Custom Robot Fantasy League: Rules and Regulations

1. Create your own bots in some sort of computer-aided-design (CAD) program (or even MS Paint!)
2. Submit your robot’s stats along with a picture and description of your robot.
3. Roleplay with your bot when your fights are announced for that week.

1 Roleplay Rules

2 Overview

2.1 Stats

• Speed: This stat affects how fast your bot moves around. For thwack bots, including Y-drives, this acts as your spinning speed while thwacking.
• Weapon: This stat affects how powerful your bots weapon is. If this stat is higher than your armor, then it is also reflective of your bots weapon armor. For thwack bots, including Y-drives, this stat indicates the bots actual floor maneuvering speed, while your bot is spinning.
• Torque: This stat determines linear acceleration, the ability to push other robots, and the acceleration that you push another robot at.
• Traction: This stat governs rotational acceleration, the amount of control a robot has, and how much knockback it might suffer upon impact.
• Armor: This stat is how durable your bot is. The higher it is, the more damage it will be able to withstand. As with Weapon, if it is higher than your weapon power, then this stat will be reflective of the weapon armor.

2.2 Legality

2.3 Weight

2.4 Realism

3 Stats

3.1 Numbers and Limits

• Wheeled Robots: This will be any robot using tires, treads, saw blades, shuffling beams, parts of its own chassis and frame, semi-omni (mixture of omni and normal tires), giant track balls, or any other rotating mass touching the floor to propel itself. Wheeled robots will be allowed 30 stat points. They must have at a minimum 1 Speed, 1 Torque, 1 Traction, and 1 Armor. There are no maximum stats for wheeled bots, except for those limited by the total number of points available. Tracked robots and shuffling robots receive no special bonuses. Other propulsion systems (screws, hovering bots) will also default to wheeled robot rules.
• Zero Traction Robots: This is any robot a hover craft (air or magnetic) system. These robots will have a maximum of 30 stat points available. They must have 0 Traction and a minimum of 1 Speed and 1 Armor. There are no maximum stats for ZT bots, except for those limited by the total number of points available.
• Walking Robots: This is any robot that moves by contact with the floor other than that outlined under section A. Also, no individual component of the walking system can rotate 360 degrees around an axle. The 360 degree motion of the ‘feet’ must come from the combined motions of other parts. Walking robots must have at a minimum 1 Speed, 1 Torque, 1 Traction and 1 Armor. The total speed for any walker cannot exceed 5. The total torque for any walker cannot exceed 2. All stats for a walker are assumed to mean the same thing they do for any other type of robot. Walking robots have a maximum stat limit of 36.
• Multi-Bots: Multi-bots or cluster-bots are covered under the same rules as stated above. Any combination of wheeled bots with ZT bots and Walking bots will be considered wheeled. Multi-robots will be given the number of stats for their type (the whole robot must qualify for the walker bonus) minus 4 points times the number of bots. For example, 2 wheeled robots together will individually have 22 points (30 − 4*2), while 3 wheeled robots will individually have 18 points (30 − 4*3). 2 walking bots would have 28 points (36 − 2*4). In accordance with current RFL rules a cluster is not counted as knocked out unless all of its sections have stopped moving.

3.2 Speed

• Linear speed is how fast the robot can travel from point a to point b, and also includes a provision for deviation due to uncontrollable speed.
• Rotational speed is how fast the robot can move in a complete 360 degree circle, while sitting in place. For thwackbots, the rotating speed also corresponds to their energy at the tips of their weapon, and will count as their weapon score. A robot with a speed of 10 will have a thwacking power of 10 as well. For vertical thwacks there isn’t enough time for their weapon to accelerate to full speed from a single 180 degree rotation so it will be assumed the weapon power is half their rotating speed in that direction.
• Linear Acceleration will be determined by a combination of speed and torque.
• Rotational Acceleration will be determined by a combination of speed and traction.

