Another write up, this time focused around ORCS. It’s one of the most challenging competitions the country has to offer, with very good robots all around and 2 very dangerous drop off zones for me to find my way into. This would be MULCH’s debut at ORCS and its second event ever, and Vanquish’s second time coming.
This write up will only cover Vanquish, only because I’m writing this as I woke up an hour and a half early for work
Since ORCS 11 Vanquish has changed quite dramatically, long PLA-ST forks over the short titanium ones that were run previously, an upgrade to N10 motors over the fragile M10 motors of the past finally giving it drive that’s worth a crap, and a new transmitter capable of some fancy TX ramping. This new transmitter however was hard for my mechanical monkey brain to figure out, leading to the supposed 50% throttle switch being closer to 20% power. Still got some good hits in tho.
All fights for both machines (spare one) are timestamped in the comments of the Xcitement Park Robotics coverage of the event
FIGHT 1
First up for Vanquish was Buzzkill, a 4wd thick weaponed aluminium vert, they had chosen extremely long forks to try and destabilize me. Theoretically the exact kind of bot I want to be fighting due to the power of reach, for this fight my strategy was to spin at max throttle to chop off the long forks of Buzzkill, and then slow down the weapon to deliver good bite once it was safe to do so.
Tentative to start, we both spun up our weapons before deciding to meet in the middle. After some minor burrs and a slight bit of shoving from both robots, I had lined up the spinner on Vanquish to the right fork of Buzzkill, which made it disintegrate without shifting the robots somehow. After a few more small hits and shoves from Vanquish, Buzzkill was sent off of the side of the arena, catching on the wall and throwing it back into the spinner of Vanquish. More shoving and grazing and I finally removed the left fork from buzzkill. Now dropping to half speed (actually 20%) I drove nearly instantly toward the pit due to the substantial lack of gyro compared to full speed, getting my bearings together I lined up a shot and took it. This hit landed while buzzkill was upside down and hit the right weapon upright, obliterating it while roofing buzzkill, unfortunately I proceeded to fly out of the arena rather unceremoniously and not all that spectacularly.
A good tustle and the 3rd longest Vanquish fight to date, ended in a loss but what can you do with a bot like Vanquish.
FIGHT 2
Next up was Hercules 2, driven by Ben Garbutt.
This was NOT the matchup I wanted. An excellent well driven, well armoured and well forked bot that later would go on to win second place VS an uncontrolled spinning mess with similar ground game to an kitchen fork that can be sent hurtling out of the arena at the mere suggestion of a opponent with ground game. There were not high hopes for this one.
Plan was to keep to the low throttle and just try stay in the arena, as is when fighting control bots with Vanquish, I was not going to bank on flanking Hercules due to its driver and my normally hideous steering due to gyro
Match starts with a box rush and fakeout from Hercules, dodging Vanquish. We then turned and met, going head to head. Vanquish’s left fork immediately slipped up the sloped sides of Hercules, destabilizing itself, popping me into the air and miraculously landing cleanly back on my wheels. A bit of chasing from Vanquish led them to the bottom left corner where they both went face to face, again my forks slid clean up the wedges of Hercules and put me inside the suplexer. Dropping the grabber into my spinner Hercules was flipped upside down, and I quickly capitalised with what looked like a small hit to the back wheel. After this hit Hercules had a crimp connection fail on the battery leads iirc, causing it to stop. The minor hit on the back wheel actually caused quite alot of damage, with the m2 titanium bolt very twisted and the frame around it cracked. An unfortunate loss for Hercules but a shocking win for Vanquish, given my assumptions before the match.
Minor damage to the front end of Hercules
FIGHT 3
Next opponent was CatFlap, an SVRN kit with a lifter attachment. Another control bot with long front forks and this time a nearly entirely TPU construction, I would struggle to kill it even if I got a bite. A bite was not going to happen though, this weapon on Vanquish has travelled across 3 metal floors, meaning the tip is so blunted it cant be sharpened.
Was not alot of strategy here I cant lie, spin slow and dont go out of the arena. There really was not much I could do.
