These are a few headlines about efficient and combat-effective DSL 2.1 building, though this is by no means an ultimate building guide. It is simply guidelines for making a bot well built.
1. BUILDING A CHASSIS AND CHOOSING CHASSIS ARMOR
What you need to know about your chassis is that it's weight is proportional to chassis HP. So the larger and heavier it is, the more HP it has. So making a smaller chassis is a way to gain kg's, but it will be more fragile as a result. Most armor choices gives a different HP amount to your chassis by weight invested.
Also, chassis armor choices are not all equal. Armors can be classified by their strength/weight ratio. In order of quality, the armors are:
-Pl3,Ti10,Ti5,Ti1 (all best armors you can have)
-St5, Pl5, Pl10 (good choices)
-Ti3,Pl1,Al3, St10(average to bad)
-St3, St1, Al1, Al5, Al10 (all just plain bad. Avoid)
-DSA (Awful choice, why are you even using this in DSL)
As you can see, Titanium is overall the best choice (with only 3mm being average, the others are the best armors you can have), then Plastic (1mm Plastic is bad, then the rest is good with 3mm being one of the best), Steel (with 5mm being the best and far away from the other ones), then Aluminium (you shouldn't be using this unless you want to go closer to the weight limit with a finished bot), then DSA (the default armor) which is absolutely awful and is utterly pointless in DSL anyways.
Don't build some random chassis then add components. As a community saying says, "build your chassis around your components, not the other way". Of course, you can't do that literally, but what it means is that think of what you're going to add, and try to minimize chassis volume overall. After all a smaller chassis is a chassis that evades more blows, and it's better to evade a blow in this game than take it, because while you can evade as much as your batteries let you, and you can take blows as long as your chassis resists, your batteries generally take longer to go down than your chassis. Of course, in most cases you have to take risks (aka blows) to beat your opponent, but that's where front armor or weapons are for.
2. POWERING YOUR BOT
You have two different stats for batteries : electotal and elecmaxinoutrate. The former is the total amount of battery power the battery holds, the latter is how much of that battery power the battery can output by unit of time. These must be compared to the weight to see how good the battery is.
Overall in DSL, ant batteries are best in electotal/weight ratio, and pretty good in elecmaxinoutrate/weight ratio. Other batteries might be worth it if you have burst motors.
Air tanks have an air variation of electotal and elecmaxinoutrate, that works in a similar way. Larger tanks are MUCH more efficient than the smaller ones.
Spin motors:Each and every spin motor can be powered by only one ant battery. However, if you have enough weight, you might want to use more ant batteries because one battery by spin motor isn't going to last more than two minutes.
Servos: Servos doesn't need power. Of course if you want to be realistic you might want to add one battery for servos and for the control board as well.
Burst motors: Burst motors are best fully powered, in amps. Check the needs for each burst motor on the motor's description and do not underpower your bot unless you really are short on weight.
Pneumatics: Pneumatics use quite a lot of power. Use long CO2 tanks if you can, these are the best by far. Generally, each piston needs at least one large CO2 tank. The Storm burst is even more powerful for more CO2 drain, and for less stroke length than the VDMA's.
3. DRIVE
I will only go in detail on the most basic, popular, and efficient type of drive, aka wheels on motors. If you want to use another drive, feel free to do so, but you will have to develop your skills on your own. I will simply state different types of drive and compare:
-Wheeled drive (wheels on spin motors) : fast, very grippy, good handling, very generic, decent HP
-Shuffler drive (extender components on spin motors, aka the poor man's walker) : very slow, very bad handling, decent to very good HP
-Crawler drive (shufflers with weapons) : Same as shufflers, but with weapons on the extender components. Does damage.
-Walker drive (mimicry of animal walking, with burst motors, slow pistons or servos most of the time) : Very slow, difficult handling, pretty bad HP. Extremely cool however, and you get good props for making a real, working walker. The more legs the better.
-Jumping drive (burst motors) : rather slow, bad handling and agility, decent HP. Not worth it in most cases, but it is rather amusing to see.
