RE: suspension [TANKS]

["Carioti, John" <john.carioti-at-sensis.com>]

>Just a few observations from my experiences.  Your mileage may vary. 
>But, remember one thing:  If you spend too much time trying to make 
>things perfect up front, then you may never actually make it to your 
>first battle ... which is *the* most important design step.  The 
>battlefield and other battlers will always help find your faults :-)

        Frank P.

I agree 100% with Frank on this point.  The same sort of "paralysis by
analysis" goes on in the Robot Combat world also.  People will talk
endlessly about the advantages of one design vs. another, and yet some
(most) of them never actually complete a robot and bring it to an event.

Discussing various topics is always good, when they relate to basic
design features such as motors, or materials.  However, until you have
at least a few battles under your belt do not assume that anything that
is complicated (like turret rotation accuracy, suspension, paintball
feed) will work first time out.   

When I built my Centaur, the goal was to do the best I could with what I
knew and get the thing built quickly and get it to the Battlefield.
Believe me, I learned things at that first battle that I would have
never discovered by typing on my keyboard. 

As has been said 500 times in the Robot Combat world: Just build the
damn thing and bring it into battle! :-)

John