[philso]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

A lot of people have made a lot of good points here... obviously a HG is worth more (and is the only way to accumulate 'infinite' points, making it a key factor at highest levels) and I agree it can often be done faster by elite shooters.

BUT, I think this could be the hardest game to have high shot accuracy (compared to 2006, 2012, 2013, and perhaps even 2014). The goal (HG or LG) is only 2.5 balls high and 1.5 balls wide, making it one of the tightest goals we've ever had... I suspect THE tightest. 2006 was quite large compared to the ball, 2012 probably had a comparable or larger "sweet spot" on the backboard for backspun balls, 2013 was far bigger, and 2014 was ~1.5 balls tall and wicked wide. One of the only "protected areas" is backed against the Defenses, which isn't bad, but it doesn't have the super-close fender option that 2012 had.

To make the goal size even more significant, you only get 1 shot per cycle... so if you miss 25% or 33% of your shots or so, the cost is considerably higher (you have much fewer shots AND you can't use your first as a 'tracer' of sorts). Furthermore, and we have yet to see how the Boulders wear... and how that'll impact various shooter designs. Consider though, that a rare few teams in 2012 actually had a 'ball stiffness testers' on their robot to calibrate for each ball's wear/stiffness...

At any rate, I think that elite HG shooters will be formiddable and will require excellent defense to stop and/or some serious offensive firepower on the other side... that said, I also think that strong HG shooters will be very rare and that many teams attempting HG shooters will (or should, but perhaps won't) end up prefering the LG.

How much time will your robot spend chasing the same boulder around if you miss the high goal? Keep in mind that there are two sets of Defenses that may be obscuring your view of the courtyard your robot is in and that a defending robot will be doing its best to interfere with your robot. It was heartbreaking in 2012 to watch our drivers waste many, many precious seconds where he could not see that the ball he was trying to pick up was really about 2 feet further down the field than the robot was.

Your team needs to be very honest about what it is capable of accomplishing then apply Karthik's two Golden Rules. Some of the features you then choose to implement may be a stretch but it should be a thoroughly calculated risk.

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Prediction: Regionals will be won with alliance captains who either can't shoot high goals or score almost exclusively low goals this year. Especially at early events, it will be a challenge to get 8 balls in the tower consistently during most qual matches.

After the disaster that was 2015 for the MCC robot, 2016 is looking more like other years, where the jack of all trades is the master of none. I'm a big fan of this game.

^ Yes!