Kossokei's DSL Showcase: "Dustiest IRL Builder"

[Kossokei]

Alright, this is my DSL Robot Showcase (obviously!) I have plenty of bots to showcase, but I'll start with one so it's less confusing.

This is The Power.



(removed the disc on the top so you could see better)

It's stock version was a FS that was basically fast and strong and hecka maneuverable. I couldn't manage that as well in DSL, so I made a similar drive-system and put a huge drum on the front, and added a srimech. Armored all the way around even on top, this bot has been doing alright for me. The Srimech is rather weak and can't always heave the 700-something KG (or lbs, whichever it was) onto it's feet. Other than that, does some pretty good damage, never runs out of power and does pretty well. Suggestions? Questions? Equestrians?

[Gropaga]

No stacking in DSL. (your bsg flipper thing stacks with car steering)
Car steering is bad.
Use 5 ant for this (unless you use flipper)

[COOLRUNNER87]

There's only one good thing I can see on this: it's well-armored.

Now, for the list of things that can be improved:

-Drive. Car steering in all situations is inadvisable; not only does it leave you having a large turning radius allowing opponents to get to the back and sides and rip your guts out, but it also wastes space for better, quicker options.
-Sri-mech. In this case, you really don't need a self-righter. Good, large tires (such as Techno or Overkill Wheels) will eliminate any need for it in case you want to keep it at this height.
-Power. I know you're new at this, so consider this a pointer: you only need 1 ant battery per non-burst motor. Burst motors do require more; in this case, your BSG needs 2.5 ants to be fully powered. So, to run this robot, you will need a minimum of 7 ants, with a maximum at about 10 ants.
-Space. Having loads of empty space, while beneficial to the chassis HP, does nothing but eat up weight that can be shuttled elsewhere to the robot, especially the weapon.

There's quite a bit more that can be improved on, but I'd much rather have someone more experienced with making good robots come in and critique this.

[Kossokei]

There's only one good thing I can see on this: it's well-armored.

Now, for the list of things that can be improved:

-Drive. Car steering in all situations is inadvisable; not only does it leave you having a large turning radius allowing opponents to get to the back and sides and rip your guts out, but it also wastes space for better, quicker options.
-Sri-mech. In this case, you really don't need a self-righter. Good, large tires (such as Techno or Overkill Wheels) will eliminate any need for it in case you want to keep it at this height.
-Power. I know you're new at this, so consider this a pointer: you only need 1 ant battery per non-burst motor. Burst motors do require more; in this case, your BSG needs 2.5 ants to be fully powered. So, to run this robot, you will need a minimum of 7 ants, with a maximum at about 10 ants.
-Space. Having loads of empty space, while beneficial to the chassis HP, does nothing but eat up weight that can be shuttled elsewhere to the robot, especially the weapon.

There's quite a bit more that can be improved on, but I'd much rather have someone more experienced with making good robots come in and critique this.

The car steering is there because, while I admit the size of the component annoys the living crap outta me, it's the only component that allows me to turn and have All-wheel-drive at the same time, and while this isn't the fastest bot out there, I think it's important that I can get myself out of bad situations with all 4 wheels driving. It also allows me not to be screwed when my big rear tires are chopped off, because I can claw myself around with the front wheels.

The srimech, I prefer over having huge overkill styled tires, because huge overkill styled tires gives my opponent a large target, and in this case it conflicts with the roof armor, the big disk.

When it comes to the power, I can never be too sure and I hate it when I run out, but I'll take the advice anyway.

And finally, Space. I'd rather have a little too much than not enough, it's something my TV Productions instructor taught me. Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it.

[Mr. AS]

drum spinning down = fail

The car steering is there because, while I admit the size of the component annoys the living crap outta me, it's the only component that allows me to turn and have All-wheel-drive at the same time

just get 4wd npc fast with small wheels and wire all the motors to turn when hitting left and right

[Kossokei]

Why is it a fail? When the drum spins down, it basically claws the opponent into my grasp, crushing and tearing at the same time. When used on an unguarded part of the opponent's robot, preferably behind them, it basically keeps them from moving while tearing into them at the same time, and if they can't turn around, they can't attack.

But everything I just said is worthless because the teeth are actually the wrong way and the drum does indeed spin up, not down. Gotta fix that 

[12yearOldPwner]

Canine saw blades fail. Like SFTW.
And also try not to use the car steering. It sucks.
Like they said we do not tolerate intersecting components in DSL.
4 NPC fasts will do and try making it a rammer.

[Kossokei]

Canine saw blades fail. Like SFTW.
And also try not to use the car steering. It sucks.
Like they said we do not tolerate intersecting components in DSL.
4 NPC fasts will do and try making it a rammer.

Before the Canines were there, I had little spikes on either end, they were kinda useless. Without something on the end, I just think it looks bare, it's not for functionality. I guess I'll get rid of the car steering though, and take your advice.

About the intersecting components, or the "snapper glitch" as I like to call it, why not? I can't seem to make a srimech without doing so and I can't see how it can be used to exploit worse glitches. I apologize if I come off as ignorant but I'm a little curious.

[Gropaga]

Canine saw blades fail. Like SFTW.
And also try not to use the car steering. It sucks.
Like they said we do not tolerate intersecting components in DSL.
4 NPC fasts will do and try making it a rammer.

