Robot types/strategy, who wins?
 

Well, after going to the Sussex scrimmage and reading about some others, I have a few new theories for this game. They vary from type to type, so I'll list them that way.

Stackers:
1) Stacking is near impossible. The only real use of a stacking robot is getting boxes that are on the opponents side out of the playing field. If a stacker can't do that, they are toast.

2) If a stacker can swing their arm(s) forward and use them for stack destroying, they deserve a gold star for being useful.

3) If a stacker can't go under the bar, again, toast.

4) If a stacker can't pick up a box in any orientation to get it out of the playing field, again, toast.

Ramp control:
1) No under the bar, no use.

2) If the arms are too big, even the smallest robot on the ramp can block them. Remember, big arms mean big blocking, but big arms also mean a little robot can block you just as well.

Well, those are the two main types out there. I think the main strategies are gonna be defending human made stacks, destroying stacks, and moving boxes out of the scoring zone. The end of the match is just going to be a huge shoving match, whether or not there is a ramp control bot. The winners are going to be the team that has a robot that defends a human stack and a robot that destroys stacks/moves boxes out of the playing field.

Re: Robot types/strategy, who wins?
 

another method would be to have arms that can flex, or are on slip clutches (or in our case, both). OUr arms are made of PVC, so if we're trying to go up the ramp and an enemy robot rams our arms, they just flex out of the way.

the one possible use for stackers that i have seen is the ones that can capture a human-player stack and protect it internally within their robot for the remainder of the match, dropping it only at the last moment before they head for the ramp.

Last year about this time, people were saying that there was no use for "ball robots". Yet there were some pretty impressive ball robots in the finals at the Championship last year.

Stacking is a more difficult problem mechanically than playing King of the Hill. It will take a fair amount of tweaking to get a stacker working reliably. Just like last year's ball robots

It will also tke practice for drivers to get good at using their stacking machine effectively. Just like last year's ball robots.

It is too early in the season to determine what strategy will work best. My personal opinion is that the alliances in the Finals in Houston will need to have at least one robot capable of putting one bin on another.

Here in Southern California, we had a scrimmage with 40 teams in attendance. From what I understand, not a single robot put one box on another. (I can't say, I only saw three or four matches as I was too busy helping rookies stumble about the field to watch). But many robots had partially completed stacking mechanisms. The key phrase there is "partially completed". Most teams were wisely focusing on getting their drive up and running, not refining their stacker.

I expect that stacking will become a more important skill as time moves on. Just as it will take time for teams to realize (as it does every year) that Qualification Points are more important than winning or losing. I'd rather lose with 100 points than win with 25.

Think about it

As head referee for the SCRRF Scrimmage with 40 teams, I saw every match. During that time, no bot stacked any boxes on purpose. The teams that did well here had 2 charasterics.

1. Bots that could expand: The bots that expanded and took out three or more stacks of crates pretty fast did exceptionally well.

2. The smaller and faster bots did pretty well here because they could easlily run around and push the other team's stacks into the non-scoring zone and thus take away the multiplier stacks.

Additionally, some of the tall bots had massive CG problems on the ramp and they were falling over with not too much effort on the part of other teams. We had at least 5 robots tip over on the ramp during our one day event.

That right there would probably be the absolute greatest thing for this game. Human player stacks are extremely important, and if a robot can internally protect one (Stack Daddy comes to mind) the multiplyer is worth it.

It really depends on the situation. If you win EVERY TIME with 25 points, you will get picked, simply because you win. It all really depends on how you want to play the game. There simply isn't any single way to play the game, especially this year, and this is why I think the strategy for Stack Attack is the hardest yet. Stacking will only come into play during certain games (generally the ones where your opponents won't be spending much time on your side of the field).

Ramp control: No under the bar, no use

I think you make a good point there, stackers that cant go under the bar are at a great disadvantage. Im seeing that this years comp is going to be a battle between sneeky stackers and bulky brutes that take the hill.