Run Amok Combat Robotics
Try Your Hand as a Combat Robot Judge
Scenario 5: Robot Alpha's rotary blade completely removes a side armor panel from robot Beta, exposing the interior but causing no loss of functionality. Beta then completely shears away Alpha's entire weapon structure, leaving them weaponless.
Under the Robot Fighting League 'Damage/Aggression' scoring, how do you assign damage points?
Answer: Damage points are a 3 to 3 tie.
"Armor section completely removed exposing interior components" and "Removal of wheels, spinning blade, saw, hammer, or lifting arm, or other major component resulting in total loss of weapon functionality or mobility." are both considered 'major' damage, even though one robot remains fully functional and the other is without a major system.
Opinion: I've always believed that armor is there to protect the vital compnents of a robot, and that it is entirely expendable. If the vital components are intact at the end of the match, the armor did it's job. Boxers aren't penalized for scratches, cuts, or bruises that don't impede their ability to fight, and the gladiators of Rome weren't scored down for the number of dents in their shield.
If a robot fight ends with one 'bot as pretty as it started and the other dented and ripped you have to tip a point to the pretty 'bot -- but any damage to armor is entirely 'cosmetic' in my book and outweighed by any loss of functionality.
