Quote:
Originally Posted by XaulZan11
It seems that minibots are like ramps were early in '07. It was extremely hard to win a match against a double ramp if you had no ramps. But, once both alliances had ramps, matchs were decided by tubes. As more and more teams get consistent minibots, tube scoring will become more important.
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This is correct, to an extent.
Ramps in 2007 were independent of the other alliance. You could score your 60 points regardless of any bonus points the other alliance scored. Minibot races live up to their name, they're races. The winning minibot is not only scoring points for their alliance, they're denying potential points to the opponent.
Even when both alliances have multiple, quick, consistent minibots, the race will still have the potential to win a match over tube placement. Especially if one alliance can manage to grab first and second place, which results in a whopping 25 additional points over getting 3rd and 4th.
The potential exists for minibot races to almost be a matter of luck when both alliances have lightning fast minibots and deployment systems. Whoever happens to execute the best (or have the most fortunate series of events) in each particular match could win, almost regardless of what happened in the 2:05 of that match leading up to that point. Any number of small mistakes or freak chances could result in an extra second or two added to the climb time or a dropped minibot, which could very easily result in a lost match.
If you played a 100 matches in a series between teams with similar minibots, sure the alliance with better tube scorers would likely win. But in a series of 3 matches, I can't say that's always going to be the case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by commodoredl
Did any of the other regionals have issues with their fields detecting minibots? At FLR, almost every minibot to reach the top was undetected by the touch sensor. We had to have referees keep track of which minibots were scoring, and that wasn't good when things got close at some points.
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Definitely an issue in NJ as well. Sometimes a strong blow the pole or tower base would accidentally set off the sensor, as well. This issue adds another element of "chance" and potential for human error into the minibot race. Hopefully they can get it resolves and/or incorporate a more fool-proof method of seeing who won minibot races.