User blog:RA2/Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 3

With the sad news about Robot Wars, now seems like a good time for something reflective and fun. I'm opening signups for Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 3. For those who don't know, this is a game where all the robots of Series 3 get ranked. Players take turns placing robots, starting at the bottom, and finishing at the top. Signups are open to all users, with no restrictions on people who took part previously. However, first priority for Series 4 rankdown will go to people who did not take part in this one.

Format
We will be using a new format this time around. Previously we were using the “Follow the Leader” format, this time, we’ll be using the “Pick-n-Mix” format. In this game, rather than one player nominating a pool and the rest cutting from it, players will instead fill the pool one by one.

In round 1, you may cut any robot in the entire population. You will then nominate one other robot, whom you believe should get cut ASAP, to go into the pool. You can’t cut or nom a robot that’s already been cut or nommed. In round 2 and beyond, players will cut a robot in the pool, then add another. Here’s an example of the flow. The example has 5 players, our game will have more:

Round 1:
 * Player 1: Cuts any one robot and explains why, nominates one other robot for the pool (no explanation needed for the nomination).
 * Player 2: Same, with any robots not cut or nominated yet
 * Player 3: Same, with any robots not cut or nominated yet
 * Player 4: Same, with any robots not cut or nominated yet
 * Player 5: Same, with any robots not cut or nominated yet. Lists out all the nominated robots for the benefit of the next player (note: Player order does not rotate, if you're player 5, you will always be player 5.  All players have equal levels of involvement, so don't worry about that.)

Round 2 and beyond'
 * Player 1: Cuts one of the 5 robots in the pool (cannot cut one of their own nominees), and explains why. Nominates one other robot for the pool (no explanation needed).  Lists out all the nominated robots for the benefit of the next player.
 * Players 2-5: Same

This will continue for 12 rounds. After that, players will rank the surviving robots, and the averages will determine final rankings.

I'll be pretty open about the criteria you use to make your cuts, just a few rule & guidelines:
 * Try to insulate it to the series in question - we're strictly ranking the Series 2 incarnations of robots
 * No discussing how it was received by the fandom - you can call a robot overrated or underrated, complain about fanboys, etc, as long as that is not your only reason for cutting
 * No troll-moves. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but if I see a move that's clearly intended to get a rise out of people or an individual, you will be booted.  Slots are very limited, do not take one unless you plan on taking this seriously.
 * No gaming the system. I don't know how the system could be gamed in this format, but if you find a way, don't. I don't mind if people make backroom deals, but it's not my problem if someone reneges on a deal.  The rule of thumb is that all cuts & nominations must be for robots that deserve to be cut at the time.  Again, I'll allow everyone to have opinions, but don't tell me for instance that you sincerely believe a finalist should get cut in Round 1.
 * You must have watched & be familiar with all episodes of the series in question, even the obscure ones - it won't do to have a bad robot slip under the radar because people forget to nominate it. The series is on YouTube if you need to refresh your memory, and I will post a spreadsheet in Google Docs, listing all robots in the game, and their status in the rankdown.
 * Please be punctual and check in often. The game only works if each person takes their turn in good order.
 * This will now be enforced, in order to keep the game moving. If a player does not take their turn within 36 hours of the last player, the player will receive a strike, and the turn may be taken by anyone not participating in the rankdown.  If a player gets 3 strikes, a replacement will be sought.  I'm sorry to have to do this, but it is not fair to the other players to keep them waiting an indeterminate amount of time.  If you don't have time to write out a summary, I'll accept just the robots names, and you can post the writeups later.
 * Most importantly, have fun, and don't take it personally if a robot you like gets cut sooner than you want it to.

The Doom Dial
To make things more interesting, I’m introducing the Doom Dial, your choice of a special power. Each player may press the Doom Dial once to access one of the following effects. To clarify, this is not random, you get to choose the power:


 * Pit: At any time during the peiod the Doom Dial is active, negate the most recent cut and remove the robot in question from the pool. The robot gets immunity for one full cycle (ie cannot be nominated until after the player you interrupted finishes his/her next turn).  It’s on you to play this in time to catch the robot you want, if it’s not the most recent, it can’t be Pitted.  This doesn’t count as taking a turn.


 * Rogue House Robot: on your turn, you may cut a robot that’s not in the pool. You will not nominate on the round you use this. You may not cut any robot that has immunity.  This cut cannot be negated by the Pit.


