Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

Many teams could have made what you did, but very few actually did it. I have to give you guys credit- it was a great design but very simple.
My problem with full-court shooting is that it was repeatedly proven to not work at the highest levels of play. This was seen over and over:
-The presence of only one dedicated full-court shooter on Einstein
-The winning alliance consisted of three cyclers, and one who blocked FCS shots when necessary but still contributed a significant number of points.
-The IRI winning alliance, again, had no full court shooters but instead focused on strong endgame scores and strong defense in order to win.

2013 teleop strategy worked like this: "we'll shoot, you shoot, you defend" or, alternatively, "we'll shoot, you shoot, you shoot" add in some comment about "you climb" and/or "you do auto" and that was about it, for most alliances. Sure, there were other strategies (see the #5 alliance at IRI, where 4265 did FCS and 33 cleaned up their misses) but, ultimately, the winning alliances at the highest levels of play consistently were those who stuck to the basics. 2012 wasn't awesome in terms of strategy, I'll admit, but at least the "we'll pass to you instead of shooting" concept was viable, even at the highest levels of play. (16 on Einstein)

Believe me, I romanticize 2013 a bit too :rolleyes: It was our first "good" year as well.

Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

In my opinion, 2012-2016, even including recycle rush, the games were great.

Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

You already know 2016? Are you secretly on the gdc? :D

Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

https://youtu.be/ianQO92rb0s?t=38s
Highest score (minus penalties) that year. If that isn't the "highest levels of play" I don't know what is. :rolleyes:

The reason why I'd argue 2013 was the greatest game in recent FRC history is because of how the game had to adapt. Even on Einstein you saw 1477's elevator come out to block 469's full-court shots. It might be true that the world champions stuck to the basics of cycling, but it would be negligent to say that the only successful alliances did the same.

I admit I'm biased, but to answer the OP: 2010-2013.

Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

I agree that full court shooting was one of the highest levels of play during 2013, but what Evan was trying to say here is that basic strategies employed like the 2013 world championship alliance and the 2013 IRI alliance ending up winning against the alliances who had robots that specialized in terms of scoring (FCS, cycler, picking up missed discs from FCS and scoring them, etc.) because of their simple strategy that allowed them to adapt and play defense. Alliances that specialized were forced to adapt and ended up missing key pieces in their alliance that allowed them to score high (because one key piece of their alliance would be forced to play defense or counter defense to adapt, the alliance would lose a scorer). Adaptability was huge and the 2013 world championship alliance and the IRI alliance showcased that.

FCS was a very successful strategy, and is definitely a part of the "highest levels of play" scoring wise. Maybe a better statement, is that the most successful alliances during 2013 had the ability to adapt against all kinds of alliances they would face.

Re: Best 4 Year Game Career?
 

That's pretty much the point I was trying to make in the latter half of my post. Ultimate Ascent was not so simplistic so that "one sort" of alliance could always beat "another sort" of alliance. For example, a team of 3 cycling robots could not always beat an full-court shooter, which could not always beat a floor pickup, which could not always beat a 50-point climber, which could not always beat the 3 cycling robots, etc. The successful alliances - as we saw repeatedly at IRI and on Einstein - had to change their strategy each match in order to win. (If you want more match examples I'm happy to provide.)

I think the very fact that we are still discussing the nuances of strategy in 2013 is a testament to how great the game was. I admit that I haven't been in FRC for very long compared to many, but from the games I have experienced, 2013 was one of the most complex (in terms of strategy), exciting (in terms of audience appeal) and challenging (in terms of engineering) challenge the GDC has given us. So, I stand by 2010-2013.