Contest #1 results

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Contest #1 results

Postby PeterT » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:24 pm

I grouped the solutions by their overall structure.

1) Bridges
Starting with the most intuitive type - the armadillo is higher than the goal, so why not just build a bridge over the gap?

KelsonK built a somewhat standard bridge, though he supplanted some metal bars with rope where possible ($2506):
Image

Bob submitted a very eleborate sliding "bridge", which does use a lot of rope and not a single metal sheet. I like this solution very much, though it's still not in the winning cost levels ($2628).
Image

However, it soon turned out that because of the placement of the left fixed point, building that part of the bridge would be more expensive even than using a rubber cannon. Thus, we reach the second type of solutions.

2a) Half-Bridges
Here, the left part is crossed via a tensioned piece of rubber, and the right half is covered by some kind of bridge.

JackR sent in this solution which exemplifies the concept ($2614).
Image

Squint's idea was similar, but he removed some plates and saved more money. ($2668)
Image

Jonny perfected the concept, saving $2678.
Image

2b) Sliding Half-Bridges
As sliding bridges are normally cheaper than normal ones, some people naturally tried building sliding half-bridges.

BFC's best effort - titled "v7f" - reached $2672 using this set-up:
Image

While I am of course not qualified to compete in a contest I host, I also built a few solutions before looking at any of the submitted ones. Interestingly, my best effort reached $2672 as well, however the method was quite different.
Image

3) Jump 'n Run
Now we finally reach the category that produced the winner. A progression from ever-more-flimsy half-bridges, here only the most essential parts rename (Thanks for the category name idea go to Bob).

He named this solution like that, reaching $2686:
Image

DSH managed something similar, but without the costly metal plate. ($2692)
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With that very respectable score he was in the lead for quite some time. However, kingofthespill, in his 7th submission ("v12" according to his numbering!) broke the barrier and showed us all that this level can be done with a budget of $300. Yes, here it is, the winning solution, kingofthespill's $2700! As you can see, this solution removes all the fluff and cuts down the level to only 8 components, most of which are rope.
Image

4) Just for fun
Here are a few solutions that are fascinating, though not very cheap.

Bob sent in this one, entitled "Crash Test" - a rocket chariot!
Image

And BFC made this very interesting experiment, which could have been quite important had the level been about twice as wide. (The metal part in the middle starts spinning and hits the ball with a lot of power to catapult it to the right)
Image



Whew, now that was some work.
Thanks a lot to everyone who participated, and congratulations to kingofthespill!

Here's your medal:Image
It should appear below your username soon if I did everything correctly ;)
Last edited by PeterT on Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby BFC » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:07 pm

Grats on the win King!

Very well played bounce there. I was unable to get it to bounce in my favor, well done!

Some very nice designs by everyone. My "paddle" I've used many times in the past to travel large distances when catapults are not feasible. Hopefully a new tool for anyone that hasn't used it before.

A minor suggestion on the results postings. Possibly post the order of the finishes. That is, 1st with final cost, 2nd with final cost and so on.

Looking forward to more contest levels! Thanks again Peter.

-BFC
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Postby PeterT » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:38 pm

Here is a zip that should contain all the solutions I presented above, in case anyone wants to see how they work exactly:
http://armadillo.metaclassofnil.com/lev ... utions.zip

BFC, I think I figured out how your paddle works. Very nice, but I would say it's at the edge of being "dirty", as it uses the same "feature" that makes metal rods of destruction possible. If a winning solution used this, I would probably put it into a different category from cleaner solutions.
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Postby BFC » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:47 pm

Oh i agree it's definitely using "the force". It's a totally impossible device to exist in the real world as it's a perpetual motion machine. It actually generates more power the longer it is allowed to rotate.

If the rules will be set to where "the force" or destruction isnt' allowed I would of course follow that ;)

It has some novel uses however, not just as a padle...hehe.

So in short, definitely a non-legit way to do something. But perhaps acceptable in some contest levels if the rules allow it. That would be up to you though :)

-BFC
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Postby DSH » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:54 pm

Aye, congrats to kingofthespill. Only a few dollars out. Ahwell. :)

Shame Kelsonk forgot to submit his mid 2700s solution, he would have won... :twisted:

I was surprised how much cloth the bridge went down to in the end. I started with a full sheet from the middle anchor to the exit initially. Then noticed that the 'dillo only touched in a few places and wondered what'd happen if you got rid of the untouched bits.

After a bit of tweaking it came down to two little strips. Shortening (?!) the rubber gave me a bit more distance on the launch and I managed to lose one of the cloth strips. After that, it was a 1001 tweaks to get the bounce right and land in the hammock.

Well done to kingofthespill for minimising the 'catch' too.
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Postby PeterT » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:58 pm

DSH wrote:Shortening (?!) the rubber gave me a bit more distance on the launch and I managed to lose one of the cloth strips.
Yeah, that's common with rubber cannons. If the distance to the Armadillo is higher, the endpoint of the rubber has more time to accelerate.
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Postby kingofthespill » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:25 pm

Thank you all. I really expected that mid-2700s guy to win :lol: . Where was his submission :P :wink: ?!

I am impressed by the array of solutions, even some funny ones. Bob's bridge was an approach I wouldn't have even considered, and it's aesthetically pleasing too. Also that some very inexpensive solutions used metal sheets was a bit surprising also.

I also started with a cloth bridge and cut down from there. The rubber cannon placement was quite touchy, as was adjusting the final catching ropes. Every time I got it to work I would walk away happy, but then 2 minutes later I would think "...it probably could go smaller...", and it kept shrinking.
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Postby Bob » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:16 pm

First: Hi to all! This is my first post in this forum. I like the game :armadillo: and I like the forum.

Second: Congratulations to kingofthespill! Your solution is great :!: I think it needs a lot of patience to find that optimum. And I agree, there are also very intresting other solutions. I was surprised by BFCs "paddle".

Third: Thanks to PeterT for running this forum and for his work with the contest.
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Postby Jonny » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:14 pm

Well done to all, congrats to kingofthespill and many thanks to Peter for all the effort.

So, what's up next? :D
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Postby DSH » Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:15 pm

Yeah, the sliding bridges would never have occured to me. This is one of the things I like about this game. You pick up all sorts of different ways of doing things that you can in-turn apply to your own solutions.

Going back to your first run through of the official levels is a surprise too. Endless amounts of "What the hell was I thinking there? I can shave about $300 off that monstrousity!" to be had :)
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Postby JackR » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:19 pm

Superb stuff.

It was a good level to start out with and this is further cemented by the fact that we have lots of great solutions.

Excellent work Kingofthespill & thanks PeterT for putting the effort in.

:armadillo: :armadillo: :armadillo: :armadillo: :armadillo:

Out of 5!
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Postby Armadillo Man » Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:02 pm

Congratulations to the participants, seems like there was loads of neat solutions here.

I didn't even know that it was possible to make sliding bridges... :oops:

(though armed with this knowledge, I finally managed to complete restricted materials 1 ....yes, I'm a bit slow :) )
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Postby squint » Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:44 pm

Need... new... competetion...

Must... play...
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Postby Kelsonk » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:50 pm

kingofthespill wrote:Thank you all. I really expected that mid-2700s guy to win :lol: . Where was his submission.


It, uh... my computer exploded. I was hoping that merely mentioning my money saving solution would cause everyone to lose hope and not submit any entries. I quickly made some mundane, uncreative bridge in hopes that I was the only one to submit.
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Postby Zut » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:41 am

Sweeeeet solutions guys!

Its is great to see loads of different solutions like this.
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