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CBC3 SHW Eliminator: I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! vs Black Mamba

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 11:28 pm
by The Monsterworks
I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker!: 6/5/2/7 (5/5)/10 (+1 claws)

vs.

Black Mamba: 6/5/4/4/11

In terms of entertainment value, this fight isn’t going to be pretty. Black Mamba has a lot of armour and multiple means of interrupting my saw. However, I have omnidirectional movement in the form of strafing and circle strafing, and I have the better (effective 2WD with claws closed) wedge unless he presses, in which case we’re dead even. Lifting two of his wheels off the ground to press has two other effects: Firstly, it makes our torque even, so if he’s pressing or wedged, he’s not pushing. Secondly, it means that only the very back of his skirts are flush with the floor, allowing my claws (that come in from the sides) to slip right under him.

Alex V is going to pull his usual schtick, including baiting, faking, feinting, etc. The bottom line, however, is that my strafing drivetrain and multiple (as well as damage-dealing) weapons give me more options. When he presses, our wedges are even. If it’s an angling battle, he can only attempt to angle in the traditional way, whereas I can strafe and circle strafe immediately before contact to create additional angles, both countering him and allowing me to get beneath. He’s got those two little forks that are pretty easy to angle in on compared to my wedge teeth.

My claws-closed wedge is too short to control him, of course, but it only needs to do either of the following: force him to press to wedge me or get under him and lift his front two wheels off the ground, forcing him to back off and try again. In both cases, he’s giving up his torque advantage. In the first, he’s giving me an opportunity to quickly snap the claws open and then shut around his sides. In the second, he’s the one being outmaneuvered and backing off, while you bet I’m going to pursue if it’s at all appropriate.

I can regularly mix things up by going with either a claws open or closed approach. I can charge in while strafing sideways, suddenly backing up at a diagonal as he comes to meet me and giving me his exposed flank. When I lose the wedge battle, I can’t be high-centered from the front, but I can also escape in ways other than the predictable j-hook, allowing me to instantly counterpunch. Basically, I can overwhelm with varying approaches, narrowing those down to the ones that work. Whenever I have him clamped, I’ll be sawing, mainly to show aggression and do some damage. Use hazards if there’s an opportunity. Finally, when the walls disappear, strafe when near the edge to get him to miss. If we end up wedgelocked and in a pushing battle, Alex V’s OOTA-happy, so play into that. Let him slowly bully me towards the edge, giving the impression of trying to escape, and then circle strafe just before we go over, forcing him to react to the sudden change and swinging myself around to be the second bot to fall.

GL, my fellow Alex!