Newbluud's Showcase of New-Blood Non-talent

[newbluud]

Introductions are in order. My name is Newbluud and I grew up on Robot Wars UK.

I got the game two days ago and have blown my free time on it as much as humanly possible. I looked into tutorials and read a few, but have thus far tried to be hands-on and experimental in my learning. After all, I wanted this new game to be fun, not a top-heavy learning exercise. But, after this long period of around six hours playtime, I think it's time for me to git gud, or whatever the equivalent term is in this community.

So, I went through a few of the showcases and picked up a few things. I then promptly decided that all of my bots thus far would probably get me a link to a tutorials master list and a friendly pat on the rear in that direction. I got working and tried to follow the IRL guidelines to make something worthy of critique.

With that, I introduce Dispatchwerk:


Middleweight, reasonably agile and a weapon that can end a would-be competitor in seconds provided I abuse the AI pathfinding and don't have to fight a shell spinner, Dispatchwerk is a solid 4/10. Also, it's invertible - kinda. I can list parts if it is too difficult to see the guts, I know I've not made the easiest bot to see inside.

I'm quite aware that I've a lot of ground to cover, but ADHD can make it pretty damn hard to sift through the War and Peace of internet tutorials and leave ten times as able as I am now. So, I come looking for some focused pointers.

Disclaimers:

• I have no delusions of grandeur. I'm well aware my little bot is pretty sucky, even for a first attempt at IRL.
• If I ask "Why" to advice, it is not because I disbelieve you or am trying to be standoffish, it's simply because knowing the reasons behind things will help me apply it in different contexts
• I've hated Razer from childhood to the present day.

Bonus image taking out suppressed emotional baggage on my least favourite bot of all time:

 

[Naryar]

Actually, for a first showcased bot, this is quite good. Not "oh my god this is the best first showcased bot ever", but noticeably above average.

don't know what's up with all those flippermakers ? Are they for aesthetics ?

[newbluud]

Actually, for a first showcased bot, this is quite good. Not "oh my god this is the best first showcased bot ever", but noticeably above average.

Thank you. I guess I'm a little tentative because most of the recently bumped threads tend to be showcases of people with a lot more experience than me, so I came into this pre-humbled.

don't know what's up with all those flippermakers ? Are they for aesthetics ?

Well, my original plan was to create an outer cage, making that chassis harder to tag. I may be misunderstanding some of the mechanics, but I'm pretty sure impacts to the flippermakers would not contribute to chassis damage. Then I discovered the rule of 7, but found myself kind of attached to how it looked (even became the namesake).

I'm not 100% familiar with all parts available, so I don't know what I should be using if I'm looking to armour myself up a little nicer. The flippermakers seemed the easiest to manipulate without sticking bars out in every direction while avoiding clipping.

[Naryar]

Flippermakers are decent armor, very practical and a favorite for armor in IRL, but they are a bit messy ATM since they point in five different directions. Make a more regular armor out of them.

You can also use the hex plates for armor.

[newbluud]

Alright. I think it may require another bot to make that work. I'm trying to get the hang of having a full design going in instead of just "I want a spinner" then making it up as I go along.

I'll post results here when I have the time.

[Jet-speed]

Isn't bad at all. Main things that stand out to me other than Nary's mention of the flipper-maker shenanigans:

- As you yourself mentioned, it's good to have a decent idea of what you intend to build going in, this helps you take best advantage of your weight. You've got about 30kg to work with before you enter heavyweight. Building to the weight limit is a big deal. Having said that, adding pointless components to reach it is bad practice. Perhaps try re-jiggling your weapon to add more oomph to it. Beater bars are a solid choice, having just 4 however could no doubt be improved.

- The plow on the back. What you're going for is logical, but the argument could be made to simply never give your opponent your back, in which case that 35kg (iirc) is going to waste. Generally when people armour their rears, they intend to have their robot AI'd, since you can't trust the AI to drive particularly intelligently. Typically a moot point otherwise.

- The wheel choice to achieve invertibility is cool, but I would argue you'd be better served using a smaller wheel (along with a different orientation of that drive motor if necessary) in order to get more mileage out of your wedge. Having such a ludicrous ground clearance could be affecting it. With some changes to your weapon, you could no doubt get it to function as a srimech when spun down towards the floor, so you aren't left with a massive weakness to being flipped.

+1 for Razer. 

Edit: That's a point, welcome to the forums. ^^

[Thrackerzod]

Cool bot dude!

