Nimbatus The Space Drone Constructor: Sumo Drones Guide

Sumo drones. The gamemode of Sumo in the multiplayer menu, sitting there. There’s so many – too many – different kinds of drones that perform well, or decently well, in Sumo. In this “guide” is your reference ebooklet for every recurring sumo drone I’ve spotted and recorded. This guide is best read not linearly, but directly – don’t start at the top, start where you want to. Each section contains information about the strengths, weaknesses, and distinguishing features of every sumo drone, plus an example image and description of how they work and win.

Strong Against: Splitters, Smart Rammers
Weak Against: Skimmers, Strategists
Distinguishing Features: Many thrusters, jump thrusters, and afterburners. Few logic parts and simple design.

Rammers are arguably the most common sumo drone type. They rely on speed, initiative, and brute force. Most rammers either use jump thrusters for a fast ram with a buildup, or thrusters for greater initiative. Rammers rely on the enemy not having enough time to dodge or activate any signature abilities, and can be defeated laughably easily by good Skimmers. For rammers that follow targets or otherwise display logic and sensor use, see Smart Rammers.

Strong Against: Rammers, Smart Rammers
Weak Against: Splitters, Strategists, Spinners
Distinguishing Features: Small, several short-range sensors, sideways or diagonally positioned thrusters

Skimmers likely were conceived entirely because of the frequency and power of rammers. They are direct counters to rammers, possessing small frames and fast movement. They often have short sensors that allow them to circle very closely to the arena edge. This manoeuvrability comes at the cost of power and size. Smaller, simpler skimmers are similarly sized to a splitter’s minidrones. An opponent that manages to get a lock on a skimmer is set up for an easy win, and so do drones that don’t attempt to attack the skimmer. Often, splitters have skimmer main bodies, relying on their minidrones to do the work.

Strong Against: Splitters, Strategists
Weak Against: Spinners, Rammers, Skimmers
Distinguishing Features: VTOL thrusters, some amount of logic parts, slightly more complex design than Rammers

Smart Rammers are the response to the question: What if the rammer could turn? They sacrifice some of their power for the ability to track and turn to opponents, which although is great against drones that add a sidestep to their arsenal, actually doesn’t work against skimmers. Skimmers are still fast enough to avoid a smart rammer, due to their size and speed. High speed decreases the turning window, so a smart rammer will come close to a skimmer, but not hit it. Smart Rammers are also a good place for new Sumo drone builders to start, due to their simple logic and design.

Strong Against: Every drone, but only if the spinner is good/ enemy is bad
Weak Against: Every drone, if the enemy drone is good/ spinner is bad
Distinguishing Features:Circular or “armed” design, some logic parts, many thrusters and afterburners

Spinners are an interesting drone type. They have the wits of smart rammers, and move very little from their own location. Why, then, are they so difficult to counter? Spinners rely on the physics of collision with rapidly spinning objects to guide them to victory. The fast spin of these drones causes any other drone to bounce off it violently, often getting thrown away. They are not infallible however. Retained contact, such as from a swarm of Splitter minidrones, can slow them down, and they also suffer greatly from broken logic or damage to parts. Arguably, every drone is both weak and strong against them. It depends entirely on the spinner, and the opposition.

Strong Against: Strategists, Spinners (slightly)
Weak Against: Rammers, Smart Rammers
Distinguishing Features: Minidrones that break off immediately, small individual minidrones, often a small main drone as well

Splitters aim to overwhelm the opponent by ganging up on them. Splitters release attack minidrones that charge towards the opponent, often like minature rammers. The main body can vary wildly, sometimes acting like another minidrone, but most of the time they act like strategists or skimmers. Splitter minidrones aren’t always uniform, but they generally either have 1 or 2 specialized minidrones or 8 identical ones. Unlike rammers and smart rammers, they also actually require a decent grasp of logic and sensor parts.

Strong Against: Rammers, Skimmers
Weak Against: Smart Rammers, Splitters, Spinners
Distinguishing Features: Many logic parts and sensors, average speed and size

Strategists, are, physically, the worst drones. They have average speed, and no minidrones to help them. However, they are the “smartest” drones, and almost all strategists can detect borders and enemies. Strategists are very unforgiving to make for beginners, requiring a good grasp of logic and sensors. They only end up out of the ring when forced out. Against skimmers, they have superior size and strength and can shoehorn them out of the arena when the ring grows very small. Against rammers, they often dash to the side at the start. However, drones with tracking ability and superior strength can easily kill them. Some strategists can also detect whether it is safe to try and shove an enemy out of the arena.

Strong Against: Undefinable
Weak Against: Undefinable
Distinguishing Features: Odd construction, lack of resemblance to other types, often use mechanical or logic parts

As stated in the introduction, there are plainly too many designs in Sumo for drones to be documented here. Other drones are not just drones that don’t fit in other types, or a Strategist/Rammer Combo (Which could be considered one or the other, or a Smart Rammer, or a Splitter), they are drones with unique designs and unforeseen capabilities. Although they share absolutely nothing in common, some good examples of Other types include sumo drones by Steam user RustyTheRed, who is notable for novel sumo drones, or the popular sumo drone Flux, which uses magnets to launch enemy drones out of the arena. If you’re creative, if you have an interesting idea to try, make a drone that fits in here. Every Other drone brings something different to the table.