Author Topic: Geo's Return and Noobcase  (Read 8523 times)

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Geo's Return and Noobcase
« on: October 20, 2014, 07:53:08 PM »
So I'm back. From a hiatus so long some of you may not even remember me. And because I feel too limited under the 800kg limit, I did not feel like my bot belonged in Stock. (I've used a few other modifications found in the downloads section as well). So here I am, in all my noobishness, with a new robot design. I dubbed it The Duster originally, but I don't feel like that's quite so fitting anymore. I just can't think of a good title for the thing now. Thoughts?



Ignore the cursor hanging out there :dead:



Non-visible Details:
Three SuperVolts visible, I got two more stacked before I lost patience
I'm using the Steel Square Extenders throughout the robot for all external pieces
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline RedSawn

  • aka RedlineM203
  • *
  • Posts: 1922
  • Rep: 4
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2014, 08:10:03 PM »
Well, it's a bit of a mess. Everything's all over the place, Redbirds are poor, N12s are wasted weight if they don't serve to keep your bot invertible, high ground clearance, square extenders look far cooler but are essentially useless compared to round extenders, saws in stock, vulnerable to wedges.

This is all assuming this is stock and not custom superparts that turn it into a invincible chariot of death, though. In which case constructive commentry/criticism would go out the window.




Offline Mr. AS

  • TheGloriousCarbideArstotzkanIronsideChaosProtocol
  • *
  • Posts: 7557
  • Rep: 19
    • robotarenagtm
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2014, 08:26:37 PM »
N12s are wasted weight
Yeah, pretty much.

If you're trying to get better at RA2, just choose a bot type and stick with it. None of this "it's gonna be, like, FIVE different bots dude!" nonsense, that doesn't work out in your favor very often. You might be able to get 2 types or 3 at the most on a single bot.

Keep all your weapons facing the front. AI doesn't drive around to your back and PvP online just isn't a thing apart from AI tournaments.

You're also 111.1 kg overweight.
How you make Alarm Clock Pizza is:
Step 1: You buy an alarm clock from the store, and then you have to break it and put it in the sauce.
Step 2: Fold the sauce in 5 slices and put it in the dough.
Step 3: Paint the eggs with a pitcher of a clock showing what time you want to wake up and eat pizza for breakfast.
Step 4: Put the eggs in the dough.
Step 5: Make it flat into a round shape and draw the time you want on it.
Step 6: Put some old steel to prevent other peple from stealing it.
Step 7: Make it flat and cut into 60 slices 1 for each minute in 1 our.
Step 8: Put in the oven set the timer to 30048813.2884 seconds and put the temperature on 'Volcano' setting.
Step 9: If you think it is take to long, then get yor alarm clock and set it to now so that it will ring and you can take it out.
Step 10: Take it out uv the uvin wen it is redy and go to bed. In the morning eat pizza and also eat yor hands bi mistake.

Offline Badnik96

  • tired of your shit
  • *
  • Posts: 17537
  • Rep: 3
    • Badnik96GTM
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • BattleBots Wiki
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Skype: Badnik96
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2014, 09:06:15 PM »
Hey welcome back dude. I just barely remember you from years and years ago.

To start with positives, it looks like you have empty space management down to a degree. Just don't make a box and fill it up with stuff, have an idea of what you're going to build before you build it, so you have an idea of what the chassis should be like.


Offline Naryar

  • Posts: 23283
  • Rep: 21
  • hybrids oui oui
    • http://www.youtube.com/us
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: TheMightyNaryar
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2014, 03:44:45 AM »
i do not remember you at all.

Also I will merge your old showcase with this one.

that building is kinda... intredasting because hybrids

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2014, 04:02:46 PM »
Thank you Badnik.

Okay, so I'm taking note here on all of your recommendations, and I'm left with a few questions:
I have to ask: is the apparent hatred of square extenders purely aesthetic? I downloaded from the Custom Components the Steel Square Extender thinking it might be best choice given its description.
I have chosen the Red Birds for the saved space, since it was my intention to have burst motors for the front and both sides (helpful for battles against multiple robots), but would it be better to just go with the ZTeks regardless?
The N12s I put on because I had completely forgotten which wheels actually were best and those seemed "okay enough"
I went for the weight because I just wanted to get all of my ideas out there firstly.

My ultimate goal here is to create a bot that can use the hammer style attacks competitively. I do intend on having LAN battles using this game inside my house.

