Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard
I think one of the most interesting rules regarding this mechanic is this one: "Bludgers will have no effect if POSSESSED by a robot upon contacting another robot." This makes it sound like if the robot in question catches the bludger, their balls do not become grounded. I wonder if the best robots in this game might have some sort of net-style catching mechanism to ensure they do not take grounding effects.
A couple questions now: - What defines "attach" in G11: "Robots may not climb the the goalpost that supports the HOOP, nor attach to the goalpost or the HOOP."
- Would a robot with an appendage on either side of the goalpost count as being attached?
- Would having a slot in the robot to surround the goalpost count as attached?
- How about having the robot long enough to brace itself against two goalposts if hit from one side?
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Thank you very much for the time you put into designating the robot archetypes. This type of analysis is what we love to see over these kinds of games, and we're sure that it will help others with less experience understand how the game would play out, and how to better refine their robot(s).
A note before answering your questions - The rule stating that "Bludgers will have no effect if POSSESSED by a robot upon contacting another robot." was made with an intention of preventing teams from just holding a bludger in front of them and playing tag with the opponent's robots, however we really like your interpretation that would facilitate catching as a means to cancel the bludger's effects. Unfortunately that would change the game mechanics to ones that some others who have already started did not interpret, and it would not be professional for us to change the intention of a rule after releasing the game, so we must leave the catching aspect out for now.
Now for your questions:
Attach is meant in the terms of grapple, or to securely hold on to. In short, the intent was to prevent teams from grabbing / climbing the poles. A good test to see if your design matches the intent of the rule is to ask yourself, "Can another robot push me away?" if not, then you are in violation of the rule. If so, you're perfectly fine (this would make the slot you are referring to, as well as the long robot, perfectly legal). During design we often likened the poles to the bases of the minibot poles from 2011, in regards to attachment rules.