2011 Mini-bot?
 

How many of you are going for the Mini-bot at the end?

and why would you choose this option instead of playing the tubes?

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

Most definitely we are going for the mini-bot.
It won't take too terribly long for the entire mini-bot deployment to occur, and in the 20 seconds max it would take to do that, you could only get 2 more tubes at best considering you have to score them one at a time. and of top of that for those one or two tubes to be more valuable they would have to be able to finish off a FIRST logo.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

It's probably not the BEST idea to do an either or with the tubes VS minibots. I mean, the minibot deployment process is an end game strategy that yes, will bump you up to 40 pts, but it's a big chance to take when could be building up and stacking points from the game pieces as well.

If a team solely focuses on the deployment of the minibot and can grantee a score there, they should then think about refining their strategy into enhancing the score with tube placement or herding.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I LOVE the mini-bots. Greatest idea ever. It's like a vertical Zone Zeal end game.

The part I don't really like is the strict limit on what the minibot can be built of.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I agree with Tetraman, FTC parts only seems a bit silly.

The only issue I forsee with minibots is them being worth too much. If a team can win the minibot race, they are almost guaranteed the win.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I don't think this is true, it is only a bonus round. Assume your alliance does win the first two positions in the race 50 pts (30+20) the other team still gets (assuming they have working minibots) 25 pts (15+10) meaning its only a 25 pt swing. Also assuming the perfects score, a Logo on the top row with ubertubes under each part is worth 36 pts... I think

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

2 comments:

1) FTC parts are not the only legal items.
2) Who says tubes and minibots are mutually exclusive? It ought to be possible to fire a minibot, grab a tube, and get it in place before the match ends.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

yep we are going for it
scoring a tube within that time would not be easy and the minibot has the potential to get a lot more points

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I agree with this point 110%

If you want to win yourself a championship, then you better not plan on sitting around for 10 seconds and watching what happens.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

We think we can score 30 points faster than by hanging tubes. That's why.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I think some people are missing that the End Game is 10 seconds and you ONLY have that time for deploying. If you so much as touch the tower with your minibot, it's a dead tower.

<G17> HOSTBOTS may not DEPLOY a MINIBOT. Violation: TOWER is disabled.

DEPLOYMENT – the act of positioning a MINIBOT on a TOWER. DEPLOYMENT starts when the MINIBOT breaks the vertical projection of the TOWER BASE circumference during the END GAME. (Related form, DEPLOY, verb)

So it becomes, can you build a system and minibot that deploy and climb in 10 seconds (3-5, prefferably)? If so, which I believe is possible, it's definitely worth it. :cool:

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

30 POINTS
20 POINTS
15 POINTS
10 POINTS

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

The full FIRST logo on the the top row with an ubertube is 30 points.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

I don't think it should be looked at as a question of playing a minibot vs. scoring tubes - you can do both. One day into build season, you shouldn't be ruling out a huge component of game play altogether - you need to figure out strategies for the game and what elements you think are important before you decide which elements your team wants to focus in on.

That said, if you look at the points breakdown, the theoretical maximum for the tubes is 108 points, vs. 50 for the minibots. Getting three ubertubes on the top row of pegs is pretty unlikely, as is filling all of the pegs with the correct tubes, which brings down the expected actual tube score quite a bit due to the loss of multipliers. The minibots definitely have the potential to swing matches, and I predict that they will. I think minibots will be an important part of game play, and while not all teams will decide to build them, I think it would be silly to neglect them this early on in the build season because they have the potential to make a huge difference.

Re: 2011 Mini-bot?
 

Explain to me how you can score 30 additional points in 10 seconds, keeping in mind that, unless my thread is right, you start with 12 points on a rack, and you could bring it up to 36 with one more piece, all that you could realistically score in 10 seconds.