Author Topic: Vertigos Mayham-causing DSL bots (Read 3424 times)

Vertigo 002 · « **on:** November 13, 2006, 07:24:28 PM »

Well, I finally took the time to get DSL installed properly and it was worth it. I 'm really terrible at it in my 2 days I've had it installed, and I'm trying to get a bot ready for the BBEANS contest. This is what I've got after 3 rebuilds:

I guess I'm happy with it. It's nowhere near done but it's design lets it pick up, throw, and chew at almost anything, although mostly I've tested against Grog the Whatever-It-Was because I see FBS's as a primary threat. It can defeat Grog, but I'm sure it can be improved, and ofcourse I've got 100 kg's left. Okay, first some stuff about the bot and then I'll try to explain how I think it could be improved:

3mm Steel armour- Can downgrade if necessary, it's not needed with the protection (If I lose enough armour to let bots get at the chassis, I'm next to dead anyways)

2 Orange batteries- Couldn't overlap because of realism rule. No battery problems so far.

Rest you can kinda see- The middle baseplate anchor is doing absolutly nothing. I can take it out. Dunno why I even put it there =p

I used carbon-fibre to mount the wedges on the skirt hinge because the other extenders are too thick to allow the wedges to reach the floor. DSL bars might work but there isn't the need for that kind of strength- is there?

There are 2 half-panels lapped partly, in real life you could cut it, or put one on top of the other, or whatever.

And my main problem is that the weapons fall off real easily. Not THAT easily. But easily. The description says so, but being a total newbie to DSL I'm not sure what a better weapon would be to switch to since I have 100kg's remaining. Any suggestions are welcome. On anything, really.

Thanks for reading this, if you've got anything at all you think can be improved, questions, criticizm, or whatever, I'd love to hear it =)

IngvatdM · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2006, 05:44:19 AM »

Two probs, make your bot unreal...
First of all is, that the teeth intercept with the upper plate!
And the second,- in the real life, you would have to attach the exile of the motor somewhere, it cant just flap in the air

The problem of the weapon is, that it throws opponents out of it's range.

Vertigo 002 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 14, 2006, 07:41:14 AM »

On my newer version I used hammers (they work loads better) and a longer-belt Perm so it reaches farther and no longer intersects with the baseplate connector- it still hits the front of the disc but it's not being used for anything and in real life you could simply cut it out (There's nothing below it either). As for the belt of the motor, I'll spare a few kg's for some extender work, thanks for the help!

IngvatdM · « **Reply #3 on:** November 14, 2006, 11:03:19 AM »

OK! :)
Good luck on the tournament!

Blink · « **Reply #4 on:** November 14, 2006, 02:55:10 PM »

dam why did u tell him? i wanted him to lose!! :D

Clickbeetle · « **Reply #5 on:** November 14, 2006, 10:00:55 PM »

You don't need to waste weight on "supports" for the axle. The only requirement for realism is that nothing intersects something you couldn't cut a slot in. (Trying to enforce a 100% total realism rule would be a nightmare.) So having your teeth intersect the top disc is fine.

Looks like a tough bot. Cool-looking too. My suggestions for the extra weight: Replace the front Ti half-sheets with steel skirts (they're way more durable) and maybe try using one of the silver DSL discs (because they're more durable than the shell discs) with 2 or 4 hammers mounted on it. You could also use some grippy wheels for extra speed, like Techno Destructo wheels.

Now I'm wondering if I'll regret saying that...

Vertigo 002 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 15, 2006, 08:38:59 PM »

Update posting-time! Here's what I've got now afer a bit of work:

The hammers took up some [most of the] weight but I wouldn't trade them for anything- but bigger hammers! They're awesome in combat, and I haven't lost one to Grog (or any bot for that matter) yet. The Techno wheels made it a lot more zippy, but decreased it's stability. Mostly though, I don't trust AI with that kind of speed- Heck, I don't trust myself either- so they go and some nifty Vald-something-or-the-other wheels are on it now.

The rest is pretty obvious to see, I replaced titanium half-sheets with Steel skirts like Clickbeetle suggested. Also, I replaced the skirts with Titanium ones. Grog liked to get them off very near the end of the match (me winning =p). All the other DSL bots are quite easy, I've heard Moe was hard but he fell much sooner than Grog did. It's like a rather cheesy robot with a bar spinner that has too much punch.

I might post some battle shots if I find the time. I also need to delete one of the hammers and test it like that to see how it does, because they won't come off normally! When I finish tweaking hopefully I can enter BBEANS and see how many seconds it takes for me to die.

Oops, I forgot to mention it has 3mm Plastic armour which is accualy a lot stonger than 1mm alu. armour. The only way to get at the chassis is directly from the back (AI can't possibly be that bad... can they?) or a lucky hit that sneaks through the half-sheet from the bottom.

Suggestions are welcome. Although I feel like you guys are all gonna tell me I should switch to Polycarbonate (Hey, it's transparent!) for some reason... :D

Clickbeetle · « **Reply #7 on:** November 15, 2006, 09:44:00 PM »

That bot looks mean. Suggestion: Replace all the skirts with polycarbonate, so my bot will stand a chance :lol:

But seriously, the only potential issue I see with the design is that the weapon might be a bit too heavy for that motor. Spinup time and max velocity might suffer. But then, if all the DSL AI are easy, they might not.

It could also be detrimental that the weapon can't hit bots until you get under them. Usually you want to design VS's so the weapon pokes a little ways in front of the wedge. But that would require almost a total rebuild, and having it in the wedge makes it toss bots higher. So it's sort of a tradeoff between easy hits/big hits.

Looking forward to seeing how it does in the tournament.

Mr. Weedy · « **Reply #8 on:** November 16, 2006, 05:01:01 AM »

That looks quite challenging to get under. But if my bot gets under that it won't take long to beat it. ...Well, it may take some time but at least I score more because my bot will be under your's.

But good design. (=

Vertigo 002 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 16, 2006, 07:17:59 AM »

Quote from: Clickbeetle

But seriously, the only potential issue I see with the design is that the weapon might be a bit too heavy for that motor. Spinup time and max velocity might suffer. But then, if all the DSL AI are easy, they might not.

It could also be detrimental that the weapon can't hit bots until you get under them. Usually you want to design VS's so the weapon pokes a little ways in front of the wedge. But that would require almost a total rebuild, and having it in the wedge makes it toss bots higher. So it's sort of a tradeoff between easy hits/big hits.

Spin-up time, I've noticed but it isn't a big problem. Max. velocity I haven't noticed but I guess it's not easy to notice either. As for the design, I like the long wedge, something I couldn't do easily without DSL. It makes it a lot more stable and it's easier to get better hits and better durability this way... I haven't built it another way, though, so I wouldn't really know.

I got some battle shots:

Not to be outdone by Psycolone's HS:

Throwing stuff high:

Hardest battle, but still not that hard:

Mr. Weedy · « **Reply #10 on:** November 16, 2006, 01:05:45 PM »

Nice throwing there. When you make my bot fly like that I'll raise my hat for you. :D And I think that day won't come any time soon or even later. :wink:

mean2u · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2006, 10:45:14 PM »

Nice. :D

Mr. Weedy · « **Reply #12 on:** December 03, 2006, 07:11:38 AM »

Indeed, nice bump. ;P

mean2u · « **Reply #13 on:** December 03, 2006, 05:47:24 PM »

Tehe. :wink: