JoystickHero's Rockin' Showcase!

[JoystickHero]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!

Been a couple of days since I first started playing RA2 now, and I've been experimenting with designs, playing, and reading the wiki a good bit. Think I feel confident enough to throw my hat in and say hecko.

So, without further ado, the first bot that I've let see the light of day, Kinetitronic!

Kinetitronic
Heavyweight



Type: Horizontal Spinner
Chassis: 10mm Titanium
Propulsion: Piglet Brushless Motor x4
Power: PN Battlepack x6, Ant Battery x2
Weaponry: DSL Hammer #1 x2, attached to 100cm steel extenders, and spun by a Tornado Mer Gearbox.

Pros

• Powerful weaponry
• Durable construction
• Pretty snazzy lookin'

Cons

• Poor control
• Weak drive train
• No secondary weaponry

Definitely need to fix up the drive train.

[Reier]

Not bad for a first bot.

Couple of tips:

Piglets aren't good for drive, they lack the torque to be effective.
A general rule is about one ant battery per spin motor or so.

Nice job building to the weight limit, most new users don't do that. ;D

[Somebody]

Looks good for a first bot. Not much empty space (good), to the weight limit (good)m, and some good weapons (good).

You seem to have potential...

[Reier]

SB you make it sound like empty space is good. :P

[JoystickHero]

I'll be honest, the drive train really needs help, just about anything with four wheels can push me wherever they want me to go, and there's rarely much I can do about it. Snow Job has humiliated me, for crap's sake. I just have a lot of trouble fitting Magmotors into a symmetrical frame.

[Somebody]

Whoops I messed that up.

I'll fix it momentarily.

@JH: Even Astroflights would make better drive.
What is the armor?

[cephalopod]

NPC Fasts are the most commonly used drive motors, and for good reason. They rock. Use the left/right versions and for some reason you can even mount them half-outside the chassis. They weight double a piglet (40kg) but 2 fasts are easily better than 4 piglets in my opinion, especially with the right wheels (the grippest small wheels are Hypnos, otherwise you'll be going up to the big wheels like Techno Destructos)

[Naryar]

Good, no. Not too bad, yes.

Anyways, you need a more efficient drive, probably a better motor and less batteries. NPC Fasts are awesome, and 1 to 2 ant batteries per spin motor is enough.

Also DSL bars are better than extenders for weapon holding job.

[JoystickHero]

@JH: What is the armor?

10mm Titanium.

NPC Fasts are the most commonly used drive motors, and for good reason. They rock. Use the left/right versions and for some reason you can even mount them half-outside the chassis. They weight double a piglet (40kg) but 2 fasts are easily better than 4 piglets in my opinion, especially with the right wheels (the grippest small wheels are Hypnos, otherwise you'll be going up to the big wheels like Techno Destructos)

This is useful information. Thank you! This is why I asked you guys, I'd have to learn all this on my own, and I'm terrible at that.

@Nary:
Yup. Definitely needs a better drive. And if you mean the DSL Tribar, I've tried that. Usually just resulted in me spinning upside down, wishing I had a SRIMech. (Hence, the spike on top)

[Naryar]

I mean the weapon DSL bars. They're tougher than regular steel extenders and deal some damage.

[JoystickHero]

I mean the weapon DSL bars. They're tougher than regular steel extenders and deal some damage.

Oh, those! I'll be honest, I was so caught up in not being too much like Tornado Mec that I completely forgot those had attach points.

[Somebody]

Ok, first of all.
Decrease the armor to something around Titanium 3, or at the most 5. You don't need that much armor. Then take out the Piglets and find a way to put in about 4 NPC Fasts, with some good wheels. (Try hypnodisc wheels). Then decrease the batteries. You only need at the least 1 ant to power the spin motor, and you can power the wheels as well. Ant batteries are like god to naryar. They are verrry efficient and you get a lot of power out of them. They are much better than Battlepacks.

[JoystickHero]

Ok, I've taken the suggestions, stripped out a lot of battery weight, put in some NPC fasts, and am tinkering with armor thickness.

The difference was immediately obvious. I've gone from plodding along, almost completely unable to turn except how my blade wants me to, to being fast AND strong. Like, really fast. I crashed into the test room's wall when I first hit the throttle.

Edit: A new problem has presented itself. With my lighter body (I'm currently at about 700 kg right now, and that's with 5mm steel) and high speed, the weight of my weapons is actually proving to be a bit of a liability. If I make a turn too fast, especially if I'm speeding up, I get flung right around. I could downgrade to lighter hammers, but that'd also mean weaker ones, and I have enough problems with the things coming off as it is. Advice?

[cephalopod]

Don't downgrade, cos then you'll be dancin' all over the arena. I'd say just put more weight into the bot if you can - maybe making use of the halfsheets in the extras menu if you don't know what to use - theres an attachment point which means you can pop them on the bottom of the chassis and they will never fall off. Ever. (In other words excellent bottom armour) But it sounds like - if you have 2wd - you could put another pair of motors and wheels on.

[R0B0SH4RK]

You could actually upgrade your hammers to 70 kg ones. As for your stability problem, it sounds like you actually have too many drive motors (if you still have 4WD). Personally, I think that two NPC Fasts with hypno wheels are more than enough for HW HS's.

And I hope you stick around. It's not exactly every day that we get a new member, let alone one who can post in complete sentences.

[JoystickHero]

Ok, a couple different plans going on. First, I tinkered with weight, and found that I could actually upgrade to the 6-engine. I basically had to tear out the entire inside to get it to fit, but I did, and there's a LOT of kinetic energy getting involved now.

Gonna try rebuilding it as a square to keep the engines inside the armor. One sec.

[Resetti's Replicas]

Take a new picture whenever you make major changes.  It's hard to give good advice when all we have is a mental image.

[JoystickHero]

Take a new picture whenever you make major changes.  It's hard to give good advice when all we have is a mental image.

Here's what I've got so far, currently working around Steel 5, and considering moving the Ants around so I can keep my wheels internalized.

[cephalopod]

I would recommend sticking the NPC's out of the chassis and making the chassis smaller - if you wanna know what I mean, grab a NPC Fast Right, take it to the bottom right corner of your bot and look at how far out of the chassis you can attach it. This could help cut down on weight to be used for more weaponry :D

[Badnik96]

How much do the weapons weigh? 'cuz right now it's

uuuuuuuuunnnnnndddddeeeeerrrrrwwwweeeiiiigggghhhhhtttttt

(Yes, I want to start a new meme :P)