How would you design "Not Recycle Rush"?

[Andrew Lawrence]

This is just something of my own curiosity that I thought I'd ask the community about. If you were to design your own FRC game with some of the same design constraints as Recycle Rush (ie. Robots built for RR could play new game with little to no modification), what would it be? How would you use some of the already existing aspects of the current game to make a more enjoyable new one?

This is all hypothetical of course, but it's a thought that's come up that seems like an interesting question to ask others.

[AdamHeard]

This is just something of my own curiosity that I thought I'd ask the community about. If you were to design your own FRC game with some of the same design constraints as Recycle Rush (ie. Robots built for RR could play new game with little to no modification), what would it be? How would you use some of the already existing aspects of the current game to make a more enjoyable new one?

This is all hypothetical of course, but it's a thought that's come up that seems like an interesting question to ask others.

I don't know what I'd do exactly, it's hard to make a balanced split field game.

I do however know that I prefer the Vex game, Clean Sweep, to Recycle Rush.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBnLxyzKqtI

[pokelogan89]

Maybe something you could do is merge it with Stack Attack a little bit i.e. get rid of the step, and the alliance with the most points still scored wins (or you could keep averages.) So instead of just building stacks, you build them and defend them. This will add an aspect of defense to the game not previously had, thus making the game a little bit more "enjoyable."

[Basel A]

Take the 2011 field minus the minibot towers. Place a scoring platform where the 2011 scoring areas were. Same for HP stations. Keep the 2015 step/landfill but cut off the ~3 feet near the field boundary (may have to move cans in). 2015 scoring rules rules but 2011 gameplay rules (can't touch opponents in their scoring zone or lane, etc). Not sure what you could do with auton but if the staging zones were rotated 90 degrees, you could probably have a very similar setup.

[LCJ]

Less totes in the landfill and human player stations and no more step, but teams can't descore stacks. Stacks now have to be scored on the platforms on the opposing side of the field to count towards your score.
Now the robots compete to control as many stacks from the landfill as possible while trying to prevent the opposing robots from getting across the field to score.

[JDGallagher]

Divide the field into three zones on a flat open field, similar to Aerial Assist. Human player feeder stations are on either side of the white zone. Alliances' scoring platforms are in their respective colored zones. Each alliance is not allowed to enter the opposing alliance's colored zone.

[Abhishek R]

Take the 2011 field minus the minibot towers. Place a scoring platform where the 2011 scoring areas were. Same for HP stations. Keep the 2015 step/landfill but cut off the ~3 feet near the field boundary (may have to move cans in). 2015 scoring rules rules but 2011 gameplay rules (can't touch opponents in their scoring zone or lane, etc). Not sure what you could do with auton but if the staging zones were rotated 90 degrees, you could probably have a very similar setup.

Basically this, but get rid of the step, and replace it with totes. Then teams can fight over the landfill sorta but stacks are safe in the endzone.

[EricH]

My variant would be to remove, or lower, some section of the step (like that open area in the middle), or maybe all of it. Replace with tape. Coopertition stays.

Then: The scoring platform closest to the alliance station is protected. Contact by an opposing robot or anything under its control is penalized (using the descoring rule from this year, single penalty if no descoring happens). But the OTHER platform, the one farther away, is NOT protected. It is, however, worth double the points!



Good luck strategizing that one...mwahahahaha!

[JDGallagher]

But the OTHER platform, the one farther away, is NOT protected. It is, however, worth double the points!

Maybe make it protected in the last ~3 seconds of the match?

[EricH]

Maybe make it protected in the last ~3 seconds of the match?

I was thinking some medium-weight bonus for having all alliance robots in the auto or staging zones myself. Maybe about a 3-stack with noodled can. Let the protection take care of itself...

[Abhishek R]

I was thinking some medium-weight bonus for having all alliance robots in the auto or staging zones myself.

Everyone in the staging zones is a cool idea...

[Qbot2640]

Allow for individual points in autonomous, but build for more than one:
2pts - 4pts - 8pts for 1, 2, 3 robots
4pts - 8pts - 16pts - 32pts for 1,2,3,3 stack totes
6pts - 12pts - 24pts for 1,2,3 containers.

Eliminate litter throwing and allow multiple litter scores per container - but only one per container put in by human player.

Robots have to "clear a path" to containers on the step before grabbing them (can not "reach" over a tote).

[Scott Kozutsky]

Because of the design of robots this year it would be unreasonable to introduce defence. Even then drastic changes would change the game too much. Peoples designed their robots around recycle rush, not the other way around. That said...

Yellow totes act like 4pt grey totes after auto.

Flip the grey totes near the step.

Remove chute door.

Litter not in an RC is meaningless. Throwing is a foul.

A grey tote scored in auto is worth 2pts plus it's level. (autonomous landfill stacking)

Both alliances start with an extra green bin they can place anywhere on their side of the field.

[GeeTwo]

In keeping with the "recycle" theme, made it more valuable to process litter than to cast it. This would also have encouraged some noodle manipulators. How about another "white" can in the middle of the field, and each noodle delivered there is also six points?

Downplayed or eliminated the canburglar arms race. The IRI rule that each side may not contact the RCs on their left side during auto is certainly one good way to do it.

Make the inverted totes and totes on the step valuable enough to provide a good race during teleop.

I know this won't be popular with a lot of teams, but the easiest way to do this would be to reduce the number of totes available via HP stations, and possibly to reduce to one or zero HP stations. That is, starve top teams for totes just as much as for RCs.
Another possibility along these lines would be to eliminate the step, and provide a "white zone" in the middle where robots of either alliance may enter during teleop, and where most of the RCs and totes start. Of course, you'd need bumpers and would eliminate tetherbots, which was a neat departure for the year. Maybe this would lead to separate "extractor" and "stacker" designs.

[Paul Richardson]

Maybe make it protected in the last ~3 seconds of the match?

Maybe leave it unprotected, but have stacks there score over time (some amount of points every 5 seconds). This makes them immediately a focal point of the match as soon as they're placed, provides no benefit for last minute stack toppling (super unsatisfying to watch), and provides a benefit for holding a stack for a long time.

However, this could easily get boring before long, so it should probably have a maximum point value reached after ~20 seconds. This value would need to be high enough to make it beneficial to go for this instead of just building another stack. In the end I'd see mid-range teams going for this more, while the top-tier teams would be able to build non-bonus stacks fast enough to outweigh the bonus. I'd like a bit of strategic diversity in the game, rather than everybody doing exactly the same thing every match.

Also, if you open up the game to defense, we'll need to have a penalty for parking on the opponents' scoring platforms to block scoring. Something in line with the pinning rules would work, so you could still drive on them and block for a short time.