[NateJGardner]

I'm quite excited for the new raw materials rule. I don't think this gives teams with machine shops as big of an advantage as some might think. A simple base can win everything in this game.

I do miss the idea of a limited kit of parts, i.e. the challenge of doing what you want and still staying within the always slightly-annoyingly-right-below-what-we-need-to-make-it-work rules. Even so, I think the teams that spend their time working with what they have rather than taking a few weeks to machine new parts will succeed most. A few specialized parts will work great, but teams that cast down their buckets where they are and use the readily-available parts for the majority of their robots will have more time to strategize and refine their designs. The reason I prefer FTC to FRC is not because FRC teams can use so many raw materials, but because FTC is about strategy and design-refinement. FRC teams don't have as much time to refine and test their designs, so FTC robots are often more reliable. This isn't to say there aren't great FRC bots build entirely from raw materials, but I think kit robots and custom robots are on an even playing field.

There are, and always will be, diminishing returns on how many resources a team has. A team with the base $650 Tetrix kit can still be very competitive this season.