-Pneumatic torque reaction drive (pistons) : very fast but unwieldy. Drains pneumatic power really fast as well. HP can go from good (Storm pistons) to really bad (VDMA's)
Picking the right motors: There are specific motors you want and don't want to use for each weight class. NPC Fasts are the best motors overall, then NPCs, then E-Tek drives, then the other smaller motors. Note that many motors are NOT fitted for drive purposes. These are the Piglet, TWM3R, all magmotor gearboxes, all Perms, E-tek and double axles E-Tek.
-Copal : The lightest motor, and the worst in general. It is useful on AW's, BW's and SLOW LW's, but useless elsewhere. Never use more than two.
-Astroflight : See copal, but slightly better. Same uses as the copal, if you want less than minimal speed. Good for really slow MW's. Using more than two is a waste.
-Slimbody : Average motor, nothing more. Good on most LW's (popups and rammers need faster drive though). Good shape of motor as well. Do not use it on HW's or more. OK on slow MW's. Using more than two is a waste.
-TWM3,TWM3R Drive: Above average. Standard motor for fast LW's. Small, practical, useful. Using more than two, however, is a waste.
-NPC : Good motor. Can be used on LW's when you really depend on speed. For fast MW's, you might want to use NPC Fasts. Slow HW's might use that.
-NPC Fast : The most efficient motor in the game... as well as one of most fragile. Be aware that if it gets hit for more than 200 damage, it will lose half it's power. Is generally overkill on LW's, but nothing's stopping you to use a pair for laughs. All you need for a fast MW. Gives average speed to HW's as well, or better if coupled with good torque wheels.
-E-Tek Drive : And now for the last and most powerful motor. It is quite decent and has it's uses, despite not being as good as the NPCF.
Main problem is it's large size. Of course, it is no use for MW's and lower weightclasse. Can be put to good use on HW's and SHW's, and the only motor worth using on UHW's or larger.
Amount of motors: Overall, less motors tends to be more efficient, since less powerful motors use less electricity (all spin motors use 10 amps) and you get less weight to spend on wheels. 4WD or more is funny on anything lighter than a HW. Also, you are on crack if you use an uneven number of motors, but go on.
WHEEL CHOICE
How to read it : Grip is the torque multiplier, meaning that a wheel with 2 grip offers twice more acceleration than a wheel with 1 grip. Note that wheel size do not matter in speed.
Resistance has something to do with the turning speed, but it is unclear what it does. Resistance is fixed as a standard 0.2, excepted for wheels that have different resistance and are noted as such.
Ant wheel, large - 800 HP, 1 grip, 8kg - The smallest wheel you can be invertible with. Fits on NPC Fasts. It's pretty good, but is very fragile.
Ant wheel, small - 800 HP, 1 grip, 7kg - Pretty useless excepted on very slow bots or if you put the wheels inside the chassis.
Ant wheel, wide - 1000 HP, 1,2 grip, 9kg - The best ant wheel. Only problem is that it's small, therefore preventing you from adding it on tall motors.
All of the ant wheels are done for and should only be used in AW's, BW's, LW's and exceptionally on slow MW's.
Miniwheel - 1000 HP, 1 grip, 10 kg - A very average wheel. It's size is useful but it's stats are pretty lacking.
Shiny Hub - 2000 HP, 1 grip, 12 kg, 0.12 resistance - Stock's best wheel does decently in DSL. It's main appeal is decent HP for good size and light weight. Mostly useful on LW/MW.
Micro - 3000 HP, 1 grip, 13 kg - Pretty good if your motor alone satisfies your speed needs, because it has high HP for it's weight and size. If you are not searching for high HP, it's probably useless.
Rubber - 3000 HP, 1 grip, 13 kg - Exact same stats as the microwheel, but larger size. Can be useful or not depending on your overall bot height.
These are the light wheels, usable on most weightclasses. Most HW's and heavier don't use these though.
Vlad - 3500 HP, 1.3 grip, 16kg - Decent HP, good grip, all-around good wheel. Also, it looks cool.
