Changes: Flails

Revision as of 16:23, 20 January 2017

Flails are a loose-hanging and versatile type of rotating weapon found in Robot Wars. They first appeared in Series 2, with Caliban being the first of six robots from that series to be equipped with them. The most successful and notable robot with flails is Mace, which reached the Semi-Finals of Series 2 and 3 with this weapon.

Definition

A flail is a rotating weapon with spikes, blades or other objects that dangle loosely from the weapon mechanism, usually by a chain. The mechanism can take any form, from simple axles to flywheels/discs and even revolving rings attached to the robot's chassis. When the weapon rotates at full speed, the objects at the end "flail" around, hence the name, with the intention of hitting opponents and causing cuts, scratches or dents to their armour or locomotion.

Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with Full-body spinners, their flexible designs helping to prevent recoils to the robot's main body and armour.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Mace chaos — Mace uses its flails to cause further damage to the eliminated Chaos

The flailing motion of the flail objects increases the amount of kinetic energy they can carry. This allows them to cause more damage than an equivalent rigid spinning weapon.
Flails can absorb shocks better than rigid blades, allowing them to continually attack instead of jamming up like chainsaws, circular saws and cutting discs. Mace, for example, was able to continue damaging Leighviathan and Chaos even after repeatedly hitting them with its rear flail.
Flails can be attached to large discs or a full-body spinner, increasing their damage output even further. This was best demonstrated by Jackson Wallop in Series 7, whose flails were not only able to cause substantial damage to Killerkat and Shunt, but also knock the former onto its side.
They can be incorporated into invertible designs, as demonstrated by Nuts.
Flails have a wide damage radius, which can help prevent opponents from attacking close to it. This was the logic behind Nuts' tactic against Carbide ahead of their 2016 series Head-to-Head battle.

Disadvantages

Terrorhurtz vs Nuts — Nuts' flail ring detaches after a few attacks from Terrorhurtz

File:Chaos 2 vs Mace 2.JPG

Mace 2 was left unable to self-right after getting flipped completely over by Chaos 2

Flails are prone to being damaged or broken off very easily. Inquisitor's weapon was so badly damaged during its Series 2 battle against Razer that it was not repaired for its next battle, while Nuts' flail ring detached from the robot completely during its 2016 series battles against Carbide and Terrorhurtz respectively.
Depending on their position, a flail can often restrict a robot's ability to self-right if they are mounted at the rear. Mace 2's weapon in particular prevented it from righting itself during its Series 3 Semi-Final battle against Chaos 2.
Flails attached to powerful spinning mechanisms could pose serious safety concerns with Robot Wars producers. Mauler was infamously disqualified from The First World Championship after the producers deemed that its weapon was too powerful for the arena to contain safely.

List of Robots with Flails

Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots which are not heavyweight are listed with a green background.

