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Topics - Naryar

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21
Discussion / DSL Balance Pack
« on: October 15, 2014, 09:39:15 AM »
So I was thinking, that we only use 20% of DSL parts, mostly because the 80% not included is crap.

So my idea was a DSL 2.1 balance pack, as DSL3 never got off the ground as much as we expected and DSL2 is still mainstream.

Which would mean just a revamped components folder, somewhat like NAR AI but no new bots.

There will be no new components, no removing of components, and no moving of weights to ensure 100% compatibility with DSL bots.

I will balance first the normal DSL components. Then it will be a rebalancing of all the cheatbot2 components so you could build with cheatbot2 components, replica parts, and it will still be legit in the metagame.

I think I will first start releasing weapons, and then motors, batteries, etc. to scale the release and hopefully get feedback.

What do you think ? Is it worth it or should I do something else ? Interested by being able to use any weapon you want, and making more competitive replicas ?

Or maybe I should do the same thing with Stock...


22
Chatterbox / Chatterbox Rules
« on: October 01, 2014, 03:36:34 PM »
Firsthand, chatterbox is supposed to be just that. A place where people chat. However we have a certain number of standards on there.

-Excessive spamming is not tolerated. If your spamming becomes a problem, you will be simply warned via PM or message, and told to stop. If you continue to spam

For repeat offenders of this rule, as well as the most extreme cases of spamming, no warning will be given beforehand and you simply will be warned.

-You may not use any foul language in topic titles. This for avoiding a negative image and complaints by overly sensitive people. Warnings will be issued with increasing severity if you can't control yourself.

Flaming and insults is tolerated in Chatterbox, but don't push it too far. If you flaming/insulting other users becomes a problem, and we receive complaints due to that, you will receive a written warning.

Repeat offenders or the most extreme cases of flaming will immediately be warned, same as for spamming. This may go up to a mute if we feel your behavior has been intolerable.

-You are forbidden to post illegal material such as illegal torrents or links to copyrighted material. This will normally earn you a ban.

-You are forbidden to post sexually explicit material, or links to sexually explicit material of any nature. This will normally earn you a mute, or a ban.

-The use of racial slurs is forbidden. We do not endorse racism in there, so racial slurs are strictly prohibited.

These rules are subject to change. All other rules under Site-Wide Rules apply to chatterbox as well.

23
Other Tutorials / Tutorial Request Thread
« on: September 21, 2014, 03:04:13 PM »
Not actually a tutorial, but a tutorial request thread.

I'm old and experienced so I don't exactly realize what is missing from the tutorials section unlike some of our newbies.

Please post any subject of RA2 that has no tutorial thread here, I or another person will probably pick up on it and make a tutorial thread.

Note : Please do research before asking for new tutorials. I want no "hey do an AI tutorial" when there are at least 5 different ones already on the site.

-Naryar

24
Discussion / Naryar's Hybrid Generator
« on: September 18, 2014, 03:34:43 AM »
Want to build some hybrids and don't have inspiration ? No worries !

First choose the number of bot types you want in your hybrid. 2,3,4 or more. (You should be able to choose that)

Then it's time to choose the hybrid types.

Roll 3d6 (Three six-sided dice), add the result and see in this table:

3-Anything not included in this list
4-Shell spinner
5-Popup
6-SnS
7-Poker
8-FS
9-VS (any type)
10-Rammer
11-HS (any type)
12-Wammer
13-Flipper or Weaponed Flipper
14-Hammer
15-Sawbot
16-Juggler
17-Drum
18-Anything not included in this list.

There. If you get twice the same result, reroll (unless it is 1 or 18). Reroll it for each bot type that your hybrid has.

Note : If you get a result that doesn't make any sense : think about how it could work, and do it. Hell, I just had a mostly workable idea for a FS/Rammer/Flying Guillotine, so you should be able to find what you seek.

Feel free to move stuff around since this is a 3d6 distribution and if you are sick of HS/Rammer/VS hybrids. Or make a d18 virtual dice.

