I think how rough is something thats going to have to increase as people get the hang of it - although Im not particularly advocating mud or water hazards.

The idea, as I see it, isnt to have an obstacle to act as an arena hazard, but to get away from the concept of a robot-friendly arena and into real-world circumstances. I think thered be a greater public interest if it became clear that robots were military-grade, rather than glorified hobby devices (and nobody cares how big and nasty they are until they see them in person). Autonomy is the other thing which would make them more cool, and some intelligence to handle rough terrain is a good start towards that.

Id start with a few ramps in an arena, but, once people get the hang of that, it might be possible to be more adventurous. Dumping a load of dirt in an arena with a JCB is, if anything, less effort than setting up ramps - as would be running in a gravel pit (at a safe distance) rather than in an arena.

Im very much still talking about robotic combat, though, not just navigating some obstacles. The terrain shouldnt be an obstacle, just a feature. At the moment, roboteers manoeuvre to position there machines in their preferred places in the arena - near the house robots, near the pit, where they can get a good run-up, away from the wall, etc. Rough terrain just adds up hill, behind a boulder, on slippery sand and so on to that. It makes a difference, and encourages tactics and flexibility in the robot, but this should make the fight more exciting - not replace the combat aspect.

A robot shouldnt be defeated by a boulder (at least, once people have got the hang of this type of fighting) - a robot should be defeated by what an opponent does *with* the boulder, be that hiding behind it, pinning the robot against it, or rolling it downhill into the robot. It also affects one of my ongoing rants about full body spinners - when your weapon can get caught on things, more skill is required in how you use it, be it flipper, spinner, wedge, etc. An FBS has to be very careful not to demolish itself on a boulder (especially if the boulder is shoved into it), and cant just sit there knowing that whatever happens, once its spun up, the opponent will take a hit during an attack.

We might need a rule to stop people from deliberately chucking dirt at an opponent until it seizes up, but perhaps part of the challenge is ensuring that cant happen anyway.

Going back to Arfurs original point, my feeling is that if were going to go away from the flat arena (at least for some competitions), we should go the whole hog, not just stick a dias in the way.

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Fluppet