Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnoble
Looking back at FRC history, there have been many games where a well-designed robot could effectively win most matches on its own, and only a few where alliances with specialized and effective partners were necessary. The Coopertition Bridge in 2012 seems like a forced effort to get teams to work together, so I'm not counting that. Aside from 2014, I can't think of many games where effective partnerships were super important.
What about this year? It seems possible that we might have actually received a game where the "we-will-do-it-all-ourselves-please-stay-out-of-our-way"robots may not be able to do it all, and where specialized machines in symbiotic partnerships will win more than a do-it-all. I may be wrong in this assessment, and would to hear your points of view.
It's also my opinion that, if the above turns out to be true, it will be an especially bad year for mediocre do-it-alls. My advice to mid-level teams echoes that from a few earlier threads: please don't try to do both major scoring objectives. Do one of them well, and climb. Maybe I'm wrong there too, though.
|
The elite "we-will-do-it-all-ourselves-please-stay-out-of-our-way" teams will still do everything in the game, and do it well. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say these teams will be so superior that they can overcome a 1 or 2 climb deficit. Making up 50-100 points in this game will be a real challenge. I think the difference for these elite teams will need to come during autonomous, because putting in 150-300 Fuel during teleop while also cycling 6 gears will probably not happen very often.
I also agree that specialization is
usually very important for mid and low tier teams. Doing one thing well is better than being average at everything. But is it really so difficult to do every aspect of the game this year, and are teams that try to do everything going to be negatively effected more than they would be in a typical year?
My initial reaction to those questions is trying to do everything this year isn't any more challenging than its been in the past. I think it might even be easier. The reason I think so is because teams can literally have a static mailbox or "Gearage" as my team likes to call it, on their robot and they can complete a significant aspect of the game.
Regardless of what Gear mechanism you choose to use, you can only hold 1 Gear at a time, and the Gear mechanism won't take up the entire volume of your robot.
Every decent team including 2nd picks will need to climb this year. 50 points is too large of a deficit for a playoff alliance to consistently make up. So low and mid tier teams will at minimum need to find space on their robots for Gears, and for climbing. I don't see how those mechanisms will occupy the entire volume of the robot, although I could be blinded by experience.
I would think most teams would benefit from having a way to collect Fuel from the hoppers and then dump them into the low goal. It's a significant boost in robot quality with the addition of a single mechanism.
In my mind, the ideal 2nd pick would have a 6 cim drivetrain, be able to cycle Gears, climb, and shuttle Fuel from a Hopper to either the Low goal, or to the key for the best high goal shooter to quickly intake and score it. I also think this type of team will be extremely rare, because many of these low to mid tier teams will fall into the trap of high goal shooting...