Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

After watching every match at the UCF regional...I have some thoughts

This game does have a "final finish", but only when there are 6 decently good bots on the field. In elim matches it was so awesome seeing a bot cross the field in the last 15 seconds and try to get a 23 point swing. With the average scores being in the 20-35 pt range this is huge. Is the game as exciting as last year. I don't think this can really be answered till nationals, but my first assesment is that it is just as good.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I personaly like this game more then last year's game because it requires a bit more finess in stacking then in last years 'shove everything that moves' gameplan. Although stacking tetras is the only physical thing you can do it takes tick-tac-toe skillz to truely master this game.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

No offense(no pun intended), but are you serious?

There are two other robots and 9 goals on the field! If one robot from a team defends another robot and keeps them from scoring, both teams now have 1 useless robot. Unless your alliance can outscore theirs, its more useful to have that 3rd robot helping you score rather then keeping them from scoring (QPs baby!)

That time spent waiting for them to load a tetra could be used to get a tetra of your own, so as soon as they cap a goal you can cap right over it.

Not to mention, unless the defending team is spectacular, some robots can outmanuever or score right through them.

Sure a defensive strategy might work in qualifying matches, when the other team might have 1 good scorer and 2 mellow ones. However, in eliminations, defense is useless (from what I've seen at FLR and DTR).

Case-in-point: We lost FLR by deciding on a 2 cap 1 defend strategy. We decided to change our strategy for Detroit and won with 3 fast cappers.

I do agree that defense is a bit more entertaining to watch. Its kinda boring when everyone is just staying on their sides capping their home row and maybe fighting for the center. When someone comes rushing over and slams another robot, however, the sympathetic "oooooh!" from the crowd never gets old!

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

Another thing that makes this game a lot better is rookie teams can make a simple robot and still do well yet there is still a place for veteran teams to be "enriched" (autonomous). Rookies can do something with dead reckoning where as veterans can be challenged with the camera. Even though there isn's a "nail biting finish" it can still be exciting to watch. There are a lot of times when teams have to book it back to the starting area and just make it back. Also there is a lot going on during the matches so you can take it all in. It's a game that you really don't know who will win until they announce it (due to penalties). But all in all, I prefer this years game. It's easier to understand (giant game of tic-tac-toe) where as FIRST Frenzy was a little confusing.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

The two things I like about this year's are: point swing and autonomous options

The point swing with the rows is great. One cap on the center goal could mean a 43 point swing. This makes huge last second comebacks possible and that is the most exciting thing in any game.

This year there are an incredible number of things to do in autonomous mode. With starting tetras, hanging tetras and vision tetras, the possibilities are numerous. Unfortunately, the low percentage of bots with good autonomous routines disappoints me. Pretty much everyone with a programmer should able to knock down a hanging tetra, right?

Overall, I like last year's game better because it had more robot diversity, as I explain in this post.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

Of the four years I have been in FIRST last years was definately the best one. It was so multi-faceted. So many ways to play, so many ways to win, so many ways to lose and the incradible variety of robots last year!
This year's game is very very good but I place it below Stack Attack but (well) above Zone Zeal.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

one thing that is neat about everyone trying to accomplish the same tasks is that everyone comes up with a different way to do it! At the pittsburgh regional, everyone had a different gripper to pick up the tetras. I never thought there would be so many ways to pick up a tetra. It was also neat to see which ones were effective and which ones were too complex. It seemed that simple was good, but complexity wasn't necessarily a bad thing. 188's gripper was awesome, and more complex than most.

It seems strategy must vary from regional to regional. We saw a lot of defense at pittsburgh, and it resulted in lower scores than some other regionals. But it seems there are many regionals where there is almost no defense. I don't think one strategy is better than another, as long as they are excecuted well. From a strategy aspect, this year is definently very interesting, and it is necessary to know what the goal ownership situation is like at all times.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

this is the winning post. bow before it

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

No nail biting finish? You have got to be kidding me. If you were at Trenton you know that I was going absolutely beserk during the elimination rounds. The last 30 seconds of each match were AMAZING I couldn't announce fast enough the action was so intense and each move could either make or break a match. Last year if there were two robots hanging and an allaince had all 6 or their balls in their stationary goal then the match was pretty much over, so technically the match could be over right after autonomous. So this game isn't over until the buzzer!!! I LOVE THIS GAME

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I believe the game becomes better and better each year. Each year, the game offers a new kind of challenge that is usually not easy. So yes, as do some other who agree with me, I look forward to each game every year.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

There is only one reason I like this year's game better than last year's... because it is happening now! Other than that, they are all equal to me.

