guys im stumped

[Antisocial]

wat do

[Valigarmander]

Start running that armadillo.

But seriously, what is this?

[CaptHayfever]

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Valigarmander

But seriously, what is this?

Armadillo Run. Physics game. Circa 2009.

The goal is to build something with the materials I have that'll keep the ball within the blue circle for around five seconds. The black dots are the only things I can attach stuff to that's not affected by gravity. I also have to keep within the budget because adding materials cost money. I have $1900 for this level.

So any suggestions on tackling this level? Because it honestly has me baffled.

[Jere]

Asians or polish people they work for noting or less.

[Antisocial]

Apparently you people are lost on the premise, so let me start you off by trying this myself.

Using the two anchor points inconveniently put off to the side, we got to try and figure out how to use those to our advantage to get the ball up into that portal.

I surmise that some leverage action is needed here, so I put this together.



The first lever, aided by its counterweight comprised of a fan of sheet metal, will elevate the ball into the next lever, stalled by precise placement of its counterweight.

Hopefully once the ball gets there, the top lever will turn clockwise towards the portal. I highly doubt it'll even reach and I'll have to figure out a way to transport it further, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I've constructed the bottom lever in such a way that it doesn't overshoot its rotation after carting off the ball, lest it shoves the other lever away.

So let's see how this works out.



Success! Now the other lever will catch it and--



wha



...



That could've gone better.

Yep, that's right--materials have the capacity to break if under too much stress. You know, for realism.

I suppose I need more practice with this. If any of you people have any ideas, feel free to share it.

[Loot]

Have you tried a lever and pulley system?

Have you tried rocket lawnchairs?

Have you tried chucking your computer out of your window?

I didn't quite catch that

Have you

Tried

Chucking

Your computer out of the window.

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Loot

Have you tried a lever and pulley system?

No. Let's try that.




Here's my pulley system. It's the best I could do within the limitations of the game. Adding more struts behind it weighed it down too much so I had to compromise.



There's the armadillo on the left. Wrapped that bitch up in cloth ensuring he doesn't go anywhere. And to the right, you can see the intricate pulley system I contrived, along with a metal sheet to work as a stopper. More sheet metal was attached to the other side as the counterweight.

Now let's see what this baby can do.



****. Lost a strut. It's okay, though... It's still going!



HOLY BALLS IT'S GONNA MAKE IT

C'MON YOU SPHERICAL BASTARD--YOU CAN DO IT



YES.







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[Valigarmander]

Build a trebuchet. Even if it doesn't work, at least it'll look cool.

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Valigarmander

Build a trebuchet. Even if it doesn't work, at least it'll look cool.

I'm having doubts about the latter after experimenting with this.

The thing about building something like a trebuchet is the insane amount of stress its materials have to go through. I started light, but it made the structure weak, and the more support I added to it, the more it weighed, stressing it even more. It's a goddamn no-win situation.

In order to build such a device so that the ball has the highest chance of reaching the portal, I had to use the furthest anchor point. And to make sure it had the strength to support itself, I triangulated the **** out of it, hooked ropes to the swinging end to cease its erratic buckling into destruction as much as possible and ended up with this monstrosity.



Looks solid enough. Looks. But will the game accept that as a stable unit?



The answer you're looking for is not just "no". It's more like "oh GOD NO why would you think such things you overambitious fool"

Oh, and there's a bonus! See that message in the corner that reads "limiting simulation speed"? That's something the game displays whenever the computer can't handle what it's doing. My epic invention was apparently deemed too awesome for my laptop to handle.

And after that, my computer froze.

All in all, a wonderful ordeal. But yeah, if you find the idea of catastrophic failure cool, then I guess I can agree that it did look cool despite it not working.

In conclusion, the game apparently cannot handle the mad tension of a trebuchet. Either that or I'm extremely incompetent. Let's go with the second one.

Lastly, even if it did work, I probably wouldn't have won anyway.



I ended up in the hole by almost five grand. And I started with $1900. Wow, this game is realistic!

[Loot]

I don't know what's funnier, you actually listened to me or the fact it actually almost succeeded.

[Antisocial]

I also could've done your rocket lawnchairs suggestion, but that level doesn't allow rockets.

[Loot]

I hereby propose all problems in real life can be solved by copious amounts of HEVEE MACHEEN GUNS and RAWCKET LAWNCHAIRS.

[Antisocial]

No further suggestions? Man, I thought you guys were smart.

Welp, here I go again. Look what I made.



Neat, huh? The structure that keeps the ball in the goal is nothing special, but the focus is the launching mechanism I contrived.



Four elastic bands under maximum tension provide the power I'll need to pop that sucker up into the portal. But since I only have one nearby anchor to work with, I'm relying on the inertia of the structure itself to overcome the mass of the ball.

Took a ton of tweaking to get under the budget, which was the biggest problem, but I managed.

Here goes nothing.



Fantastic. Perfect trajectory.



OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It just--JUST--barely crawls into the hammock. Absolutely no more leeway can be given!

That is perfection. Now get in that damn portal!



I said, GET IN THE DAMN PORTAL.

...Please?...



Alright--this isn't funny anymore.

This has got to be a bug. It's CLEARLY INSIDE THE PERIMETERS OF THE PORTAL AND IT'S NOT GOING IN

What the he







aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa';ee'['s[krejnvr sikjwseak;''/dsc.deew2odqw021qx ceiwows qoikkAPQW[D

[Jere]

GOD DAMNIT THAT IS JUST RIDICULOUS!

[Kargath]

Can you add metal near that canvas to stretch it out?

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Kargath

Can you add metal near that canvas to stretch it out?

[Robotazy]

Well, obviously that works.

Maybe if you make it shoot up higher somehow to match a slightly higher altitude, than maybe it'll work. :/

[Valigarmander]

Maybe this game just wasn't meant to be won.

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Valigarmander

Maybe this game just wasn't meant to be won.

On the contrary.

I took Tazy's suggestion and worked on the elastic method some more. And low and behold...



SUCCESS.

I just made the catch shorter. It's astounding what a difference a few pixels can make.

Hooray. I'll get back to you guys when I get stuck again. Which is probably soon because this game is tricky.