Tornado - 3000 HP, 1.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 18kg - Actually worse than the vlad wheel statwise, but bigger.
Slipperbottom - 3000 HP, 1.3 grip, 18kg - Slightly bigger than the tornado wheel. Too bad it doesn't looks as attractive.
Hypno - 2800 HP, 1,5 grip, 18kg - One of the best wheels ever. While it is pretty fragile for it's weight, it brings you more acceleration than all the other wheels in it's weightclass ! It's mostly fit for flat, speedy bots.
DSL 1 - 2500 HP, 1.3 grip, 18kg - Compared to others it's pretty bad, it has a workable size though and it looks cool.
Tazbot - 3000 HP, 1 grip, 19kg - The main reason you should use this wheel is because it's big. Otherwise it is very average.
Backlash - 3000 HP, 1.1 grip, 19kg - Not a very attractive wheel statwise. It's pretty cool though, if unefficient.
DSL 2 - 2500 HP, 1.3 grip, 19kg - Aaaaand it's worse than the DSL 1 wheel. Not worth using if you're aiming for efficiency.
Pussycat - 3000 HP, 1 grip, 19kg - Not especially worth it in general. It's not the worst but meh.
These are all the medium weight wheels, usable on most weightclasses. In practice they are mostly useful on LW/MW/HW.
Motorcycle, small - 3000 HP, 1.3 grip, 20kg - One of the best wheels available in the heavy wheel division... which does not mean much, sadly. It's just plain worse than the vlad wheel.
Motorcycle, medium - 3000 HP, 1.3 grip, 25kg - Larger than the previous one but not bette statwise.
Motorcycle, large - 3000 HP, 1.3 grip, 30kg - The largest wheel available, which alone gives it a niche in building. Unfortunately it's not that good for the weight.
Slim - 3000 HP, 1.1 grip, 20kg - Not especially attractive in most cases. You can forget about that wheel really.
Fatboy - 3500 HP, 1.3 grip, 20 kg - Decent, for heavy wheel standards... It's pretty big and unwieldy though;.
Mud Tire - 2000 HP, 1 grip, 22 kg, 500 fracture - The only redeeming characteristic of this wheel is very high fracture, which makes it mostly immune to weak blows.
N-12 - 4000 HP, 1 grip, 22 kg - It looks pretty cool. Better than most heavy wheels though, but still pretty average
S3 - 3000 HP, 1 grip, 23 kg - A forgettable wheel, really.
T-Minus - 3000 HP, 1.2 grip, 25 kg - And again another wheel that has no use at all in efficient building. It's cool though, too bad !
Heavy wheels. Generally only useful on MW's and bigger. If they are used at all, really, because most of these wheels aren't really noticeable.
WBC wheel - 4000 HP, 2.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 37kg - A good wheel. Big enough, very high grip, a bit lacking in HP for it's weight.
Ford wheel - 4000 HP, 1.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 500 fracture, 30kg - Big, tough wheel. Good for long-lasting wheels. It's grip is a bit average though.
Cobra wheel - 4000 HP, 1.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 500 fracture, 37kg - Just like the ford wheel but far heavier, giving a clear advantage to the former. Too bad because they're cool and i mean... how badass does COBRA WHEEL sound ?
Overkill wheel - 5000 HP, 2.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 40kg - The mother of all wheels. It's big, strong, grippy. It's pretty heavy though and may be too large for your needs.
Techno wheel - 4000 HP, 2.3 grip, 0.1 resistance, 32kg - Probably the best wheel of the superheavies. Maximum grip for relatively low weight, and decent HP.
Superheavy wheels. Does happen occasionally on MW's, commonplace on HW's and higher weightclasses. Far more useful than the heavy wheels.
Tank tread, small - 8000 HP, 0.8 grip, 0.1 resistance, 40kg - An unwieldy component that is big and slow, and only restricted to Magmotor use. Not very practical in most cases.
