Re: Midwest Regional
 

They're still the Belle of the ball.
If they aren't seeded they'll be the first robot picked.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

I just saw some defense! preventing a 12 pt end bonus

Re: Midwest Regional
 

no kidding, but what are the chances of them not being seeded? slim to none there lol

Re: Midwest Regional
 

So you sacrifice your ability to score points to make sure someone else doesn't get in your way?

I think it was pretty weak that they got a yellow card for that. It was pretty clear to me that a team had driven out about 3 feet and then stopped right in 1114's path in a previous match (when their hybrid mode never took that course before), in a clear attempt to get in their way. As far as I can remember, obstruction in hybrid counts just the same.

I wish they were explaining these penalties better. They never gave an explanation when 1114 got the other 10 pointer in that match, or the 20 pts in the match after.

Furthermore, when that one team fell over and blocked the entire lane, does anyone know who was penalized for aggressive play, and why? It clearly states in the rules that you can push a downed robot that is blocking the field out of the way.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

i understand that they will be picked. i was simply saying how disappointing it must be for the team.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

1114 is beatable, in week 1.

Looks like we may have parity...

We are in for a fun season, everyone...

Re: Midwest Regional
 

2039 fell over and blocked the path. Winnovation (1625) tried to get through and got a yellow flag for agressive driving. This puzzles me, because when 2039's teammate pushed them away to get through, nothing happened.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

Beatable when they get penalties maybe.

1114 is the only robot I've seen that has the potential to dominate this game.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

Well, I'm just saying that if you drive slow enough then there's no chance you'll have to worry about it.

Frankly, I'm in favor of that yellow card. Yesterday during practice one of the very-high-speed hybrid robots (could have been 1114, but may have been one of the others) rammed into a robot really hard and tipped them over. When they fell, their arm hit the field border and sheared off. The high speed ramming rule is there to prevent destruction of other robots and should apply in all phases of the game. I doubt a team who has to go back to the pits with a busted-up machine cares much whether it happened in hybrid or operator-controlled mode.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

The strategy by 33 in that match was impressive though...you have to admit. If i remember correctly, the 33 alliance would have won even without the penalties on the 1114 alliance.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

Yes, 33 was impressive. One of the differences was that 33 could place. I don't want to get into the whole arm/shooter debate, but the arm bot won that match...

Re: Midwest Regional
 

thats what I saw too! They played that very well, sending 1675 after 1114 and getting a clear path the score themselves!

Re: Midwest Regional
 

Good point.

It seems like FIRST wants hybrid to be exciting, but if everyone who has a really good hybrid mode is going to have to drop their speed to make sure they don't ram anyone unintentionally, it's going to get boring real quick. One of the coolest things I saw while watching today was 1024 doing 5 lines in hybrid. Luckily for them they seem to take a path that nobody else does, and haven't had to deal with ramming yet.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

1024 takes that corner really tight and stays close to the lane divider. It looks like this helps them stay away from other teams who don't want t get caught on the divider, but comes with the risk of getting stuck themselves (happened once or twice).

They also appear to have decent collision avoidance on board.

Re: Midwest Regional
 

1114 is by far the most impressive individual team I have seen in Midwest or NJ. And even they have two losses. This game is focused on alliance play and alliance strategy, and I really don't think anyone at any regional will completely and utterly dominate. Some may or may not go undefeated, but it won't be common and they'll need lots of help.