[jman4747]

I'll say that swerves are an example of doing something unnecessary yet competitively beneficial to gain experience and if you do happen to do it right an edge in competition. I never said I don't want to win I said I wanted to do something I haven't done before whenever I can and so long as it could possibly add to my competitiveness.

For instance in 2012 you didn't need to cross the middle barrier but we designed a drive train that could do it just in case. We barely used it but it came in handy when we needed it. And should a similar need arise I have a good way to do it.

The other angle is a lot of teams can't afford to make off season projects or on season prototypes. We get 1 full robot a year, 1 shot, and I'm going to at least try to do something interesting with it, doesn't need to be a drive train. It can be using encoders for the first time or using pneumatics for the first time doesn't matter. Try to do something that you aren't sure about but can help you now or later both competitively and educationally.

A rookie can learn a lot from a kit bot, a team that's made three kit bots can learn a lot from making a custom WCD drive, a team that has always made a custom WCD can learn alit from buying some 221 modules and a team that's made a swerve 3yrs in a row can learn a lot from making a octocanum.

And no I'm not referencing anyone specifically or saying drive trains are the main point of all this. Say it with me... Examples.

Another consideration is how likely would any given team be to win a regional doing only what they are comfortable with? That is to say a team that has won worlds one or more times probably is comfortable with many advanced things, so for them their comfort zone is miles ahead of the curve meanwhile a newer team my only be %90 sure with the basics. If they at least try to go for more they get one of two outcomes. #1 it didn't work but they were able to get much more knowledge to improve later or #2 it did and they are performing far better than was even just barley technically possible before.