Before the Canines were there, I had little spikes on either end, they were kinda useless. Without something on the end, I just think it looks bare, it's not for functionality. I guess I'll get rid of the car steering though, and take your advice.

About the intersecting components, or the "snapper glitch" as I like to call it, why not? I can't seem to make a srimech without doing so and I can't see how it can be used to exploit worse glitches. I apologize if I come off as ignorant but I'm a little curious.

make it invertible, use wheelguards to prevent wheels from becoming a target

[12yearOldPwner]

Canine saw blades fail. Like SFTW.
And also try not to use the car steering. It sucks.
Like they said we do not tolerate intersecting components in DSL.
4 NPC fasts will do and try making it a rammer.

Before the Canines were there, I had little spikes on either end, they were kinda useless. Without something on the end, I just think it looks bare, it's not for functionality. I guess I'll get rid of the car steering though, and take your advice.

About the intersecting components, or the "snapper glitch" as I like to call it, why not? I can't seem to make a srimech without doing so and I can't see how it can be used to exploit worse glitches. I apologize if I come off as ignorant but I'm a little curious.

Forget about what I said about the srimech. I've notice you had that disc on top.
Maybe try to mount the burst motor on a multi extender and raise it to the top of the bot then put a Ti sheet or Ti extender.

[Naryar]

I... somehow like it. It's messy, but in a cool way.

Although there are many things to be improved in an efficiency viewpoint. Most notably, car steering sucks, these small teeth are bad as well and your wheel choice is not the best.

Go see into other showcases for ideas and building tips. Just start your own personal style when you're done learning.

[12yearOldPwner]

I learned building better bots from Naryar. Just listen to him and you will become a better builder someday.

[Gauche Suede]

I learned building better bots from Naryar. Just listen to him and you will become a better builder someday.

and I learned building better bots from NFX(mostly). And here's the best showcase for newbs to read at:
https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,2349.0.html

[Classicus]

You remind me of my own building when I started out. I'm not one for dishing out advice as I tend to just do my own thing. Listen to these guys to learn what's efficient, but its important to keep your own style while keeping efficiency in mind. I quite like that first bot as well.

[Naryar]

I learned building better bots from Naryar. Just listen to him and you will become a better builder someday.

and I learned building better bots from NFX(mostly). And here's the best showcase for newbs to read at:
https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,2349.0.html

Nonsense, 123 was good since he started. Newbies should ideally see a showcase from someone who was average, then went into a good builder.

[ty4er]

those teeth aren't very good weapons for heavyweights, you'd want light ds teeth and a lot more of them. Probably on extenders instead of drums. You can get rid of the srimech and just get slightly bigger wheels (you might need to learn how to axle load though) and of course replace the car steering with npcs. And you don't want really corners like that at the front, it leaves a bit of  the chassis (which you should make smaller) exposed and wastes weight. You probably won't need the plow at the back (or atleast one as heavy) either.

I learned building better bots from Naryar. Just listen to him and you will become a better builder someday.

and I learned building better bots from NFX(mostly). And here's the best showcase for newbs to read at:
https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,2349.0.html

Nonsense, 123 was good since he started. Newbies should ideally see a showcase from someone who was average, then went into a good builder.

hi

[NFX]

Definitely looks interesting. As others have said, it's well armoured, but that's about it. First thing to do is ditch the car steering, it's hideously inefficient. In a combat situation, you want to be able to turn on the spot, so your opponent can't attack your vulnerable sides. You do this by wiring all the motors to turn Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise when you're Wiring them. A single BSG will also struggle to lift more than 150kg. If you go through showcases, the better LW flippers have 2 BSGs, and MW's tend to have 4.
 
You can also run every spin motor from a single ant (counter-intuitive, I know, but that's RA2 Physics for you), but burst motors need to be fully powered. As such, you could theoretically run the robot you have now from only 7 ant batteries. They are preferred over other batteries because they have more electotal for their weight (I think that's the one, I'm not as up on the inner workings of RA2 as other members). You should start out by taking a look through some other showcases, and seeing what components people use. Some components are more efficient than others, and better for their purpose. =)

[Mr. AS]

Why is it a fail? When the drum spins down, it basically claws the opponent into my grasp, crushing and tearing at the same time.

ummm you are aware that ra2 is NOT real life right ?

if its spinning up it has a better chance of getting under the opponent and damaging their exposed undersides

[Gauche Suede]

Why is it a fail? When the drum spins down, it basically claws the opponent into my grasp, crushing and tearing at the same time.

ummm you are aware that ra2 is NOT real life right ?

if its spinning up it has a better chance of getting under the opponent and damaging their exposed undersides

and besides, if you do make a spinning-down drum in real life, you would get flung in contact with the opponent.......

[Jack Daniels]

You will find that, more often than not, the undercarriage of an opponents bot is very vulnerable.  If you have a drum spin up, not only will it usually keep the opponents weapons up above your bot and harmless, it will also allow your bot to tear at the fragile undercarriage.  There are some builders here that make "gut rippers" which specifically wedge under another bot and tear at it from the bottom. A properly build gutripper is wicked nasty!

With showcases come critics, just remember that the feedback can help you improve and try not to focus on being defensive. It's all good!

The past to efficient bot building is long and tedious.  (and sometimes it doesn't make any sense at all... like ant batteries... seriously wtf.)