Complications / updates

So, if you've been following me by other means such as Twitter (@FlagCaptured) or indeed on the Fighting Robots Forum itself, you'll probably know that I broke a weld on one of the motors. 

Long and short of it, the pinion gear came off and without that solid link between the pinion and motor shaft, I've got no drive on one side. 

Damn.

It's not all bad though, a friend of mine is getting me a spare, and that's actually due to be here today - basically, HardWired II will very likely be up and running again today or tomorrow.

Course, I've not got much time at all to get things running. HardWired still looks like this on my kitchen side

...the championships are on Thursday. I'm travelling on Wednesday. Tuesday is literally the deadline. Oh dear, this could get very close.

No matter though, I'm sure this is just worrying for the sake of worrying, but I can't really help being apprehensive about it. 

At the very least, there's very little electrically and functionally in there, so if I get everything else done, I can do that on the way down or something.

I still need some of the basics, mind you, but I'll be able to manage hopefully. LiPoly charging bag, slightly modified safety link and power LED are all on the list. 

Whilst I'm at it, I might as well explain the machine. At it's heart, HardWired II is just a brutally fast rambot. That power translates into raw force, which is essentially a 13 kg hammer hitting at about 15-20mph, which is extremely fast. There's also the the fact that I can push other machines in the pit, which will be a major tactic of mine if I can't end a fight any other way. That leaves me severely vulnerable to certain flippers, but that's just an unfortunate drawback of the times.

Flippers these days have such high pressure weapons that they can actually flip themselves out of the pit which means that they're invulnerable to one of my two main immobilisation tactics AND I can get immobilised by them quickly with an out of the arena flip. Or even a regular flip if I don't get these wheels sorted.

It's swings and roundabouts though - my absolutely insane front armour (6mm hardox steel) should just laugh in the face  of spinning weapons. Really, the only thing I have to fear is the potential of them knocking something loose, but that's literally it. NST, could be dealt with in a quick drive forward, send that bar off balance and it'll go flying. Same goes with the potential guise of Ironside. Binky's a little different, but you can read all about that in my last post.

The aim for this championship is basically to qualify, anything else is a bonus!

More soon