EVENT RECAAAAAAAAAAP
Quick rundown with photos to boot. Both robots went 1-2 at the event, but as far as monster hits, they were fucking monsters, every fight with both had a really big impact and thats all I really want from these guys.
F3 Fights
Iceberg - 1st opponent for F3, Iceberg is a real top dog at ants, one of the real cream of the crops. Fight was one hit, I was flipped over but because of how long the stabilizers on the back are, I couldn’t self right, thus KO’d.
Before
After. So that hit… All me. With that massive reach I was able to mangle that 1806, completely ruining that weapon system. Which was somewhat bitter sweet, as if I was able to right myself, I think I win that. But just a great showing against an excellent opponent.
GNC - 2nd opponent for F3, Jake’s excellent. 3rd at the last SCAR, so I really expected to get controlled quite easily. In prep for this fight (and an effort to get in Jake’s head mentally) I cut the back of F3’s stabilizers so I could self right, going into this Jake was actually rather concerned with fighting both of mine, just purely on the grounds of big weapon go brrr, so I was hoping it’d spook his driving.
Corralled him around the scews and was able to hit the rear, over the screws, out of the arena. This was the hit I’ve been wanting since SCAR 1. The malenki on GNC was sheared, just completely warped and unusable. Very cool. Also ate my own balance plug, but thats ok!
Mousetrap - Martin’s front hinge was F3’s 3rd opponent, Martin is a member of my local hackspace, so this one definitely had bragging rights. Mousetrap had a great box rush as, because I cut the stabilizers down, I wasn’t able to throttle up as quickly, he was able to corral me into the corner. Then I hit him (Whilst on top of him? Not 100% sure?), pinged out of the arena, hit the outer doors (Big gash in it!) then landed wheels on the ground inside the arena, but I couldn’t move! Thought it was a cut power line, but no, just switched itself off!
After the event and the drive home, Martin found I ripped his whole sideguard off in that exchange. Damage so shocking, he wiped his mind clean of it 
(There used to be polycarb protecting those wheels)
Landmine Fights
Delta V - First fight was Delta V who (Spoiler Alert) went on to win the whole event. Very good vert, very consistant. One hit was really all it was, got a nice chunk on the wedge, then my wheel flew off. Not bad, but would’ve liked to stay on for more than one hit.
Interesting that the blade spins fast enough to make two cuts into the frame, before the massive collision.
Sawcon - Gus’ overhead hammer saw. Probably the worst thing I wanted for my Malenki armour. I flubbed the spin up just because of a bit of panic at with the ready, so Gus had a really great hit, almost reaching over and landing <1mm to the left of the weapon ESC and got stuck in there. But he got pushed into the screws (or pulled, I’m not 100% sure) and oota’d himself. Not a good win at all, but a good show of durability.
Vidar - Another overhead hammer saw. Before the fight Morgan and I agreed that we’d just spin to 100% and see what would happen, he wanted to know what would happen to that full hardox front end.
It really was a one and done fight, massive hit, I lost my motor and the mount and we both got sent flying. The mount was just gone, and the motor got ripped out the backplate. Morgan’s fork was bent, which is really impossible at Ant level, which was really nice to see.
Bent bolt and fork. So awesome.
And thats all she wrote for both robots. 1-2 with some awesome fights
Here’s the bit where I reflect, complain, etc. Both of these robots have undergone a good amount of backseat engineering by (OOTA) and I think these bots are a great example of pushing some boundries and trusting your own judgement.
Landmine also reciever the “There was an attempt” award, which is about what Landmine stands for.
Whats Next?
Moving forward I think I need to make that back brace on F3 titanium, had no problems with the carbon fibre this event, but just planning for the future, should be able to take a direct hit assuming it doesn’t munch the power distribution.
Stabilizers need some adjustment, just need to find the balance between “Long enough it can spin up fast” and “Short enough so it can self-right”.
Landmine needs a bigger change. The concept of big, 3S spinner is great, but I really want to start optimising it, think non-roller is the way. Did some work on it as I was assembling V1, in classic me fashion.
Here was the rough idea for that.
Thanks all for reading this, and supporting the robots. Means the world, really!
~Hop