rule 4E

A discussion forum for proposed changes to the AWS rules (2014)

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Hogi
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Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:47 pm
Location: basingstoke

rule 4E

Post by Hogi »

4e) Robots may hold or pin each other for a maximum of 20 seconds. The judge will give a verbal warning at 15 seconds into any holding or pinning, for the contestants to disengage. Should they not do so within final 5 seconds then the battle will be paused and the robots returned to their respective corners. The battle will then recommence immediately.
rule 4E in the current rules limits holding or pinning to twenty seconds at a time. in my opinion that is a bit bias against robots such as mantis and thunderstrike that are designed to hold or pin for their main attack. i apreciate that there is probably a very good reason for having this rule but nowadays we are getting a slight increase in crushers ( three at AWS 43, thunder strike, mantis and bauerbird ) and i thought maybe we should change tnis rule to allow robots that wield holding weapons to really reach their full potential in fights rather than just grabbing and having to dump the opponent out near enough imedeatly. i don't mind if no one else shares my opinion but i thought this point was probably worth discussing as with the new induction fan robots, we may find that crushers are actually the most effective weapon for beating them.
Last edited by BeligerAnt on Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added rule text
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
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bitternboy
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Re: rule 4E

Post by bitternboy »

Personally, I've never seen this rule enforced; 20 seconds is longer than you think it is when it comes to a battle. If the robot hasn't used the hold to remove the opponent from the arena within 20 seconds, it's unlikely they will at all.
Pushers do a lot more pinning than claw bots anyway, get rid of the rule and you give any robot with enough power to pin another robot against the wall the chance to hold the robot until the end of the fight and potentially win on a judges decision.
Jonathan Atkinson
Before you criticize another person, first walk a mile in their shoes. Then, when you critisize them, you'll be a mile away and have their shoes.
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BeligerAnt
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Re: rule 4E

Post by BeligerAnt »

This rule has almost never been needed as far as I can recall, even though there have been crushers/grabbers since the dawn of antweights. As Jonathan says, 20 seconds is a long time in a fight (longer than many fights even!) and a warning is given after 15 seconds. Also, it generally takes the judges a few seconds to realise that a robot is being pinned before the countdown starts!

Dan, you haven't actually proposed a change to this rule.
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
Hogi
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Re: rule 4E

Post by Hogi »

i see where your coming from. i doubt my crusher's servo would tolerate any more than twenty seconds of pressure and i suppose the rule helps resolves situations like that of hogi and anto three at AWS42 where anto got caught on hogi's assotate but hogi was unable to shove anto off the edge. now that i see the reasoning behind this rule, i don't see the need for change. if it were to be changed however, my proposal would be: robots may not be counted out while in contact with an opponent as the contact makes it impossible to fairly judge whether or not a robot is imoblised. should contact not be broken within twenty seconds, the battle will be restarted.

i deliberately stated “ contact with an opponent ” because at the last AWS i saw a few incidences where a robot was counted out while still touching it's opponent. that could potentially have been the reason: the other robot was restricting it's ability to recover/ move, therefore pinning. i think maybe perhaps instead of changing the rule, we need to make a clear deffinition of pinning, for that my proposal would be: “ hold/pin: physical contact that restricts or inhibits the movement of 1 or more robots.”
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
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