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Re: This is a brutal game.
I personally think brutal is the wrong word for the way the game is being played. It is different; it's a lot more defensive than past games have been. As the drive team coach I am telling my drive team to ram other robots to keep them from scoring, and it works. Our robot has a low center of gravity, a sturdy frame, and bumpers. I also am the team programmer. I switched our autonomous mode from shooting at the center goal, to a more defensive one. Playing a good defense is paying off more for our team than an offensive one was. Defense is a larger part of the game than it has been in the past.
I'm thinking this is a good thing, though. Good engineering is supposed to pay off in FIRST. If you designed a robot with a high center of gravity, weak drive train, and poor frame your robot will tip, get pushed around, and fall apart, and you will fail at the game.
At FLR during the qualifiers, scores were pretty high, usually above 40. During the elimination rounds, there was a significant drop in scores during the match, maybe an average of about 20. Why? Because alliances realized how important defense was to the game.
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