defense
 

I am downloading all the matches i can to watch to see how team are playing the game this year and am really surprised to see how teams are playing defense to the bitter end when they should be getting qp. What is the point of stopping a robot from getting on a ramp if you already lost. I know if i was in that postion i would be worring about qp and trying to get on my own ramp. Even if your robot can get on the ramp try scoring 1 pointers. But maybe there is something i am missing?

shaun

Re: defense
 

Shaun,
Many teams subscribe to the policy "I would rather win by a lot then loose by a little."

What they mean by this is that I want to make sure I have the highest differencial in the score to my advantage. You never know how penalties or gonna swing, so people believe they should put themself in the best position to win the match, which is worth more than QP.

Re: defense
 

Defense is a huge part of this game. Its that simple. So far I've been to two regionals this year (UTC, and Long Island) and defense was a strong contendor in the finals.
And it is very true that winning by a lanslide is better than loseing by a margin. If you win all your matches even if you have low qp's you have a better chance of being picked for the finals and winning because in the finals thats all the matter, wins not qp's.
In years past qp's were more important for winning alliances but those days are gone, and you no longer see teams scoring on themselves to increase their own qp's.

Re: defense
 

I prefer to think that in the heat of the game people forget about the QP issue. It's not the the most obvious thing to remember when you're trying to win the match.

Re: defense
 

i never realy could figure out how qp's were calculated can somebody fill me in

Re: defense
 

Losing alliance's scores from all you matches get averaged to create it. This came about after the botched qualifying system employed in 2003.

Re: defense
 

what about the winning alliance

Re: defense
 

The winners get a win.

qp's are used to rank teams with the same number of wins and losses.

Teams that are winning are usually the ones who think about qp's, because the top 2 to 4 alliances may have the same win-loss record. I saw 126 help an opponent onto the ramp to increase the losing alliance's score during UTC NE. This action boosted 126's qp and helped them finish as #1 seed at the event.

I agree that most teams do not have time to think about qp's. We had the third highest qp average at NE, because we lost some high scoring rounds :( , not because we had time to think about qp's.

Re: defense
 

Not to nit pick, but QP's are the points you get based on wins/losses/ties. Ranking Points are the points you get based on the losing alliance's score.

Re: defense
 

It is also hard to keep track of how much you are winning by this year with the scoring issues and not being able to count the score yourself. There is no real way to tell if you are just barely winning, just barely losing or have a huge difference in score since the score is tabulated as you go opposed to being able to do a quick tally in the middle of the match like previous years. Because of this it is really hard to maximize your RP's.

Re: defense
 

QP's DO matter.

Try going 8-0-0 through qualifying, but still be ranked second due to QP's and then watch the #1 seed pick their colaboration team the #3 seed...painful especially when it's two of the three triplets.

Re: defense
 

So, have another baby, or two, next year :eek:

Re: defense
 

Ranking points are what is being discussed. There are 3 scenarios for ranking points:

1: Winner gets their points or the losers unpenalized score, which ever is lower.

2: Loser gets their penalized score.

3: Tie and you get your own score (penalized if there are any).

I hope this helps.

Re: defense
 

Defense is not a bad strategy, that's almost all our team did, and we ranked 4th overall, and made it to the semi-finals at the GLR.

Re: defense
 

With the huge penalties and controversial ownership issues concerning descored tetras, it was a lot harder last year than this. In most of the matches this year, the winning alliance has the higher score on the board. Last year, it was almost like magic.

Re: defense
 

The reason to play a tough defence instead of trying to get more ranking points is to show other teams what you can do. If you can show that you can shut down the opposition's scoring, you are more likely to be picked by a higher ranked team.

Re: defense
 

I found last year a lot easier to predict, especially when we got to nationals and there were less of those terrible 30 pt. penalties. If you saw that the field was all covered in blue, you felt pretty comfortable to score red tetras for the opposite side (we never do this, I watch rage do it at Chesapeake last year and it's the only time I definitively remember it. (mostly cause I didn't know why on earth they would do that, ah rookie year)) This year, if you see your score on the board is 84, it could really be 12, no penalties necessary. :)

Re: defense
 

Board? What Board? Could someone please explain what this "Board" thing is that you speak of.

Re: defense
 

Real time scoring on the screen (If it's working at the moment)

I had to explain the game to a relative, including QP. He thought you had to win. When I explained all the QP stuff, he was stumped. "You wanna win but not by a mountain of points. Your opponent's score affects where you end up for the seed."

Defensive bots trying to block at the end of the match makes it fun. I recall a match where a defensive bot was pushed on the ramp and used as the third robot.

Re: defense
 

I am sorry if my sarcasm did not translate well. I did not watch every match, but I do not recall the real time scoring being dsiplayed at the Colorado Regional after Thursday. After seeing some of the scores posted on the screen during the practice matches, it was obvious why they were not using the real time scoring system during the competition.