[smurfgirl]

So... our team's connection dropped as Woodie was introducing the game. We heard "the 2008 game, FIRST..." and it went black and silent. It came back at "good luck!" That was a major disappointment, and we were so confused when "Who Wants to be an Engineer?" came on, because we hadn't seen anything. Besides the initial confusion, here's my reaction to the game (though I'm sure I'll grow to love it more than I can imagine right now) :

Things I don't like:
- no real defensive opportunities (who doesn't love our famous New England defense? I'm going to miss it at the Connecticut Regional this year)
- can only drive counter-clockwise; I feel like the tracklike structure and the rules about obstructions limit your movement and your motion a lot
- game pieces are hard to manipulate- I can't lift the trackball myself because it's too large and slippery for me to wrap my arms around, so how can I expect it to be realistic for the robots to do?
- game pieces are heavy and bouncy; they hit with a lot of force (knocked a team member over earlier) and can potentially cause a lot of damage to a robot if they crash into it
- only four signal choices for the remote in hybrid period- we had sixteen autonomous modes last year, so even though we can now control it as we go, four options feels limiting
- return of weight classes? I saw this one in the inspection sheet, but I haven't seen it in section 8 yet
- success in hybrid period doesn't seem to carry that much weight relative to the scoring in teleoperated period
- you have to drive around in circles so much to be able to score...
- it seems like a lot of potential strategies involve working with the alliance partners, but you never know if that will be possible (what their capabilities are)
- the field is still taller than me... so I can't remove game pieces from the top )':

Things I do like:
- hybrid period instead of autonomous
- spherical playing pieces- I told my team so!
- it's very different from past games, so it should be a real challenge
- it seems like it will foster a lot of teamwork within the alliance
- trained referees! so they will make more fair and more consistent calls... and I won't have to break the rules and start arguing with the head ref (I'm the drive Coach)
- doesn't incorporate a green target light and a camera- the remote control should be pretty cool
- offers a lot of opportunities for changing strategies, and on-the-fly math while I'm coaching

The funny thing is, the list of things I like weighs a lot more heavily with me, even though it's much shorter