Quote:
Originally Posted by Squillo
(Setting aside the red/blue solution, whether by noodle color or tape,) I'm curious as to why most people seem to be advocating the "+2/-2" solution, rather than simply a "-4" to the alliance with the unprocessed litter (rather than +4 to the opposite side). Can someone explain to me why "+2/-2" is better - as an incentive to avoid unprocessed litter, and also eliminate the benefit of TNA - than "-4"?
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The reason this could be seen as more beneficial, compared to simply a -4 for the other team, is because there are no wins and losses in qualifications. By making it a simple -4 only penalizes the alliance who happened to face a good noodle thrower and didn't or couldn't process the litter. A +2/-2 solution would provide a lesser penalty to the opposing team while still giving a benefit to the team that few the noodles. I think that the same issue is still found in the +2/-2 solution, albeit to a lesser extent, and think that merely color coding the noodles with some gaffers tape would be a more appropriate solution than subtracting points in qualifications.
It's unfair (in my opinion) to the opposing alliance to be penalized for an action of the other team when they aren't competing against each other in terms of winning or losing each match. My reasoning for this is that, due to robot design or some other factors, teams may not be able to push noodles into the landfill zone to prevents "penalty" to their score even if they are able to push the taller crates more easily to score. The seeding points are supposed to be based on how well you can score points, not how well your opponents can "de-score" them by throwing noodles.
That said, I still think the Noodle Agreement provides interesting strategic opportunities during the course of the qualification matches. I just don't like how it can be used to artificially deflate the scores of a specific alliance (compared to the others) in the finals. I would be fine with noodles simply being a -4 or +2/-2 in finals since then you negate the Noodle Agreement while still giving an opportunity for a skilled noodle thrower to elevate their team above the rest. I think it's safe to assume that teams should at least be able to bulldoze noodles into the landfill during the finals, whereas it might not be the case in qualifications due to differing robot designs (which may cause noodles to become entangled if he teams drives over them instead of pushing them, depending on design and ground clearance).
I eagerly await the first rules update to see what actions - if any - will be taken by FIRST in regards to the Noodle Agreement. We'll get to see if it was a intended strategy (or an unintended strategy that isn't necessarily disliked by FIRST), or if it's something that FIRST doesn't wish to see at competitions.