Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

If you put a ten point ball in a goal and cap it, it's worth twenty

20/5 = 4

At that point, it is worth four times a normal, uncapped ball.

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

"If you put a ten point ball in a goal and cap it, it's worth twenty

20/5 = 4

At that point, it is worth four times a normal, uncapped ball."

The game is not equal at this point, and the 10 point ball might make a difference. But when you strategically look at this, you should assume the same events happen, except that you put a 10 point all in the goal instead of a 5 point ball. So if you cap it or not, the 10 point ball is twice the point vvalue of the 5 point ball.

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

I see very little reson to push the ball out of play unless speed is absolutely critical. Otherwise, it's like another ball only worth more points. Granted it's not worth anything to you if you miss and could hurt you if the other team gets a hold of it, but that's why you go to the gym and practice making swish shots...that shoot up past the mental barrier of where the wall would be...before the regional ;) . Human player this year will be almost as critical as driver this year imho, if not more so

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

but thats the thing, the ten point ball is not like any other ball

the 5 point balls will either be on the floor, or falling in mass from the overhead bin

the ten point ball is sitting there on that tee, several inches outside the playfield

any mechanism you design to collect the 5 points balls off the floor will be useless for getting the 10 point ball off that tee and onto the playfield

so you have to design a special subsystem JUST to get that ONE ball

its not worth it - its not worth the design build test debug and its really not worth the extra time in auton mode, when you could be going after something really valuable, like the 2X ball, or your moble goal

its REALLY not worth it because a mechanism that tries to capture it instead of simply knocking it off will be more complicated and therefor more likely to fail - and if you fail to knock it off the tee you have lost 45 seconds of collection time.

in fact, if a 10 point ball is on the floor during driver mode time, it would be a mistake to go after it while there are 5 point balls on the floor

when you sweep through a field of several balls with whatever collection mechanism you have design, you will get some and some will scatter

to chase one ten point ball around, while there are several 5 point balls right infront of you, by the time you get that 10 point ball you could of had several of the other ones.

Best strategy? forget about the 10 point ball- knock it off the tee to trigger the drop, then pretend it doesnt exist anymore.

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

I agree, it's a lot of work to keep track of it and even if you do manage to get it to your human player, they still have to make it into the goal, which isn't a garranteed thing. So, my opinion is, get it out of play.

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

Let's go over it again.

A normal, uncapped ball is worth 5 points
A 10 point ball, capped, is worth 20 points

20 divided by 5 equals 4. thus, a capped, 10 point ball, is 4 times the worth of a normal, uncapped ball.

What does this mean? It means that if you gather two of these 10 point balls, and cap the goal, you have the equivalent of 8 normal balls in an uncapped goal.

So, if you are going up against a couple of bulldozers that will quickly sweep the field before you can get a majority of balls, this route will give you the point advantage.

And rather than knock them out of play, why not utilize them?

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

"20 divided by 5 equals 4. thus, a capped, 10 point ball, is 4 times the worth of a normal, uncapped ball."


I do agree that your math is correct, but irrelevent to this strategy.
When you talk about strategy of what balls to get, you should leave everything else equal. IE: capped or uncapped goals. Because if you talk about capping a goal with 10 point balls verses not capping a goal with 5 point balls, then you have an extra capability with capping, that you would be able to do with either the 10 or 5 point balls, so why wouldn't you cap the 5 point goal. The strategy just about what balls to get should not concern if the goals are capped or not.

Re: 10 pt. ball into/out of play
 

I think you are greatly overanalyzing.

A 10 point ball, is worth 2x 5 point balls.
It's pretty simple! -- 1 yellow ball = 2 purple balls
(See Ben, I can do arithmatic too!)

I do not think they will play a MAJOR factor in the way this game is played. They are only worth 2 normal balls. In 2000, Black balls were key, but they were worth FIVE normal balls (and 1/2 a hang!).

This year's "bonus balls" just don't seem like enough of a bonus to worry about. Obviously, we'll try to get them, but I'm not going to plan a strategy around them like people did in 2000.

This means, yes, I don't care if they get knocked out of bounds.
So... why just knock them out of bounds?
Because it is:
1. Easier
2. Faster
3. My robot has more important things to do during Auto-mode.

*shrug*
$.02

John

The game would be a lot different if...
 

Actually, I'm really glad that FIRST made this "mistake" in not making the 10 point ball worth more points. I think that the strategy would have IMMENSELY different had the 10 point ball really been worth 20 or 25 points.

This would have made designing a mechanism to get the 10 point balls significantly more worthwhile.

I think something that people tend to forget too is that you need to SCORE these 10 point balls. Having a strategy based around these objects which need to be shot by a human player would be VERY touchy. (Although let's admit it, many human players will be shooting 90+ %)

It's definitely fun to dream, "what if...."

Unforunately, it's game time folks. :)

Good luck,

Matt