Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfred
One could debate the start of the modern era starting in 2005 with the introduction of the Kitbot as we (roughly) know it and 3v3 play, but no matter.
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I say 2006 because of Bumpers, but it really doesn't matter when the Modern Era officially starts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfred
As for Stack Attack, I think it's because of three things:
1) We haven't had anything like stacking bins on the field in the cRIO era. You might (might!) be able to argue tetras in 2005...but that was eight years ago. It's a fresh challenge.
2) The robots are way different now than they were in 2003. Back then, you didn't have AndyMark (they were just then shaking off the Small Parts era), you had the obnoxious drill motor gearboxes, there were no bumpers, and you definitely didn't have anything like the modern kitbot. With some semblance of stack protection, you take that fresh challenge and make it a very fresh challenge.
3) FIRST hasn't really had that many games in recent years where there was more than one right answer (you could argue the 4334 and the mailbox dumpers this year, or 469 in 2010...but those were exceptions). With a hypothetical Fixed Stack Attack, you have a lot of answers--arm knock-down, big-sweeper knock-down, stacking specialist, king of the hill control. There are trade-offs to each approach, and that is what has me geeked about the idea.
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I agree with the first and third point. Other than Tube Scoring, there hasn't been much "Manual Object Scoring", and the events have been dominated with shooting or launching of balls. Stacking robots in 2007 was exciting, but it does seem like it's time for stacking and/or stack protection. What if the game was about protecting a series of stacks from invading robots, and rebuilding stacks that were broken down can earn back lost benefits? then you'd have Shield Bots and Defense Bots and Stack Bots and Multi Bots. The problem of Stack Attack has to be in the King of the Hill end game. I have a feeling it would be Co-Op Points related in a future game.