Naryar, I appreciate that. I was going to resume from my old showcase, but I hadn't been here in so long that it appears those posts may have dropped off my list.
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline Lemonism

  • *
  • Posts: 666
  • Rep: 16
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2014, 04:11:44 PM »
Okay, so I'm taking note here on all of your recommendations, and I'm left with a few questions:
I have to ask: is the apparent hatred of square extenders purely aesthetic? I downloaded from the Custom Components the Steel Square Extender thinking it might be best choice given its description.
I have chosen the Red Birds for the saved space, since it was my intention to have burst motors for the front and both sides (helpful for battles against multiple robots), but would it be better to just go with the ZTeks regardless?
The N12s I put on because I had completely forgotten which wheels actually were best and those seemed "okay enough"
In Stock RA2 square extenders have the same hitpoints as round ones, but weigh more. If you downloaded a new custom one it might be tougher, though, but if you're just using the vanilla components go for the round extenders.
Red birds are not really powerful enough for heavyweight drive for the most part, so go for HP Zteks whenever possible. You don't really want to be concentrating your weapons anywhere except the front of your robot, because that's where you'll take most of your hits and where you want most of the damage to be done.
N12's are pretty heavy and not especially tough for the weight, shiny hub wheels are the lightest so it's best to go for those. They're also smaller, which is good for ground clearance and wedges.

There are some good hammer robots out there, you might want to look at some of the hammers KOS has made recently. You'll find them in his Stock Showcase. Example:
Download Mortis.py
Download some of my DSL2.2 Bots

Offline cephalopod

Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2014, 04:21:58 PM »
I downloaded from the Custom Components the Steel Square Extender thinking it might be best choice given its description.

Honestly if you're playing with custom components you shouldn't be worrying about how good/strong the components are, because the bots will never have a purpose outside of aesthetics or your own in-game stuff as they can't be used in 99% of tournaments.
bristol bot builders / two headed death flamingo / snappy robots
//
kindest and friendliest '13, '15, '16, '17 / favourite staff member '14, '15

Offline RedSawn

  • aka RedlineM203
  • *
  • Posts: 1922
  • Rep: 4
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2014, 05:01:46 PM »
Okay, so I'm taking note here on all of your recommendations, and I'm left with a few questions:
I have to ask: is the apparent hatred of square extenders purely aesthetic? I downloaded from the Custom Components the Steel Square Extender thinking it might be best choice given its description.
I have chosen the Red Birds for the saved space, since it was my intention to have burst motors for the front and both sides (helpful for battles against multiple robots), but would it be better to just go with the ZTeks regardless?
The N12s I put on because I had completely forgotten which wheels actually were best and those seemed "okay enough"

- Don't get me wrong, I'd use the stock square extenders over the round ones any day, if they had any benefit other then looking cooler. The problem is they weigh 5kg for every 20cm, compared to the round extenders' 2kg for every 20cm. They aren't any tougher, or any other sort of statistical or tactical benefit - they just look nice, at the cost of a whole lot of extra weight. Extra weight that can be used to add more weapons.
- Redbirds aren't worth their weight and long dimensions. Everyone would just go for the Z-Tek, yeah. Plan your bot around your components, not the components around your bot.
- There's two go-to wheels in stock - Shiny Hubs for the saved weight, and Rubber Wheels because they offer virtually perfect (if not perfect) ground clearance on a Z-Tek motor. There's no grip differences or HP differences like in DSL. The other wheels rank on a scale from niche uses to useless.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2014, 05:25:27 PM by RedlineM203 »




Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2014, 05:36:05 PM »
Okay, so this is what I'm currently looking at after the critiques.

Try and try as I did, I could not get the plows closer without either a) making them overlap, or b ) having them off center (personal peeve).
I've placed the small snapper 2 up top as a self-righting mechanism, and it has worked well in the AI fights I did.
I've tried out a few different weapons, but I'm failing to find any that seem to be doing the damage my original design with the motorized saw blade was able to perform. I have resized this robot multiple times, but this seems to be the smallest I can get the chassis given the current layout.
It is running as a two-wheel tank drive and under the ZTek HPs, is extremely responsive. I've been trying to stack the blacks, but all of my attempts on this bot have failed with my loss of patience.
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline RedAce

  • Host of The Award Winning Deathmatch Series
  • *
  • Posts: 3966
  • Rep: 21
  • Yep, I'm that RedAce guy.
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Skype: redaceofsp4des
  • Discord: ThatRedAceGuy#3618
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2014, 07:25:19 PM »
Welcome back, even though I don't even remember you.

For that kind of bot, here's some improvements I'd work on along with the others that have posted:

-Angle connectors aren't the most efficient way to build a bot since they only have one attachment point. Try to rotate the round extenders to a point where they used effectively, and use another round extender to attach the weapons and the plows.
-Don't use a separate burst motor for the self-righting mechanism. Use another extender that's longer which is more capable to help it get back on it's feet.
-Try to build until you reach the weight limit. Like attaching wedges on burst motors to help get a hold of your opponent, or try to attach something that will stabilize the bot so it doesn't jump around a lot when trying to attack.

Those are some of the major tips I can give to help improve this bot in particular. In case you are wondering on how you could improve your building skills, check out the Beetle Bros RA2 Building Techniques Site you can find right here:

http://beetlebros.gametechmods.com/ra2techs.htm

It provides detailed tutorials on how to build a good bot in general and has tips that I have said, but it shows good examples on how my suggestions can work.

Hopefully, I have helped out.