25
Tournament Archives / Mutations 2 - Stock HW Hybrid Tournament
« on: September 02, 2014, 02:03:45 PM »
MUTATIONS 2- HW Stock

Building rules
-Stock HW, Hybrid Only. You know what an hybrid is, don't abuse this rule to gain weight.
-If you build a triple hybrid or more you will receive a 50kg weight cushion. You know what a triple hybrid is, don't abuse this rule to gain weight.
-Standard unrealistic stock rules (AI parts allowed, Stock 1.4 extender allowed)
-cheatbot2 flamethrower allowed (flamethrower doesn't count as an hybrid part)
-No Thyrus Glitch, no AAM, no ZeroG, no Trovaner Chassis Glitch
-BFE or AAM is only allowed for modifications of chassis (as long as your modification is not abusive and not done for invulnerable components or other game-breaking stuff) and aesthetic-only purposes.
-List of bot types banned: Crawler, Bumble Ball, anything Trinity
-List of hybrid types banned: HS/SnS. However, I will allow your HS/SnS if it is original and interesting and not yet another HS spinning on itself and masquerading as an hybrid.

Tournament Rules
-16 entries. Number subject to changes considering interest.
-Standard brackets (1v1, best out of 3)
-There will be a loser's bracket after the main tournament.
-All bots must show controlled movement under normal operation, if a bot is obviously unstable while driving normally (due to havoks or design) it will be rejected.
-Spikeball mode rule: A bot that spends more than 20 seconds in spikeball mode will automatically forfeit and lose one match.
-Havoks that do not obviously tip the match in favor of a bot will be kept, havoks that DO, however, will earn a restart, then a forfeit.
I will ask for "havok judges" to help me determine this, though I will also judge.
-I will enter my tournament only if signups fill up slowly, I will show up my bot though.
-Arena will be Containment Cube. The semifinals and finals will happen in the Keznorg IGC.

There, I think it is fine. Any questions ?

26
Discussion / Different metagames.
« on: August 30, 2014, 04:50:03 AM »
It would be nice if we had more metagames, a.k.a. ways to build and compete in RA2. (Like IRL, DSL-S) And I do not only mean tournament gimmicks, after all IRL was a simple tournament gimmick once.

The three main ones are Unrealistic (like in stock but can be done in DSL), DSL-S and IRL.

We have also Scrapyard (only one component of each type in a bot), n00b warz (build like a n00b), anything goes... Artbot is also a metagame but we don't exactly compete.

Other ideas : Have each and every component be parallel to each other component (sidehammer and SnS galore though), what else...

Modding components so each and every component, in a component class, has the same stats ? So all bots have 8WD copal drive ?

Give me more ideas.


27
Ironforge TC Showcases / TO READ : SHOWCASE RULES
« on: August 27, 2014, 06:38:53 AM »
ENFORCED RULES

-Each member gets ONLY ONE showcase per game mod. This includes 1 Stock, 1 DSL, 1 Custom, 1 Ironforge. This to keep things simpler and cleaner. If you have an old showcase, do not recreate a new thread : reuse your old thread.

-Do not delete your showcase unless you have a very good reason for it. Clean it up if it is full of bad posting.

-Making a showcase specifically for an event or tournament is fine. These are to be used by anyone, unlike individual showcases.

-Do not post your bots in another member's showcase, you have a showcase, use it. Exceptions: communal showcases for events or tournaments and using your bots as an example.

-Post a bot in the correct showcase. If it has custom components or is both stock and DSL, post it in your custom showcase. If it is only stock, post it in stock. Etc. This for clarity.

-When posting a bot, post only light picture formats (.png and .jpg allowed, NO BMPs). No thumbnails or links to pictures, if you are going to include an image of your bot it MUST be directly accessible. Also crop your pictures (see thread https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,2143.0.html, thanks to Scrap). This to keep loading times to a minimum.