I don't build IRL often so I can't give advice there, but just wanted to say welcome to the forum!

your showcase name reminds me of mine

[newbluud]

Isn't bad at all. Main things that stand out to me other than Nary's mention of the flipper-maker shenanigans:

This was the first bot I chose to use flippermakers, so I got... uh... creative. Imagine a toddler being allowed fingerpaints and a ten-metre-squared canvas with all the time in the world...

- As you yourself mentioned, it's good to have a decent idea of what you intend to build going in, this helps you take best advantage of your weight. You've got about 30kg to work with before you enter heavyweight. Building to the weight limit is a big deal. Having said that, adding pointless components to reach it is bad practice. Perhaps try re-jiggling your weapon to add more oomph to it. Beater bars are a solid choice, having just 4 however could no doubt be improved.

I was having issues with clipping by trying to add more beater bars to the disk. The game was dictating that they were intersecting another component. I'll upload a thrown-together lightweight that I have to show you what I was trying to do with additional beater bars.

As you can see, it had triple the beater bars and often one or two-shot enemies if I got a clean hit the the chassis, which is pretty easy against lightweights.

- The plow on the back. What you're going for is logical, but the argument could be made to simply never give your opponent your back, in which case that 35kg (iirc) is going to waste. Generally when people armour their rears, they intend to have their robot AI'd, since you can't trust the AI to drive particularly intelligently. Typically a moot point otherwise.

I'm trying to build as if I intend to AI my bots. I can't really assess my designs fully while playing them, because it is so easy to outwit the AI.

- The wheel choice to achieve invertibility is cool, but I would argue you'd be better served using a smaller wheel (along with a different orientation of that drive motor if necessary) in order to get more mileage out of your wedge. Having such a ludicrous ground clearance could be affecting it. With some changes to your weapon, you could no doubt get it to function as a srimech when spun down towards the floor, so you aren't left with a massive weakness to being flipped.

That's a point. Right now, the vertical flywheel thing is powered by a switch. I'd probably get more bang for my buck by using an analog, right? That way I can reverse its direction to be a srimech... right?

+1 for Razer. 

Edit: That's a point, welcome to the forums. ^^

I should probably stop testing all my bots on Razer, but it's so damn cathartic to repeatedly annihilate that chrome scumbag. And thanks 

Cool bot dude!

I don't build IRL often so I can't give advice there, but just wanted to say welcome to the forum!

your showcase name reminds me of mine

Thank you! I appreciate the warm welcome.

Is that a good thing?

[Jet-speed]

I totally get you with the flipper-makers dude, you should see some of the trainwrecks I've ended up with trying to mimic somebody like Thyrus who's brilliant with extender work and makes fantastic looking IRL designs.

The clipping is a fair point. Easiest solution in terms of the HS would be to simply use a Perm with a longer belt. Kind of harder to do with your original robot because if you're chassis mounting the perm at a diagonal you risk having the disc miles above where it needs to be. Most people typically opt to just mount them externally and orient the belt perpendicular to the chassis front at that point.

Fair enough about wanting to AI them, just throwing it out there. Carries over nicely to the next point actually. With regards to the controls, steer clear of the switch and even analog controls when wiring spinners. AFAIK, due to a quirk in the programming, spinners actually spin faster when wired with a button. I'm pretty sure this pertains when both AI'd and un-AI'd, so just wire a button to spin and hold it down. If it needs to be reversed for lols/to function as a srimech just button it to spin the other way. I'm not 100% sure if this is entirely true or was fixed in the later releases of DSL, I'm sure someone in the know for certain can correct me if I'm talking rubbish.

But yeah, the replicas don't make for the greatest test of ability, they are great fun to knock around though. :P

[Thrackerzod]

Fair enough about wanting to AI them, just throwing it out there. Carries over nicely to the next point actually. With regards to the controls, steer clear of the switch and even analog controls when wiring spinners. AFAIK, due to a quirk in the programming, spinners actually spin faster when wired with a button.

Yup, AIed spinners need buttons rather than switches (the button needs to be named "Spin" to work properly, also).  My guess is that the AI basically says, "when in range, hold down [whatever] key", so having a switch means that the switch is constantly turning on and off.  Analogs might work, I've never tried.

your showcase name reminds me of mine

Is that a good thing?

yeah it means we're humble

[newbluud]

I used the switch because I'm lazy. I'll kick that habit on my next design. I'm hoping to remake Dispatchwerk, improve the design while keeping IRL restrictions in mind.

[Thrackerzod]

If you want to be able to drive it manually and also AI it, have a button named "Spin" and a switch with the default name that do the same thing.  Bind the button to some weird key you'll never hit, and use the switch like normal when you drive it.