 * Fog Of War: On your turn, instead of cutting/nominating, replace the entire pool with a new set. You may not pick any robot that has immunity.  In subsequent rounds, you can cut robots that you brought in with Fog of War.

The Doom Dial will be available from Rounds 2-11. You are not obligated to use the Doom Dial. To reiterate, you each get one button press, NOT one of each power.

Usages

 * RA2: Not used yet
 * Toon Ganondorf: Not used yet
 * ThatRedOtter: Not used yet
 * WriteDialogueHere: Not used yet
 * Hogwild94: Not used yet
 * ToastUltimatum: Fog Of War, Round 3
 * SpaceManiac888: Not used yet
 * Adster1005: Not used yet
 * Nweston8: Not used yet
 * CrashBash: Not used yet

Signups & size
There will be 10 people in all, that's 9 slots plus myself. Since this is a new format, I'm giving myself slot #1 so I can give a demonstration.

1) RA2

2) Toon Ganondorf

3) ThatRedOtter

4) WriteDialogueHere

5) Hogwild94

6) ToastUltimatum

7) SpaceManiac888

8) Adster1005

9) Nweston8

10) CrashBash

Spreadsheet
For your reference, here is a list of all the robots that competed in Series 3. I will try to keep this updated with the cut/nommed bots as often as I can. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uVq8yJrLqczXiwStscx9M2qDPqjQ6RrjM7PY9wm8BKI/edit#gid=1105298983

Robots to be included/excluded
Included: All Series 3 main competitiors, and World Championship competitors

Excluded:
 * Non-Heavyweights
 * Soccer & Pinball-only competitors
 * Walkers
 * Mauler
 * Max Damage for not moving
 * Terror Australias proper (However, the yellow-painted Nemesis will be ranked)

Rankdown
Finally, we have a full signup list, and the game can begin! In Round 1, each person will choose one cut to be eliminated immediately, and one nominee that they think should be cut soon.

131. Twn Trwn (RA2)
Cutting Twn Trwn. It pains me to put such an artsy robot in last place when I value creativity so high, but they were just so not in it to win it. Their decision to lost the weapon would've been agreeable if they had anything left that made them competitive. And the team, where's their creative spirit? They should've had some pride of how cool their robot was, but their descriptions & demeanors were more worthy of a grey wedge. Heat P is widely regarded as the worst heat in Series 3, and it feels only fair that the first cut should come from there.

Nominating: Triterobot. Reasoning is not required for your nominee, so I'll leave it up to whomever eventually cuts it. Since I nominated Triterobot, I am not allowed to cut it in future rounds.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot,

Toon Ganondorf is up next, doing what I just did with any robots besides Twn Trwn and Triterobot. Then, ThatRedOtter does any two that haven't been touched yet, etc, until each player has had a turn and we have ourselves a ten-robot pool.

From there, we'll each take turns cutting one bot from the pool and replacing it with a new one.

130. Purple Predator (Toon Ganondorf)
Cut:  Purple Predator. I hope that this robots victory over Leighbot appears in the Audited 10 history corner. I had to start my ranking with a robot whose own enormous clearance prevents it ever being able to flip an opponent.

Nominate: Death Warmed Up.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up

129. Hammertron (ThatRedOtter)
Spinning out but not actually spinning because it didn't work: Hammertron - Slow, weapon failed completely and then fell off later. On a side note, choosing this round was harder than I thought it would be.

Nominating: Binky

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, T2

128. Sumpthing (WriteDialogueHere)
Eliminate: Sumpthing - Died from using its weapon and considering the poor reliability of future versions it would probably die anyway.

Nominate: Backstabber

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, T2, Backstabber

127. Sgt Meikle (Hogwild94)
Binned: Sgt Meikle, for possibly the worst weapon I've seen, even by the 90s series standards.

Pooled: Crasha Gnasha.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, T2, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha

126. Shell Shock (ToastUltimatum)
Terrorbinned: Shell Shock - a snail's pace wasn't fast enough to Robot Wars, very underweight with paper armour

Pooled: Vector - good enough to be in the main roster, not good enough to get far in the rankdown.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Binky, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector

125. Armour Geddon (SpaceManiac888)
Own goal for: Armour Geddon. I was debating whether I would eliminate it or another certain axlebot at this stage, but I felt that Armour Geddon had the worst control by far. Not helped by radio interference, of course.