Offline R1885

  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • Rep: 3
  • Forum shopping list generator.
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2014, 07:25:21 PM »
1: While Rubbers are good in conjunction with wedges, on non-wedged robots they're a waste of weight. Shiny Hubs are better when wedges are not involved.
2: Angle connectors waste weight, smart usage of standard round extenders are far better and can support far more weapons for an equal amount of weight in angle connectors.
3: in terms of weapons, more is better. Razor tips(Like what you're already using) Iron Spikes, and Maces are the to go weapons, while Poll Spikes, Single Sided Icepicks, and Bear Claws are also good choices(They have normals, how ever, so they're kinda limited).
4: Snaper2 burst motors are only really good in very specialized areas, heavy lifting is not one of them. Its better to incorporate the scrimech into the weapon, simplest way is an extender.
5: Straight hammers kinda suck, angled hammers can skip straight to the to top of a robot. They also have the benefit of being able to avoid enemy weapons, saving the fragile extenders.

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2014, 08:27:43 PM »
Try to rotate the round extenders to a point where they used effectively, and use another round extender to attach the weapons and the plows.

Do you have any recommendations on the best way to do this? It's this reason I liked the square connectors since it lessened the amount of guesswork.
Is there maybe a method of determining, before complete attachment, where the side connections will be?
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline rnifnuf

  • Forum Linguist
  • Heavyweight
  • Posts: 434
  • Rep: 5
  • Proponent of competitive sonnet improvisation
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2014, 09:06:52 PM »
Try to rotate the round extenders to a point where they used effectively, and use another round extender to attach the weapons and the plows.

Do you have any recommendations on the best way to do this? It's this reason I liked the square connectors since it lessened the amount of guesswork.
Is there maybe a method of determining, before complete attachment, where the side connections will be?
When you rotate the components, the rotation looks choppy. This is because components are rotated by ten degrees per small interval. To rotate something by ninety (90) degrees, rotate the object by ten of these small intervals. Also, press F12 to show the collision meshes of the components. This will show that the collision mesh of the round extender is actually a square, making rotating the extender by 90 degrees easier.

If you really want help, read Clickbeetle's Stock building techniques and Component statistics. These were made by Clickbeetle, one of Gametechmods' administrators and RA2 genius. Trust any advice he gives.
Follow me on Twitter? I'd like to see you try!

Stock Showcase     DSL Showcase     Ironforge Showcase

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2014, 02:52:29 PM »
Also, press F12 to show the collision meshes of the components. This will show that the collision mesh of the round extender is actually a square, making rotating the extender by 90 degrees easier.

Dude, you just made my life like, 100x better with that one line.
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2014, 03:05:03 PM »
Okay, so this is where I now stand in the hammer design.

I have attempted to make the chassis as small as possible, but needed to actually add weight so that it doesn't flip itself over everytime I launch the burst motor. Also stacking the weight ballasts is extremely difficult. As well as the supervolts in this tiny space. I am 6 clicks high and (as always) using DSA. armor button you say? what armor button?

From here, I am wondering what recommendations can be made to improve this design's function. Especially the fact that the hammer falls off far too easily and I am completely lost about spamming more weapons on the hammer's end.
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline Natster-104

  • Ultra Heavyweight
  • Posts: 1406
  • Rep: 6
    • http://www.youtube.com/ch
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: natster-104
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #16 on: October 23, 2014, 03:18:27 PM »
One word. BALLASTS  :rage :rage :rage

but other than that, a pretty good start, I'd say you could make that DDT into a snapper2 (the green one, not the blue one) and downgrade it to a middleweight because other HW's will monster that

Offline R1885

  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • Rep: 3
  • Forum shopping list generator.
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #17 on: October 23, 2014, 03:19:22 PM »
1: Remove the balasts, they only help wedges in extreme cases.
2: Either stuff it to the full weight limit or go back to a middle weight.
3: That puny little iron is not going to help much, either have a rack of weapons or a plow.

Offline g2geo94

  • Antweight
  • Posts: 26
  • Rep: 1
  • Strange game..The only winning move is not to play
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Skype: G2geo94
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #18 on: October 23, 2014, 03:35:00 PM »
1: Remove the balasts, they only help wedges in extreme cases.
2: Either stuff it to the full weight limit or go back to a middle weight.
3: That puny little iron is not going to help much, either have a rack of weapons or a plow.

Rack of weapons. That's the thing I'm having trouble with. I see people spam weapons on to hammers and to the front of their bots, but I must be missing something because I can never seem to figure out exactly how to concentrate say, 10 razor blades onto a .1 square meter area.
Ask me for help on Linux!

Still very much an ra2 noob.

Offline R1885

  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • Rep: 3
  • Forum shopping list generator.
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Geo's Return and Noobcase
« Reply #19 on: October 23, 2014, 04:05:38 PM »
The trick is learning that weapon hit boxes are easily exploitable, its involves enough fiddling but eventually they fall into place. There's no easy way to describe it, it involves doing.