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My view on some things:
I don't think the argument that 2vs2 makes for better enginered bots really stands. Think about it this way...
Compare a B747 and a F-16. Which is the better plane? One is a combat craft; fast, agile, expensive. One is a commercial giant; slow (for a jet), reliable, can move hundreds of people across oceans in mere hours. Which one is better? Is the determining factor which one would win in a fight? I hope not.You can't really compare the two equally. It's apples and oranges. Neither craft could do the others job, yet both are wonderful machines.
Maybe a lot of this years bots can't handle getting rammed a lot. How many of last years can haul and balence 2 goals, handle 2 diffrent size balls, and do it all while working with 3 other teams? The two games just can't be compared like that. Neither 4vs0 or 2vs2 adds or subtracts from the engineering aspect of the game IMHO.
The strats involved are diffrent, but no less complicated. When the game took away the need for defense, it was equalized by adding more complexity to the scoring options. If you didn't have to worry about opposing teams, you had to worry about organizing 4 teams in 2 minutes to play a very complex game. I for one, saw a lot of diffrent game plans. They were all subtly diffrent. Choices like who goes over the ramp first in a tandem transfer could make the diffrence between a 500 pt match and a 300. I didn't find this out till I was put in charge of our summer drive team and had to set up these strats. It's more challenging then I think some people relize. When you add the layer of defense/offense to the game, something has to go. Like the wonderfuly comlicated scoring or the fast paced deplomecy. True to, our team is busy trying to come up with new strats and plans for WPI, but we are hindered by having to use a specilized machine for something we never thought we could. This is valubale in its own right and is something that all teams should do. But still, in the end, the games are equally challenging but in diffrent ways.
Which kind of game is more fun? Thats subjective and I'm not going to touch that, but we get what we get.
-Andy
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