POSSIBLE OFFENSES AND WHAT YOU RISK

- Do NOT spam. You will first get you a warning, then if you do it again you will be warned or even muted. Mass spamming will  get you permanently banned. Spam includes any excessive repetition of images or characters, or anything else that is repeated and disruptive.

- Insulting, flaming or trolling is not tolerable and you will be warned or even muted for doing it. Trash talk is notably tolerated in the event of tournaments or contests, but it should not be excessive.

- Excessive amounts of off-topic will get you in trouble. Some amount of off-topic is tolerated in showcases, but most of the time when a moderator happens into a showcase and says that's enough off-topic, you should not post off-topic.

- Do NOT start or participate in flame wars. Arguing and criticism is something we encourage on showcases, but you can argue without throwing insults at other people. All people participating in a flame war will be warned and the worst offenders will be muted. If you are found to create multiple flame wars in there you will just be banned.

-Do NOT bring flame war bait from other parts of the forum, especially Playground but any other part counts. Playground shenanigans is to be kept in playground, showcases are for posting bots and comments about these bots.

- No bump whacking. Bump whacking is blaming someone just because that member has made a "bump" (a post in a thread that stopped being active since a while) and when the bump is relevant and on-topic. If the bump is irrelevant and off-topic, then it is not bump whacking. This is a minor offense, you will not get muted for it except in extreme cases.

- Bad building advice can and will get you into trouble if you do it too often, if experienced people tell you "your advice is bad" then stop posting advice. Do not post if you are unsure about your advice or cannot give decent advice ! For most people, there is a builder that is better at RA2 and giving advice than you. Let them teach the newcomers correctly instead of giving low quality advice. If I see you are a repeated offender at bad advice I will just start to delete your bad advice, no questions asked.

GUIDELINES

-If you want good, detailed advice, avoid posting too much bots at once. While there is nothing inherently wrong with a bot dump, each bot will never receive as much advice as one bot at a time. Talking from experience.

-When posting a bot, please give info that we can't guess, like weight, armor, the components that we can't see fully... unless you are into a tournament and want to hide some tings.

-For a majority of them, people with colored usernames give good building advice. It does not mean however than all non coloured users do not give good advice, just that on average colored usernames are more knowledgeable and will give higher quality advice.

-If you want to give good advice... it mostly comes from RA2 experience. If you know you have been given advice from a reliable source (like veterans and advanced users) it is in most cases true. Anyways, you should at least be a decent builder and have a few months of experience with RA2 before giving advice.

Thank you.

28
so yes, not my first bot but my first was just a boring fast hs mw in an older version

and yes you can do ironforge showcases since Trov's gonna make a new subforum for ironforge showcases (dramatic news!!1)



3mm titanium. It's also called appropriately "oui oui"

is ironforge standard a thing or only 123 builds like that ?

29
Chatterbox / petition to get noodle banned
« on: August 10, 2014, 08:44:37 AM »
sign this sh**

1-Naryar
2-
3-
4-
5-

30
Tournament Archives / Mutations SBV
« on: July 16, 2014, 10:02:55 AM »

31
Site News and Feedback / Will be less available for four months here.
« on: April 06, 2014, 03:24:44 AM »
So I am going to live in another region in france. It's temporary but for four months.

I will most likely not have home internet in there, so expect to see me less. Like, I don't think I will be here in GTM most days. So if there's quick moderating to do count on me only as a last resort.

So yeah I will still be here, but moderating will be slower (if I even have time to do it). I will maybe restart that Mutations tournament and build more, though.


32
Existing Games / Nuzlocke Red
« on: February 23, 2014, 01:50:49 PM »
So, I am starting a nuzlocke in Pokémon Red.

So, choices. Rival's name, trainer name, and what pokémon to choose ?

Rules are:

-Only first pokémon in an area can be caught.
-If pokémon faints, it must be boxed permanently.

the point is of course to get the manliest team when you fight elite four.


