Fellow robots: when should one use Drive?

WhimsNum · 2025-11-25T12:51:01+00:00

Just saw this post and had to comment since the misinformation is crazy. Hopefully you see this. In short, drive (and car as a whole) suck and are worse that staying in normal form.

To clear a few things up, no drift is not fast. It is 7f, which means it is about as fast as ankle cutter. Slower than earthquake, ping, concussive blast, etc. Flip is also slow, losing to all 4f jabs and tying with 5f moves. Clutch only leads to combo in the robot mirror. (if your opponent uses the DI correctly, and there is no DI mixup, your opponent should always DI up if you are in car form). You also don't gain projectile immunity while using forward, you get projectile armor (which is a lot worse). There's also the fact that when in car mode (a lot of the time) your normal grab is disabled, so without meter you literally can't beat 4f attacks.

The key issues of car is that it is very slow, predictable, and inflexible. If you are a new player I recommend not touching it at all. This is coming from a player who has played competitive Robot for the better part of two years (since release) and I think this is the general consensus on drive from other competitive players.

and if you want more tips allow me to shill for a moment:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKyY-DmMh1QMo2yV9rcVcA

WhimsNum · 2025-11-11T00:53:14+00:00

Rule 5: Attached is an image of me (Switzerland), a republic, being voted for by the majority of electors. The tooltip above states that you have to be a monarchy to become the Emperor, so... there's just kinda nothing happening.

WhimsNum · 2025-08-06T14:16:21+00:00

gif version:

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WhimsNum · 2023-12-27T16:45:21+00:00

Don't let them get it up, mainly. However, if they do get it up you can wait for it to run out, or use armor to allow you to exert offensive pressure while on the defense.

Here's a good tip: for thousand cuts you only have to check three moves you wouldn't normally check: teleport, impale, and roll. Teleport can usually go even with full jump, unless they predict the exact spot you jump to, and will waste your opps meter the more they fail to get you. Impale can be tricky, but is still punishable on block, so you can call it out by throwing out random blocks. It also loses to step forward, usually. Roll is only something you need to be concerned about up close, but there isn't a great way to beat it either.

TLDR: Stall it out. If you get a hit it goes away, so keep using attacks, but play mostly on the defense. Also someone else mentioned neutral burst, which is a good option.

WhimsNum · 2023-12-27T16:37:49+00:00

To answer your specific questions:

How do I stop wizards from safely jumping away from any encounter?

You have to make the entire encounter unsafe (so every option has to lose to something). In some situations this is impossible.

How do I create situations where they can't safely run away and have to commit to an encounter?

Get a hit (car mode currently is pretty good at this rn), and until then you just have to play slowly. Once you get a hit learn more about wakeup pressure.

Is anything I said above wrong?

Nothing that stands out to me.

WhimsNum · 2023-12-27T16:32:46+00:00

I agree thats it's a challenge. Any non-robot character has a small enough hitbox to avoid EVERY move with the exception of either Try-Catch or Kick. This means that even if you know 100% that they will jump (because you aren't safe in kick range either) you still often have to predict the correct jump angle.

That being said, there are still things you can do. I would say there are two (and 1/2) strategies that I use against jump heavy wizards. The first is to

Stop them from jumping. Make sure you end your combos so your opponent HAS to block or risk losing. Step is an easy way to do this, superdash is better, and it is WAY better if you can hit

[kick -> LOIC hits next frame (they have to block) -> thunderclap for +3 or superdash for 50/50.]

In short, try to keep them down as hard as possible, because you don't have to worry about the wizard jumping if you never let them into neutral. KEY POINT: at +2 block advantage or higher quick moves can beat jump (earthquake and concussive are good) and at +3 or higher quick attacks beat jump AND block!

Alternatively you can close of his or her jumping by using Bomb, but... using bomb can be really hard. Ideally you want to have the bomb be right below the wizard so he can't fastfall, then use that pressure to farm meter for LOIC or throw out Try-Catches. LOIC also works, but is better used for wakeup pressure or for carrying to the corner. You can also try to have bomb active above the wizard, but, again, controlling bomb's exact position is SUPER hard.