3.3 Torque

• Pushing power is a fairly simple stat. If your torque is higher, you will win a shoving match. That’s it. Plain and simple.
• Acceleration in general is determined by the robot’s speed and torque. A robot will reach its top speed in the number of seconds you get if you divide the speed by twice the torque. So a robot with 6 speed and 1 torque would reach top speed in 3 seconds. A robot with 6 speed and 3 torque will reach top speed in 1 second. All robots will be considered to travel at 75% of their speed instantaneously.

3.4 Traction

• Traction decides how much the robot is affected by being hit by spinners, hit by rammers, and even affected by its own spinning weapons. As a general rule, as long as the robot has higher traction than a spinner has weapon or a rammer has speed, it will NOT be moved when hit. If the traction on the robot being hit is lower than these stats, it will be displaced 1 foot for every point of difference, minus 3 inches for each wheel the robot has over 2.
  • For example, a 12 Weapon spinner hits a 2 wheeled robot with 7 traction. The spinner knocks the opponent 5 feet away. The same spinner hits an 8 wheeled robot with 7 traction, and the opponent is only knocked 3.5 feet away.
• For weapon recoils, the robot recoiling will be knocked away by how much its weapon exceeds its own traction, divided by two. The robot will also spin opposite the direction of its weapon rotation 180 degrees, minus 45 degrees for every pair of wheels over two. Regardless of the number of wheels a robot has, this spin will be no less than 5 degrees.
• The higher your traction stat, the less likely you are to experience wheelspin if you change directions.
• Control is mostly dependent on speed and traction. The greater the disparity between speed and traction, the more chance you have of losing control of your robot. This ties in with both deceleration and rotational speed.

3.5 Armor

• Passive armor is the main chassis of the robot, to include all wedges, plows, and plates that are a part of the chassis or frame, and will have the base armor stat. Passive upgraded armor includes wheel guards, plows, wedges, bars, spikes, weapon shafts and heads(thwacks) and plates that are solidly attached but obviously not part of the main chassis. As a default, all passive armor counts as the armor stat with no additional bonuses. HOWEVER, you can give plows, wedges, rams, etc. additional bonuses as long as you offset that bonus with a subtraction from all other areas. Here’s an examples:
  • Example: A 4 wheeled rammer with a plow at the front. Speed: 10 Traction: 8 Torque: 2 Armor: 8 (+2 to the plow) Weapon: 2. The plow now has 10 armor, while the chassis, wheels, and the rest of the robot has 6 armor.
• The Parabolic Trajectory Rule - For a robot that has two independently hinged wedges that are on the same side, and the same plane, the armor bonus given to one wedge can apply to the other. In an example, a robot like Parabolic Trajectory (Pictured here: http://i.imgur.com/IKYO2c1.png ) has wedges flanking the flipper on the front. If an armor bonus is given to one of the wedges, that bonus can apply to the other wedge without detracting from the armor stat. Any ’collection’ of wedges, plows, etc. that would otherwise make up a single piece can be counted like this as long as every part of that collection is on the same side, every part of that collection is on the same plane, and the entire collection does not make up more than 33% of the surface area. All decisions on what can apply for this bonus depend on staff discretion.
  • Example: A robot with Speed: 7 Traction: 6 Torque: 2 Armor: 8 (+2 to the front wedges) Weapon: 7 The both wedges have 10 armor, while the rest of the robot has 6 armor.
• Active armor is any armor that is not solidly attached to the frame, or uses a special attachment for some sort of advantage. The armor bonuses rule that is used for passive armor also applies for active armor, as well.
• Weapon armor is the durability of parts of active weapons. For all active weapons with 5 points or greater power, this will be the base armor stat +2. Spinners are a special case. Spinning discs, bars and other instruments that have a shorter diameter than the robot’s longest axis will have a +4 bonus, ring, cage, and shell spinners will have a +2 bonus along with all spinning instruments with greater diameter than the robot’s body.