33
Discussion / Manliest Bot Types
« on: February 01, 2014, 07:18:47 AM »
Revisiting the old manly bot type classification.

What makes a bot manly ?

-No wedges
-Less armor
-More weapon weight
-More weapon power
-More speed
-Head-on charge
-Hard mode design

What makes a bot less manly ?

-Wedges
-Armor
-Cheap tricks such as troll dance and spikeball mode/Mauler dancing, or pinning
-Other evading tactics
-Not moving towards the enemy
-Easymode design

Now to the list.

1-Rammer: The position of manliest bot goes to the noble rammer. Why, you ask ? Well, just see the list before. Rammer ticks pretty much all the points that make a bot manly. Large damage ? Best speed ? Head-on charge ? Also, the obvious back-and-forth movement of the rammer makes it quite virile.
2-Clamp: See hammer. Clamp is hardcore mode when entered into a tournament. Very difficult to do, fragile... need we say more
3-Hammer: Because no one will doubt the size of your balls if you enter a hammer into a tournament. While a hammer isn't especially fast, damaging, and it uses pinning who isn't a very manly tactic, hammers are hard mode, and that's what counts best.
4-Poker: For obvious reasons and phallic imagery. Also, it's not easy to win with a poker.
5-VS: Usually low armor and very offense-focused... seeing a theme there ? It's not that fast, but focusing most of your weight towards offense, large damage and tossing your opponent around is definitely manly. However, if it is so unstable it spends it's time spikeballing all around the arena so the chassis is untouchable, it loses it's manliness and
6-Wedgeless gut-ripper: Which makes a gut-ripper manly. Wedgeless gut-ripper = you have guts. (You are huge ! Rip and tear ! Rip and tear your guts !)
7-HS: The HS is a mix of manly and less manly points. Manly because it focuses most of it's weight towards offense, it doesn't (usually) have much armor. and it does large amounts of damage and rips stuff apart. Less manly because it's not fast, it usually relies on defense rather than charging, and it's an all-around design. "No I hit you all around trorororo silly monkey" makes men rage". Also, the tendency of HS to go spikeball mode to protect them makes the design less manly, although it really depends on the flipper.
8-Weaponed flipper: Far manlier than the flipper because it does damage. Also less gamebreaking than a popup. Although it has a wedge, isn't THAT fast, and usually armored, it is also hard mode, which gives him manly points. Yeah, you're taking risks if you enter a weaponed flipper into a tourney.
8-Pusher: A variety of rammer which only pushes, no back-and forth, so loses to the rammer in the obvious manly categories of speed and damage. However, it still focuses on weapons a lot, doesn't have much armor, and doesn't have a wedge, so it's hard mode.
9-Wammer: The wammer has a wedge, and deals damage slowly. However, it is fast, has a lot of weapon weight, nearly as much as rammer and is a hard design, because it's not easy to win with one. Hard design = man points.
10-Gut-ripper (popup, FS, juggler, etc): The gut-ripper at first appears like a manly design. Fast ? Lots of damage ? Charging ? Yes. But gut-rippers in this game are easy mode. So much that they nearly always win if a HS doesn't win. Also, they have a wedge, and take less risks in winning. So yeah, at first it looks like manly.
11-Flipper: Doesn't make damage and has a wedge. Uses arena-dependent cheap tricks (oota, pits) to win. It's pretty much the least manly design ever, however it has the advantage of hard mode, so it's not the worst. More manly on non-oota, non-hazard arenas, though.
12-SnS: Well, the SnS is very focused on speed and damage and has nearly no armor, right ? That would make a manly bot, but the tactic ruins it all. You stay in a corner, all defensive, relying on your speed to avoid the opponent going too close, and don't charge. The tactic is very unmanly and ruins pretty much the man potential of a SnS.
13- Flying Guillotine: Although it is dangerous to enter one because it gets rekt by HS, so it's somewhat hard mode, the very point of a FG bot is avoid damage while doing damage to the other bot. They're elevated just to avoid damage. Cowardly bot, unmanly design.
14-Crawler or anything associated: Another unmanly design in which it avoids damage and uses a cheap tactic to win. unreachable by most bots, wins everything, cannot lose against anything else than a VS or a flipper, uncontrollable, slow... Yeah it has a lot of weapons but that's not enough to make a bot manly.