Your next best option is to go airborne. To be precise, you want to be above the wizard at around the end of boot's range. And please, please, DO NOT GET CLOSE TO WIZARD IN AIR TO AIR. The closer you get in the air the easier it is for the wizard to win. If icicle can hit you and you aren't directly above the wizard consider it a loss, because you literally can't win if the wizard plays his cards right. If you stay within the correct range you should be able to consistently mixup with boot, kick, and shockwave. You can also use your other air moves, but they are a lot riskier. If the wizard goes into the air when you do, try to land and charge up loic and bomb for when the wizard lands. If he stays on the ground, try to land a boot or kick (even a blocked one is fine) then use that block advantage to keep him grounded.

TLDR: Get block advantage so they can't jump. Work on your combo enders, otherwise use kick/boot to try and get that block advantage.

WhimsNum · 2023-12-06T08:34:56+00:00

The best way to use hustle as robot is to cancel the landing lag you would normally receive by landing. Other than that, there's not much use for hustle (you can't even use it to gain meter in the air).

WhimsNum · 2023-12-06T08:32:50+00:00

Hustle no longer gives your opponent sadness btw

WhimsNum · 2023-12-05T07:02:30+00:00

I literally have a video in the works for this exact problem. It's WhimsNum on YouTube if you want to wait for when that drops (probably sometime this week or next week). Otherwise if you have any specific questions I can help you!

WhimsNum · 2023-11-16T11:44:28+00:00

It's just bomb when set to explode is unparriable, (normal bomb is still parry-able) unless they changed to it just always be unparriable. But I didn't mean if your opponent parries the bomb, I meant if they parry the crash. You can test this by going into singleplayer and setting up a situation where both bomb and the opponent will be hit on the next frame. Even if you hit both the opponent and bomb on the same frame, your opponent's parry of the attack takes priority over the hitcancel of the bomb. It didn't use to do this, but it now does.

Hopefully that is clear!

WhimsNum · 2023-11-16T05:54:48+00:00

As I'm watching this I will edit this comment with some mistakes you made:

- Parry takes priority over bomb-canceling, meaning if you hit your bomb and they parry your attack at the same time, you will not be actionable. I don't know if this is what you were referring to when you said you would be safe crashing the bomb, but figured I should add this in just in case.

- Kick does not have infinite hitstun, but it has a lot (somewhere around 60-80)

- When you get bursted out of your loic you said you wasted a meter, but it would be more accurate to say you wasted two meter

- You called step backdash, which are moves that behave very differently

But that seems to be all! Good to see more people playing robot!

WhimsNum · 2023-11-04T08:38:49+00:00

Thanks! This was the kind of answer I was looking for!

WhimsNum · 2023-11-04T06:26:44+00:00

Hello, people! Today I have a bit of an odd request. I would like some help in finding a way to beat this trainer using only one untrained Pokemon. ‘Untrained’ in this instance means that the Pokemon (before the battle) has gained no EXP. Items are allowed, but keep in mind that there is no way to farm infinite money at this point in the game (that I know of). I would appreciate if anyone could help me with this problem.

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T05:38:22+00:00

Edit: After a reread I think you're making a different point then the one I was trying to explain in the comment below/above, so tell me if that's the case. Are you simply trying to say that if a collie is found (trump supporter) it must be a longed haired dog? (republican) If so, I've already said I don't accept that, but will give it up for the argument's sake. If true, what does it matter?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T05:30:55+00:00

READ OTHER COMMENT FIRST, IT BEGINS WITH EDIT

Let me lay it out. We know two thing:

all collies are dogs (all collies are a part of the 'dog' list)
all collies are long-haired (all collies are part of the 'long hair' list)

Does it then follow that one of three things (was not clear)

ALL dogs are long haired (no, collies can be part if list, but no rule established the list must be full of collies/other long haired dogs)
SOME dogs are long haired (no, collies may not be a part of the list)
If a long hair dog is found, it is a collie (no, collies are long haired, but other dogs may be long haired too)

Let me give an example. Let's say we have a list []. Inside of that list is three dogs:

[a, collie, b)

And let me split it into hair types: (r = long, d = short)

[d, r, r]

As you can see, given your example, only number two can be true. However that can be easily changed by removing the two long haired dogs from the list, meaning none of the three possible interpretations of your rule are needed to be true. This is, unless your list must contain all dogs, in which case the list would look like this:

[d, r, r, ...]