Not much to talk about in this fight, match starts with a half boxrush from CatFlap before turning away, and Vanquish giving chase. Alot of grinding on the side of CatFap with absolutely zero results due to the lack of tooth on Vanquish, they eventually get a good lift in which drops me on my spinner without much drama due to the low speed. A ram into the wall by CatFlap causes my weapon to catch the wall and throw me around, and a missed charge at CatFlap cause me to hit the wall and fly across and hit the opposite wall. After dancing around the pit for awhile CatFlap eventually drove in.
A rather underwhelming win to be honest, a great showing from CatFlap but not a single good hit to speak of from Vanquish, really quite disappointing.
FIGHT 4
Next up was Grey Fox, a well practiced control bot. I have met it several times in side events, with the last time i met it at FREEZE in civil war, where it kind of exploded. Thankfully it is much less forky than the previous 2, relying on acetate to get under opponents. 3 control bots in a row is not the matchups I was hoping for honestly, I sure hope my next fight isnt the antithesis of the warfare side event, being 80% fork…
Strategy for this one is the same as all the others, with more confidence in head to head collisions due to the lack of forks. Low speed for maximum control and less likely chance of punting myself out of the arena.
Match starts similar to the first of the day, with us both testing the waters and going in for a charge. This knocked a hole in the side armour of Grey Fox and removed a bit of acetate from the front end. After squaring myself back up I went for another hit and quite gently roofed it and it went out of the arena. Incredibly short fight but a good strong win for Vanquish, something it’s been needing honestly
FIGHT 5
Fuck.
Yep its Marie Antoinette, I watch a hell of alot of antweight robot combat from the UK and Australia, and I still have never found a bot less suited for Vanquish than Marie Antoinette. Tendrils half the length of my forearm sprout out of the front of the bot, virtually indestructible due to being TPU, and with my blunt weapon there was no chance I could try and catch them. We will leave it there, as put gently I am not a fan of the robot.
Not even going to do a full summary and strategy, I got in the box with it and drove over the top of it. It then pinned me to the wall, put me on the forks and walked me to the pit. Exactly what I expected to happen, and yet I was still abit upset over it.
PLAYOFF RUMBLE
3-2 Vanquish did not get into the bracket immediately, it instead went into the playoff rumble.
This rumble consists of my round 1 opponent Buzzkill, a vicious drum in Bolt and the brilliant melty FISH. Grey fox was originally supposed to be in there too but the spin fest of some of the most destructive bots at the comp was not particularly enticing, and I dont blame them.
Match starts with FISH spinning up and everyone else trying to be where it is not. After FISH hit the wall and lost its prop nut it was rendered somewhat helpless for a good while. Vanquish and Buzzkill give eachother a little smack, both of us going head over heels with Vanquish ending up near Bolt, after getting back up I proceeded to roof Bolt and they stopped working. Next was Buzzkill, we collided in the corner with a few minor hits until I caught the weapon motor and sent it over the wall, breaking the motor in the process. I lost a wheel from that collision and then it was just me and FISH slowly crawling around the arena until time went out.
Great performance from Vanquish and winning the right to face my next opponent in the top 16
FIGHT 6
Verty Big Secret was next up, one of the other large verts. I was pretty confident going into this one, the 3rd event Vanquish ever did AWS 76 it basically 1 hit KO’d it due to the reach advantage.
Plan was try go head to head, as I can hit his motor before he hits mine. Doing that however proved difficult.
Match starts, we meet in the middle, he hits the tip of my fork, I tip forward and hit the floor sending myself OOTA within 4 seconds of the match starting.
Sad that it was over so quickly, but it was pretty cool. The better driving and less gyro from Verty Big Secret allowed it to get the forks of Vanquish and that was all that was needed for it to decide its time to pack up.
Overall a top 16 finish is pretty good, although does feel slightly unearned, especially coming off of the best event I’ve ever had a few weeks prior in AWS 77.
Lucky is the way I’d put it, a bad battery connection took out Hercules and CatFlap drove out of the arena. Also incredibly unlucky with the archetypes I’ve faced in the qualifiers and the bad bounce in the 1st fight. Regardless that was my write up for Vanquish at ORCS 12, will be looking forward to the next as always.
I’ve got a full write up on the design of Vanquish if your interested. Might do a write up on the BBB social too, aside from that it’s all I have to say.
Thanks for reading
