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Thread: The tournament formerly known as FFW

  1. #71
    Welcome to the first round of Heat C of the ZFC where we have 2 more battles waiting for you.

    First off, an apology. Due to me not noticing Steve would've had 2 robots in this heat, Traffic Warden has been replaced by Bloody Frigid. Apologies to Lewis who has posted tactics for the previous draw.

    Anyway, after that, let's kick off with battle 1!

    First in is the aforementioned Bloody Frigid. With it's wedge shape, crushing arm and srimech that comes from the side of the arm, it seems to me a little bit like a Razer clone, but who better to clone than a twice world champion! However it's vulnerable to attacks from the rear.

    Previous History - New Entry (0 points)

    The opposition for Tracy today, comes in the form of Compression, another crushing robot only this time horizontal. 2 claws with 4.5 tonnes at the tip and a barbed hinged wedge form the weapons synergy, and a top speed of 25mph makes it tough to catch. But the drive isn't strongest, and like its nemesis, the rear is vulnerable.

    Let's cross over to the arena, where your house robots for this battle are Shunt and Matilda.

    3...
    2...
    1...
    Activate!

    And we're under way, and immediately two very different plans of attack in this one. Both machines know that one attack could give this fight its result very quickly, but they appear to have interpreted that differently. Lewis appears to be the more cautious, starting slowly and purposefully, looking to stalk his prey, whilst Tracy has flown out of the gates on a crash course straight for Lewis. Tracy hits Lewis at the front but only manages to get underneath the claw, wobbling Lewis, but not putting either Compression or herself at risk. Bloody Frigid and Compression both find themselves facing back to back, but both turn almost in synchronicity, giving the fight a brief feeling of being comparative to an old Western movie. Tracy begins trying to circle Compression, but to no avail as Lewis just keeps the front of Compression facing Bloody Frigid, as if to offer her the vicious bear hug he has to offer.

    Tracy keeps the wedge facing but begins to reverse, seemingly trying to get a long enough run up to try and get the speed required to get underneath Compression. Lewis is wise to this though, and follows Tracy slowly, until Tracy finds herself in such a position where she can go back no further, and couldn't get enough speed up to get underneath Compression successfully. To make matters even more difficult she finds herself with the CPZ of Shunt to her right. She begins to turn to her only free path, but as she does so Compression puts on a burst of speef, having spied his opportunity to get the KO blow in. Tracy isn't about to fall for that trick though and turns at the last moment, leading Compression to drive straight up the wedge.

    Tracy sees her opportunity and so immediately brings the claw down but a combination of the shape and how high up the wedge Compression has driven, means Bloody Frigid just can't get a proper hold on the situation, or her opponent for that matter. The underneath of the claw puts a little bit of an impression into Compression but nothing more, and even that would be barely be noticeable if we weren't aware it was there. Tracy curses her luck and tries very delicately to reverse as far as she can to get Compression further down the front, but this just allows Compression to make some contact on a flat surface with his wheels and reverse quickly to safety. Tracy tries to come in for another attack straight away, but Lewis is once more pre-empting this, and spins around the side as she comes. She hits the inside of Compression's claw and now it's Lewis who has the opportunity to put the squeeze on Bloody Frigid.

    He has to close the jaws without trapping Bloody Frigid on the barbs and as they shut, he finds that the wedge shape just leads to a couple of small dents as he can't get a good hold from the side. He tries to move forwards to get underneath further, but has to open the claws to do so, leaving all the gap that Bloody Frigid needs to get the hell out of there. On getting out she immediately swings around the side of Compression, and adjusting her line, whilst Compression goes back to keeping the front facing eternally, she slams into reverse and into the pit release button. Compression tries following her, but as he hits her head-on, the 2 wedges just find themselves going straight against one another. Compression closes his jaws, but they can't get a grip on the small surface area available to them, just scratching the black paintwork on the 8mm titanium monocoque. At the same time, Bloody Frigid tries to use her superior pushing power to push Compression backwards, but Lewis makes his machine put in an extra burst of speed to easily outrun the Razer-esque machine.

    The crowd seem distinctly unimpressed by this fight and a chorus of boos ring out throughout the arena, clearly disgruntled that two machines with potential to cause much devastation are merely playing a game of cat and mouse, in which both are trying to be the cat, but both aren't very good at it. Even the house robots seem unimpressed and Shunt begins advancing from his CPZ, however Refbot just begins driving towards him and it's enough to send him back where he belongs. No need for any yellow cards here, Ref. Meanwhile back in the centre, both robots are gradually circling each other once more, engaged in what a particular old-fashioned singer would describe as a masochism tango, both moving closely around the arena, hoping for the slip up which will see the being provided with the opportune moment to strike.

