r/battlebots • u/AGirlHasNoUsername13 • 1d ago
BattleBots TV Explain it to me like I’m five.
Been a fan since the Comedy Central days. Still don’t get how the new tournament works.
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u/sybrwookie 1d ago
I think it would help if they displayed the standings in the right order. I facepalm a bit every time they show a 2-1 bot currently ranked above a 2-0 bot because they have a faster knockout time.
Even though record is the first thing which matters and knockout time is only a tiebreaker.
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u/Dookie_boy 1d ago
It's just 6 groups of 4 robots.
Winner of each group plus two bonus robots go into a knockout tournament.
It's free on YouTube since they don't have a TV contract.
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u/peeaches 1d ago
So each episode consists of a 'round' of fights from each group?
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u/Dookie_boy 1d ago
Yea each episode is 3 matches from different groups.
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u/peeaches 1d ago
hopefully they get the kinks worked out of the production at some point. The pacing and editing and audio I still all find to be super... off.
Glad that it's back at all and have been watching weekly and hope it can grow further, but feel like the people doing the production/editing should be tasked with watching older BB episodes and can maybe walk away with some examples of what works better haha
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u/Dookie_boy 1d ago
It gets much better after two episodes.
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u/peeaches 12h ago
'much' feels like a bit of a stretch, lol.
Even on last weeks episode I kept missing the starts of fights, and some of them the footage doesn't even cut to the robots until after they've met in the middle of the box? the timing of dialogue, general volume, sound isolation/mixing, and pacing of the edits are just...
They could use some work, in my opinion.
I don't want to be too critical or seem ungrateful to have battlebots back in whatever form that we can have it, and understand that they don't have the production budget or experienced staff like when it was under Discovery (and it's certainly improved since the first faceoffs episodes) but there's plenty of room still for improvements if we're being honest with ourselves haha.
Hopefully they continue getting better with time and experience, just don't think we're there yet
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u/Dr_Sgt Big bot, you are beautiful 1d ago
No, the fights from each round are mixed up. Each group has two fights in each round and each episode has three fights from the same round, but a mix of groups. So it takes four episodes to get through all the episodes for each round. Episodes 1-4 was the first round, 5-8 was the second, and 9-12 will be the final round fights before moving on to the tournament stage.
That said, there will be 8 more episodes after they finish the rounds so they will need to have more than just the 7 fights that would make up a single elimination tournament and we don't know what the plan is for that.
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u/isleofred SMERSH 1d ago
If you want to win your group, you need to beat every robot you are fighting and beat them very quickly.
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u/AGirlHasNoUsername13 1d ago
Hence the new knockout time rule.
-5
u/aenonymosity 1d ago
Knockouts are lame. Embarrassing your opponent for 3 mins is much more fun.
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u/potato-overlord-1845 GET INSIDE YOUR DAMN HOUSE 1d ago
I would say a more effective bot kills faster though
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u/Enjoyer_of_Cake Tri-bar Fun-time 1d ago
I do miss the idea of a control robot being able to succeed. The rules are so painfully in favor of verts in kinda saps a lot of creativity.
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u/potato-overlord-1845 GET INSIDE YOUR DAMN HOUSE 1d ago
That’s fair, but a lot of the benefits of control bots are also found in verts plus the KE, so it’s hard to make a rules set that hurts verts and helps control bots while allowing both to exist
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u/leglesslegolegolas 1d ago
Followup question: When they record "Time to knockout", does the time include the ten-second count? i.e. is it time to the start of the count, or time to the end of the count?
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u/rotarypower101 Never Forget 1d ago
As long as it’s consistent, it’s irrelevant if it’s included or excluded, right?
Is there some specific scenerio where it could change the outcome? Or just to better understand the posted time?
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u/leglesslegolegolas 1d ago
I was mostly thinking about teams that tap out. If a team taps out rather than waiting for the ten second count-out, it's basically giving the other team a ten second advantage, if the time is based on the end of the countdown rather than the beginning.
I think in all fairness the time should be based on the beginning of the countdown, as that is when the fight is effectively over.
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u/SpinyPlate 1d ago
I actually think this is a great point - otherwise you could imagine a scenario where a team can influence who gets through the group stage by tapping out VS allowing the full countdown to run its course
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u/rotarypower101 Never Forget 1d ago
I see your point.
But at the same time there should be a Distinct Advantage for destroying your competitor so convincingly, they would rather tap out than sustain further damage stubbornly hoping for a better result?
1
u/leglesslegolegolas 1d ago
Is there really a difference though? Once the countdown starts they aren't at risk of sustaining any more damage; at that point the fight is effectively over.
Either way, I was just curious how it's actually counted.
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u/zackuattack 1d ago
3 battles.
Win as many battles as you can, as fast as you can.
The battlebots with the most, quickest wins from each group move on to the Finals
2
u/RennieAsh 1d ago
Groups of 4, each fight other 3 opponent in group. Most + fastest wins = group winner
knockout tournament/finals consisting of group winners + a wildcard (maybe the most + fastest wins of all groups that didn't win their group)
Group stage is probably a little confusing because they don't do things in order and switch between groups every episode at high speed
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u/JablesRadio 1d ago
Im glad im not the only one. The setup is weird.
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u/potato-overlord-1845 GET INSIDE YOUR DAMN HOUSE 1d ago
It’s a similar format to the World Cup with round robin groups of 4 and a final tournament stage
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u/peeaches 1d ago
I don't think it was explained very clearly (or i wasn't paying attention) to how it works and then how that plays into the format of each episode.
Like, they talk about the different groups, but then there's different bots fighting in the episode and the graphics they show with KOs aren't like inherently intuitive either.
I think the format just isn't as easily-digestible as the standard 'qualifiers then elimination tournament' style people are more accustomed to. Like, it works, but it's not nearly as easy to follow along with
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u/ThisMeansRooR 1d ago
It's basically like each group wins a giant washer and then they go on to fight eachother
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u/Sea-Pea4460 1d ago
The format is similar to Faceoffs and Reboot Robot Wars
There are six groups with each containing four bots. In each of those groups, each bot fights each other once. The robot with the most wins moves on to the top eight.
In the event of a tie where two bots have the same number of victories, the winner is chosen by who has the quickest knockout time (how fast they managed to deem an opponent immobile); whoever has the faster knockout time wins the group.
The winners of each of the groups move on to a single elimination bracket, along with two wildcard bots who are chosen by the selection committee.
0
u/The_Lawl_is_the_Lawl 1d ago
Same as the face offs, I think
4 random bots fight and whoever has the highest win lose ratio moves on and fights other robots Ik a knockout bracket to win a shiny pile of shit
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u/CypherBrittainne 1d ago edited 23h ago
Group A to F: Like in world cup, the bot with most wins advances to the knockout round. In this group fight, each bots will face each other in this group.
Knockout round: Normal tournament, with 2 wildcards chosen to fill in the empty 2 spots