3.6 Weapon

3.6.1 Multiple Weapons

• If the weapons are operated by the same actuator, on the same axle i.e. twin spinning discs, no deduction will occur.
• If the weapons are powered by the same motor but on separate axles i.e. a motor powering spinning bars on opposite sides of the robot, each weapon will lose one point.
• Split weapon stats for weapons not run off the same motor or actuator will be calculated as follows:
  • 2 weapons = 2/3 of the weapon stat, rounded either up or down to the nearest whole number. If mid-way between, round up.
  • 3 weapons = 1/2 of the weapon stat, rounded either up or down to the nearest whole number. If mid-way between, round up.
  • For example: 11 weapon power for 2 weapons = 7.33 points for each weapon. Rounded down to 7 for each weapon. 15 weapon power for 3 weapons = 7.5 points for each weapon. Rounded up to 8 for each weapon.
• Robots with multi-weapons absolutely must have a base weapon stat of 2 before tournament start, or their stats will be edited to be legal. Each weapon still follows the weapon armour rule in the above ruleset. An axe that gets its weapon power cut down will still have the same main armour +2 value. However, a weapon that gets dropped to 4 weapon power or below will not receive a weapon armour bonus.
• Turrets, such as the one on Tazbot, allow certain weapons to have more utility. By putting a weapon on a turret, it allows that weapon to have 360 degrees of range; a large advantage for something like an axe, which can only hit whatever is directly in front of it. A turret needs at least 3 weapon power to function.

3.6.2 Scrimechs

3.6.3 Passive Weapons

• Rammers and robots using static spikes (provided they are on the ramming end of the robot) will hit with a theoretical weapon power equal to the midway point between their Speed and Torque, rounded down to the nearest whole number. Rammers have NO breakthrough factor, unless they have defined spikes or teeth. The theoretical weapon power applies to knockout probability. This rule also applies to robots with active weapons that can be used as ramming weapons, or that have secondary passive ramming weapons.
• Overhead thwacks will have a similar system. The theoretical weapon power will be the midway point between the robot’s Speed and Torque, rounded down to the nearest whole number.
• “Thwacks" are any robot that generates force by rotating the entire robot. Theoretical weapon power is approximately equal to the speed stat of the robot. The type of thwack head used will determine the type of damage done. Blunt weapon heads such as sledge hammers will dent and buckle armor with a higher KO factor, while sharp weapon heads will pierce and slice armor with more visible effects. ’Smart Thwacks’ are those that can move around while thwacking using a ’melty brain’ or similar system. For these, the speed stat still determines the theoretical power of the robot, but the speed the robot moves across the arena floor will be determined by either the weapon stat or the speed stat, whichever is lower.

