Bracket 2: The Florida Everglades Seed #4 Hot Spot vs Seed #5 Smokescreen Hot Spot defeats Icepick (18-3) Smokescreen defeats Windsweeper (21-3) Hot Spot Allegiance: Autobot Sub-Group: Protectobot Function: Protectobot Leader "The hotter things get, the better I like it." Profile: Hot Spot likes to be where the action is. Whether he's trying to put out a fire or win a war, as long as he's surrounded by a swirl of movement he's happy. He fights with a fluid instinctiveness that seemingly overrides any carefully measured analysis within his logic circuitry. His leadership is charismatic and inspiring; the other Protectobots can't help but perform beyond their abilities when in his company. However, sometimes they have difficulty keeping up with his non-stop pace. His philosophy is to be maximally operational every moment of his life. Or, as he likes to phrase it, "There are always junkyards for those who rust!" Abilities: In his fire truck mode, Hot Spot can travel at 90 mph and has a range of 600 miles. His hose line can shoot streams of high-pressure water (and other non-corrosive fluids, such as oil and alcohol) an effective distance of 1200 feet. In robot mode, he possesses incredible strength: he can press 60,000 pounds. He uses a fireball cannon, which can shoot bursts of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit blue flame a distance of 1.5 miles. A special vanadium-steel alloy shields him from temperatures of up to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. He combines with his fellow Protectobots to form the giant robot known as Defensor. Weaknesses: Hot Spot's ladder sometimes jams, locking into position when extended. His fireball cannon often backfires, releasing large amounts of the flammable liquid that powers it. Hot Spot himself is invulnerable to the liquid's effects, but the liquid can cause considerable fire-damage to anything around him. Smokescreen Allegiance: Autobot Function: Diversionary Tactician "A look can be deceiving; a touch can be lethal." Profile: Whether engaged in raging battle or friendly conversation, seldom is Smokescreen up to what he appears to be up to. More likely, an ulterior purpose exists. In combat, his job is to lead the enemy astray, to prevent him from discovering the true nature of an Autobot strategy until it is too late for the enemy to counter it. It is a job he performs with great proficiency. His duplicity carries over to his personal affairs as well. Charming and affable, it is easy for Smokescreen to use his genuine camaraderie with his fellow Autobots in order to root out their deepest concerns. And, at Optimus Prime's request, that is exactly what Smokescreen does, because Optimus feels that his role as Autobot leader creates a personal barrier between himself and his followers that he cannot overcome alone. Strangely enough, in Optimus' eyes, the most devious of the Autobots is also the most trusted. Abilities: In car mode, Smokescreen can emit from his tailpipe a thick, black cloud of smoke that has the additional property of gravitating toward metallic objects, such as enemy Decepticons. In robot mode, his twin shoulder-mounted launchers shoot missiles that shatter into thousands of shards that produce a variety of radio signals, magnetic fields and infrared waves, wreaking havoc on the radar and guidance systems of enemy aircraft. His disruptor rifle shoots a web of electrical energy that can short out and interfere with the proper operation of any electrically powered target. Weaknesses: With proper shielding, an opponent can successfully withstand many of Smokescreen's weapons, usually leaving him in a relatively weak position since he's not that powerful on his own. Tech Specs Strength: Hot Spot 9 Smokescreen 4 Intelligence: Hot Spot 7 Smokescreen 9 Speed: Hot Spot 4 Smokescreen 7 Endurance: Hot Spot 9 Smokescreen 6 Rank: Hot Spot 7 Smokescreen 6 Courage: Hot Spot 9 Smokescreen 8 Firepower: Hot Spot 7 Smokescreen 7 Skill: Hot Spot 6 Smokescreen 9 This fight will be taking place in the Florida Everglades. The terrain will affect the outcome of the battle. The combatants will be able to use their surroundings to their advantage, but they may also be disadvantaged by the environment. In other words, the environment of the battlefield may impact the outcome of the match. @SMOG @Rapidfirestormer @RKStrikerJK5 @Max Rawhide @Liege Nemesis @Kaleb Hart @ProfessionalIcee @Sixshot the six changer @Tetratron @Ikkstakk @fschuler @Banannixx @Nitrostorm the skystriker @Dmharper80
Yeah, Hot Spot should have plenty of experience dealing with smoke, and he won't really be affected by Smokescreen's missiles. Smokescreen won't be so unaffected by Hot Spot's weapons, and Hot Spot is a far better fighter. Hot Spot wins.
As has been the pattern, this swampy terrain will drastically limit the mobility of normal land vehicle alt-modes, effectively flattening Smokescreen's normal Speed advantage. I think Smokescreen could out-think Hotspot, and manipulate and misdirect him... but I'm not sure if he has the power to actually take him down. He is extremely skilled, and his disruptor rifle will mess up Hotspot... but with his 9 Endurance, will it actually put him out before Hotspot can strike back? Hotspot has a lot of options. He can douse Smokescreen (or the waters around him) with liquid accelerant, or some kind of adhesive, or who knows what else. He can blast him with fireballs. Or, he could just charge up and pound Smokey into submission... even fighting dirty, I don't think there's any way Smokescreen could match him in close combat. Smokescreen works best in a team, where he can use his special abilities to disorient enemies, or jam their weapons systems... but he still needs someone with some real power to finish things off. Alone against someone like Hotspot, and not being able to use his superior speed to get away? He's in big trouble. HOTSPOT takes it.
