Thoughts on Sumo

[HanktheHeliotropeShank]

I wrote out a long and thoughtful suggestion, but it seems that it did not actually post... so I will try this again, probably shorter.

 

I really like the Sumo Arena. I think it's awesome, and I am excited to test my drones against what other people will be making.

 

However, there are two things I think should happen that don't happen:

 

1. Sensors on terrain should detect the edge of the ring. I think this will open up so many control possibilities for the movement of sumo drones and would make the game a lot more interesting.

 

2. A group of drone parts that moves outside the ring should be deactivated, even if it doesn't contain the drone brain. As we all probably know, it is possible to build a drone that decouples from one or more independently controlled sub-drones, capable of logic, sensing, etc. (I will refer to these detachable sub-drones as "dogs," because I think of them like little dogs, hounds maybe, that run around trying to sniff out a drone and push it out. Let's make it an acronym, perhaps: Detachable Often Guided Sub-drones) When faced with one such drone in the demo, I though a natural counter would be to create some decoys that could detach from my drone, which the "dogs" would sense and push out of the ring, thereby defeating the dogs. However, the dogs pushed my decoys out of the ring as planned, but then simply returned after they fell off the sensors. At first I thought oh well, I guess I didn't know all the rules, I'll have to account for that. But now, after considering it a bit, I think dogs are seriously overpowered. Consider this: in the game's current form, a dog can travel a significant distance outside the ring, then turn around and move back towards the ring, gaining a significant amount of speed and momentum. In fact, due to its ability to get a running start from outside the ring, a dog could bring more momentum then any drone brain (which is confined to the ring) could ever achieve. This makes dogs by far the most powerful force in the Sumo Arena. I think the game will be more balanced and interesting if dogs can be defeated (of course a player or drone should not be defeated until the drone brain leaves the ring). I think this will not only be more balanced, but also more intuitive (I expected it, I don't know if anyone else did though, so maybe that's more of my opinion). Furthermore, I think it is more fitting with the idea of Sumo. You try to stay in the ring. You're not allowed to strike from outside the ring. If you go out of the ring, you're out.

 

I would also like to go on record saying if nothing changes, I predict that the competitive Sumo meta-game will be absolutely dominated by dogs.