How Could I Improve...

[alex_holt]

Killalot has external tracks, Aaron seemed to be discussing ones housed within the chassis from what I understood, if they are external then they are exposed anyway.

[andrewj]

Does it really matter where the tracks are? Tracks are tracks, internal or external. Tracks are getting a 10% addition to the weight because people feel sorry for the lack of them. As Aaron quite rightly said, by that logic, next we will be giving out weight bonuses to various paint colours! If tracks are too heavy well then thats just too damn bad. Examples have already been given how to make a tracked set up within a few kilos (if that). Who actually uses the weight bonus for the tracks rather than having more armour or having a bigger weapon? Choosing to have a tracked robot provides its advantages and disadvantages. Being heavier certainly does not require a weight bonus, thats a sacrifice you have to make, for say, additional traction. I want some LEM200 motors for my robot, but they are too heavy. Can I have a weight bonus? Yeah... you get the idea.

New Cyrilium:

Cyrilium 2
Shape: All Torque (Series 2)
Colour: Gold with a silver stripe down the middle.
Weight: 110kg
Dimensions: 70cm x 30cm x 12cm
Speed: 20mph
Turning Circle: 0mm
Ground Clearance: 0mm at the front, and 5mm everywhere else.
Armour: 5mm titanium
Movement: Titanium tank tracks put inside the robot.
Power: 2 E-Teks powered by a USA Interstate Batteries R34 24V car battery.
Weapons: 750psi rear hinged flipper mounted on the front, and a 30kg titanium flywheel on the back.
Srimech: Flipper.
Notes: Entirely new robot.
Strengths: resilient, good weapons.
Weaknesses: I dont know of any, yet.

Probably not a good idea to put in tracks in the middle of The Great Tracks Debate

The dimensions could do with enlarging a bit, and some more information for the weapons would be good, like how many flips the flipper has, and a Kj count for the flywheel. One more thing; Eteks arent actually that good for drive, ask Craig. Otherwise, it actually looks good, if a little vague, but definitely an improvement over the last one.

[corsair_lightning]

The Flipper has 30 flips, while the flywheel spins at 150kjs.

Now the E-Teks have been replaced by 4 TWM3R Magmotors from Team Whyachi.

Dimensions are now 72cm x 40cm x 13cm.

By that logic, why do we give walkers any weight advantage at all? Walkers are the precedent here, there is no precedent at all for paint colours and frankly thats a bit of a moronic arguement - colour has no effect on the functionality of the robot. Tracks also often end up defining the entire shape of the robot as well to a much greater extent than wheels.

As for your example, all my Darkestar robots have always been forced to put loads of exra weight in the tracks just to prevent the kind of cheap KOs that vapourbotterring produces, there is nothing about the weapon setup that couldnt be put into something with wheels.

Mark: way too much weaponry in there, define your tracks a little more (how wide? do they have any grip? etc) those dimensions are far too small, try doubling it at least. Also is your flywheel vertical, horizontal or what?

[corsair_lightning]

horizontal flywheel.
tracks are 5cm wide and 10cm tall, plus they have a lot of grip and are 65cm long.

I actually sort of agree with the argument against the weight bonus; the extra weight you need in the tracks is offset by the amount of traction you get - although Im surprised nobodys brought up the issue of battery capacity as fully rubber tracks require absolutely loads of current for you to be able to turn on the spot.

I think really what should happen is that people should be able to continue enforcing their own limits, depending on how they see it. Im working on a redesign of Fire And Ice at the moment that has interchangable weapons which take its weight under the 100kgs wheeled limit. Probably not relevant, but I thought Id mention it anyway