UNCLASSIFIABLE
Pure Wedge: Well... the problem is that it does no damage. Though if you actually beat a damaging bot without any weapons, holy **** ! You must be the new Scrap Daddy !
Flamethrower: Well, the idea of breathing fire at your opponent is pretty metal, OK. However, flamethrower bots tend to get wedges, lots of defense and hold their enemies close and wait for the flamer to do damage, which is not the manliest thing ever. So it depends of the bot, I guess.

...Well, here's that. Apart from all that silliness, this is half-serious considering I see this list as truth and not merely a joke. What do you guys think ? Add more types ? Feel free to improve it.

34
Existing Games / War Thunder
« on: November 19, 2013, 04:22:42 AM »
Good, free-to-play MMO where you pilot mostly WWII planes and go fight against others. Of course it has a money system but you can play the game without forking out a single cent and very much enjoy it (still a newb at this game so I can't really judge if F2P is a problem, but it doesn't seem to be). Still in beta, so there's new stuff periodically.

www.warthunder.com

You've got light fighters, heavy fighters, bombers, dive bombers (which incidentally is the manliest class) and assault planes.

Good dogfighting action, pretty huge download though.

I play german planes, username's the same as here. Maybe I should have used TheMightyNaryar to taunt people.

35
Other Tutorials / Naryar's Weapon Tutorial
« on: November 18, 2013, 09:26:52 PM »
WEAPON TUTORIAL: HOW TO PROPERLY SET UP YOUR WEAPONS


First I will state a few necessary, basic rules that all make a good weapon setup. Read them, understand them and draw your conclusions about them.

-The LESS COMPLEX the weapon system, the MORE EFFICIENT it is. In game terms, this translates to "when you are improving a weapon, make sure it does not have unneccessary elements".
Note on this: you probably are building complex weapon setups because it's original and cool-looking. There is nothing wrong with this building style, just know that you will probably lose your fights if you use complex weapon systems against simpler weapon systems. Simpler weapon systems tend to work better.

-The LESS EXTENDER WORK a weapon system uses, THE BETTER. Not only it makes it simpler, but it uses less weight for extenders, and therefore more weight for motors or weapons or drive = better weapon system.

-Hybrid weakness rule: The LESS WEAPON SYSTEMS a bot uses, the MORE EFFICIENT the bot is in each of these weapon systems. This seems obvious due to more weapon systems = less weight used on each weapon system, but it needs to be said.

As much as I love hybrids, hybrids aren't done to be stronger overall. Because they aren't. Hybrids (bots with more than one weapon system) are done to take advantage of the bot type rock-paper-scissors system by using several bot types. Or simply to look cool.

-Unless you are building a SnS, a horizontal spinner or a shell spinner, do NOT PUT WEAPON SYSTEMS AT THE SIDES OR BACK of your bot. Why ? Because you need to turn your bot to do it, therefore making it vulnerable while it turns. And because only 1 weapon system can be effective at the same time if you do not build them all on the front. And also because you need to add lots of armor everywhere if you want decent armor when using your rear/sides weapon systems, which eats up A LOT of weight.

-NOT ALL WEAPONS ARE GOOD. Several weapons are completely useless while a few others are far superior to 95% of weapons you have. I will go into more detail later on this.

There, now to go into detail in each category.

1-HOW TO BUILD A SIMPLE WEAPON SETUP:

Bad weapon setup:

(image to come)

That same weapon setup, improved:

(image to come)

What can you deduce out of these ?

