Quote:
Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14
Was it consistency issues? Was it too defensible? Why didn't this work?
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Yes, and yes.
The simple answer is: it did work as EWCP predicted. Just look at 4451, a pure C&D bot who (as rookies) ranked in the top 8 at both of their regionals, reaching the semis at their first and finals at their second.
In addition to what Eric said, the first key to remember is that the Twenty-Four blog is about statistics. 50 points at early regionals will win MOST of your qualifying matches, IF you do it
every match. There are no guarantees, especially when you factor in that opponents who recognize the threat will adapt to it.
The second key is that a pure 50pt climb/dump robot is capped at 50 points. They physically cannot score any more points, whereas a pure cycling robot will usually improve over the course of the event and season.
It was INCREDIBLY difficult to be a consistent climbing robot, and for most teams it took at least 30 seconds to climb, 5 seconds to dump, plus 10-15 seconds for alignment. If it takes you 30 seconds to get across the field, load up your frisbees and get back without any defense, you're already taking 1:15-1:20 seconds of the match to do your thing. If anything goes wrong, or if there's defense, or some combination, you really start pushing against the buzzer. Forget about trying to play some defense and then make a quick climb and dump at the end of the match. Not to mention that a simple human-load only disc shooter could often score more points in less time.
The kicker is that because it's a pretty all-or-nothing strategy, all it takes is a few seconds of delay and the 30 point climb/20pt dump becomes a 20pt climb and no dump (or worse). That's a pretty big points swing for anything going wrong in a match.
Lastly, climb/dump only robots had no auto mode contribution, which combined with my previous points means that they were generally a liability on an eliminations alliance. All other things being equal, if your opponent's robot scores all 3 discs in auto, and your climb/dumper scores none, that's a 36 point differential. You can theoretically make that up with the 50pt climb/dump, but some combination of defense on you and/or them scoring 5+ discs means that doesn't happen, and they win.
I saw more successful pure 30pt climbers that didn't dump in elims primarily because removing the need to go get colored disks and come back (the most defendable part of the strategy) meant that pure climbers could play some defense first.