Battlebots - General Discussion

[lynxfx]

On 8/5/2022 at 1:48 PM, CoderLady said:

You're right. At the end of the credits the copyright year was 2021. Blink and you'd miss it.

Audience members had 2021 signs up too. Plus some bots were still sporting damage from the season like smeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

That was an awesome episode. That last fight was bonkers. Destroyed the signage in the arena too.

[madmax]

So much carnage!!!

Hypershock has really come into its own.  Remember how it would just die mid-match?  Will Bales has made a serious contender.

I think Duck's new bill has weakened the bot.  Yeah, it still lasts the whole round, but that bill getting ripped apart can't be good in the eyes of the judges.

I, too, noticed the 2021 signs, so figured this happened right after the championship.  And I noticed Matt Maxham was on Team Gigabot.  I thought he left them last season to drive Cobalt?  Weird.

Is there going to be a regular championship season this year?  Hope so.

[Rickster]

44 minutes ago, madmax said:

So much carnage!!!

Hypershock has really come into its own.  Remember how it would just die mid-match?  Will Bales has made a serious contender.

I think Duck's new bill has weakened the bot.  Yeah, it still lasts the whole round, but that bill getting ripped apart can't be good in the eyes of the judges.

I, too, noticed the 2021 signs, so figured this happened right after the championship.  And I noticed Matt Maxham was on Team Gigabot.  I thought he left them last season to drive Cobalt?  Weird.

Is there going to be a regular championship season this year?  Hope so.

I can’t see why there wouldn’t be one, but it probably wouldn’t be broadcast until next spring, like this year.

[Vermicious Knid]

When I, hopefully, get an email about new filming I will let the forum know.

Are there an official number of EEEs in SMEEEEEEEEEEEE?

[lynxfx]

13 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Are there an official number of EEEs in SMEEEEEEEEEEEE

The wiki is all over the place but the bot itself has 19 E's based on photos.

[madmax]

15 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Are there an official number of EEEs in SMEEEEEEEEEEEE?

Entirely too many.

[libgirl2]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:28 PM, madmax said:

So much carnage!!!

Hypershock has really come into its own.  Remember how it would just die mid-match?  Will Bales has made a serious contender.

I think Duck's new bill has weakened the bot.  Yeah, it still lasts the whole round, but that bill getting ripped apart can't be good in the eyes of the judges.

I, too, noticed the 2021 signs, so figured this happened right after the championship.  And I noticed Matt Maxham was on Team Gigabot.  I thought he left them last season to drive Cobalt?  Weird.

Is there going to be a regular championship season this year?  Hope so.

See, I'm wondering how long Hypershock will hold out based on just that. 

[CoderLady]

If I recall correctly, Will Bales tends to lose more often than winning because on more than one occasion when things go well for him, he just can't resist going in for one more hit when he has the upper hand, and it backfires on him big time.

I watch his matches to see how he will manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory each time. It's always entertaining. I don't want to seem like a downer, but I'll bet the pressure of actually winning will get to him and he'll go down in flames in some really stupid way pretty soon.

[libgirl2]

5 hours ago, CoderLady said:

If I recall correctly, Will Bales tends to lose more often than winning because on more than one occasion when things go well for him, he just can't resist going in for one more hit when he has the upper hand, and it backfires on him big time.

I watch his matches to see how he will manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory each time. It's always entertaining. I don't want to seem like a downer, but I'll bet the pressure of actually winning will get to him and he'll go down in flames in some really stupid way pretty soon.

There you go! I don't have much faith in him. 

[madmax]

6 hours ago, CoderLady said:

If I recall correctly, Will Bales tends to lose more often than winning because on more than one occasion when things go well for him, he just can't resist going in for one more hit when he has the upper hand, and it backfires on him big time.

I watch his matches to see how he will manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory each time. It's always entertaining. I don't want to seem like a downer, but I'll bet the pressure of actually winning will get to him and he'll go down in flames in some really stupid way pretty soon.

That combined with Hyper Shock not being very durable has made Will show more in the loser column than the winner.  I haven't noticed him going in for that last hit in these last matches, but there weren't that many.

Maybe he's matured?  Nah............

[enoughcats]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:56 PM, lynxfx said:

The wiki is all over the place but the bot itself has 19 E's based on photos.

Has anyone counted the E's in ----- in this series?  I would swear it was  shorter (so going boa constrictor on an opponent is a lot harder.) 

