Talon's IRL bots

[G.K.]

This is very cool - nice building

[Avalanche]

Maybe call the bot Antifreeze and give it a ice skin

[Talon]

Thanks very much everyone!

Maybe call the bot Antifreeze and give it a ice skin

I like this idea a lot but as with many of my designs, the skin isn't really visible under the armour plating! I do like the name though, I'll change that in my game :-)

[Talon]

I've really been enjoying this frontal prow design - it's fantastic for getting under opponent's bots, especially when paired with the pure torque of the E-Tek Drives. It's for that reason that I bring to you my next bot: Lift.



Lift is a standard flipper bot in the vein of Bigger Brother. It has one of the most powerful flipping actions I believe it's possible to make in the game, with a dual-bladed flipper on 120mm titanium lever arms back to not one but two Large Burst Pistons mounted centrally in the chassis. When both sides of the scoop get under the opposition, the effect is devastating.



In addition to the flipper the bot has two small spikes mounted on the top of the arms, for digging and ripping at the bottom of any bots that it is able to lift.



The bot has an almost circular shape which lends itself to the high-speed maneuver warfare tactics that it has to implement to get around and behind the opposition due to its thin plastic armour. It is extremely maneuverable and is able to utilise the angled shape to slice around opponents at close range and bounce them backwards with a fast ram!



The hardest part of this bot was being able to deal with the astronomical power requirements of the two Large Burst Pistons. Each of them is powered by 14 Ant Cell batteries to overcome their tremendous amperage cost, leading to a total Ant Cell count of 32 - that's nearly 200 weight units of battery power in Ant Cells alone! As a result, the chassis armour on this bot is very light, and the appliqué armour around the hull is not as extensive as I would like towards the back of the top, and across the rear.








If you are interested in seeing the flipper in action, there is a . It is extremely effective in arenas that can be escaped!

It is worth noting that the entire back third of Lift was rebuilt from the prototype in the video to the bot I have posted today, as well as all the extender work being redone from Steel to Titanium for weight saving purposes. The lifter's maximum height was also increased by 50%, due to better weight distribution keeping the bot grounded in the newer version.

[Naryar]

you know there are other batteries than ant batteries right ?

[Talon]

you know there are other batteries than ant batteries right ?

Yes, but I don't know why anybody would use them.

The ant has a better power to weight ratio than any other battery by a wide margin in DSL 3, and due to its small size is much easier to fit inside the bot - car batteries can't be folded around weapons and drive motors.

[Talon]

A new bot from me today - my first competitive middleweight! May I present to you - FrostLight!



FrostLight is so named because of an older sibling, Frostbite, who was cannibalized in her design. All steel panels from the latter robot were stripped and replaced with lexan, and extender work was modified to aluminium to keep weight down and mobility up!



FrostLight gets underneath competitors and holds one or more wheels/treads off the ground just at the bottom of her frontal slope. At this point the icepick swings down, powered with 100 amps and a Medium burst piston! The pick is extremely damaging in middleweight competitions - I have had individual hits worth over 1000 DMG points!



This design makes fairly good use of the space within the bot, stacking batteries forwards of the drive axles to keep the nose low and able to get underneath opponents. Interesting anecdote - FrostLight began life as a flipper bot, but due to the lackluster performance* of the system in Middleweight tests it was decided that the piston would be reversed and an axe would take the place of the flipper in the ventral configuration.



So far in 30 games FrostLight has not been flipped once, partly due to this very light but equally smart pointed "tail" mounted high on the rear hull. This leaves the bot unable to sit on it's vertical surface and allows one of the two cambered drive wheels to gain purchase and level out the bot.



I've never really been much of a man for middleweights but this little bot really suckered me in! Fighting weight is 398.4 units with Titanium 3, which has so far proved to be enough!



*I was expecting a flipper to do very well with lighter robots but it takes so much weight to build an effective one that you soon leave middleweight!

[Mecha]

Looks cool

[yoda9726]

I really like your building style.  Every one of them as a nice look. keep it up

[DaSnowingSteak]

Nice wheel design.

[Talon]

Thanks again guys!

This is my latest bot. It took a few scrapped bots to get this right, but finally I have built a properly powerful (and stock DSL3) Front-Hinged True Flipper - Hazard II.



Hazard II is powered by two twin-TWMR2 drive motors, giving it enough pushing power to match anything bar an e-tek drive powered bot out in the arena. Aiding in it's fight-controlling ability is it's incredibly powerful front-hinged flipper, powered by three Medium Burst Pistons on rack & pinions. To deliver the huge 300 amp power burst necessary the chassis is packed with ant cells - and of course, extender anchors to which the entire bot frame is attached.



The large tyres work together with the long wedge panels up front to give the nose of the bot zero ground clearance - in fact I have yet to meet a robot that this wedge cannot defeat - even other lifting bots!



As you can see from the overhead view, the Burst Pistons make up nearly half of the robot's total length. The weight of the robot is 798.7 units despite chassis armour of only 1mm plastic. This is supplemented by polycarbonate panels extending over every surface of the chassis other than the bottom - and the SRIMECH's incredibly powerful launch takes care of protecting that. When this robot self-rights, it normally flies between 12 and 13 of it's own lengths in altitude.



The flipper has two 60x120 panels on each side, straddling a central 40x120 panel. Each is independently powered, but their limits are set identically. Additionally, the center lifting ram has an aluminium pin extending downwards from it which "pops" the nose of the robot up into the air on a lift attempt, delivering additional loft to the throwing action. This is invaluable when attempting to flip an opponent out of the arena.



I'm not sure if anybody clicks these, but I'll put it here anyway.

[helloface]

That's badass. Your building kind of reminds me of Thyrus. Keep up the great work.

[Thrackerzod]

dood that looks super cool

[G.K.]

Really nice bot, real nice.

Also makes me realise I know nothing about DSL 3 parts.

[Tibsy]

Looking fairly decent, though how good are the wedges on those flipper bots? I'm skeptical.

[Thyrus]

It looks quite good but to answer tibsys question :they suck as I had to experience

[Talon]

Woah, lots of rapid feedback tonight! Thanks everyone! :)

Looking fairly decent, though how good are the wedges on those flipper bots? I'm skeptical.

. They do the trick IMO!

The angle of the bot thanks to the large wheels means that it only has four points of contact, two of which are the tips of the wedges. Seems to get under everything I throw at it!

[Sircreepalot2]

okay sorry for my noobness but two questions.
1- where do you get dsl 3?
2- how do the burst pistons angle like that

otherwise friggin cool bots i wish i could do half as good as these

[helloface]

1- where do you get dsl 3?

http://beetlebros.gametechmods.com/files/DSL3beta1.rar

[rnifnuf]

I can't believe nobody has said this before me...

You, good sir, are one Talon-ted builder!