-Avoid unnecessary extenders, as said before. These extenders between the disc and the weapons are useless, because they just provide weak points for the enemy to hit and remove your weapons. Also, you can use the weight to add more weapons or a stronger motor.
-Get the lightest extender work possible, UNLESS it makes your whole extender work fragile and easier to remove, along with your precious weapon weight. There is a extender strength/weight used on extender work balance, and you need to find out what balance do you want. See my extender work tutorial.

-Simple is better, as stated. Think and find the best design depending of your bot type:
-For all spinning weapons, including SnS: bigger weapon = stronger blows, tosses bots better BUT slower to get up to speed.
-For rammers : larger weapon = more pinning potential BUT easier to break through, and more weight on extenders.
-For pneumatic weapons : bigger weapon on 1 piston = less weapon power BUT less weight used on pistons and pneumatic components.

2- HOW TO BUILD PROPERLY HYBRIDS (bots with multiple weapon systems)

Badly build hybrid:

(image to come)

Well-built hybrid with roughly the same design:

(image to come)

What can you deduce out of this ?

-As said, do not build weapon systems all around: focus them on the front. It increases damage and front armor, besides you want to face your enemy with the more armored and armed part of your robot: the front in 99,9% of cases.
-Less weapon systems = more weight spent on each weapon system =  better hybrid. There is a point where the hybrid becomes completely useless because it's far too complicated and you just don't have enough weapons. Of course, the community will love it because it's a septuple hybrid, but it will fail utterly against any serious hybrid and even more against any non-hybrid.
-Focus your weapon system on ONE direction: the one which your enemy is. Simple, efficient.

3-WEAPON INBALANCE: USING THE BEST WEAPONS

Now for a short list of weapons which ARE worth it, in both Stock and DSL 2.1. To see what I am talking about on Concussion/Piercing, see next part.

Stock:
-Razors: Full Piercing. The most damaging weapon in the game. It's also the most fragile, so set them up in a position where they get minimum damage from the opponent's weapons. (See: popups)
-Irons: Middle ground. Mostly piercing, slightly concussion. Twice as durable as razors, but not as much damage. Good weapon overall.
-Maces: Mostly concussion, partly piercing. Maces are more defensive because they are larger than irons and therefore get hit first. Decent damage as well.
-Bear claws: Balanced between concussion and piercing. New Jersey approved ! These would be the best weapons of the game statwise... EXCEPT that they have normals, aka they only do damage if the claws hit the enemy. Excellent if you can use them properly, pretty bad otherwise. More specialized than other weapons & less effective as a general weapon that the rest.

DSL:
-Razors: Piercing pure. See Stock. The most damaging weapon of the game, but fragile. Piercing only. Don't try to go against a weapon rack.
-Beater bars: Concussion pure. Extenders that actually do damage... Probably the best Concussion weapon. Practical to use, small, can be used in mass. Mostly useful to wear down your opponent.
-Light/Heavy DS teeth: Balanced between concussion and piercing. Easily as good as razors damage-wise. The light one is better and unbalanced in DSL 2.1. Small, can be spammed, looks cool, very damaging. Undoubtably fragile and not to be put against tougher weapons unless you are sure to make it work.
-Sawblades: Full piercing. Sawblades are very specialized. Only to be used on spinners. Excellent to damage components that can't damage your sawblades back (including the enemy's chassis), but very poor at receiving damage. As such, best as gut-ripping shenanigans.
-Sledgehammers/DSL hammers: Full concussion. Inferior to other weapons due to heavier weapons being inferior to light weapons, but... there's one thing the different sledges do far better than the rest : punting bots for spinners, or wearing down enemies's weapons for rammers. All hammers are also excellent at ripping off razors and sawblades, unless they are on flails. If you are in an open arena or building a VS/HS, be sure to use sledgehammers if you want to throw the other bot out of the arena. However, in an elongated battle, it will lose to better weapons like the 2 former weapons (they are good against razors).

Now for the piercing/concussion thing...

Piercing: Loses to concussion, unless on flails, where it wins (depends of weapon charge). Piercing is better to damage things that don't damage you indirectly. Piercing beats piercing on flails, that said.
Concussion: Does indirect damage. Better against piercing weapons, unless you're on flails.

