Fog of War

The Fog of War was an arena hazard, featured only in Series 10 of Robot Wars. It was one of three hazards in the Robot Wars Arena that could be activated by a robot pressing the Arena Tyre to activate the Doom Dial.

The Fog of War hazard was originally planned to be introduced in Series 9 alongside 'Rogue House Robot', but was not implemented for that series.

Description
"The arena is even more dangerous this series, with the all new hazards The Fog Of War being added to the Dial Of Doom, causing chaos by filling the arena with a dense fog. As the robots are covered in this thick mist they are vulnerable to not only attacks from their opponents, but from our deadly house robots Dead Metal, Matilda, Shunt, and Sir Killalot."

- BBC press release on the Fog of War

After a robot presses the Arena Tyre on one wall of the arena, the Doom Dial would be activated, presenting a one-in-three chance of the Fog of War being unleashed, with the other two possibilities being the Pit opening/closing, and Rogue House Robot initiating. This one-in-three chance of the hazard being activated was reportedly made at complete random, and this could even result in the Fog of War taking place multiple times in one battle.

When the Fog of War activates, a clip of the Robot Wars announcer exclaiming "The Fog... of WAR!!" would play, and the lighting of the arena would turn a dark blue. Large jets of CO2 would then blast across the surface of the arena, shrouding the battle taking place. This made it difficult for drivers to control their robots, and the roboteers would often be unaware of what was happening in the battle for the ten seconds that the Fog of War would be active. As a consequence, by obscuring the roboteers' view of their machines, the Fog of War would also obscure the viewing perspective of the audience and presenters.

Dr Lucy Rogers presented a possibility that the Fog of War somewhat favoured spinning weapons when activated. Due to the high risk of trying to control a robot while the drivers could not see their machine, roboteers would often elect simply to not drive their robots at all for the duration of the Fog of War, although robots armed with spinners could use this opportunity to power their weapons up to full spinning speed.

Oftentimes, robots which activated Fog of War would simply elect to wait for the fog to subside before continuing with a battle - Eruption and Terrorhurtz in particular would flee from robots or cease all movement during Fog of War until the ten second duration had elapsed, while others such as Sabretooth and Vulture attempted to continue fighting, and put themselves in danger.

Another notable consequence of the Fog of War being activated was irrespective of the hazard itself. If a roboteer wished to utilise the Pit or Rogue House Robot to gain an advantage, the roboteer would have no control over which hazard the Doom Dial would activate, and each robot could only activate a Doom Dial hazard once per match. As a result, roboteers hoping to activate the Pit or Rogue House Robot could instead waste their Doom Dial usage on the Fog of War, and then be unable to use their desired hazard for the remainder of the match.

Nevertheless, the Fog of War was responsible for some key moments throughout the series. During the 10 Robot Rumble, Iron-Awe 6 immobilised itself by driving over the floor flipper, following its own activation of the Fog of War. Magnetar also delivered an explosive knockout blow to Expulsion after the Fog of War offered Magnetar ten seconds to accelerate its powerful drum spinner without being attacked by Expulsion. "And Expulsion's tactics early on... to create the Fog of War! But what am I hearing? I'm hearing Magnetar's death drum whirring up!"

- Jonathan Pearce, as Expulsion's Fog of War starts to backfire

After a battle was competed, the Fog of War could also used to extinguish robots which had caught fire. This was used during Robot Wars: World Series, where the burning Diotoir was extinguished by the Fog of War after 'cease' had already been called.

Controversy
The Fog of War was generally received negatively by roboteers and fans alike, and was the subject of much backlash in online communities. Fans and critics remarked that the purpose of the hazard obscured their viewpoint of the battle, which many did not appreciate. In particular, the inconsequential nature of the hazard was also criticised, as the Fog of War rarely contributed to the outcome of a battle, and would generally make little bearing on the fight as a whole.

Many roboteers who activated Fog of War were often disappointed at the hazard being used, particularly those who were losing a battle up to the point of pressing the Arena Tyre, or those who wished to secure a knockout. For example, both Behemoth and Tough as Nails were clearly losing battles to Eruption and Thor respectively, and as both robots were known for pushing robots into the Pit, this hazard being activated could have posed an opportunity for a comeback victory, but as each team possessed only one press of the Doom Dial during battle, their Arena Tyre push resulting in Fog of War proved wasteful, to the disappointment of the teams. Victorious teams could similarly be held back by the Fog of War as well, as seen when Cobra defeated Sabretooth in the World Series - although Cobra was able to win the battle by Judges' decision and earn two points for a victory, the robot's focus on pushing could have presented Cobra with the opportunity for a knockout win worth three points, had the Pit descended in place of the Fog of War.

In general, the lack of enthusiasm towards the Fog of War was outwardly noticeable on the show. Dry Lucy Rogers admitted that the Fog of War confused the Judges who could not determine what robots were doing beneath the fog, and even Jonathan Pearce, who had praised the hazard during the early stages of Series 10, started to voice his disappointment with Fog of War as the series progressed. "They’re just about hanging on are they, out there? Let’s get rid of the fog, I can’t see!"

- Jonathan Pearce, during the 10 Robot Rumble

The intense backlash towards the Fog of War throughout the otherwise highly acclaimed tenth series prompted Robot Wars to make an official response on its Twitter account, promising that the Fog of War would not return in future series of the show, had a prospective eleventh series taken place.

"To summarise everyone's comments. No one likes the Fog of War (noted) but you did enjoy the ten robot rumble & the series (most important). Thank you all for watching it was a lot of fun to make. We promise if we come back there'll be no fog but more big battles"

- The Robot Wars Twitter account on the negative reception towards the Fog of War

Instances
NOTE: Robots written in italics activated the Fog of War.

Trivia

 * As the Fog of War was originally planned to appear in Series 9, the name of the hazard was leaked to online sources such as Reddit during the filming of the series. However, as the Fog of War's purpose as an intended arena hazard was not revealed, the Fog of War was mistakenly believed to be one of the competing robots in the series.
 * Robots emitting smoke or CO2 in battle was often jokingly compared to the Fog of War, with Sam Smith telling Team RPD that Rapid had released its own 'Fog of War' after it caught fire following its loss to Carbide in the Series 10 Grand Final.