Tank tread, large - 12000 HP, 1.5 grip, 0.1 resistance, 500 fracture, 60 kg - Quite a bit better than the small track. Still pretty unwieldy due to crazy wobbling if you don't use it with the only (weak) motor designed for it.
Tank treads find their use on HW's mostly, but are really only used for novelty. You can probably forget about efficiency if you want to use these.
4. EXTENDER WORK
Extender work is anything that links other parts of your bot (drive, armor, weapons, etc) to the baseplate. It is, in a way, "necessary weight wasted", because it's weight is not improving your bot in any way (unlike weight spent on drive/weapons/armor/batteries/wedges), but it is necessary to build your bot. For building a good bot, it is extremely important to minimize the total weight of extender work while keeping a reasonable extender strength for the exposed part of your extender work.
1-the most important, DON'T USE UNNECESSARY EXTENDER WORK. Always aim to reduce it to the strict minimum needed for the bot to function.
Have a look at your extender work when you finished a bot, then think "how could I improve it ?".
2-Use good extender work, that is light AND strong extender work. As a general rule, try to avoid exposed round extenders, cause they're rather fragile, and Steel is just too heavy. Also, all Stock extender work (the anglers, the baseplate anchor, as well as the awfully horrible omni connector) are generally useless. And don't use multi-extenders that are not directly attached to the baseplate, unless they are protected enough.
The relative strength of an externally-placed extender must be proportional to the threat posed by other bots to that extender. A steel round extender inside the chassis is weight wasted (as most of internal extender work that don't connect to the baseplate. If you really need inside extender work, go with plastic 20cm's), but on the other side of the spectrum a CF extender outside the chassis isn't suicidal if it is small enough and protected enough.
5. WEAPON CHOICE
Unless you're building a bot that doesn't need to damage it's opponent to win (flippers mostly), you'll need weaponry. Even though, you'll need a system which to get your opponent OOTA.
There are five numerical factors that matter in a weapon : weight, hitpoints, fracture, concussion, piercing, and normals, which are all found into that weapon's .txt.
Weight needs no introduction. Hitpoints are the total damage a weapon can take before fracture is taken into account. Fracture is the minimum damage a component needs to take in order to be ripped off once there are no HP remaining.
Concussion is the component damage multiplier. A high-concussion weapon tends to make more damage to the components than to the chassis, and therefore is good for defense and destroying the opponent's weapon and components. Sledgehammers are pure concussion weapons.
Piercing is the chassis damage multiplier. A high-piercing weapon tends to make more damage to the chassis overall, and therefore is better for directly attacking the enemy's chassis. They tend to lose to concussion weapons however. Vlad spikes are pure piercing weapons.
Concussion, piercing, hitpoints and weight have been balanced in DSL2.1 with that formula : (183.3*P+100*C)*HP*1/W = 60000 (roughly). Fracture has not been balanced, so higher fracture components are generally better.
Normals are a spatial limitation that mean a component is unable to deal damage in one or several directions. For example, slamming the flat part of a Minion disc in an opposing robot, will deal no damage or nearly no damage.
All weapon's piercing, concussion, hitpoints and weight have been numerically balanced in DSL 2.1, but they're still not equal due to other factors. I will list all the weapons here, and will underline the ones who are worth using.
Ant weapons group
Ant blade - 1600 HP, .65 piercing, .3 concussion, 5 frequency, 5 fracture - Unlike what the game says, it's 100% worthless as a weapon. Run away from it. As all sawblades, it only does damage with the edge.
Ant hammer - 3000 HP, .54 piercing, 1 concussion, 60 fracture - It has indeed better stats than the ant blade... it's still almost as useful as a ballast. Only does damage with the tip.
Flamethrower - 400 HP, no piercing and concussion, 30 kg - Flamethrowers do constant damage to anything in the game, but will not break anything or damage control boards. They also are the only legal ranged weapon in the game, and therefore have a solid niche in standard DSL building. To function, flamers need quite a lot of compressed air (since there is no fuel tank component). For some reason they also will not fire if no force is applied to them. Do not expose them ! They tend to work better if heavily armored.