But. I haven't read this year's rules, but a couple of years ago a rule said that the bot and any mini bots) had to fit in the square at the start of the fight.  I would swear that Smee overlapped and had one of his drive ends out of the painted box. 
Did they give him/it/her/them a pass like they gave Chomp's ?overweight in its last painfully slow iteration?

[libgirl2]

Well after last week's amazing battles this week felt a bit underwhelming. 

Spoiler

Congrats to Ribbot. I thought out of all of the competitors it had the best shot. Surprised how quickly Lockjaw went down. 

[enoughcats]

2 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

a bit underwhelming

A gentle understatement.  

How about : all the bots that are one hit wonders, that have one thing they do somewhat well but have garish weaknesses than other bots can easily go after?  

A bot that shoots a something: put it against a bot that is closer to the ground.  Predictable end game: bot up in the air misses and gets chopped off at the 'ankles'.

Bot up in the air with spinner up in the air, go against a bot that has a much firmer base.

As for the final match, the olde favorite has bigger tires and they aren't tilted any more.  That's not going to beat the speed of the next age of botdom.

[madmax]

Yeah, underwhelming, but after last week's Hyper Shock matches, I think most normal bouts would be underwhelming.

I don't get Double Jeopardy.  Sure, firing projectiles, great, great, until you're all out.  Then you're just a big lump of a bot with no weapons.

Glad Shatter didn't make it.  I don't know why, but those guys irritate the shit out of me. 

I love Donald Hudson and Lockjaw - his previous bot Diesector is still one of my favorites - but it's time to make some changes.  Those tires are always getting chewed up.  They're so freaking big!  And nothing to shield them from damage.

[Vermicious Knid]

I had no memory of Double Jeopardy at all.

[Totale]

11 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

I had no memory of Double Jeopardy at all.

Me neither.  I was initially surprised to see projectiles, but then I remembered in the opening to the Champions series that they were relaxing the rules somewhat for this tournament, and i guess that's part of it.  Wasn't there a bot tossed out some time ago that basically threw a huge sheet of chain mail to encapsulate the opponent?

[madmax]

7 hours ago, Totale said:

Me neither.  I was initially surprised to see projectiles, but then I remembered in the opening to the Champions series that they were relaxing the rules somewhat for this tournament, and i guess that's part of it.  Wasn't there a bot tossed out some time ago that basically threw a huge sheet of chain mail to encapsulate the opponent?

I heard that in the beginning and I thought, great, Derek Young is going to enter this contest.  He's the one who had a bot that threw a net on Ghost Raptor.  Can't remember the name of his bot, tho.  

[grommit2]

ooh ooh...I have an idea for a different approach to bot design:
Have your robot shoot massive quantities of a congealing jelly...sort of like silly string that solidifies, thus wrapping the opponent in a solid plastic-like overcoat, preventing movement. 
Once solidified, your robot just pushes the opponent into the sideline screws and it gets mashed up. 
Now, there's an idea!
Boy oh boy...I'm so smart.  🤪
 

 

[proserpina65]

On 8/12/2022 at 7:36 PM, madmax said:

I love Donald Hudson and Lockjaw - his previous bot Diesector is still one of my favorites - but it's time to make some changes.  Those tires are always getting chewed up.  They're so freaking big!  And nothing to shield them from damage.

I didn't start watching robot fighting until a few years ago, so I never got to see Donald Hudson's glory days, but I do respect him as a legendary builder.  However, when a neophyte like me, sitting on her ass on the coach, can see Lockjaw's major weakness - those freaking tires - I think it's safe to say he should either rework the design or hang up his laurels.  I feel like Lockjaw has tons of potential but with those exposed wheels, it's never going to reach the top.

Yeah, after the buzz saw that was Hypershock last week, this week's matches were a bit of a letdown.  I will say, though, that DeepSix has the potential to be a real beast if they can figure out a way to armor the wheels or add at least one more on each side.  Because exposed wheels will always been a weakness.

[enoughcats]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

so I never got to see Donald Hudson's glory days,

Does anyone recall the episode of CSI set in Las Vegas, and the crime happened at a Battlebots competition? 

CSI when everybody was younger

[libgirl2]

Wow 

Spoiler

Glitch amazed me. I think its big weakness is its movement. But if it moves well it is a killer.

[rmontro]

20 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Wow 

  Hide contents

Glitch amazed me. I think its big weakness is its movement. But if it moves well it is a killer.