Heidi

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I think the game last year was an awsome game, except the teams that have been around for 8-10 years had the edge.

This years game probably is more fun to watch because the gearbox, new chasis, and everything is more friendly to newer teams, and was a benifit to spinoff teams (Like how 1071 was spun off of team 228).. It gave the rookies more of a chance to learn what motors do and eliminated a lot of wasted time on a chasis (for rookie teams its probably best to have a working robot to mess around with, rather than working for a week or 2 on a basic chasis)

When you look at all the regionals with the major teams in the northeast, it's the same thing every year teams like 173, 237, 236, 175 always win because they have built so many robots and are so well funded. This year those major teams are still a factor, but your seeing more up and comeing teams like 1071, 1027, and others teams in the 900-1000-1100 range really able to show what they can do with a more compeitive kit of parts and more equal playing field.

Last year it almost felt like our team didn't belong on the same field as those major teams because we didn't have resources. This year before the kickoff one of our advisors really wanted to consider going west to be with more 1-4 year old teams that we felt we could compete with.

Who would think a team like 1071 who's largest sponsor paid 500 dollars would have chance to even make elmination rounds let alone win a regional? We spent our money that would normally be spent on just getting a chasis and new gearbox built in previous years on a new giro and other stuff we normally can't afford. I think many teams in our situation are now able show they can compete with the older teams and the competition has been a bit more competitive from top to bottom because of more teams able to increase resources with the new KOP.

Ohh and about defense, I THINK your going to be in for a shock at nationals if you think it's a waste of time, some teams can effectivly make a match 2 vs 2 and could win matches.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I also agree about this....but I am liking this game more and more the more I watch it.

p.s. I think the best games in the last 4 years goes: 2004, 2003, 2005, 2001, 2002

Anyway back on topic. I agree with everyone saying that offense is the key to winning this game...3 super fast cappers will be able to overcome anything from what Ive seen at the Detroit regional. Both aliances in the finals had 3 fast capping robots, but 217,245, and 301 just did it faster, plain and simple. Also with defence you get into worring about penelties and what not.

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I think having six robots on the field this year makes the game more interesting, because it is more crowded, but I think that last year's was more intriguing. This year, there are only so many aspects of the game to innovate on, and they all have to do with the same thing: Finding a way to pick up a tetra. Great, so all we're going to have is a bunch of robots with different kinds of arms.

Whereas last year, there were three different aspects to focus on. You could focus on ball coralling and come up with a sort of ball vacuum. Or you could focus on big ball scoring and have some strange set of gripper arms. Or you could focus on hanging and totally dominate the bar (ah... 237... great bot...).

IMO, it's not really about how exciting the game is (but that does help). It's how the game makes you think of new and clever solutions to problems. The more problems you have in a game, the more cleverness will abound, and the more kids will learn to "think outside the box." That is what FIRST is about -- getting us young'uns to think different.

*steps of soapbox*

Dave

Re: Why this game is better then last year's
 

I will defiantly have to agree here, from the VCU and the BoilerMaker regional this games climatic finish, with teams racing across the field to cap their opponets back row, or racing back to a load station to cap the middle one more time, make this game 100x better than last years game where half the teams were hangning right out of auto.

From the 5 years ive been with FIRST this game implements many new things that makes it better than ALL the rest of the games:

The edge rookie teams are giving by implementing an entirely new scoring device ( and the KILLER kit of parts rookie teams get to start with )

The amazing new depth added to scouting with the addition of a 3rd team on each alliance

The 9! scoring goals, that cause mad scoring swings

The killer autonomous goals

And just as a side note

YES! don't expect to win your division at nationals without one robot on your alliance being able to play defense in one form or another.

Oh and about all the robots looking the same *nudge* [points over to own robot] some teams like to think outside the box ... and we definitely are not the only ones.