Axe heads group
Standard axe - 2400 HP, 1.36 piercing, 0.5 concussion, 12 kg - Not as bad as the ant weapons, still pretty weak. Only deals damage with the axe's blade.
Fire axe - 2500 HP, 1.53 piercing, 0.3 concussion, 13 kg - It trades one attachment point for a double-sided normal, which really limits it's usefulness. It looks cool, but that's about all.
Gothic axe - 3600 HP, 1.2 piercing, 0.8 concussion, 18kg - Yet another cool looking weapon that is completely useless in competitive building due to unwieldy AP, weak offensive stats and normals. Does damage with both axe blade and rear pick weapon.
Battle axe - 4000 HP, 1.14 piercing, 0.5 concussion, 20 kg - For all it's intimidation factor, it's laughably weak. Only clueless newbies use this weapon. Really. It does only damage with the edges, as expected.
DSL hammers group
50kg hammer - 10000 HP, 3 concussion, 50kg - A decent weapon, the main interest of these hammers is that you can stack stuff on it.
45kg hammer - 9000 HP, 3 concussion, 45kg - Not much different than all the other hammers.
55kg hammer - 11000 HP, 3 concussion, 55kg - Same. It looks pretty solid as well.
70kg hammer - 14000 HP, 3 concussion, 70kg - The heaviest weapon in the game can indeed be pretty fearsome, especially on a dual perm. It's not the most efficient weapon ever but it sure can hit stuff.
Hammers group
30kg hammer - 6000 HP, 3 concussion, 30kg - The standard hammer. Unlike in Stock it does not suck. It's shape is more useful than the DSL hammer and it has different AP's, but you can't add other component weapons.
25kg hammer - 5000 HP, 3 concussion, 25 kg - It's quite useless because it's the only hammer with normals.
60kg hammer - 12000 HP, 3 concussion, 60kg - Decent weapon, mostly used as stall or when you don't want to use too much extender work.
Meat Tenderizer - 4600 HP, 2 concussion, 0.69 piercing, 10 fracture, 25kg - Now for an outlier. It's not much used, mostly because the fracture is bad and there are better piercing/concussion values available.
Spiked club group
Spiked club - 3500 HP, 0.9 concussion, 1 piercing, 16kg - Actually a variety of morning star. It's pretty average, but it has a niche as both a weapon and an extender.
Mace - 2200 HP, 0.9 concussion, 1 piercing , 10kg - No, it's not half as good as the stock one. It has a good shape for cover, and that's pretty much all.
Ice pick, double - 3200 HP, 0.4 concussion, 1.41 piercing, 16kg - Mostly useless because no one uses both sides of the ice pick. Use single sided ones instead. Only deals damage with both tips.
Ice pick, single - 1600 HP, 0.4 concussion, 1.41 piercing, 8kg - Only useful on vertical hammers, where it's attachment point is useful. Vastly overshadowed by other components though, mostly because it deals pretty low damage.
Spike strip group
Spike strip - 2500 HP, 1.63 piercing, 0.36 concussion, 14kg - It's handy to work with. It has however normals, and deals only damage with the stabbing end and serrated edge. It's mostly useful on wammers, still an average weapon only worth using when you can get rid of the normal problem. (e.g. don't put this on your spinner)
Iron spike - 2000 HP, 0.98 piercing, 1.2 concussion, 10kg - The most average weapon ever. Seriously. You may use it, but expect disappointment.
Razor tip - 1000 HP, 0.2 concussion, 2.18 piercing, 7kg - One of the best weapons ever, it's not widely used for nothing. It is a very damaging, yet quite fragile, weapon. If you can minimize the low HP issue by bot setup, you're doing it right !
Pointy tip - 1600 HP, 1.63 piercing, 8kg - It would be interesting if the normals didn't ruin everything. It may have some use on pokers but it's not used at all. Only does damage in one direction.
30cm pole spike - 1300 HP, 2.01 piercing, 8kg - Yet again another weapon suffering from pointy tip syndrome, just worse. It would be nearly as good as razors but the single sided, only normal ruins everything.
