[sanddrag]

This year's game is the most well designed so far. Yet I believe there is still one fatal flaw. Why should those who have their robots in working order and on th field for a match be penalized by those who don't? In nearly every one of the first seven qualifying matches in SoCal there was at least one robot missing from the field (at one point, I heard there were 4 robots missing from the field). We had to play a 3vs2 match on Friday and a 3vs1 match on Saturday ("we" being on the deficient alliance both times). Why should we be scoring points for a team who doesn't have the decency to make their match? Why should we have to pick up their slack? We have trouble, we break things, we have repairs to do, but we care about our matches, we care about our partners, and we do not let them down. Before our matches, I've gone to our partners and literally said, "look, if you want me to jump in there and fix this for you I'd be more than happy to. We need this robot on the field, pronto." But they all see no sense of urgency and think it is no big deal if they miss a match because somebody else will play it for them.


I say that FIRST should do one of three things if a robot is not present on the field.

1. Bring in an alternate, somebody, anybody, who is ready to go at the time. They will be doing it for practice, publicity, and because of GP. They will get no points out of it. The no-show team will still be awarded points, and they should take the alternate out to dinner (the part about dinner would be optional but strongly recommended).
2. Give the no-show team a DQ (this would be an easy incentive to get your but/bot out on the field.)
3. Keep a kitbot on hand for that team to use when they cannot field their own. (teams may abuse this).

My vote goes for #1, but any of these options would be better than the present nothing.

We pay good money to not just field a robot, but to field a robot with two more beside it. Nobody can win this game alone. Give every alliance the fair chance to win that they deserve. How can anybody feel good winning or losing a match 3 on 2 or 3 on 1?

I say 6 robots on the field or no match is to be played. Who's with me?