Quote:
Originally Posted by David Doerr
I'm certain you do know a lot more than I about drivetrains, and I likely would agree with you after I see the game that the KOP drive would be used for, but...
...suppose you had already raised and spent money on a C-base chassis, two toughboxes, CIMs, along with other components so that your team had something to work with during the pre-season time period. It's tough for a rookie team to get those $$ together. Wouldn't you want to be able to use a voucher for parts other than those you had already purchased - the same as other teams are able to do - rather than receiving near duplicates in the KOP?
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As a rookie team, you will find your sub-teams stretched during the build season. The programmers need a robot to test code/electronics on and the build teams needs the base of the robot to make the top of the robot.
When 3467 was founded, leadership knew what to expect and in pre-season so we had some old robots from teams from around the area and purchased a second KOP chassis from AM along with a second control system. While a significant expense we knew it would pay for itself over the course of several seasons. We can have a practice chassis that the programmers use to test code and prototypes and our real robot so mechanical and programming aren't working over each other. Additionally, after your robot is bagged or shipped you have duplicate chassis your drivers can get comfortable on and depending on the rules you can keep part of your robot to work on. This past year it was a 30lb allowance that didn't have to be bagged so we kept our shooter to tune and test code. Make sure you read the rules!
As a rookie most of us here would recommend you invest pre-season. It will give every aspect of the team a chance to work before you get into the hectic build season. Give your mechanical team some time assembling a chassis and chain.