Lu-tze may not be with us anymore... but that doesn't prevent a new arena made by her from sneaking into DSL 2.0!
Introducing the Hamster Ball of Doom! This arena was just recently dug out of the deep, dark recesses of goose's computer. Apparently, it was made for the first DSL release, but in the rush to get the pack released it was forgotten (one reason we're taking so long with 2.0 - haste makes waste!)
The Hamster Ball of Doom is a very unique arena. Bots fight in a giant clear ball that rolls around a room. There is no safe ground: you never know which way the ball is going to roll and possibly carry your bot with it (unless, of course, you drive up the ball to make it roll the way you want and take your opponents for a little tumble :twisted: ). Big, gnarly spinners and ultra-low bots are much less effective on this arena; you want a fast, invertible bot with a versatile, durable weapon.
It's hard to show how cool this arena is in screenshots - you have to play it for the full effect - but I've included a few below anyway.
I was wandering if you may be able to bring the RA1 bots into RA2... you know red jiant and topknot and all.
Are you telepathic? :wink:
Well anyways, here is another sneak peek for today. Team RIOT, featuring some of the most beautifully constructed/skinned bots around.
LW - Civil Uprising: This nasty undercutting spinner can reach right under your bot's weapons and attack your wheels if you're not careful. Wedges will also have a hard time avoiding the weapon's bite. Invertibility makes it doubly dangerous.
MW - VENGEANCE: With the second-biggest horizontal spinner in terms of weight and the biggest in terms of diameter, VENGEANCE really packs a wallop. Its only weakness is instability, but being invertible does help offset this.
HW - Velociraptor: Undoubtedly the most artful bot in the pack. If virtual robots can strike real fear in their opponents, then Velociraptor is the one to do it. Velociraptor isn't all looks and intimidation, though: its twin claws can tear through your bot while you are still trying to penetrate its heavy armor.
Cool. Kind of like Gyrax or Towering Inferno. Looks like it would be hard to get a good hit on the chassis of that robot.
Oh, and as long as it's already a SHW, you could make it a bit more durable by changing the wheels to solid discs instead of hollowed and changing the battle axes to some nice solid hammer heads.
Although Darkrat hasn't been very active lately, he did leave us with some nifty components for DSL 2.0. This week's sneak peek includes a few of them.
What you see in the screenshot below are special small, lightweight parts for building antweights and beetleweights with more freedom. Combined with new, lighter armor choices, there are almost as many possible insect-weight designs as there are heavier classes. For example, I made this antweight wedge/vertical spinner with weight to spare, perhaps for a better wedge, bigger weapon, more batteries, or extra armor. No longer will 90% of ants be rammers with this new addition.
The ant parts include a mini control board, batteries, wheels, motor, blade, and hammer.
It comes with DSL. Either that, or he used Devils Elbow's bigger max sphere, which I'm not sure where to get. And there was really no need to bump an old thread to ask that, just make a thread "Bigger max sphere".
Today's sneak peek features the Grand Masters of Pushybots, team SteelYard Dog. These guys tend to dominate the arena against just about any opponent, especially spinners. On any arena with dangerous hazards, always make sure to 'Beware of dog'!
LW - Mangy Mutt: Probably the most annoying opponent to face in the LW division, Mangy Mutt will get under you with its wedge and then either flip you with its hinged snow plow, or take you for a ride across the box, depending on the speed of the impact. It can also withstand a heavy beating from even the gnarliest spinners with 3 mm steel armor and an extra plow for armor.
MW - Top Dog: Again, probably the most annoying MW opponent. Once Top Dog has you in its dual snow plow jaws, there is little chance of escape before it takes you into the wall or a hazard. And, for a little extra 'bite', if you manage to rip off Top Dog's snow plows, some deadly spikes will be exposed that can finish off your already weakened bot.
HW - Bad Dog: Much like a larger Top Dog, but Bad Dog is faster, stronger, and has a nasty bite associated with its rams. If you thought Killdozer in DSL 1.2 was a tough opponent, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Two of the major changes in DSL 2.0 are impossible to show in screenshots. One is an almost total re-writing of the txt files, making them more convenient, balanced, and gramatically correct. The other is all-new, more realistic sound effects. These things alone greatly increase the play value in my opinion.
Even though it's so hard to show you all this kind of stuff, I did my best and made a 2-minute DSL 2.0 preview video featuring some impressive hits and stunts.
Actually, I just realized the Starcore AI might not be the best comparison for the new DSL AI because, unlike the SC bots, all the new DSL bots are 100% realistic. No overlapping parts or anything. But I think some of them are about as tough as Starcore AI bots.
Odd. I did a tournament with Microfuge and the game didn't crash when one of my flails fell off and I clicked continue. Something wrong with your computer, perhaps? Or maybe the slight modifications I did to the axles fixed the glitch?
Anyways, Chain Macer is a cool bot, reminds me a little of Major Punishment. Looks really tough to destroy. I'm surprised those chained axles don't Havoksplode right away.
Doom's Tornado looks like it could be a tough opponent for the 2.0 lightweights.
Well that's certainly a lot of spikes. How much damage does that thing do?
You could actually double the number of spikes by using 20 cm extenders instead of T connectors.
As for the AI not being tough... #1 It's a SHW, of course they're easy then. #2 The new bots in 2.0 make the original AI look like chicken feed... imagine the Starcore AI pack turned DSL.