3.6.4 Active Weapons

• Spinners are any robot using a rotating mass to inflict damage. This includes but is not limited to vertical bludgeoning devices, friction driven rings, overhead bars and cages, shells, discs, flywheels, saws, chainsaws, spiked belts, drums, “egg beaters”, and any other rotating mass designed for inflicting damage. An increase in weapon power will not only increase destructive capabilities, but also reduce spin up time.
• Lifters will be any weapon designed to merely lift the opponent for control (includes clamps) and can be controlled to move to and stay at any point on their lifting stroke. These include but are not limited to lifting arms, lifting spikes, flipping arms, actuated jaws, lifting or flipping wedges, clamp systems, forklifts, and any other weapon used to pick an opponent up. Lifters are at all times capable of lifting an opponent in the same weight class. Weapon power will decide how fast that can be done. For example, 1 weapon power will result in an excruciatingly slow lift, and will likely result in the opponent being able to escape before being lifted. 2 weapon power will result in a slow lift. 3 weapon power is a below average speed lift. 4-5 weapon power will result in the lifter rotating at a decent pace, etc. All lifting and flipping weapons, given a value of 1 weapon power, will be able to lift an opponent to the full height of the weapon’s capability.
  • Certain robots will prefer a ’Complete Control’ style of clamping, where the weapon takes control of the opponent. These weapons will be faster than piercing weapons but never pierce the opponents armor. The speed of the clamp depends on the weapon power invested, which fall along the same guidelines as the speed for lifters.
• Flippers sacrifice control of the weapon to allow a high speed motion in one direction. Flippers will come back down shortly after lifting, and cannot be moved to anywhere but the final point in the stroke. Flippers are always capable of lifting the opponent at high speed, but the weapon power will determine the height of the flip. This height will be in feet and determined by the robot’s weapon power divided by two. At 1 a flipper will only move an opponent 6 inches higher than the top of the stroke, while at 10 weapon power the target will be tossed over 5 feet high. Also, this weapon power applies to a knockout probability upon landing.
• Overhead Striking Weapons include but are not limited to hammers, axes, swords, impaled dead babies and any other weapon swung overhead to cause damage. Hammers are designed to do large amounts of damage in a single strike. Overhead weapons like these do damage differently from all other weapon types, and as such need their own damage scale to accurately reflect the type of damage they do. Since overhead weapons are hitting flat surfaces with a point or a blunt edge, all damage is essentially considered to be corner damage, on this scale. Its also worth noting that some of this depends on the type of axe head, whether it be blunt, or with a point, or some kind of combination. This, in addition to the surface that they’re striking, requires some writer discretion to suss out exactly how much, and what kind of damage is being done. See the damage calculations section for details.
• Piercing Weapons are extremely powerful claws or spikes designed to use force to break through an opponent’s armor.
  • Claws will always be slow moving; about 15 degrees per second. Claw type weapons will only pierce the opponent when they are equal to or greater than the armor stat of that opponent. Weapon power combined with the opponent’s armor will determine the amount of damage, and it will adhere to the corner damage rules for all parts of the robot (since the piercing tool constitutes a corner).
  • Pneumatic spikes use a rapid release to affect opponents. Pneumatic spikes will achieve similar damage to crushers ie - corner damage rules anywhere on the opponent, with the advantage of firing more quickly, and the disadvantage of having a harder time aiming and a harder time affecting an opponent instead of slipping off.
  • Rotary piston spikes are rapid firing, and driven by cam/crank action from an electric motor or gas engine. Up to two spikes can be used from the same motor before incurring a multiple weapons deduction. These spikes will follow the normal rules of breakthrough and damage based on their power, and will hit at x times per second, where x is half of their weapon power.
• Ramming Bars, used on designs like Force Feedback, Stingray, and Probot, are a weapon that consists of a mass that is fired horizontally without the purpose of piercing. These designs use a ’keep away’ type stick for a variety of purposes: to push the opponent away, to dislodge themselves, to warp the opponent’s wedges, or to slow down spinning weapons. Ramming Bars generally do not cause much damage, unless the opponent they are hitting are trapped against a wall, as ramming bars push opponents away. These are always fast moving, and operate mostly the same as overhead striking weapons where an increase in weapon power results in a faster striking force.

4 Damage Calculations

4.1 Corner Damage

4.2 Flat Surface Damage

4.3 Overhead Striking Weapons, All Surfaces

• • Blunt: Small bumps and dents.
  • Point: Scratches and nicks. Axehead can penetrate only after repeated strikes to the same spot.

• • Blunt: Increased denting and warping after repeated strikes to an area.
  • Point: Small punctures - axehead only penetrating about halfway at most, unless striking the same area.

• • Blunt: Each hit warps and dents a small amount. Repeated strikes will lead to significant warping of the armor.
  • Point: Punctures cleanly on each hit.

• • Blunt: Each hit warps and dents noticeably. Repeated strikes will lead to major warping, and given enough time, the armor could cave in.
  • Point: Punctures cleanly on each hit and causes warping.

• • Blunt: Strong strikes that can cause internal damage as well as constantly significant warping of the chassis armor.
  • Point: Punctures cleanly on each hit and causes significant warping.

• • Blunt: Each hit threatens a knockout due to internal damage. Major warping on each hit. Repeated hits will lead to the armor being caved in.
  • Point: Each hit threatens a knockout due to internal damage. Armor can be ’ripped’. Repeated hits will lead to major warping.

4.4 Wheel Damage

4.5 Internal Self-Damage