Point of Reserve Gears?
 

From looking at the manual, I cannot seem to find the reason for the reserve gears. Why would FIRST give teams an easy 40 points for making the very first rotor for no real reason? I feel like there has got to be something more going on here.

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

I would hope the pilots are paying enough attention and load it during Autonomous, when it would be worth 60 points.

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

Also, why is there a gear housed in the airship? Are pilots able to use that gear?

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

Correction, 60 points for you and 25 for your opponent. A05.

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

Make sure to check A05

A05. PILOTS: don’t take the “free” GEAR yet. During AUTO, PILOTS may not remove the reserve GEAR from the slot in which it begins the MATCH.

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

I would think that they are giving you this 40 points (or a start to the next rotor if you got a gear in during AUTO) to make sure that your ship can at least fly out to the race you are theoretically preparing for.

It makes the whole story a bit nicer.

Re: Point of Reserve Gears?
 

Let me get my foot out of my mouth.

So it looks like just that, a free 40 points.