Quote:
Originally Posted by GKrotkov
It's still possible to specialize and do well. You can focus on capping stacks, get picked by a powerhouse, and go far. You can focus on the co-op points and rank high, relying on superior scouting to make a run in eliminations. You will be outclassed by teams that can "do it all", but is that any different from other years?
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Yeah, actually. In other years, robots with less functionality could do better than robots with more features, if they were good enough at their specialized tasks. Doing everything would at least slightly compromise your effectiveness at tasks. Take 2013 - the World Champions were two human load only* cyclers that hung from the lowest rung on the bar, and a similar robot with a floor pickup for autonomous. 610 was one of the fastest cyclers in the world, 1241 was very accurate and consistent, and 1477 was flexible and played intelligently as the alliance needed. All kinds of robots had more features than this alliance.
At the very least, if lower functionality robots weren't *better*, they could compete with the best. One winner of the 2012 IRI had no ability to shoot a basketball in any goal other than the 1 point goal. Where's the role for that style of robot this year?
In this game, alliances of three specialists can work, and they certainly put up points, but they get crushed by alliances of two do-it-all robots, or even one do-it-all robot with a strong semi-specialist partner. It's an uphill battle to say the least.
*Ignore 1241's auxillary auto intake here, they didn't use it in their key matches.
(and I don't know what you're talking about with 3 assist cycles losing to 2, in 2014 - that was certainly not the norm across the country at all)