Yea, I won't be able to dish you frame data atm (which should be a great concern to everyone). But I did just get into the smash lab and I will be looking extensively into ROB's game whenever I get out of school (in mid May). I will write up some responses for you unless you don't want them. As you (rudely) expressed with -LzR-, you seem to be much more interested in frame advantage and the such. But I do have a few non-framey tid bits I'd like to share with you. And if you don't find them useful, someone will. I will post this tomorrow most likely.
edit:
Nvm, I got more time:
I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.
1.What's so neat about ROB's projectile game is that it makes him mighty
flexible. You have the options to mix things up. Do you go for face shorts?
Sure. I do it. I find that a lot of times that I'm in someone's face and
momentum is definitely in my favor, that people will get very defensive
and begin to spam dodges so they can quickly get out of your shower of fairs.
Well why not throw out a move that has a hurt box that comes out a good bit
slower than the fair. Something you might have to keep in mind tho, a face
shot is a gtfo move. So if you think that you can keep stringing fairs, do it.
But if you have a good read on the dodge and you want to blast them in the face
just to add some more dmg and hope you get them off stage, do it.
As for the crucial decision, "should I laser or should I gimp now?" It's entirely
situational. You should probably consider if your laser is fat. If it's a character
like Snake, you should consider will your laser eat through their second jump
as they will prob use it pretty quickly in order to get a better vertical recovery.
I mix it up depending on where I'm at and what my goal is. If I have the opportunity
to shoot to kill, I usually shoot because I usally don't miss (unless they dodge of
course). If I'm super close to the ledge and I just knocked them off the stage, then
that situation is just screaming for a gimp. I mean, I can't really tell you a strict
path to take, berto. These types of feelings just come with practice and experimenting.
Find out what's working the most and what isn't.
2.) I would never try to backair punish a spotdodging D3. And I don't normally bair punish
spot dodges, but it might not be a bad idea if you have the timing down. I would just work
with someone on this. Get them to mix up spotdodges with different chars and see if a.) you
can react fast enough and b.) is it worth the risk of getting that close (you know if we ram
our heads into an MK, he's just going to nair or up-b the beep out of us if he shields it.
3.) This is something, I believe, that needs looked into more. I normally like spotdodging moves
such as a Lucario's dair after I've upward shielded about 1 or 2. The last hit of dancing blade if
it's spaced well. If it's not spaced well, then shield grab him before the last hit. If he hits you his
multi hit dancing blade (which I think is the green one) then SDI through and punish him if you can.
I'm trying to be a little less spotdodgy dependednt as it's becoming more and more the norm to read and
punish. But just like you, I'm interested in researching on how useful ROB's spotdodge rly is through
frame-by-frame study.
Double spotdoding can be a good mindgame. I would like to know how many frames he's vulnerable for in-between
spotdodges though.
4.) Yes this can be a pain. As you've probably already have seen, Ocean demonstrates a way to snag a free top
while forced to the edge at 0:08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSPnnZ_rq8
On top of that, I've been playing with side-bing back onto the stage. As you may or may not know, when rob
inputs a jump and side b at the exact same time, he gets a lot of air. To try to take advantage of this, I've
been dropping down from the ledge inputting jump (I use Z) and B at the same time and get rob to land exactly on
the stage with a few multi hits and the quick last one being good knock back for if they try to punish. Also,
this is a little not what your asking for but I find it important:
If you turn ROB's back from the stage and you're recovering high, start dairing and gain the good deal of backwards
momentum you get from this. This will save you a lot of fuel. And although you may disagree, you're going to have
one heck of a time convincing me that B-reversals aren't good at resetting. Yes it's readable, but do it to where
you're baiting reads. It's the best b-reversal (down b) in the game imo. Why not take advantage of it. I like hanging on
the ledge, inputting a jump, buffering a b-reversed down b, and then buffering a b-reversed up-b to get you going back
towards the stage with good momentum.
Try it.
5.) I'm quite interested in dair setups also. The dair maneuver that I use is running away from the opponent, b-reversing an up-b (being in fuel-mode is crucial)
and inputting a dair as you fly backwards and upwards (by holding up form up-b) from your opponent. I almost never get punished for it and if I hit,
then it's profit. This surprise attack can sometimes trigger a spotdodge which the dair is slow enough to eat through.
6.) I would say it's mighty the same but I will test this for you when I'm able to or unless you find out before me.
Something I do like to take advantage of is rob's hovering ability by pressing up after I use a fair and hover just high
enough above the ground to perhaps trick the opponent into thinking im landing and when they try to punish, swing out one
more fiar.