Robot	Series Appearances with Flails	Notes
Caliban	Series 2	Pioneer of flails. Interchangeable with a full-body spinner.
Hoot	Dutch Series 2, Nickelodeon	Loanerbot
Humdrum	US Season 1, Nickelodeon	Loanerbot
Inquisitor	Series 2	Was destroyed by Razer before it had the chance to be used in combat.
Jackson Wallop	Series 7	Attached to a top-mounted spinning disc. Disc was 1.2m in diameter, the largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed.
Joker	US Season 2, Nickelodeon	Attached to an angled spinning disc.
Mace	Series 2-3	Series 2 and 3 Semi-Finalist, the latter as Mace 2.
Marauder	US Season 2	Middleweight entry, although eligible for heavyweight competition. Two truck hitch balls at the end of a curved spinning bar, rotating at 3,000rpm.
Mauler	Series 3	Two flails and two chisels dangling from a top rotating lid. Disqualified from The First World Championship due to safety concerns.
Nuts	2016 series	Flails attached to chains on the ends of a rotating ring surrounding the robot. Primarily relies on sit-and-spin tactics, but the flails can move independently as part of the ring.
Tantrum	Series 2
The Parthian Shot	Series 2	Never made it into the arena
Tornado	Series 7	One of its interchangeable weapons for Series 7 only. A modified version of the 'Spiked Scoop', with the flail mounted in the centre of the scoop.
Victor 2	Series 3	Interchangeable with a lawnmower blade.
Whirling Dervish	Series 2
Whirlpool 70	Extreme 1	Built out of a swimming pool cleaner.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Weapon
-[[File:Mace leighviathan.JPG|thumb|Mace's flail damages Leighviathan]]
+|title1=Flails
-'''Flails''' are a loose hanging type of rotating weapon.
+|image1=[[File:Mace leighviathan.JPG|thumb]]
+|caption1=Mace's flail damages Leighviathan
+|category_of_weapon=[[Rotating weapons]]
+|pioneer=[[Caliban]]
+|notable_robots=[[Mace]]
+|house_robots=
+}}
+'''Flails''' are a loose-hanging and versatile type of [[Rotating weapons|rotating weapon]] found in ''[[Robot Wars]]''. They first appeared in Series 2, with [[Caliban]] being the first of six robots from that series to be equipped with them. The most successful and notable robot with flails is [[Mace]], which reached the Semi-Finals of Series 2 and 3 with this weapon.
 ==Definition==
-*A '''flail''' is a spinning weapon that dangles loosely, usually by a chain. When it gets up to speed, it "flails" around, hence the name. Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with [[Full-body spinners]], their flexible designs helped prevent backlash to the robot's shell.
+*A '''flail''' is a rotating weapon with spikes, blades or other objects that dangle loosely from the weapon mechanism, usually by a chain. The mechanism can take any form, from simple axles to flywheels/discs and even revolving rings attached to the robot's chassis. When the weapon rotates at full speed, the objects at the end "flail" around, hence the name, with the intention of hitting opponents and causing cuts, scratches or dents to their armour or locomotion.
+Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with [[Full-body spinners]], their flexible designs helping to prevent recoils to the robot's main body and armour.
 ==Advantages and Disadvantages==
 '''Advantages'''
-[[File:Mace_chaos.JPG|thumb|Mace uses their flail to further damage the immobile Chaos]]
+[[File:Mace_chaos.JPG|thumb|Mace uses its flails to cause further damage to the eliminated Chaos]]
-*The flailing motion of the blades increases the amount of kinetic energy they carry.  This allows them to cause more damage than an equivalent rigid weapon.
+*The flailing motion of the flail objects increases the amount of kinetic energy they can carry. This allows them to cause more damage than an equivalent rigid spinning weapon.
-*Flails absorb shocks better than rigid blades, allowing them to continually attack instead of jam up like chainsaws.
+*Flails can absorb shocks better than rigid blades, allowing them to continually attack instead of jamming up like [[Chainsaws|chainsaws]], [[Circular saws|circular saws]] and [[Cutting discs|cutting discs]]. [[Mace]], for example, was able to continue damaging [[Leighviathan]] and [[Chaos 2|Chaos]] even after repeatedly hitting them with its rear flail.
-*Flails can be attached to large discs, increasing their damage output. This was best demonstrated by Jackson Wallop in Series 7
+*Flails can be attached to large discs or a [[Full-body spinners|full-body spinner]], increasing their damage output even further. This was best demonstrated by [[Jackson Wallop]] in Series 7, whose flails were not only able to cause substantial damage to [[Killerkat|Killerkat]] and [[Shunt]], but also knock the former onto its side.
-*They can be incorporated into an invertible design, as demonstrated by [[Nuts]].
+*They can be incorporated into invertible designs, as demonstrated by [[Nuts]].
