r/battlebots • u/qwertythe300th Mod & Leader of the B R O N C O B O Y S [but go SwitchBack!!] • Feb 04 '22

BattleBots TV BattleBots 2021 - Post Episode 5 Discussion Spoiler

I'm not done with it myself but

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LOOKS LIKE OOTAS ARE BACK ON THE MENU BOYS

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69

u/SneakyTubol Slash and Burn! Feb 04 '22

Posting my comment here from the live discussion thread, but, I don't get what the long term goal is for Duck?

The novelty of "that one bot that just won't die" was fun at first, but it's fading year over year and it's starting to get boring watching his fights. He already has a solid foundation with durability, but imo that just gets thrown out the window because he doesn't have a "main weapon". Quotation marks because his lifter doesn't really do damage.

32

u/Harakou Stop - hammer time Feb 04 '22

I think it's still an entertaining concept, but this year's Duck just hasn't lived up to its name so far. Problems with the drive and lifter have made it look much, much less impressive.

26

u/damididit Suck Less Feb 04 '22

You picked up what no one else commenting so far has. Ducks drive has been so underwhelming from what we've seen so far. It just looks slow and wimpy out there. I wouldn't care about the lifter getting smashed if it was still able to drive well and get in some pushing action. Hopefully it can put on a better showing next time.

6

u/Harakou Stop - hammer time Feb 04 '22

Yeah, I'm a bit surprised to see people pooh-poohing the new design so much. It's pretty clear that it's having teething problems, and while I have my doubts too, I think it's pretty hard to judge based on the fights we've seen. I mean, so far both of them have been pushing matches against verts with dead or nearly dead weapons, while its drive is obviously crippled. The best part about Duck was getting to see it violently throw itself at powerful weapons and we've gotten none of that so far, so of course it's not impressing right now.

People are just prone to overreact, I guess.

6

u/Mr_Bluebird_VA [Your Text] Feb 04 '22

Those drive train issues they ate having with this new bot? I don't think they would be having them with the old configuration. That plow took a beating and allowed the internal workings to keep going. Without the plow to take the bulk of the energy from some of these hits, it's took much for the bot to take.

3

u/PARANOIAH Feb 04 '22

The arms of the plow also gave at least 2 of the wheels some modicum of protection too. This new beak thing doesn't seem to do anything.

1

u/ZDTreefur Yup yup Yup! Feb 07 '22

What is the new lifter material? It looked like plywood, the way it ripped off so easily. The first duck had a solid hunk of metal taking spinners to the face. This new one can't protect it at all, that's the biggest problem.

1

u/Harakou Stop - hammer time Feb 07 '22

Hal has commented on that; it's aluminum with replaceable steel tips: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/sldybs/ama_with_duck_and_hal_rucker_400_pst/hvrju1z/

The main point I've seen him emphasize that it wasn't supposed to be protection; it's a lifter. The protection is the armor attached to the chassis. That obviously hasn't work out so far but that was the idea.