Pooled: Bulldog Breed. Its weapon looks OK, but its reliability and lack of control very much concern me enough to put it into the pool.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Binky, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector, Bulldog Breed

124. Stinger (Adster1005)
Cut: Stinger. As much as I think it was a good robot in later series, but I don't think it did much Series 3.

Pool: Ming. Similarly to Stinger, it just did a bit more, if I recall correctly.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Binky, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector, Bulldog Breed, Ming

123. The Witch (Nweston8)
Cast a Spell on: The Witch - It can't push, it's badly controlled, and it's a literal circle of a machine that wheelies! Oh, and it randomly broke down.

Pool: Spike - it has the turning circle speed of a tranquilised Sloth.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Binky, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike

122. Brimhur (CrashBash)
WHO AM I ELIMINATING?: Brimhur WHY AM I ELIMINATING IT?: It's a robot that can barely be controlled because of where its aerial is. Also it's slow, bland and just very unmemorable. WHO AM I POOLING?: Robocow

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Binky, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike, Robocow

Round 2
We now have a pool of 10 robots. For the rest of the game, players must cut a robot from the pool. As a request, please list out the ten robots in the pool after you take your turn, as I've been doing. This will make it easier on the next player. The Doom Dial is now active, and will be active through Round 11. A few clarifications (Please let me know if you have any questions about the doom dial, the game, or anything, and I'll add them here):


 * Robots brought in through Fog Of War don't count as "your" nominees (they'll be denoted as 'No one'), meaning you can cut them in future rounds
 * You may cut your own nominees if the pool consists of more than half of your own.

121. Binky (RA2)
Cutting: Binky. I think we can all agree that there were some reserves that should've been accepted from the start. The booger-flavoured gumdrop wasn't one of them. Like the American Tazbot, it had a weapon on a turret, but unlike Tazbot, there was nothing its weapon could actually do, it was just a complicated wedge. The wheels were so close together, that they were practically one wheel, which can't have been helpful in the Gauntlet. I can at least figure out what they were thinking with the rest of the nominees, but not this one.

Nominating: Prometheus (The American in the World Championship)

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Backstabber, Crasha Gnasha, Vector, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus (Note: If everyone could be so kind as to list out the 10 robots after they take their turn, that would be much appreciated)

120. Crasha Gnasha (Toon Ganondorf)
Crashing, Gnashing and burning: Crasha Gnasha. Archaic weapons, flimsy construction and lesser stability all detract from a robot who looked nice enough to get on metal mayhem, but it’s on borrowed time here.

Emphasis on Flop: Flip Flop Fly. Got to get this thing in the pool ASAP.

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Death Warmed Up, Backstabber, Vector, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly.

119. Vector (ThatRedOtter)
Unable to find the Computer Room: Vector - A good robot it could have been, but if it didn't move then I struggle to place it any higher.

Nominating: Red Dragon

118. Death Warmed Up (WriteDialogueHere)
Warmed up a bit too much: Death Warmed Up - Can't really do anything except move slowly and get toppled easily.

Nominate: Atlas

Robots in the pool: Triterobot, Backstabber, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Red Dragon, Atlas.

117. Triterobot (Hogwild94)
Binned: Triterobot. Nice design idea, but not appropriate for fighting really. At least they redeemed themselves with its successor.

Pooled: Shark Attack.

Giving us a pool of: Backstabber, Bulldog Breed, Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Red Dragon, Atlas, Shark Attack.

116. Bulldog Breed (ToastUltimatum)
Put Down: Bulldog Breed. It gained pedigree in the future, but for now, it was just a whimpering pup.

Pooled: Iron Mask

The Pool: Backstabber, Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Red Dragon, Atlas, Shark Attack, The Iron Mask

115. Backstabber (SpaceManiac888)
Hit by a shovel: Backstabber, since although its weapon and the fact that it faced Razer makes it notable, it was pretty much a free pass for Razer, who did not even need to crush it properly to win. Seemingly broke down prior to its pitting too.

Pooled: Zeus, as it was not the most competitive, nor did it deserve its name of the Greek king of the gods.

Robots in the Pool: Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Red Dragon, Atlas, Shark Attack, The Iron Mask, Zeus.

