I, in contrary belief to many of you, do NOT think that the game will be won or lost in the first 15 seconds. Considering line-following is easily disrupted, and dead-reckoning is evil, there is just a little too much of a chance something will NOT go as planned. Now, I'm more of an engineering student on Optimus Prime, but I have gone far enough into programming to know a bit about it. Different factors come into play when programming dead-reckoning, such as the charge of the battery, random obstacles, etc. When it comes to line-following, no matter how far apart your sensors are the turning will always be choppy, purely because of how the sensors work. Unlike last year's game, this game has no definate way of controlling it. Since we didn't go to Nats last year (the first year I was on the team) I didn't get to see anything outside our Regionals. Team 71 was able to control the game by grabbing all three goals, and that was it. Unfortunately, this year we can't just grab all the goals and walk into the scoring zone. There is always controlling the ramp, but there are several problems with that.
a) It leaves your alliance partner in a 2 on 1 scenario, which is never a good thing
b) You only score 25 points, with the other goal being to prevent the other team form getting up to 50 points, therefore limiting your own QP
c) Whether you are any use at all is dependant on the first 15 seconds where you have zero control over your 'bot, and therefore cannot react to dynamic situations
NTM several other problems. Of course, I know what I think the best way to go is, but I'm not sharing
at least not now.