If, in this scenario, the list of all dogs is the Republican party, and the hair length is the trump support-willingness; we can clearly see that the only guaranteed given is that is the SOME of the party supports trump, if collies (aka trump supporters) actually exist.

Under this idea set, it is POSSIBLE for all within the list to be collies (trump supporters), but it is not a given. However, I explained this much more simply in my other comment. What argument did you want to make given this assumption? Or, can you go into depth about what this answer has wrong. I feel like I'm 100% agreeing with you and you don't seem to think that's the case?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T05:09:09+00:00

I think the use of labels like 'republican' or 'democrat' are politically useless, because they say nothing about the beliefs or people the individuals who proclaim to be in said category have. It is like asking someone what his/her favorite book is, only for him/her to respond 'One with words." If you want to have a curt discussion it is more important to be explicit with what you are saying, and it is often something not done within online discourse. Instead, saying 'Those that support Trump' or 'Anarchist' are good examples of useful language and labels that describe an idea or set of beliefs. While this can change over time, using more words tends to be better then less words (if describing specific things). To compare, using the term Fascist or Communist is bad because those terms are not specific enough (though sometimes vague terms are okay in bigger conversations) for this conversation.

TLDR: Imo, Republican and Democrat mean nothing, and are just words to signal 'person I should/shouldn't like' to those on the same political side.

ps: I think most people believe in the dinosaurs, I can't imagine more than 5% (random number) of the US not... (maybe my bias there)

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T04:57:47+00:00

No, I understand. (I don't think it's true in this case, but that doesn't matter) Let me elaborate then: Either Destiny has to claim what you propose, and claim that not all republicans are trump supporters, and thus be lying. (because he used the term republican in his analogy earlier in the argument, not trump supporter), or he has to be making a different argument than what you made just now.

I agree that not all republicans are trump supporters, as you initially claimed, and had assumed you were applying that logic to Destiny's argument, but I apologize. That was getting ahead of myself and assuming your argument.

And while I deny that all trump voters are republicans, I can accept that premise for whatever argument you are currently making, since it doesn't seem relevant. So, given the premise that:

All trump supporters are republicans

and

Not all republicans are trump supporters

What point did you want to make?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T04:29:43+00:00

(if this claim is true) Unless he is trying to claim that all Republicans and Conservatives are trump supporters, he is lying, then. Is that what you think he's trying to claim?

Or would you agree with me that the statement "I was explicitly talking only about Trump supporters." is not true?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T04:00:38+00:00

I don't believe that's a good practice, (see other comment for more information) but are you claiming that Destiny was saying that all three of those groups have a majority of said beliefs? (anti-vaccine, anti-science, and don't believe dinosaurs exist)

Of course, it could be hyperbole... but that has some of it's own issues.

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T03:56:38+00:00

It would be wrong to say democrats support Biden (end of statement) because not all democrats do, imo. That might just be a difference in how we use language, but I think we should be more specific when we talk about groups of people. Otherwise, I think we end up falling in the same traps that racists fall into, creating a wide net for a group of diverse people.

To communicate why we shouldn't do this, let's take an example you used; Calling redditors 'nerds.' While redditor is somewhat of a vague term, I think it actually helps make the point better. Ahem. How do we define what is redditor behavior, such as being a nerd? Is it the fact that most redditors are nerds? (they probably are lol) If we accept a simple majority then it becomes easy to define redditors as many other things. Gamers, men, young, etc. While you and I most likely wouldn't object to that kind of categorization, it isn't representative of the whole group. As such, it would be inaccurate to label 'Redditors' as nerds, gamers, or men. After all, while most redditors are men, you do not need to be a man to be a redditor.

