and try pitting him.
2. Ram into Exertion II and try pitting him.
3. Ram into S.O.T.A.R and try doing the hokey-kokey, nah, just pit him :mrgreen:

Seriously, the plan is to target Exertion II still, with the mentality of ramming him about the arena, but an additional idea is shove him in the way of S.O.T.A.R or a destructive or at least pesky house robot, and lift them up into them exposing the base/top plate to attack to cause more damage and that way cause a KO 8) HOPEFULLY 8)
The two main targets are Exertion II and Vertigo, with more effort being focused on the former, but if there ever is a scenario to eliminate S.O.T.A.R, then I'll go for it, as I have everything to gain, and nothing to lose :mrgreen:

Good luck to AJ, Tracy and Lewis, may the strongest machine win and all that jazz :proud:

Final Annihilator Round 3
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz vs. Exertion II

Roboteers, stand by...

Count Bleck, and Asterix Anarchius. I do declare.

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

There goes Harraz, and again he seems to be after Exertion! Exertion simply heads straight back at Harraz, but it's Harraz who proves the lower and lifts Exertion up, slamming the Shropshire machine into the arena wall! It's an unusual display as Exertion is balanced against the arena wall on his rear spikes, and Harraz is holding him there - OH! Vertigo gave a little...flick, against the rear of Harraz, only managing to get underneath the rear skirt of Harraz...Harraz can't really turn around in that position and now they're all locked together...and now there's a gigantic CRASH, S.O.T.A.R. implies its importance in the Final with a massive smash against the rear of Vertigo, slicing through the Hardox just as well as before, and in its heat with Venus Fly Trap! But as such, Vertigo finds it hard to turn with another robot in front of it, meaning S.O.T.A.R. has another go, and Vertigo turns too late - CRASH!!! The bottom corner is caught and slashed open, forcing the fighters away from each other violently! This frees Harraz from Vertigo's tackle, but it now leaves Exertion there and has a go at Vertigo! Exertion activates its lifter and falls off the wall nicely, thank you very much. Vertigo tries to get around Harraz to take revenge upon S.O.T.A.R., but the Orpington machine wants ITS revenge first, and - is denied! Vertigo has gotten under, and with a very powerful toss catapults Harraz across the arena - AH! What an opportunity! S.O.T.A.R. is relentlessly attacking Vertigo, now the side has taken it! And Exertion's back into the game, ramming into Harraz and getting underneath the side skirt, lifting it over! Lewis is fuming about the three unanswered shots Vertigo has taken, but roars in anyway against S.O.T.A.R., but can't quite reach the spinner before the deadly blades have acquired their nasty speed! The side of the flipping plate takes a blow this time, but it stands up better to S.O.T.A.R.'s blow, though knocking the box-wedge aside and allowing S.O.T.A.R. spin up again! Ah? S.O.T.A.R. suddenly has a Harraz shoved into it by Exertion, and a lukewarm blow to Harraz' skirt glances off as Lewis smells an golden moment here and charges straight into S.O.T.A.R., taking the ring spinner to the wall...! AGH! It was a side-on flip, and S.O.T.A.R. bounces off the wall...however now Tracy is in trouble anyway, because S.O.T.A.R. is inverted! Paul however is in his own share of trouble because Exertion has slammed Harraz into the arena wall and is pushing him along it to Count Bleck's CPZ! Wait a second...is Count Bleck actually spinning at FULL speed?! It is! And one massive house robot attack later, and Harraz has completely lost a side skirt, while Bleck has thrown itself against the arena wall with enough force to make Mass Disctruction Ultimate scamper away on its Anarchy-style legs! :proud: And...Count Bleck has effectively killed himself!! Or the ring...yes, the house robot is moving, but apparently he cannot spin up anymore!! Whatever the case, it's rendered moot as Exertion now slams the skirtless Harraz against another arena wall!

