The EXP League

[steven_mcg]

What does EXP stand for? Experimental. :wink:

I've been on a little nostalgia trip recently, mainly around the old FRW forum, and have been doing some thinking. I'd quite like to try a new sort of tourny, something quick and simple to help fill the gaps between VGP fights. Following a poke around ARC for the first time in forever, I've decided to try out a points-style tourny, but I think it needs a test run. Hence this thread.

1. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
- I am looking for six people to enter this tournament.
- Each person will submit two vapourbots each - a Lightweight and a Heavyweight.
- Reservations are permitted, but they'll only be held for a short amount of time. I'll decide just how long once all places have been filled. If you miss the deadline, it's first come, first serve for your spot.

2. ENTRY FORM
First, provide some basic information about each robot.

NAME: The robot's name (duh)
SHAPE: The robot's basic appearance. Any additional skirting or body features should be included here.
WEAPONRY: Any and all weapons the robot is armed with. Interchangeable weapons are limited to a maximum of four, all of which must be declared at the start of the tournament.
SRIMECH: How the robot is able to right itself - if it can!
LOCOMOTION: How the robot gets about - wheels, tracks, legs, shuffle pads etc - and how many of them it has.
APPEARANCE: Any paint jobs or decorative features the robot has.

You will then have a certain number of points to spend in the following areas:

WEAPONRY: How powerful your weaponry is. High points mean more damage can be inflicted on your opponents. Robots with multiple, independently-driven weapons (ie a flipper and a disc) will need to split their Weaponry points between them.
SPEED: How quickly your robot can move across the arena floor. The more points spent here, the faster it goes!
ARMOUR: How tough your robot's shell is against other robots' weaponry. High points make it less likely to be damaged.
TRACTION: How much grip and pushing power your robot has. High points allow you to shove your opponents around with ease.
MANOUEVERABILITY: How well your robot can manouever around the arena. A high score here means you'll be able to better dodge enemy attacks.

- The total number of points for each weight division are thus:
LW = 15 points
HW = 25 points
- You must allocate at least one point to each category. While robots with purely passive weaponry are OK (spikes, blades, spiky blades etc), I don't want to see everybody entering blank boxes and wedges.
- Clusterbots are permitted and will be granted a 5 point bonus to make things ever so slightly balanced. All points must be split between however many segments there are. When one half of the segments are disabled, the whole 'team' will be disqualified.
- Think carefully about how you divide your points up. Sinking everything into a devestating weapon and assigning one point to everything else could leave you sluggish and defenseless, and may even cause you to self-destruct!
- While this tourny is primarily about simplicity and fun, let's keep things slightly realistic. 10-wheeled robots with 10 point Manoueverability? That's just silly.
- No entering the same robot into both weight divisions, stats and all. Variety, people!

3. TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
- This contest will take the form of a round-robin tournament, where every robot will fight each other in a series of head-to-head battles.
- These battles will consist of brief summaries rather than full fights (ala Enjoy the Violence or Fanfic Wars), using the robots' stats to determine a result. This is part of the whole 'simplicity' theme I'm aiming for with this system, to ensure short gaps between rounds and to give me a break from those big VGP brawls. :P
- Points will be awarded according to the outcome of each battle:
A clean, decisive victory over an opponent will earn a robot 3 points
If both robots are active at the end of a battle they will each receive 1 point
If a robot loses a battle outright they will receive 0 points
- The league will finish once all the robots have fought each other once.
- The robot with the most points by the end of the league will be declared the champion. If there is a tie for first place, the robot with the most clean victories will be declared champion. If the robots are still tied, a play-off will be held to determine the ultimate winner.

4. ARENA
To fit with the simplicity theme, the EXP will be held in the Robot Wars UK: Series 7 arena. That means the Pit of Oblivion, the Floor Flipper, the Drop Zone, OOTAs, you name it.

5. HOUSE ROBOTS
The House Robots in this tournament will be the classic line-up: Dead Metal, Matilda, Sergeant Bash and Shunt, with Refbot presiding. To add a little extra element of strategy to your battle plans, they too have points. The House gets 30 to spend on each bot, though, 'cos the House always wins.

DEAD METAL
WEAPONRY: 9 (7 saw, 2 claws)
SPEED: 6
ARMOUR: 5
TRACTION: 6
MANOUEVERABILITY: 4

MATILDA
WEAPONRY: 10 (8 disc, 2 tusks)
SPEED: 4
ARMOUR: 5
TRACTION: 6
MANOUEVERABILITY: 5

SERGEANT BASH
WEAPONRY: 10 (6 jaws, 4 flamethrower)
SPEED: 4
ARMOUR: 6
TRACTION: 5
MANOUEVERABILITY: 5

SHUNT
WEAPONRY: 8
SPEED: 5
ARMOUR: 5
TRACTION: 7
MANOUEVERABILITY: 5

No stats for Refbot, since he's non-combat.