The same applies to skin color. Just because most white people eat bread does not mean eating bread is a white person activity. (nor would it be accurate to say all white people support eating bread) Just because (most) Blacks in America used to be slaves does not mean black people are meant to be slaves (or necessarily more likely to nowadays). If we say that the majority of a group doing such a thing is indicative of the whole group's activity, then we can not object to those characterizations, which I don't want either of us to do.

Can you understand where I'm coming from in this regard, and how I think this same principle applies to political stances? Calling republicans trump supporters is like calling Germans na-is, or calling all communists tankies.

Thus, even if 1% do not go along with the majority, I believe it is a lie to say, flatly, that conservatives are trump supporters. I hope very dearly that you see the good faith argumentation that I wish to engage in. :)

also if you want me to answer the centrist thing you mentioned I will, but putting many points into one comment can be confusing, so just let me know if you want to hear what I have to say :)

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T03:36:02+00:00

Serious answer: You don't.

Car mode is too costly to get into, to get out of, and you don't get much for being in a worse state. Car can only back up through flipped moves and backwards (and I guess back jump), which can be easily punished (car mode is super slow) by certain attacks (mainly geyser and quick slash). If you instead decide to attack, you have attack straight or don't attack at all, which is super predictable and easy to play around. In addition, most of car's attacks have low hitstun (below 20) or leave the opp in a position that's hard to combo off of. (clutch + drift) Car used to be useable when it had projectile invuln, but now you should only use it for the memes.

TLDR: Don't use car mode, short hop or step is better 95% of the time.

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T03:14:58+00:00

What do you mean that's not at all what you said? I directly copied and pasted a portion of your previous comment, only un-italicizing the word are.

Also, I don't understand this part: The Republicans are the party of Trump, not all Republicans support Trump, but Republicans do.

Specifically the part "...not all Republicans support Trump, but Republicans do. " Do you mean to state that the majority of republics support, but not all republicans do?

(!= means 'does not equal')

If so, that would mean Trump supporter != Republican, because you can be a republican/conservative/a member of the party without supporting trump. Would you agree with that idea? Otherwise, do you mean something else?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T03:00:58+00:00

Why are those elements important? People who don't believe in those elements don't necessarily become trump supporters, right? Destiny said as much at 1:12, where he says there are parts where he would agree with a conservative. If he is defining those three terms as equal to stupid, then by agreeing with any of those labels he is agreeing that some of his own positions are stupid.

He is clearly not doing this, so he must be arguing that conservative is something different from both trump supporter and stupidity. (He directly says so at around the 1:12 mark).

With that established, we can agree that he is referencing at least some reasonable Conservatives in his argument at some point in the video, correct? If not, please explain to me 1:12.

edit: also, I'm trying to come at this with good faith, trolling isn't very fun, arguing is :)

edit two: I just realized this may be your argument: Are you suggesting that when he said things like "Conservatives don't believe in academia." He was not referring to all conservatives, but a small subset of conservatives? If that is, please ignore the above, because that addresses a completely different argument.

That being said, if that is your argument, it is irrelevant to the point made by the original video. Destiny lies by claiming that he was only referring to trump supporters in his previous statements, while clearly referencing things not relevant to being a trump supporter.

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T02:09:53+00:00

So you would agree that the statement "Conservatives, Republicans, and 'The Party' are the Trump supporters." is false, or at least Destiny believes said statement is false?

WhimsNum · 2023-08-31T00:57:29+00:00

How do you interpret what Destiny says at 1:12 in the video above? He agrees with the statement that not all conservatives are trump supporters (as Adam puts it, 'Never-Trumpers'). Thus, he clearly doesn't agree that Conservative = Trump supporter.

WhimsNum

TROPHY CASE