[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by AlecMataloni

The answer is highly game-dependant.

Speed is often important in games with long stretches of travel.
(In my experience, 2011, Logomotion was a good example of this.)

Acceleration is important for traveling short distances quickly.
(Example: 2012, Rebound Rumble with the field cut in half. A dedicated scoring team could easily stay within their key area the whole game with the right ball acquisition strategy.)

High torque is important for games which require precision movements of a drivetrain (most teams aimed with their drive base in 2012), also for defensive games like 2007, Rack N Roll, where avoiding defensive robots was nearly impossible.

I guess the answer is All of the Above? Having a drivetrain with all of the abilities you mentioned would be the optimal situation; however, it's impossible to rank the qualities without knowing the game's demands.

This is reassuring cause it makes me feel not crazy. From year to year there are certain interactions robots on the field always need to do, this will (hopefully) never change. Things like zoning, peeling, and shoving matches, all these little skirmishes can change the flow of a game and I suppose I should start with a list of robot vs robot interactions and determine attributes from there.

Originally Posted by brndn

When you say "interaction" are you referring to collisions? Pushing matches? Races? The important mechanical attributes are different for each scenario.

Uhh going to go with yes. Despite the amount of scenarios your drivers style doesn't need to be tailored too much to adapt to challenges.