    Even Tracy and Lewis are beginning to look slightly embarassed now, but neither of them are willing to do anything that could risk their place in round 2, even though one of them will be eliminated on a judges decision even if this fight goes the distance. The boos from the crowd have been replaced by the chant of Try and bloody hit to the rhythm of Put them in the pit but still neither roboteer will back down, especially not after having been quite so careful for quite so long. Compression momentarily comes forward as if to make an advance, but Bloody Frigid holds her ground before Compression appears to change his mind. Bloody Frigid swerves a surprisingly long way in terms of this fight and drives towards the side of the arena, near the angle grinders and Compression begins to go forwards on the attack but Bloody Frigid moves out of the way, the intention clearly having been to lead Lewis on, and he spots this early enough, stopping well short and backing out of trouble.

    Tracy seems to feel that she at least tried to do something to change the course of the fight, but it felt more like passive aggression to me, so I have no idea how the judges would look upon that, and it seems to me like a forgone conclusion that they will have to, with very little time of this fight remaining. The crowd are still getting steadily more and more enraged by this display, indeed a group of fans appear to be doing an impersonation of synchronised swimming, whilst another is quite graphically miming hanging himself near the front. The 2 robots carry on circling each other, occasionally making the occasional alteration to their angle and direction, trying to tempt to the other into a haphazard charge or ill-thought through attack but both drivers are holding firm.

    The Refbot surveys all around him, and finally seems to decide that enough is enough. As the clock hits 10 on his LED display, the boos ring out louder than ever, in appreciation of what may be the most uneventful fight in the tournaments history.

    CEASE!

    Well I don't know how they're going to call it, but we have to hand over to the judges on this one.

    Damage -
    Bloody Frigid - 4 x 4 = 16
    Compression - 6 x 4 = 24

    The superficial damage done by Compression was slightly more noticeable than that done by Bloody Frigid.

    Aggression -
    Bloody Frigid - 6 x 3 = 18
    Compression - 4 x 3 = 12

    The judges said that whilst passive aggression would not normally be looked upon favourably, in this instance they had no other choice.

    Control -
    Bloody Frigid - 4 x 2 = 8
    Compression - 6 x 2 = 12

    Again, the judges said the difference was negligible, but Compression's control in managing to keep up his defence and not fall into the few traps laid by Bloody Frigid was slightly superior

    Style -
    Bloody Frigid - 5 x 1 = 5
    Compression - 5 x 1 = 5

    The judges refused to class anything in the fight as stylish and so had to split the points evenly.

    Totals -
    Bloody Frigid - 47
    Compression - 53

    Well, the slow handclaps round the arena say it all really. Compression goes through to round 2!



    OK, so let's hope the 2nd fight of round 1 is more entertaining than that one. First into the arena is Super Gore Eahta. This tracked robot is our third crusher in the heat armed with interchangeable horizontal pairs. The weapon and drive are both strong, however the tracks could be vulnerable.

    Previous History - Got to round 2 in its only previous appearance (0.5 points)

    His opponent today is Nurse Pain. Nurse Pain would be a very Son of Whyachi inspired machine, however due to coming in very over the weight limit for shufflers, he's just a box with very thin armour with a lot of holes in, and it might not have enough batteries to last until the end.

    Previous History - New Entry

    Your house robots today will be Dead Metal and Mr. Psycho. And now! To the Warzone!

    3...
    2...
    1...
    Activate!

    Both machines come straight out of the blocks, with Super Gore Eahta having the slightly superior acceleration over Nurse Pain, who looks fantastically underwhelming without any weaponry and all the weight-reducing holes in the armour. It is Lian's robot though who does actually get the first attack in, as Kody turns Super Gore Eahta slightly too slowly and bumps into the side of him, though that will hardly give Kody any sleepless nights at all. Kody turns and retaliates, closing the jaws round whilst ramming him into the arena side walls. A huge crumpling occurs in the side panel on both sides of Nurse Pain whilst sparks fly as the angle grinders try and slice into the flimsy armour on the back.

    Super Gore Eahta lets Nurse Pain escape to the near end of the arena, but is soon back on her case again, getting a hold on in almost an identical place and widening the already gaping chasms. He slams him into the wall and the arena shakes under the impact. Of all the crushers in the heat, Super Gore Eahta would've been the least expected to cause damage, but the crowd is in raptures at the destruction, probably made even more pertinent by the fight they had to watch before. You can hear the claws doing unspeakable things to the shuffling pads inside the robot, and indeed as Super Gore Eahta lets go again, Nurse Pain seems to be walking with somewhat of a limp.