114. Zeus (Adster1005)
Eliminating: Zeus - It did very poorly, and the fact the weapon broke when it was flipped, not a good robot.

Pooling: Psychokiller - It looked bad (in my opinion). It drove into Killalot, it lost its axe, and then died to an arena spike, before getting knocked out by a house robot.

Robots in the pool Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Red Dragon, Atlas, Shark Attack, Iron Mask & Psychokiller

113. Red Dragon (Nweston8)
Scrap Dragon: Let's get a limp breakdown out of the way with, with Red Dragon.

Nominated: Tut's Revenge.

Robots in the pool: Ming, Spike, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Atlas, Shark Attack, Iron Mask, Psychokiller, and Tut's Revenge.

112. Spike (CrashBash)
Who am I eliminating?: Spike. Whilst I should give credit for a robot built by a school team, it looked EXACTLY like a robot built like a school team, and it showed. How it was ever going to attack anything, I have absolutely no idea.

Who am I nominating?: Henry. It's an absolute disaster of a robot waiting to happen.

Who's in the pool?: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Atlas, Shark Attack, Iron Mask, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge and Henry

111. Atlas (RA2)
Shrugging off: Atlas. Suppose you were to re-create a prior Robot Wars champion, but just for a lark, decided to make every aspect worse. Red/yellow/black striped paintjob? Check. A weaker and more exposed saw? Check. Clearance high enough to run the track on Top Gear? Check. Tiny scoop for attack zone instead of a huge wedge? Check. A very good looking robot, but they didn't have much to offer besides a spinning action figure. Thud was more creative, and I would've liked to see the team build on that

Pooling Terror Australis (Yellow Nemesis)

Who's in the pool?: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Shark Attack, Iron Mask, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge, Henry, Terror Australis

110. Shark Attack (Toon Ganondorf)
Cut: Shark Attack. Looked and manoeuvred like a fridge box topped on its end.

Pooling: Terminal Ferocity. Have a soft spot for this robot but it needs to be put in the bottom

109. The Iron Mask (ThatRedOtter)
Surrendering: The Iron Mask - never put up anything even resembling a fight and its weapon is so nonexistent that Toon Ganondorf legitimately didn't think it existed.

Pooling: Miss Ile

Drowning in the pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge, Henry, Terror Australis/Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Miss Ile

108. Henry (WriteDialogueHere)
Eliminate: Henry - Did nothing in neither of its fights except get its spikes stuck on the floor. It was very poorly controlled.

Pooling: Crippler

The pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Flip Flop Fly, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge, Terror Australis/Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Miss Ile, Crippler

107. Flip Flop Fly (Hogwild94)
Binned: Flip Flop Fly. Inoffensive axlebot that only 'won' its first match after its opponent hibsed it.

Pooled: Flipper.

Pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge, Terror Australis/Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Miss Ile, Crippler, Flipper.

106. Crippler (ToastUltimatum)
If I may kill off a robot that was pooled earlier in the same round, it is already time to lose Crippler, which was impractically designed and did roughly nothing.

Pooling: Robogeddon

105. Miss Ile (SpaceManiac888)
Exploded (or would it be Ex Ploded?): Miss Ile. Not only did it do nothing, not only did it have two rear wheels that did nothing, but it also did nothing when Anorakaphobia's team experienced an unfortunate issue.

Pooled: Mr Punch.

Pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Psychokiller, Tut's Revenge, Terror Australis/Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Mr Punch.

104. Tut's Revenge (Adster1005)
Cutting: Tut's Revenge - did nothing productive in its fight and lost very easily.

Pooling: Undertaker - not a pretty machine, its only saving grace was the coffin. Similar to Gravedigger, but worse.

Pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Psychokiller, Terror Australis/Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Mr Punch, Undertaker

103. Undertaker (Nweston8)
Cemetery time: Undertaker - it lost drive so easily and its armour was damaged by Panzer.

Pooling: Forklift's Revenge.

Pool: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Psychokiller, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Mr Punch, Forklift's Revenge.

102.Psychokiller (CrashBash)
Who am I eliminating?: Psychokiller. It's a bad state of affairs when Dreadnaut's forks can carve massive welts into you.

Who am I pooling?: S.M.I.D.S.Y.. It may have been the great pretender in later series, but for Series 3, it just had so many issues.

Who's in the pool?: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Mr Punch, Forklift's Revenge, S.M.I.D.S.Y..