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And I think that's everything. Thanks to everyone who's helped me cobble these rules together. Let's see how this goes.

[joey_picus]

It's PAC all over again!

Reservez-moi, s'il vous plait?

[andrewj]

This sounds like fun! Reserve me a place for now, please.

[death robotics]

Could you reserve me a spot please Steve

[kodster]

RESERVE!!!

[majinb]

RESERVE ME A SPOT!!!!!!!

(is there anything in it for walkers?)

[steven_mcg]

Well, that was quick. :P

LIGHTWEIGHT ENTRIES:
1. ??? (Joey McC)
2. ??? (Andy J)
3. ??? (Lian W)
4. ??? (Kody K)
5. ??? (Lewis M)
6. ??? (Martijn B)

HEAVYWEIGHT ENTRIES:
1. ??? (Joey McC)
2. ??? (Andy J)
3. ??? (Lian W)
4. ??? (Kody K)
5. ??? (Lewis M)
6. ??? (Martijn B)

That's all the spaces filled. I'll give you about a week to get your bots in, lads, but get them in ASAP. I'd like to get cracking with this while I'm still feeling crazy enough. :P

Marti, walkers are AOK, but get no points bonus. Same totals as everyone else.

[kodster]

Okay...

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http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk11 ... RoseRV.jpg (rear view)
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk11 ... hScoop.jpg (prong/scoop set-up)

Lightweight
BlackRose

Shape: Very low box, with two front rear-hinged wedges. One is hinged at the top and is the bigger, while the other is hinged in the middle, but is also spring-loaded. She also has an inverted hinged wedge at the rear, hinged at the bottom, and double-hinged side skirts. All wedges/skirts are removable. Inverted, the rear wedge is less usable, while the bigger front wedge is more usable and the spring-loaded wedge behind it isn't usable at all. The front wedges can also be replaced with a second set-up with a scoop and stabbing prongs, the latter of which don't work inverted.

Weaponry: None powered. Just rams into stuff with whatever front set-up she's using. The prong set-up can damage stuff, though.

Srimech: BlackRose can drive inverted.

Locomotion: 4WD, inner

Appearance: BlackRose is obviously coloured in a slate black, with her name on the side skirts, the team name and logos on the front wedge, and a deeper black rose vinyl on top. This can be switched with an artwork of the anime/video game character I named this bot after, if warranted. :P

POINTS
Weaponry - 1
Speed - 4
Armour - 4
Traction - 3
Manoeuvrability - 3

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Heavyweight
Super Gore Septua

Shape: Box with sides and rear that meet at a rounded point. Has a front shock-mounted scoop with teeth on it to trap those trying to go up it. Inverted, the scoop doesn't work. It can be removed for different purposes. Has side skirts that don't work inverted.

Weaponry: Two pneumatic pincers with great force.

Srimech: Super Gore Septua can drive inverted.

Locomotion: 2 tank-style tracks

Appearance: Think a stag beetle. A blue one, with that and red striped on the scoop, red claws and scoop teeth, and the name in red text (silver outline) on the top panel. :P

POINTS
Weaponry - 6
Speed - 3
Armour - 5
Traction - 6
Maneouvrability - 5

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Hope that's okay, Mr. McGregor!

[majinb]

presenting you my HW for this tournament...

MEATLOAF2!
SHAPE: Look at the picture, and what you will see is 1 wheel, 1 wide drum, and yet another wheel. The drum is not straight in the middle of the whole bot (like Barberous) but rather reaches out forward a bit, to make it easier to hit opponents. Everything is held together by a red frame, which forms a rear wedge that scrapes along the ground due to the weight distribution. Near the front (drum) of my bot, the frame has pointy stabilizers that do NOT touch the ground normally (barely), but are there to prevent my drum from crashing into the floor when my robot is toppled. Also, the red frame contains wheel guards for both wheels.
WEAPONRY: That drum! It's a big cylinder with really only 2 teeth, those teeth being Hardox blocks that are as wide as the drum itself. Obviously the rear wedge can also be considered to be a weapon.
SRIMECH: This is essentially an invertible axlebot.
LOCOMOTION: 2 Wheels.
APPEARANCE: Look at the picture and see for yourself .

WEAPONRY: 9
SPEED: 5
ARMOUR: 5
TRACTION: 1
MANOUEVERABILITY: 5