[Basel A]

I rather like this year's game. people are saying the seeding system is bad, but so far in our two districts, it seems like the best teams rose to the top, or would not have been seeded anyway. I think the GDC's intent (to discourage defense) was accomplished quite well in that there wasn't a very large effect via 6v0 and not a lot of defense was played in qualifying. Also, I like how it depends both on robot mobility and driver skill, rather than merely how well you built that robot 9not that there's anything wrong with building a great robot). That means you need both skill and the foresight to have seen that the faster, more agile robots would do better. Our team didn't actually see that coming, but it did end up working in our favor.

I also like how easy it was for others to understand. The scoring is pretty simple, and the game heavily alludes to something that people already know how to play and how to strategize for. In that way, I can bring someone in and only have to explain the game in a few sentences. Also, the eliminations are pretty exciting. The game is a lot more simple than in qualification matches, because it goes back to the basic "score more than the opponents, or don't let your opponents score" tactic. it's simple to understand, and easy to watch. I like it.

I disliked last year's game only because 1) the intra-match score was way off most of the time, which made it difficult to gauge how a match went without staying for the score. Basically, too many points for too many balls that are difficult to see. A lot like a couple previous years. Also, 2) too much emphasis on human players. I understand that FIRST means for there to be a little leeway and a little luck involved in the games, but last year a good human player could make you the best team, whether or not your robot was good at all.

I can't really talk besides these two years, because these are the only two years I've been involved in FIRST. But anyway, those are my over-expressed opinions.