50cm pole spike - 1950 HP, 2.01 piercing, 12kg - See previous component.
70cm pole spike - 2600 HP, 2.01 piercing, 16kg - See 30cm.
DSL bar group
Standard bars - 270 HP/kg, 0.6 concussion, 0.87 piercing - These "weapons" all deal laughably weak damage, and are only average as armor. They are however widely used as spinner extender work, mostly because there is nothing better for long spinner bars. They only do damage with both edges.
20*30 bar - 1900 HP, 0.9 concussion, 0.92 piercing, 8.3kg - Still weak. Don't bother. Same normals.
30*40 bar - 2500 HP, 1 concussion, 0.98 piercing, 11.7kg - Still weak.
20*40 bar - 2000 HP, 0.9 concussion, 1.14 piercing, 10kg - Still weak.
Beater bars
Small beater - 1000 HP, 2.5 concussion, 140 fracture, 5 kg - Beaters are the best extender-like weapon, and the best concussion weapons ever. Can be spammed for massive damage, can be stacked, handy to work with due to large amounts of attachment points... what else do you need ?
Medium beater - 1500 HP, 2.5 concussion, 170 fracture, 7.5 kg - Just a larger beater. Technically better than the small beater, but less spammable.
Large beater - 2000 HP, 2.5 concussion, 200 fracture, 10kg - The last and bigger beater. The best defensive weapon ever. It's high fracture value makes it worth it.
Stock blades group
Canine VI ChewBlade - 5000 HP, 5 frequency, 1.09 piercing, 0.4 concussion, 20kg - It may look fearsome, but in fact it deals very weak damage and has not been used efficiently. Really. May be of value as a stall weapon due to it's stack potential, but... no tests have been done. It's not SFTW's weapon for a reason. Only deals damage with the edge.
Lawnmover blade - 4000 HP, 1.03 piercing, 1.1 concussion, 20kg - Yet again another completely useless weapon. It's overshadowed by so many other stuff it's not even funny. Yet again, it is made to cut grass, and you use it against plastic and metal... Only deals damage with the edge.
Sawblades group
Sawblade - 150 HP/kg, 2.18 piercing, 5 frequency - This is by far the best weapon with normals. It's very fragile, but it can really cut through stuff. The whole point of using this is attacking non-damaging components or the chassis. Do not use this against the opponent's weapons ! Only deals damage with the edge.
Teeth 1 group
Cutting tooth - 1400 HP, 1.09 piercing, 1 concussion, 30 fracture, 7kg - This would be OK without normals, but it DOES have normals so it fails. Only deals damage with the tooth's edge.
Ripping tooth - 3600 HP, 1.09 piercing, 1 concussion, 30 fracture, 16kg - It's frighteningly useless. It will not make a mess of your opponent as well as spike strips, already an average weapon. Only does damage with the tooth's edge.
Small DS tooth - 800 HP, 1.58 piercing, 1.35 concussion, 10 fracture, 5kg - Has more HP than expected, so it's overpowered due to a typo. It's small, deadly and it one of the four better weapons of DSL.
Large DS tooth - 1500 HP, 1.5 piercing, 1.23 concussion, 25 fracture, 12kg - Less good than the small DS teeth, still one of the better weapons available.
Teeth 2 group
Steel shark tooth - 1000 HP, 1.14 piercing, 0.7 concussion, 4kg - It's not only a bitch to work with, but it is far too small to work well. It also has only average stats. Don't use this, really, even if it has no normals.
Matilda tooth - 1500 HP, 0.76 piercing, 0.6 concussion, 10 fracture, 5kg - Yes, it's tough. But as a result it is quite weak offense-wise and not really worth it. It looks cool though.
Hypno tooth - 1600 HP, 1.5 piercing, 1 concussion, 90 fracture, 10kg - It has very solid stats and no normals. However, it is not the easiest component to work with due to single attachment point and awkward shape. Still better than most components.
..TBC