How Could I Improve...

[joey_picus]

Theres no way youll fit all that into those dimensions and knowing the ground clearance beneath the skirts would help. Otherwise, it actually looks good, there could perhaps be more detail but then youd be going into essay territory.

[andrewj]

Brutalis 1.0

Many people do not understand how large heavyweight robots actually are. I would possibly double the size of the dimensions you have given. Robots and vapourbots are getting smaller and smaller, but for this design you€™ll need bigger. I€™d suggest more along the lines of 80cm x 80cm x 25cm. That might even be pushing it as Nitrogen canisters are pretty large.

Are you looking to do some serious pushing? If so, then your drive train is fine, however you may have to make compromises elsewhere. If you just want a drive to get you around and do some ramming, just go for 2x S28-400€™s. I could suggest giving wheel dimensions and more detailed battery stats, but for now you€™re fine. Your 0mm ground clearance is fine, however please state how much clearance is behind the skirts, which I would suggest a minimum of 6mm.

Hardox is heavy stuff, for this purpose I€™d suggest around 4mm. For your flipper, you€™ll need to give a few details. First of all, what hinge is your flipper - rear hinged (like Chaos 2) or front hinged (like Firestorm)? How much gas do you have on board? What size are the rams operating the flipper? Look at fellow high-pressure flipper vapourbots to get an understanding.

But you€™ve made a good start with the basics. I€™ll let you fix that stuff up first.

nitrogen is 3000psi, i dont know if it can be regulated as its so cold, im sure it can thou

Does anyone remember a great lightweight material thats really strong called Titanium? dont just use hardox theyre vapourbots be creative

[corsair_lightning]

What about mine?

Name: Armory
Dimensions: 75cm x 40cm x 15cm
Shape: Rectangle
Colour: Blue on top, with yellow on all the sides.
Drive: 4x NPC-T64 motors powered by 2 Odyssey PC-545 12V batteries.
Speed: 15mph
Ground Clearance: 0.01mm all around
Armour: 5mm Titanium
Weapon: Pneumatic spike that automatically fires, like 101s
Srimech: Invertible

now updated:

Drive: 2x NPC-T64 motors powered by 1 Odyssey PC-545 12V battery.

Srimech: A Mag Snapper with a 20 cm long pole.

You will find that spikes on the whole dont damage unless you are hugging the other machine in a grip.

[alex_holt]

I would argue that a bit - moving spikes are pretty ineffectual because they end up just pushing the robot away as the armour is stronger that their traction.

On the other hand, just plain static spikes can be very useful particularly where they are used to grip an opponent in some way like on tornado or big brother.

In general though unless you come up with some novel take on them, I cant see a pnuematic spike ever being successful in a vapour.

[knightrous]

Its all about application. I remember a few years ago, I was at the local firing range (AKA my mates place) an we were shooting PC HDDs with a .243 rifle, blasting 5-8mm holes straight through them without even knocking them over.

I think the best way to be successful with a spike is to get the velocity way up there. That requires a fair bit of thinking with pneumatics though.

[joey_picus]

Pain/Judge Mech had a spike weapon that could cause damage, but as far as I know its either banned or frowned upon in the current rules. Other weapons are better than pneumatic spikes, Tornado used one in the fourth wars but I think the fixed spikes on its frame actually did more damage by ramming than the active one did.

While Im here and dispensing useless advice, are there any major problems with the new version of Gabriel?

Gabriel II
WEIGHT: 100kgs
DIMENSIONS: 105 x 80 x 35 cm
SHAPE: Elongated triangular pyramid with steep rear and very shallow front
COLOUR: Largely yellow, with a red and yellow striped flipper and black shapes on each side. Kind of like No Objections in a Gabriel shape.
DRIVE: 2 C40-300 Magmotors driving 2 inner wheels with Vulkalon treads for grip, running off 4 NiCd packs at 24v
SPEED: 14mph average, 20mph max
GROUND CLEARANCE: 0 at front due to spring hinged nose, rising to 6mm at rear
ARMOUR: 3mm aluminium baseplate, with composite 5mm titanium (4mm hardox in critical areas) and 5mm HDPE on the rest of the body.
WEAPONS: A high pressure pneumatic front hinged flipper, consisting of the front edge of the body, running from 2 2kg CO2 tanks and a hydraulic ram giving 25 flips in a match and capable of flipping 100kgs easily and lifting several times more than that. Also has hardened tool steel spikes located on either side of the front point, and it can spin in place to try and do damage with these.
SRIMECH: Via weapon. The back has spikes to prevent stranding
NOTES: Components shock mounted for protection vs. spinners and impacts. The main changes from the previous Gabriel, aside from the colouring and armour, are that it is now slightly wider and quite a bit lower, giving a lower centre of gravity and making it easier to get other robots on the flipper, and the drive has been upgraded. To make room for the changes, the gas capacity has been reduced and the armour made slightly thinner.
STRENGTHS: Difficult to get a grip on due to the shape, low centre of gravity
WEAKNESSES: Awkward shape for pushing with

(Message edited by joeychevron on March 20, 200