[aldowyn]

I was very "meh" when it was announced at kickoff (well, relatively), especially since I'm not a huge basketball fan, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was MUCH harder to be completely dominant. Last year I saw robots that could double auto, fill both top rows, and get a minibot up first, in OKC and Dallas - not especially competitive regionals. This year, there was much more diversity, although there were a LOT of "meh" robots that could TECHNICALLY accomplish the task, but weren't good - at all. The top robots had a lot of completely different designs.

The end game was much easier to understand, and it rewarded good drivers (last year was almost completely design and manufacture. Lining up isn't hard with a camera). The autonomous was much more intuitive, though it gave a HUGE bonus to good teams (we got 34 at one point, I have no idea how. I think that was the highest at OKC or KC, and we were the 5th alliance. Most alliances tended to be 1 key shooter and 1 or 2 dumpers, maybe a 2-pt shooter instead).

The biggest issue I had, like many others, was the co-op bridge. Someone else suggested it only be worth 1 pt, and that seems like a good idea to me. The bridge isn't that difficult a task that it should be worth as much as a win. (Of course, we only got it 3 times in two competitions, and it cost us big time in the seeding at OKC. 8-2, with THE most teleoperated points, and we were 12th.)