Color me an idiot. I read the rules, viewed our regional this past weekend, and still am not confident that I understand the seeding concept.
Our first year, we finished next to last in the standings. Last year, we were even worse.
I would have been happy this year with being a third of the field from the bottom, and thinking we made good progress. We built a much better bot that never had a failure. At one point, we were 29th of 60, downright outstanding! In the end, we were 3W-5L-2T. I figured, yup, we could make 40th or so and feel good. Nope, ended up 53rd. It is so counter-intuitive to win a match and lose rank. And, what's with being penalized for playing defense? The game is patterned after soccer, where the most valuable player might just be an outstanding goalkeeper. I have a hard time encouraging our students to do their best, while wondering if they will go backward if they do so. Frankly, with the cost and the huge investment of time to build the 'bot, I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it for 20 minutes of playing time. Sorry to sound so down, but my expectations of reaching mediocrity this year were blown way out of the water.