101. Mr. Punch (RA2)
Finishing at 101 but not nearly as good as 101: Mr. Punch. This was going to be my nominee, so I'm pleased as punch to cut it here. According to the team's eye-straining-colour-scheme website, "Mr Punch was too busy looking good for the cameras, and consequently received a thorough beating before realising that the point of the game was to beat the other robot". It's a whole lot of robot for a whole little weapon - "looks like something you'd use to mash potatoes" as Jonathan Pearce said. That self-righting arm was a highly-inefficient system that should've been used to make a proper weapon like Cassius - hard to believe if they hadn't heard of Cassius before. As it stood, it was a red box of squandered potential.

Hopefully pushing up daisies soon: Daisy Chopper. JP described it as something out of the Industrial Revolution. I can't tell if he meant the looks, or the time period where it would've been considered modern.

Who's in the pool?: Ming, Robocow, Prometheus, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Daisy Chopper.

100. Robocow (Toon Ganondorf)
And finishing in 100th place: Robocow: A robot with better fortune in the rankdown than they ever had in real life.

Pooling and I can’t believe it’s still not here: Shrapnel. I was tossing this up for my original vote and it’s not even in the pool yet!

Ming, Prometheus, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Flipper, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Daisy Chopper, Shrapnel

99. Flipper (ThatRedOtter)
Not getting any fish from the crowd: Flipper - Breaking down after one attack from Ultor, having an axe range so terrible that it wouldn't have hit anything anyway, and having a name that, on the surface, makes less sense than calling Hypno-Disc "axes", this is a robot that I'm almost shocked wasn;t done with sooner

Abbadoning all hope after entering the pool (credit to Toon Ganondorf for that one): Abaddon

98. Daisy Chopper (WriteDialogueHere)
hopped out of existence: Daisy Chopper - It has a weapon that can't really damage anything while also being poor in pretty everything else.

Pooled: Kater Killer

In the pool: Ming, Prometheus, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Shrapnel, Abaddon, Kater Killer

97. Abaddon (Hogwild94)
Binned: Abaddon. A neat design let down by weight issues, clearly the time hadn't bought the First Great Wars VHS. Got a nice day out out of it once though!

Pooled: Bumblebot.

Leaving the pool with: Ming, Prometheus, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Bumblebot

FOG OF WAR (ToastUltimatum)
THE FOG... OF WAR!!! - a new pool is created, containing:

Hefty, Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Stealth, Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Bumblebot

This removes Prometheus, Ming and SMIDSY from the pool, while Grim Reaper, Hefty and Stealth take their places.

96. Stealth (SpaceManiac888)
Technically a better fate than facing Hypno-Disc: Stealth. Yeah, I really do not think this robot was that good. Sluggish, a poor flipper and seemingly was almost dead BEFORE Hypno-Disc could attack it.

Pooled: Techno-Lease.

Pool: Hefty, Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Bumblebot, Techno-Lease.

95. Techno-Lease (Adster1005)
Cutting: Techno-Lease - it did little to nothing in its match against Prometheus and next to nothing with Razer.

Pooling: Vercingetorix - it little in its match

Pool: Hefty, Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Bumblebot, Techno-Lease, Vercingetorix

94. Kater Killer (Nweston8)
A cat of no lives: Kater Killer - it's a tracked bot that couldn't outpush Napalm. Pathetic.

Pooling: Scarab.

Pool: Hefty, Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Bumblebot, Vercingetorix, Scarab.

93. Bumblebot (CrashBash)
STUNG: Bumblebot. This is probably one of the last robots that made it to the second round when it probably shouldn't have. It's just way too cumbersome. Also, its weapon only appeared to work once per battle, which is worrying to say the least.

POOLED: Plunderstorm. In theory a good robot, but I can't ignore the fact it never really worked.

Pool: Hefty, Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Shrapnel, Vercingetorix, Scarab, Plunderstorm.

92. Hefty (RA2)
Giving the ol' heave-ho to: Hefty: Love the flower power design, but underneath, it's not much different from the other box-with-a-spike bots that have already gone. At least Brimhur was invertible.

Calling the police on: Sting 2

Grim Reaper, Terror Australis-Nemesis, Terminal Ferocity, Robogeddon, Forklift's Revenge, Shrapnel, Kater Killer, Vercingetorix, Scarab, Plunderstorm, Sting 2.