There, I'm pretty done, things are to be fixed soon.

Also,

To the people are are thinking "oh this is just standard it doesn't apply to me" this also applies to IRL, just not as strongly.

Why waste weight making an overly complicated weapon system with bad extender work when the weight saved by simplifying it could be used on the weapon itself or the aesthetics/functionality of the bot?

This needs to be quoted. Standard building methods apply to IRL. Building standards may be different, but building methods do not differ.

36
Chatterbox / enigma for forum sweetie
« on: November 14, 2013, 04:17:47 AM »
You know you want it.

And yes, I'm being serious.

37
Chatterbox / So yeah I caught that beetle v2, mantis edition
« on: August 06, 2013, 01:39:57 PM »
No, not a clickbeetle.

This is what I caught on my window. Pretty goddamn sure it's a rose chafer (Cetonia aurata).



It's in a small bottle, with fruit, water, and air. It wants to go away but I'm not letting it go - I intend to find other adults and breed them. I hear it's not a very difficult species. I'll get a larger case as soon as I get more of them.

Besides, it's pretty nice and fun to have. No, it's harmless and i'm not going to train them to overwhelm my enemies.

38
Other Tutorials / Naryar's extender work tutorial
« on: June 04, 2013, 04:35:59 PM »
HOW TO BUILD PROPER EXTENDER WORK

Disclaimer :These techniques are valid and important for ALL mods and ALL forms of building in RA2. This is not just a DSL-S thing.

First,

WHAT IS EXTENDER WORK ?

Extender work is well, the skeleton of your bot, in a way. The things that link your weapon (or drive) motors to the chassis, your armor to the chassis, your stabilizers to the chassis, etc.

-WHY IMPROVE MY EXTENDER WORK ?

The issue with extender work in a bot is that it serves no other purpose than holding components. It's just weight doing that. It doesn't make your bot deadlier, nor faster, nor more protected, nor does it make it better in any other way.

Besides, it also creates weak points in your bot that can cripple your design in combat.

However, it is necessary. 99% of bots have extender work and the ones that haven't are boring pusher boxes.

So yes, you must use weight for extenders. However, you need to use that weight properly.

SO WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ?

Simple enough... in theory. There are three things to keep in mind when building proper extender work.

-Make it lighter: Because extender work wastes weight best used somewhere else (armor, drive, weapons, etc).
-Make it stronger: Because you don't want a crippling weakness in your robot.
-Make it less exposed : Because it will fall off less often. Also sometimes you'd rather have a chassis hit rather than a hit to extender work that is critically important to your robot..

There is a balance to strike between those three points, and the good builder will manage to do that.

In case the extender work is not exposed to the enemy, extender HP is mostly irrelevant.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN PRACTICE ? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO IMPROVE MY EXTENDER WORK IN THE BOTLAB ?

This can be done with three steps.

First of all simplify your extender work in overall. The more complex it is, the heavier it is, and the more it wastes up weight.



This is poor extender work. Why ? Your baseplates are not mounted for minimum extender length, you therefore waste around 2-3 kg. Not much, sure, but think of the uses you could have with that weight. and that is only 2 attachments. What of four ? Six ? 10kgs wasted, that's an additional weapon. Or battery. Or something else

Better extender work for that design is :



See, saved a bit of KG's and no loss of functionality. It may not be a lot of kg's saved, but the more extender work you clean up in a bot, the most weight you free, and that might be the weight you need to win.

Simplifying extender work also is a matter of having a minimum of connections.



In that exemple, the extender work on the top is better because it is lighter. The weight saved can be taken for better uses. If you want some distance between the motor and the battleaxe, just add an extender unto the former one.

However, it doesn't work like this for all examples. In the latter case, of the two examples, which is the better extender work ?