Lewis on the other hand is now having a ton of fun with S.O.T.A.R.; not wishing to risk flipping and righting the Canadian spinner Vertigo is simply ramming it all around the shop, the wedge too far back to be hit by the now over-cutting blades! This is not good and Tracy is trying to get her robot on even footing here, but Lewis is just relentless with the ramming, and what power is now surely dwindling in the spinner from Brooks? However, S.O.T.A.R. makes a lucky turn and manages to strike Vertigo in the side, just at the top of the machine and sending both robots away, Vertigo gashed again! An infuriated Vertigo is back on S.O.T.A.R.'s case, but abandoning all pretence, Tracy drives at Harraz now, who is being pushed towards S.O.T.A.R. by Exertion! S.O.T.A.R. manages to skim the top of Harraz' bottom (which is now top) and graze it, but Vertigo collides with S.O.T.A.R. and then Exertion! Exertion shoots out from under both Harraz and S.O.T.A.R., and takes on Vertigo now! Exertion lifts Vertigo up from the side and slams him hard into the arena wall! Harraz isn't letting Exertion get away and leaves S.O.T.A.R. to do whatever...Exertion ain't turning around anytime soon and Harraz successfully gets the attack in, lifting both Exertion and Vertigo up against the arena wall! Well Tracy isn't happy with the position she's in, and now decides to do something about it! As Lewis activates the flipper and try and throw itself off of Exertion, S.O.T.A.R. screams in with an absolutely massive shot to the side, tearing into it, but ironically freeing Vertigo...and allowing Harraz to shove Exertion up against the arena wall again! Vertigo is back after S.O.T.A.R. now, but is moving slower than before...are the hits taking their toll on it? Tracy seems to have noticed as well, and is now gunning with all her might for Vertigo's sides. However even with the reduced speed Lewis is able to get the front in, and then drives into S.O.T.A.R...and pushes it across the arena...towards Count Bleck! Uh oh, the house robot is in major trouble! And...and NOW VERTIGO FLIPS!!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!! :proud: :proud: :proud: I...I'm stunned, I'll tell you! Both Lewis and Tracy have dropped their transmitters in hilarity, for S.O.T.A.R. was thrown into the air, and completely shore off Count Bleck's hat and monocle! :proud: :proud: :proud: I'm not too sure what's going to happen now, S.O.T.A.R. is beached on top of the house robot...who isn't moving NOW...Vertigo, now mobile again, is puzzled at what to do...and though Andy and Paul have had a chuckle, Harraz is still on the attack, shoving Exertion into the pit release button! So, the attack continues...The Watcher comes in to have a look at S.O.T.A.R., now tries to free it...AND OI! You...you dastardly Liverpool boy!!! Vertigo has toppled the refbot! What shenanigans are taking place here?! House robots won't like it!! Asterix Anarchius immediately across the arena, Vertigo is slammed hard into the arena wall by the gaul-ish house robot! But I think it's now a done deal! Harraz has very carefully positioned Exertion II on the lifter, and is driving towards the pit! And yes, both Vertigo and S.O.T.A.R. are safe because, try as Andy might, he's unable to get off the lifter of Harraz and a moment later Exertion II has eaten pit bottom...followed by Harraz itself! :proud: What craziness!

CEASE!

Exertion II exerted not just 'forcepower', but unfortunately its own life-force as well! Out it goes!

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Round 4
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz

I liked the part where I took off Count Bleck's hat.

Try to keep out of trouble, bother the other robots a bit and watch the fun, I suppose. :)
Actually, attack ALL the things, still do my best to not be offed, but ALL THE THINGS. XD We like a good show, right?

Final 3...and these battles are coming on a treat...and very quickly: I'm almost concerned for your well-being Kody :uhoh:

Round 4
S.O.T.A.R. vs. Vertigo vs. Harraz

OK, maybe at this point, with so much room in the arena for attacking now, I'll have to stop thinking about discriminating one machine and hounding them, but instead stay safe and attack when it's a good idea.

Here are the individual tactics for both machines left in:
Vertigo: Clearly the most dangerous machine so far in this Annihilator, espeically given it's taken out 2 of the fallen contestants, and also some house robots :proud: So try to avoid the front as much as possible, and shove him into the walls/house robots till something breaks, maybe also try my ploy with overturning and shoving into SOTAR to attack the base plate. One ploy which I may try is if I get under the rear, push him towards the arena walls, and try and position him on the wall with his back facing the outside. This will either waste his CO2 trying to get off (if he does) but he may throw himself OOTA (hopefully :mrgreen: )
SOTAR: The plan with this is kinda outing-on-a-wing, by ramming into him after he comes in contact with something, and is spinning a bit slower. Then overturn him into the house robots, just to make it harder to escape, plus (again hopefully :proud: ) Vertigo will take him on instead of me, and try and get rid of the more dangerous machine.

Good luck Tracy and Lewis. As you tell from my tactics, I'm filled with hopeful scenarios here :uhoh: And have fun writing this one Kody :proud:

w00t :D excellent writing Kody, sorry I haven't been posting tactics very much :(

In this next fight I'd like to offer Paul a team-up (sorry Tracy). S.O.T.A.R has caused me a lot of damage throughout this annihilator, and would be a massive threat to both of us in the final. I recommend that one of us box rushes S.O.T.A.R, to stop the spinning, so that then the other can move in and take it out quickly via either OOTA or a pitting. I feel this is the best opportunity I'll have to get rid of S.O.T.A.R, I don't fancy taking it on alone in the final at all.

If Paul doesn't want to team-up, I'll just try and avoid taking too much damage and attempt to OOTA either of my opponents as quickly as possible, or attack S.O.T.A.R after it has hit Harraz and so won't be spun up.

Good luck guys, and keep up the great work Kody :D

I was initally thinking of declining the team-up, as tbh, I don't mind which one I face in the final because chances are I'll lose anyway :mrgreen: but on second thoughts, why not team-up: I'm in.
Open the pit from the off, and simply try to pit the destructive SOTAR. If possible, get him upside-down and against the wall so Lewis can do his OOTAing magic.

That's all really.