Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

I love this year's game. I wasn't around for Aim High, but this game sounds to me just as good. I also liked 2010's Breakaway, for similar reasons:

• Easy for spectators to understand and follow real-time
• Good level of challenge
• Good Autonomous game
• Good End-game bonus
• Not heavy on defense
• No Mini-bot, and especially no Tetrix parts.

I hated the parts limitation of the mini-bot last year. It was antithetical to FIRST engineering. In particular, the Tetrix motor was poorly designed and not robust at all.

The GDC deserves a big round of applause for Rebound Rumble. Our team is really enjoying it and digging into the challenge.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

I like it, but I liked Lunacy at this point in the season too. Lunacy turned into a bore of watching a bunch of robots slowly push each other around. Hopefully this game will be realize more of its potential.

Commendable things about it:
-Autonomous is worth a decent amount, but not an overpowering amount
-The programming for autonomous will pay off for many teams in tele-op as well
-It makes people think of Aim High, which is my all-time favourite
-Lots of different strategies to try
-Bridge balancing should be a crowd pleaser, and doesn't require a complicated extra mechanism to participate in (hello, 2004 and 2010's hanging and 2011's minibots). Any robot that can drive should be able to participate in the exciting endgame.

Things I'm mildly worried about
-Actually getting the balls in the hoops might be a bit tough for teams without automated aiming, especially with only 3 balls per attempt. At least in Aim High, a team without automated aiming could load up with 10 balls and gradually dial in their aim. Not only is the target smaller, but your balls-per-attempt is much lower.
-The fouls overwhelming actual points scored. In particular, OPR will be less useful this year because it'll be harder to separate points scored versus foul points awarded.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

Unless you use the Twitter feed. There is a thread or tow around here with preliminary posts from it and it breaks out foul points.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

Just posted another poll http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=101650 here. I'd love some opinions, if you have the time.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

Ask me again after IRI.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

I like this game because there is so much strategy and variation. It is almost like real basketball, where there are so many ways to play the game. Also, I think first made it really easy for spectators to watch. I think it was a definite improvement on breakaway, because it still had the spectator aspect, yet it allowed more variation in how the game is played by each individual team. It is much more like a sport, which makes it so much more fun to play.

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

In general, FRC provides very good games and I think the last few have been really good. Scoring has actually been simplified!

In the past, one of the major issues with FRC has been getting the general public to understand the game. Something like FIRST Frenzy was just about impossible to explain to the uninitiated.

I think one of the best things about this game is the one-line description:

"We're playing basketball and balancing a teeter-toter at the end of the game."

Everyone seems to get it.

Should be one of the most "general public" spectator-friendly games that FRC has had in a long while!

- Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox

Re: Do you LIKE the game this year?
 

This is my first build season, so I do not have much to compare with. That is, other than reading and viewing videos of previous matches. But, so far I LOVE this game!

I know some folks think there are too many penalties, but I think the rules this year encourage experimentation with more drive train designs that might have been suitable in previous years. Also, the bridge cooperation scoring options seem to encourage an even higher level of communication between teams, both across alliances and between them. Brilliant. Perhaps like others I should withhold my opinion till I see some real matches, but there is just too much to be excited about in this game.