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Originally Posted by sanddrag
Very true for all the points you listed. While the 2005 kop gearbox most likely provided a higher degree of success as a whole, I think it caused an astonishingly lower degree of innovation as a whole, and on a case by case basis in the drivetrain department.
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Sanddrag, I still do not understand why you believe that it's so bad that people not go all out and make crazy drivetrains. Why innovate when what you have suits the game perfectly? There's no reason to make a super cool 4 speed 6 motor drivetrain if a single speed, 2 or 4 motor drivetrain will get your strategy done just as well.
It makes no sense to me to go and make a super cool drivetrain, just because it's super cool. If there isn't significant upside to doing something significantly more complicated and time consuming, what's the point?
2005 wasn't a game of drivetrains like 2004, and particularly 2003 and 2002, which the vast majority of the teams recognized and took into account.
As to the analogy to settling for passing HS with geometry, or moving up to Calculus, why take calculus if your career doesn't utilize anything above geometry? Same thing with FIRST. Why waste resources to do something that doesn't fit your strategy and won't give you a tangible advantage?
It's the mark of a good team to know what to use, and when, not to use the most insanely cool innovative feature known to FIRST, just because.
At any rate, I don't think you can conclude "4th and 5th year teams are taking the easy way out" because they use kit parts, because FIRST's mission isn't innovation, it's to recognize science and technology. Innovation can certainly be a part of that, but it's not a necessity. If a team has successfuly used a simple drive year after year, congratulations to them for finding something that works well for what they do.
And mechanicalbrain: Without a drivetrain, the best arm becomes useless
2005 was certainly not a year of standout drivetrains, but the previous three games sure were. 2003 was essentially a contest of who had the most powerful drivetrain, as was 2002 with a few twists thrown in.