The one with the 3 baseplates IS better. Because it uses far less weight, around 6kg, and it also removes weakpoints. Without weakpoints you will have less risk to be hit to the enemy and lose your 2 piglets and iron spike.

Another point is : if you can attach a component directly to one who is attached to the baseplate, DO IT. This is a good part of simplification either. It's a free anchor that costs 0 kg.

Second of all, use the best extender you can for HP purposes. as an example, in DSL 2.1, all the old Stock extenders are bad because they have 100HP/kg. The DSL round extenders are pretty bad considering the existence of DSL bars and metal sheets - but those have handy attachment points. In stock, only use round extenders (excepted for the ultralight long square extender in stock 1.4). Square extenders only have aesthetic benefits and are much heavier.

Know your extenders, know your HP, and use the best.

Third and last of all, do not create unneccessary weak points in your extender work. Like using old stock extenders (angled extenders, t-extenders, y-extenders) in DSL 2.1.

as an example :



I have highlighted the weakpoints for you. See, that's a 100cm aluminium, a 20cm poly on a 80cm alu and a steel angle on a 10cm steel on a 80cm alu.

The 20cm poly, 10cm steel and steel angle all have far inferior HP to the 100cm alu. Therefore, if you get a hit on the smaller components of the one in the middle and the right one, you will have more chance to lose your motor earlier.

NOTE : In stock, all extenders have the same HP, regardless of weight and length. Therefore, use several small extenders instead of just one, as it will strengthen your extender work overall. A large hit will still break your extender work, but several small hits will not if they hit different components.

However, you can afford a weak point if it is sufficiently protected. Sufficiently protected means inside the chassis (therefore cannot be hit), sandwiched between two armor plates (where it will not be hit before quite a bit of time), if the component held protects the extender itself enough (so if the component is lost and the extender cannot be reached by the enemy's weapons when the component is on, you won't mind losing a now-useless extender), or in cases where you are quite certain the extender will not be hit before your bot is ruined.

YOU KEEP SPEAKING ABOUT GOOD OR BAD EXTENDERS, CAN I HAVE A LIST ?

sure you can.

Stock: Round extenders and the 5kg ultralong square extender are good. T-connectors, discs (the smaller the better), and tribars are average. The rest is bad.

DSL:
Very Good: Multiextenders (only use them if they are attached to the chassis however), DSL discs (limited use), hexes (limited use), flippermakers, small metal/polycarbonate sheets (limited use)
Good: Drums (limited use), carbon fiber extenders, beater bars (actually a very bad extender, but a good weapon and very good to make weapon racks: don't use it where it can't do damage !)
Average: Black discs, metal/polycarbonate extenders, DSL shell panels (limited use), medium metal/poly sheets (limited use), spiked clubs (actually an extender and a weapon)
Bad: The rest


-Naryar





39
Modifications / Component variables study
« on: May 11, 2013, 06:05:39 PM »
Grip: Grip is simply an acceleration multiplier for the motors, more grip = faster wheels, stronger drive impulse. 1 grip on 4WD = 2 grip on 2WD, all motors being the same.

Negative grip seems to work just fine, it doesn't even invert drive controls. More research on negative grip should be good, although for now it makes no difference to me.

Resistance: Resistance is merely how slippery the wheels are. 1 resistance is OK, at 5 resistance you start to drive worse. 10 resistance is very slippery. starts creating havoks while driving, while 20 resistance is unplayable. 0 resistance is good driving, although it is a lot of drifting. Very low positive values of resistance seem to be best, although I must test more.

Negative resistance: Unplayable because of instant havok teleport.

Negative hitpoints: Weird things, maybe it replaces fracture with HP or something weird. More research needed.

40
Mutations, 16 entries, DSL MW Standard Hybrid only tournament.

I will enter with


Entries:

-Naryar
-09090901
-Massimov spongebot squarepants west coast sanic hegehog
-Craaig
-El Chickenado
-Martymidget
-STC
-Virus Bomb <3 <3 <3

Entry Received
Entry Ready
Entry Illegal

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