d-larks DSL showcase

[Squirrel_Monkey]

A popup is a wedged bot that gets under a bot using preferentially burst motors and small wedges on them, and then when under the bot, uses very short hammers concealed in the body,Gut-ripping their underside.
Have a high ADC.
There was no such thing as a popup in the beginnings of RA2. The first popup was built by JimXorb.
A good popup needs to have a strong drive train but also a very good wedge and if you can, frontal armor. The best weapons used on popups are razor tips.

[Sage]

If you have a ton of defense it won't help when you lose all your weapons. Try using weapons as defense as well as offense, and spend most of your weight on a god weapon system. If you have a popup, however, spend most of your weight on armor.

[R0B0SH4RK]

I wrote this last night, but my internet died before I could post it. It still applies now though.
 

And it was said somewhere earlier that mini ray was something of a copy of one of your bots Robo shark, I do apologize I was not trying to copy any of your designs, but you are pretty much the king of HS so i suppose its impossible

Most of the builders here really don't mind if you copy designs, just give credit where credit is due (ie: if you deliberately copied off of someone, just say who). In fact, I'd say that I encourage copying off of better builders. If someone can pull the designs off, it's quite a testament to their skill.
 
I wish that I was the king of HS though. Scrap Daddy, Sage, and InfiniteInertia are all better HS builders than myself. Mini-Ray's original design is pretty standard as far as DSL LW HS go however, so you didn't really need to apologize there. I appreciate it though. It's good form - and it gets you serious-ass brownie points with the rest of the community.
 
quote author=Scrap Daddy link=topic=3133.msg95241#msg95241date=1263692540]A lot of potential in this showcase...
 
I agree. Also, OMFG IS THAT A POLAR BEAR WITH CHAINSAW ARMS?? :O
 

I find lightweights easy to build due to their relative simplicity, it is when i try building middleweight or heavy weight bots i get confused and end up screwing up and making something that doesnt deserve to exist. Any tips? Like what should i focus on with a heavy weight, wedges weapons armor? how much weight should go to each part?
 
And can someone please explain popup to me, I just don't understand them.

For your first question, It really depends on what you're building. For HS, you'll need the majority of your weight going to your weapons system, for Rammers: your drive train, and for Gut-Rippers (popups, jugglers, etc.) it's more of a happy medium between drive, weapons, armour, and wedges.
 
On popups: their main purpose is to drive under an opponent and attack their vulnerable undersides. Generally, they are not made for sustained matches, as they either have very little armour and tons of weapons (see: R4), or tons of armour and very few weapons (see: Bounty Hunter). For this strategy to work though, popups must be able to get under their opponents. For this you need excellent wedges and fast drive (It's been proven that faster bots get under slower bots - all other things being equal). They jury's still out on how to make unbeatable wedges (though Naryar might tell you otherwise. Take his advice though - he does know his stuff), but you'll generally want to use weaponry with high piercing. Razor tips are a favourite for their reach and damaging capabilities, but light 2-sided DSL teeth can be used too.
 
Hope this helps :)

[123savethewhales]

You lose when all your weapons breaks, so unless you don't expect your weapons to make contact with enemy weapons, have as much weapons as possible.  If you expect your weapons to clash with enemy weapons, then have at least 80kg for MW, and 180kg for HW, and more if you can fit them.

[Pwnator]

use ant wheel wide if you can squeeze out 4kg, it will make your bot faster.

You could probably replace the rear DSL bar with something slightly lighter and upgrade the wheels to wide ants. :D

[Naryar]

Razors are king on popups, and yes, they must be fast, armored, and damaging. However, most of them have really light weapons compared to other designs (generally 2-3 razor tips on a LW, 6-8 on a MW and 8-12 on a HW).

For your bot, you should consider also that DSL bars do have normals (they do damage only with the sharpened sides, not with the flat sides), reducing their efficiency as weapons. 123's Vlad forklift idea was a pretty interesting one i think...

[d-lark]

Well, I've put further development of mini ray on hold while I try and sort out my larger weight issues.

Here is my first attempt a VS, called VS WIP at the moment



4 battlepacks, 1 ant
3mm Titanium.
weight is 897.3 kg i think

Major stability issues, still working on self righting, flipped way too easy, and needs that massive set of spikes and two 60 kg hammers to keep the spinner from hitting the ground.


Major Stability issues

[Sparkey98]

ohhhh, a VS thwack
 
for stability, I'd use a ballast, but I don't know about DSL.....

[090901]

DON'T USE BALLASTS!
You should use perms, and put them on at a angle, not straight forward. Then put wedges/DSL bars level with wheels the front of the bot. Put dsl bars like this / \ if you use the dsl bars. Then, you don't need a weight in the back.

[Naryar]

DON'T USE BALLASTS AND DONT GIVE ADVICE TO A GAME YOU DO NOT KNOW

Anyways, you really just need 6 ants on this. Remember: rule is 1-2 ants for each (and ANY) spin motor on the bot.

[somestrangeguy]

And on top of this the Hammers go trough the drive motors, wich isnt realistic.

[d-lark]

Heres V2 fixed the realism problems, and took some tips on stability


Al 5 8 ants

[090901]

Use plastic 5, it's better than Al 5

[RedSawn]

Hmm, that's very very short. I'd imagine it being easy to tip over backwards, even just from driving. Go for Plastic 5 as it's far better value, and perhaps use the weight for a wheelie bar? Generally The closer to the ground and further back it goes, the more stable it will be as it tries to tilt in that direction.

That weapon could be improved - The motors are exposed dramatically. You could increase the chassis space (just enough) to fit the motors in - if a part is attached to the baseplate (and not another component) it is invincible. Granted, motors still take damage and smoke, but they won't come off like weapons, and leave you without any.

Just my thoughts.

[123savethewhales]

1.  Use Large Bike Wheels should allow this to be fully invertible.

2.  Try to put a titanium halfsheet on the bottom of the bot if you can.  Top armor will also help.

[d-lark]

Forget that, my DSL crashed and I was not able to save him, on the other hand here is my latest idea.

This is with Plastic 3

[Squirrel_Monkey]

Popup? and replace the three metal hinges with one door hinge.

[G.K.]

Nice! I'd say downgrade the extenders to aluminium or poly and upgrade the wheels to vlads. How may batts does it have?

[Reier]

What's the armor?

[G.K.]

This is with Plastic 3