Amazing how it won those matches by judge's decision, then knocked out Rotator with one punch.

On 8/15/2022 at 11:59 AM, grommit2 said:

Once solidified, your robot just pushes the opponent into the sideline screws and it gets mashed up. 
Now, there's an idea!
Boy oh boy...I'm so smart.  🤪

They should just cancel the tournament and give you the trophy  :)

[madmax]

I liked Glitch when it competed in the regular 2021 series.  But it was a bit, well, glitchy and didn't go far.  But damn, that hit on Rotator was intense!

Who didn't see Free Shipping going up in flames again?  Nobody?

[Vermicious Knid]

Watching Rotator practically explode was fun. Saved the best for last!

[proserpina65]

On 8/19/2022 at 8:39 PM, madmax said:

I liked Glitch when it competed in the regular 2021 series.  But it was a bit, well, glitchy and didn't go far.  But damn, that hit on Rotator was intense!

The omnidrive is interesting but clearly still has some bugs they need to work out.  The weapon, on the other hand, is powerful as hell.  I look forward to seeing Glitch compete against some of the other powerful vertical spinners.  And against Tombstone, of course, because Tombstone's fights are rarely not fun to watch.

On 8/21/2022 at 2:01 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

Watching Rotator practically explode was fun. Saved the best for last!

Yep, seeing Rotator spewing its guts across the floor was great.  And I don't even dislike Victor Soto, I just love big hits and explosions.  (See Uppercut v. Free Shipping, part deux.)

[enoughcats]

Tonight happened.  Editors suffered to fill time when two of the first four matches ended ignominiously at a minute each.

The gold bolt looks to have been painted with a really cheap gold look.  If I were to win it, I'd cover it with real gold leaf.  

I wonder if the Canadian competition (that one team was said to have won five times) is on line anywhere.

They spoiled us by having the first episode so darned great.

[Vermicious Knid]

I was so happy to see the minibot get punted across the box. They are so useless.

Lucky and Switchback, talk about anticlimactic. Two one punch fights in the same series.
This only took me 30 minutes to watch with fast forward.

[libgirl2]

I am the only one who kind of choked up about Kraken? 

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

choked up about Kraken? 

If you're talking about the at-the-end-pronouncement, I'll join you in getting misty. Especially when I saw their young son so very sad at 'it's time to retire Kraken' and I wondered if it had been a decision of the adults. 

Those decisions seem to be happening to more and more of the old time bots.  Up grading a bot to keep up with technology *and to increase the kinetic energy of the hits (remember when Ray was just about the only person using that phrase?) 

Will Minotaur be the sole oldie (or has it been undated in ways we can't see)? 

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, enoughcats said:

If you're talking about the at-the-end-pronouncement, I'll join you in getting misty. Especially when I saw their young son so very sad at 'it's time to retire Kraken' and I wondered if it had been a decision of the adults. 

Those decisions seem to be happening to more and more of the old time bots.  Up grading a bot to keep up with technology *and to increase the kinetic energy of the hits (remember when Ray was just about the only person using that phrase?) 

Will Minotaur be the sole oldie (or has it been undated in ways we can't see)? 

Yes, the older Bots are being retired. Those teams, if they still want to compete, either have to do major modifications or come up with a new Bot. 

I told my husband that team Kraken needs to name their next Bot Cthulhu.

[enoughcats]

2 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Cthulhu.

I'll admit to having to look it up; the more I read, the better name for a bot it became.  Good one!

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

I'll admit to having to look it up; the more I read, the better name for a bot it became.  Good one!

I'm surprised no one has come up with it yet. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Kraken, while fun looking, always struck me as surface over substance. It lost a lot.

[Quilt Fairy]

13 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I'm surprised no one has come up with it yet. 

Imagine having to write the intro poem for "Cthulhu"!  Of course, you could probably pronounce it anyway you like because no one could prove you wrong. 

[madmax]

The only thing of interest was Kraken's retirement.  It was long overdue.  The bot is very durable, but not very competent.  I hope he comes back with something better.  And yes, I did get a little verklempt.

[rr2911]

On 8/26/2022 at 11:17 PM, Vermicious Knid said:

Kraken, while fun looking, always struck me as surface over substance. It lost a lot.

I never understood why bots like Kraken are built.  I'm thinking the builder is more interested in just being at the competitions than winning.  I would think most every bot should arm themselves with blades, drumlike spinners or something that is going to inflict a lot of damage to the other bot.