I noticed that there's someone who seems to pointedly vote for the underdog in every single bout, no matter how one-sided. No idea if it's the same person every thread, and these votes never really have any impact on the outcome, so whatevs -- but I can't help wondering if someone out there is really like "Oh yeah, Smokescreen totally has this" (which is totally fair) or whether it's just arbitrary shitposting in every bout as a show of defiance or something. Kind of funny. zmog
It's not me! Though I do often try to find ways the underdog could plausibly win, I won't vote for them if I truly think the odds are against them. As seems to be the case here. Smokescreen is smarter and more skilled, but with their firepower equal and Hot Spot's greater endurance and far greater strength, and with a likely ability to counter Smokescreen's weapons but no corresponding ability for Smokescreen to counter Hot Spot's, this one is pretty open-and-shut. Hot Spot advances.
Well, Smokescreen knows when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em. He knows when to walk away, and when to run... except in this case there's no real place to run to before Hot Spot sends him into stasis lock. ... God damn I love that song. I also love that Kenny Rogers actually starred in an entire SERIES of movies based off of the Gambler.
As usual, I will begin by analyzing the ways in which the environment will affect the two combatants. Since this fight is taking place in the Florida Everglades, neither Hot Spot nor Smokescreen will be able to drive around particularly effectively in their alternate modes, thereby negating most of the speed advantage Smokescreen has over Hot Spot. Both will, however, have access to the cover provided by the Everglades---though I'd imagine that Smokescreen would be much more inclined to use it than Hot Spot. When we look at the Tech Specs, we see that Hot Spot has the advantage in Strength and Endurance, while Smokescreen has the advantage in Intelligence, Skill, and Speed (though his speed advantage would be almost entirely negated in the swampy Everglades). Both have above-average Firepower (Firepower 7). Based purely on the stats, this would be a very close match; it's a classic strength/endurance vs intelligence/skill battle. The fact that this battle takes place in the Everglades does seem to favor Smokescreen, as he'll have a lot of places to hide and to dream up potential traps and ambushes to use against Hot Spot. Hot Spot could, of course, use the cover in the same way, but he doesn't seem like an ambush fighter at all. He's much more likely to charge right into the thick of battle than to hide and wait for his opponent to stumble upon him. That being said, as Hot Spot is a fireball-shooting fire truck, he would be able to destroy a lot of Smokescreen's cover in rather quick order if he really needed to do so. I think the question here is whether or not Smokescreen can wear Hot Spot down through attrition before Hot Spot manages to close range and engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Smokescreen has the capabilities to disorient and confuse Hot Spot, and he could probably evade him for a very long time, but in terms of purely offensive damage-dealing weaponry, he seems to be rather limited. Hot Spot might be blinded, and his sensors might be frazzled, but with his 9 Endurance, it doesn't seem likely that Smokescreen would be able to directly kill Hot Spot with his ranged weaponry. That would mean that Smokescreen would either need to a) hope that he can survive and win a close-quarters confrontation with the much-stronger, much-tougher, equally-well-armed Hot Spot (even with Hot Spot disoriented, this would be a very risky proposition) or b) get lucky enough to find a part of the Everglades where the terrain was sufficiently treacherous as to allow Hot Spot to be disabled that way. Both situations are feasible (Smokescreen does have a Skill of 9), but I can't say that either is particularly likely. What will more probably happen is that Smokescreen will lead Hot Spot on a merry chase. Hot Spot will be disoriented and a bit confused for most of the fight, but he's tough enough to shrug off the worst of the effects and determined and gung-ho enough that he'll continue to destroy Smokescreen's cover and track Smokescreen down. Eventually, he'll get close enough to Smokescreen to either wear him down with his impressive array of weaponry (which will be effective against Smokescreen and his only slightly above-average Endurance of 6) or to pull him into a hand-to-hand confrontation, which, given his greater strength and durability---and ability to set himself on fire and then punch Smokescreen while he is on fire---will end with him beating Smokescreen into submission. Smokescreen's good, but his lack of powerful damage-dealing weaponry and inability to use his vehicle mode speed to get out of Hot Spot's range and continue to evade him are going to prove his undoing here. He just doesn't have the tools he needs to really put the hurt on someone as strong and durable as Hot Spot. Hot Spot wins. And the Everglades will probably have been burnt to a crisp.
Like Longitudinal above, I think Smokescreen puts up a spirited fight and drags things out through trickery and cleverness, but ultimately he's not nearly as much of a warrior and lacks sufficient offensive weapons to threaten a bot like Hot Spot who is built to take (and give) a lot more of a physical pounding. This would also be almost entirely a robot-mode battle as ain't no way either of them are getting around the everglades in their alt modes. So ultimately Hot Spot wears Smokescreen down until he can no longer defend or outflank successfully and then has no real defence for what's about to happen to him. Which is fine by me because I love Hot Spot and the Protectobots.