    Kody seems to be toying with Nurse Pain now, letting her hobble away at depleting speeds, before catching up with her and getting a grip again. This time he embraces her from the side, Nurse Pain fitting perfectly in Super Gore Eahta's arm span without the hammers on. The thin titanium seems to pop as it closes round, in what must seem an eternity for Lian but in terms of crusher speeds, with great speed, but not to mention precision. Kody once again backs off, but this time as he does so, Nurse Pain doesn't run away. It appears that that last attack got Nurse Pain's receiver and now there is no life left whatsoever.

    Dead Metal and Mr. Psycho hover around the body like flies as Refbot's counter counts up to ten. As the last count is clocked, Mr. Psycho releases the sledgehammer straight on top of Nurse Pain, denting the top right in. Dead Metal then takes a hold, and sparks flying from his saw while he does so, pushes Nurse Pain onto the drop zone. The crowd chant for the load to be dropped and they get their wish. And it's... it's a Mini! They've dropped a Mini on Nurse Pain. He looks somewhat flatter than he did previously and as Dead Metal drags her from the rubble, Super Gore Eahta releases the pit. Dead Metal takes the hint, and with little effort drops her into the pit

    CEASE!

    Nurse Pain must have been the one woman not to be keeping an eye on her weight! Super Gore Eahta, ate her! Kody gets his bot through to round 2.


    And so the round 2 draw:

    First off, as a precursor, I just want to say that battle 1 was in no way a reflection of my opinion on the 2 machines. I just felt that with 2 similar robots in many respects, and with it likely to come down to one clear opportunity, a defensive attitude was the most likely to be taken.

    Anyway, the board looks like this.

    Back To Rock III (5) v Compression
    Spin Dash Unleashed (17) v Super Gore Eahta

    Thoughs, Tactics, Predictions, Sour Skittles for me?

  2. #72
    Back to Rock III up against Compression...

    those huge massive hugging arms... what can a man do? his front is lethal and his front is WIDE, however his design is also such that when I sneak up behind him, behind such arm, he can do little, very little... his shape prevents him from quickly turning around... or even turning around at all since such arm will hit me and he cant exactly do much from there...
    whereas I, where he attacks me from, can always turn around and do... something

    get under is what I wanna do, from behind those claws preferably, get under, lift, do damage, use hazards, that's what

    Kody brought up the nice point of weight on the wedge (thank you Kody!), and even though it didnt help Tracy much, my whole lifting arm is bound to have more mass pushing it to the floor than Compression's mere skirt...

    last but not least, if Compression manages to grab me, if I still have the slightest bit of traction left...
    ... PUSH BACK!

    best of luck Lewis

  3. #73
    Erm, woo! :P

    Back to Rock III (5) vs. Compression

    yeah, not seeing too much Lewis can do

    Spin Dash Unleashed (17) vs. Super Gore Eahta

    Pointed/wedge claws, please. I'm going to take off the speed limiter for the gearbox to make SGE run at the top 20mph speed. Anyway, his 75cm width makes him nice and easy to fit within my claws, so I'm going to go right at him aggressively. His side skirts actually provide me with a very good opportunity of damage. If my claws don't slide underneath the skirts, they'll ride up the skirts and pierce his sides, or breaking a skirt hinge, or at the very least clamp on hard to the 4mm Hardox, while my tracks stay on the ground and outdo his 6WD. From there I'll push him into a house robot or hazard. If I get under the skirts, I'll lift him up and slam him into a house robot or the open pit, or just a wall if neither are available. Because of his 6WD, he'll find it a bit hard to get to my sides, and with a small saw like that against my titanium tracks it might not even matter much. The central pivot of my claws are pretty much shielded by the claws themselves, and he'll be hard pressed to damage their 5mm Hardox either.

    I am going to be on his case all match. Do not let up for even a single moment. Ultimately I want him down the pit.

    G'luck Steve m'boy!

  4. #74
    Guest
    No worries about the draw Zarte, especially seen as I won :P well written fight too, unlucky Tracey. I suppose most uneventful fight is an accolade of sorts :P

    In the next round I'll try and pull off a kind of Crushtacean/Behemoth type fight. Hopefully my wedge will fit between his front lifting plates so I can get underneath and take control with my claws and pit him ASAP. I'll reverse into the release button at the start to defend my rear ( :P ) and keep my front facing him. I'll use my speed to do that at all times. Good luck Martijn

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