I'm breaking the pattern of AI-other stuff-AI here, because there are now more AI teams left to show than there is other new stuff.
Anyway here is Team Z.
LW-Insane Berserker: Like its namesake, Insane Berserker will go all-out offensive at full power, shredding anything that comes close, for as long as its batteries last. Surviving until then will be quite an accomplishment.
MW-Razorback: A fast, well armored wedge/rammer/sideways flipper, Razorback will give any spinner (or any other design, for that matter) a serious run for its money. Arguably the single toughest middleweight, it can even defeat the feared Lock Nut.
HW-Eye Stabber: Eye Stabber may be one of the least tough heavyweights in the pack, but if you let it sink its spikes into your bot's side, you'll be regretting it as much as if you ran into Grog, the Vengeful.
That is LT's old site, starting to fall into disrepair. The new one is supposed to be at lutze.gametechmods.com, but goose still needs to get that working.
LW - Grim Chopper: It's rather slow, but if Grim Chopper ever manages to sink its Gothic axe into your bot's unprotected top, you'll be wishing you were fighting Lock Nut instead. This bot sports one of my finer skinning jobs, with a very corroded, grungy metal look.
MW - Lock Nut: The pitifully weak rammer from stock RA2 makes a quantum leap to the most destructive spinner in DSL. I don't normally reveal what's inside these bots, but with Lock Nut I can't resist - that is a 6-MAG GEARBOX spinning 90 kgs of weapons :twisted: Defeating Lock Nut will be the ultimate achievement for a MW that everyone will envy you for.
HW - Cranky Spanky: It may have a weird, nonsensical name, but that doesn't detract from Cranky Spanky's near invincibility. Rivaling Big Metal Friend for sheer durability, CS sports two flippers and two hammers that can grab your bot Complete Control-style while doing damage and flipping at the same time.
Flailing weapons on horizontal spinners rule. I love fighting El Diablo with my HW Centrifuge. Nice work fitting all those spiked clubs on Spike Beetle.
About the axle crash thing... if it crashed after completing a league event, then it probably actually has nothing to do with the axles. The game just tends to crash occasionally when you click 'Continue'; I don't know why. When it does that you just have to redo the fight.
Hmm... well you can try replacing those double 25 kg hammers with single 70 kg hammers, you've got the weight and it would be tougher. Also, you could give it some DSL wheels for more hitpoints and possibly better grip. Good jorb making a space-effecient bot out of one of the Rookies bots.
There are already mag motors in DSL... some of the best motors available too, in my opinion.
Also it should be noted that we're not going to be adding anything more to DSL 2.0 now unless it is: 1)Necessary 2)Quickly and easily made and/or 3)Unbelievably, revolutionarily awesome. Since I'm preparing the mostly complete beta version for download right now (please don't ask to be beta testers, any of those we need will be asked by the DSL team).
If you want Bulldozer Train to do damage as a rammer, try putting some hammer heads in the front. The snow plows are more for pushing than ramming.
Tip for Shark: Put some supports in front of the bot. An easy one would be a titanium half sheet stuck on the bottom of your chassis and scooted as far forward as it could go. I can tell you from experience that this will drastically improve flipping power.
Overall very nice designs; I especially like Corner King.
I'm taking kind of a risk posting this for this week's sneak peek since I'm still not 100% sure it will work out :oops: But I'm sure enough!
Tired of having to load down your chassis with extra components to avoid getting killed in 1 hit? Just apply some of the new 10 mm steel armor - almost 7 times stronger than the default steel in stock RA2! Or how about that antweight or beetleweight that's overweight even with the stock plastic armor? Just do a slight downgrade to 1 mm aluminum.
And, so you won't have to redesign all your bots to accomodate the new armor, we've made the 3 mm varieties the same weight as the stock armor. But they're still twice as strong as they were so they can stand up to the more powerful weapons in DSL. You'll only need to reapply your armor to get the extra strength.
There are 4 thicknesses - 1 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm, and 10 mm - of each armor type. Since these are old armor types, just different thicknesses, you don't need to worry about unchecking "Apply default chassis appearance" to avoid a crash. You can leave it checked if you like.
It's good, except that the original Coal Miner wasn't a SHW :P But anyways nice bot, you might try removing those pole spikes on the right drill (so all those other weapons can hit the opponent and you'll get more damage), switching to NPC-T64 drive (because E-Teks aren't really meant for drive), and switching to those motorcycle wheels in DSL (because they are stronger and look cooler).
The Scrap Heap looks almost as fun to tear up as Wreck Tangle :)
LW - FlipJack: Arguably the most powerful lightweight flipper bot, FlipJack is also a well armored wedge that will prove to be an annoying opponent at the very least.
MW - SlashBack: A REALISTIC popup wedge? That's right, SlashBack has the damaging and flipping qualities of a popup wedge in a realistic package. This one is a major threat to spinners.
HW - WIIDE LOAD: Since there weren't any in the stock AI, we decided to turn WIDE LOAD into a drum bot to increase the variety of designs. And what a drum bot! My personal favorite design in the pack, it fights almost as good as it looks.
Notice the Little Drummer Boy-style drum on WIIDE LOAD - those beater bars on it are new components in DSL 2.0, and they have many more uses than just drums too :) The shine on the drum is just a cool reflection map effect that I did that will also be part of DSL 2.0.
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