Quote:
Originally Posted by DampRobot
Jim, if you were to design this years game with "chaotic good rules" rather than "lawful mean rules," what kinds of rules would you make?
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I'm not Jim but I have thought about this enough that I can give a non-comprehensive answer.
1. It shouldn't matter what zone a robot is in for an assist to count.
- When a robot first acquires a ball that is currently considered a 0 point assist. This should simply be nothing. As such only 2 assists would be possible per cycle.
-For simplicity, each assist should be the same (10 or 15) number of points.
-For simplicity, each assist should be scored when it happens.
--This new assisting method is much more intuitive for teams, spectators, and refs. Trying to control where the assists happen via field lines is dumb and a non-obvious thing to be looking out for. Did the ball go between those two robot? Now its an assist, no questions asked.
2. Increase catching points to 20-25 points.
--Catching is one of the most exciting things to watch in this game, however, it is undercosted versus it difficulty to execute.
3. Eliminate hot goals in auto, but allow assists.
--Aside from not relying on software to properly display lights, taking the idea of assists in teleop and reusing it for auto rather than introducing new scoring methods (hot goal) keeps the scoring simpler to understand and keep track of. Plus, seeing all three robots pass their balls around to each other twice before scoring would be awesome.
4. Human players should be allowed to hold balls near the side of the field rather than waiting by the pedestal.
-Human players would use their eyes and common sense to watch when a cycle ends and determine if they can start a new one.
-A foul would be called for entering a third ball into play and repeatedly doing so would be a red card.
--This will decrease the amount of time robots spend waiting for balls.
5. Two balls should be allowed on the field at a time.
--Currently only one robot can play offense at a time. Two balls should allow at least two of an alliance's robots to stay occupied attempting to score points. This, in turn, will decrease the amount of defense played and make everything faster paced more enjoyable to watch.
6. Move human player areas further from the field or make use of a polycarboate wall.
-Their should be no foul for a robot extending 20" (legal amount) outside the field.
--Safety related penalties can be completely avoided through good game design. Almost all collecting designs force robots to extend outside their bumper zone. If we don't want robots to be able to touch humans then no humans should be allowed within 2ft of the field, simple as that. Especially when considering that the field is 3ft narrower than usual this year this should not be difficult to implement.
7. A robot with a ball cannot be given a robot interaction penalty while attempting to score.
--Teams should never be given penalties for attempting to complete the game challenge.
I think my most controversial change would be adding a second ball to gameplay which could make keeping track of assists and such tricky. However, allowing more than one robot to be playing offense at a time is absolutely critical to having a successful game and naturally mitigates defense without additional rules. If necessary, I would sacrifice other aspects of the game in order to achieve this.
Again, not comprehensive.
Cheers, Bryan