[rmontro]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:18 AM, enoughcats said:

Up grading a bot to keep up with technology *and to increase the kinetic energy of the hits (remember when Ray was just about the only person using that phrase?) 

I'm wondering when they're going to revise his nickname to "the former king of kinetic energy".

2 hours ago, rr2911 said:

I never understood why bots like Kraken are built.  I'm thinking the builder is more interested in just being at the competitions than winning. 

I wonder how much merchandising money is involved?

[Vermicious Knid]

There's no explanation for Rusty except getting on television. One win in it's entire career. One. Win.

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

There's no explanation for Rusty except getting on television. One win in it's entire career. One. Win.

I think for me it is the spirit of just having fun. 

[enoughcats]

yawn.  Witch Doctor was the winner after the mostly cannonfodder were worn out. Guess Chuck will get to remove his fake mohawk now.

[Vermicious Knid]

And they were doing so well at first. At this point Witch Doctor just bores me.

Overhaul operators wearing cat-eared headphones just like the protagonist of the FLCL sequel, and the bot shares a name with a character from My Hero Academia. I'm sensing a theme...

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, enoughcats said:

yawn.  Witch Doctor was the winner after the mostly cannonfodder were worn out. Guess Chuck will get to remove his fake mohawk now.

I soon as I saw the line up, I figured Witch Doctor would win. It was overall a pretty soft group of opponents. 

[madmax]

Yay, Ghost Raptor actually won one!!  Boo, Witch Doctor is in.

I really like Whiplash, despite Matty Vasquez's crazy eyes.  Sucks that they get so close and lose every time.

WTF was Perfect Phoenix doing there?  That bot won shit last time it competed.  Mayhaps Ray Billingsley had something to do with its inclusion?

[libgirl2]

17 hours ago, madmax said:

Yay, Ghost Raptor actually won one!!  Boo, Witch Doctor is in.

I really like Whiplash, despite Matty Vasquez's crazy eyes.  Sucks that they get so close and lose every time.

WTF was Perfect Phoenix doing there?  That bot won shit last time it competed.  Mayhaps Ray Billingsley had something to do with its inclusion?

I like Whiplash too, just so close! 

[enoughcats]

I found a link for Th Night.  I'll accept your applause now because I had to read a bunch of stuff and there it was, hidden.

The matches are

Tombstone vs. Tantrum

Ribbot vs. End Game

Witch Doctor vs. Glitch

Skorpios vs. HyperShock

They didn't show the semifinals.

There was some additional info answering some questions there:

Quote

he spin-off marked the final appearances of Deep Six, DUCK!, Ghost Raptor, Pain Train, SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE and Triple Crown,

Quote

January 2022, the Perfect Phoenix team stated they would be exclusively competing in the spin-off competition due to conflicting schedule with team captain and driver Tyler Nguyen's school.[2] Notably, Big Dill and Double Jeopardy also returned for the spin-off, having been absent from the main season

Where I found this, scroll way, way down

[grommit2]

Hmmm...I have a hard time telling one bot from another.
But, who cares?
I just want to see smashing, bashing, crashing, parts flying, bots flying, and maybe some flames. 😜

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, grommit2 said:

Hmmm...I have a hard time telling one bot from another.
But, who cares?
I just want to see smashing, bashing, crashing, parts flying, bots flying, and maybe some flames. 😜

That’s all I really watch for! 😆

[CoderLady]

I know it's a "me" problem, but since I started watching Battlebots in 2018, I've got favorite bots, builders and drivers. I feel badly about wins and losses where before it was just all nonstop fun fights.

It started out for me with lots of glorious battles and I didn't care who won as long as the fights were epic. But now that I've seen some of them grow up, get married, retire because a best friend has died or because they want to spend time with family, or they reveal themselves as delightful or despicable, it affects how I watch fights.

I'm new to being a sports fan of any sort, so maybe this is just to be expected. I'm sure I'll get over it. It certainly won't stop me from watching, and I still love epic fights on replay just as much as seeing them the first time.

[enoughcats]

Yeah.  Like, double yeah.  and a knockout, by jimminy.  

[rmontro]

For all the hate Witch Doctor gets here, I thought its fights tonight showed it to be completely legitimate.  I knew it didn't have a chance against End Game though, I almost felt sorry for them.  They just can't get over that final hump, it's got to be frustrating.