-*Flails have a wide damage radius, which helps to keep robots at bay. This was the logic behind Nuts' tactic before the Head-to-Head battle against [[Carbide]]
+*Flails have a wide damage radius, which can help prevent opponents from attacking close to it. This was the logic behind Nuts' tactic against [[Carbide]] ahead of their 2016 series Head-to-Head battle.
 '''Disadvantages'''
-[[File:Chaos_2_vs_Mace_2.JPG|thumb|Mace is flipped over, unable to self-right due to the flail weaponry]]
+[[File:Terrorhurtz_vs_Nuts.jpg|thumb|Nuts' flail ring detaches after a few attacks from Terrorhurtz]]
+[[File:Chaos_2_vs_Mace_2.JPG|thumb|Mace 2 was left unable to self-right after getting flipped completely over by Chaos 2]]
-*Flails are prone to breakage, which could leave the robot spinning wildly off-balance. Mauler was infamous for flipping itself due to stability issues. [[Inquisitor]]'s battle against [[Razer]] in Series 2 also demonstrated this weakness, as the flail was irreparable for its next fight.
+*Flails are prone to being damaged or broken off very easily. [[Inquisitor|Inquisitor's]] weapon was so badly damaged during its Series 2 battle against [[Razer]] that it was not repaired for its next battle, while [[Nuts|Nuts']] flail ring detached from the robot completely during its 2016 series battles against [[Carbide]] and [[Terrorhurtz]] respectively.
-*A dangling flail can often restrict a robot's ability to self right. This was best demonstrated by [[Mace|Mace 2]] in its fight with Chaos 2.
+*Depending on their position, a flail can often restrict a robot's ability to [[Self-righting mechanism|self-right]] if they are mounted at the rear. [[Mace|Mace 2's]] weapon in particular prevented it from righting itself during its Series 3 Semi-Final battle against [[Chaos 2]].
+*Flails attached to powerful spinning mechanisms could pose serious safety concerns with ''Robot Wars'' producers. [[Mauler]] was infamously disqualified from [[The First World Championship]] after the producers deemed that its weapon was too powerful for the arena to contain safely.
 ==List of Robots with Flails==
-Robots are listed alphabetically.
+Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots which are not heavyweight are listed with a green background.
 [[File:Caliban.jpg|thumb|Caliban, the pioneer of flails]]
 [[File:Jackson_wallop.JPG|thumb|Jackson Wallop]]
 [[File:Mace_2_offical_image.png|thumb|Mace 2]]
 [[File:Marauder.jpg|thumb|Marauder]]
-[[File:Nuts_2016.jpg|thumb|Nuts, the most recent flail user]]
+[[File:Mauler2K.jpg|thumb|Mauler]]
+[[File:Nuts_2016.jpg|thumb|Nuts]]
 {|class="wikitable"
 !Robot
@@ Line 34: / Line 46: @@
 |[[Caliban]]
 |Series 2
-|Pioneer of flails. Interchangeable with a full-body spinner
+|Pioneer of flails. Interchangeable with a full-body spinner.
 |-
 |[[Hoot]]
@@ Line 46: / Line 58: @@
 |[[Inquisitor]]
 |Series 2
-|Was destroyed by [[Razer]] before it had the chance to be used.
+|Was destroyed by [[Razer]] before it had the chance to be used in combat.
 |-
 |[[Jackson Wallop]]
 |Series 7
-|Attached to a spinning disc. Largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed
+|Attached to a top-mounted spinning disc. Disc was 1.2m in diameter, the largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed.
 |-
 |[[Joker]]
 |US Season 2, Nickelodeon
-|Attached to an angled spinning disc
+|Attached to an angled spinning disc.
 |-
 |[[Mace]]
 |Series 2-3
+|Series 2 and 3 Semi-Finalist, the latter as '''Mace 2'''.
-|The flail weapon prevented Mace 2 from self-righting in the Semi-Finals.
+|-bgcolor="#BFFF00"
-|-
 |[[Marauder]]
 |US Season 2
+|Middleweight entry, although eligible for heavyweight competition. Two truck hitch balls at the end of a curved spinning bar, rotating at 3,000rpm.
-|
 |-
 |[[Mauler]]
 |Series 3
-|Not allowed to compete due to safety concerns.
+|Two flails and two chisels dangling from a top rotating lid. Disqualified from [[The First World Championship]] due to safety concerns.
 |-
 |[[Nuts]]
 |2016 series
-|Primarily a sit-and-spin robot, but the flails can move independently.
+|Flails attached to chains on the ends of a rotating ring surrounding the robot. Primarily relies on [[Sit-and-spin|sit-and-spin]] tactics, but the flails can move independently as part of the ring.
 |-
 |[[Tantrum]]
@@ Line 82: / Line 94: @@
 |[[Tornado]]
 |Series 7
-|One of its interchangeable weapons
+|One of its interchangeable weapons for Series 7 only. A modified version of the 'Spiked Scoop', with the flail mounted in the centre of the scoop.
 |-
 |[[Victor|Victor 2]]
 |Series 3
-|Interchangeable with a lawnmower blade
+|Interchangeable with a [[Lawnmower blades|lawnmower blade]].
 |-
 |[[Whirling Dervish]]
@@ Line 94: / Line 106: @@
 |[[Whirlpool 70]]
 |Extreme 1
-|Built from a swimming pool cleaner
+|Built out of a swimming pool cleaner.
 |}