Week 2 Impressions of Rack 'N Roll

[Pavan Dave]

Much similar to last week’s thread this one is based on similar things except these are all different questions. The point of this "series of 7 threads" if you call it that, will be reviewed upon to help understand the game even better. To sum up what Dave said during the Bayou Regional Friday night, this game is on a totally different level than games in the past because it makes teams think ahead of whom they will play with and against and will make teams cooperate very closely to get their task completed efficiently.


How do you think that the flow of the games was? How did you guys think the flags were called and how penalties were handed out? How was regional coordination and the flow of the regional itself was? Also, what do you think about what you saw over the past week compared to the first week of regional? What do you think are the keys to scoring and how easy or hard is it to stay consistent with scoring from what you have seen and what do you think about scoring and how it has played out so far, including spoiler, keeper, and ringer usage? Finally, what do you think are some debatable calls by referees?

[henryBsick]

**Warning, this post is pretty much just how I feel gameplay needs to change from what I have seen.**

Overall, gameplay has improved a bit from week 1, as is the trend from year to year. Here are some things that I think a lot of teams need to improve on. It is just my opinion take it as you will.

Strategize strategize strategize. Have a cohesive gameplan going into a match. Each match is different so strategies may or may not vary depending on the type of bots involved. Make every cap count. Make sure ramps (if available) can be attained and not just are not just a waste of effort and time. I have seen so many instances of poor decisions by coaches in the past two weeks. Oh, coaches: the drivers are YOUR hands. YOU make the calls, THEY do the work. They are the link between you and machine. In a good drive team, drivers should not have to think, just react.

I have seen a lot of great defense being played and only a little bit of pick and roll. If the situation fits, help a bot out.

One last thing: I saw a little more of this here in week 2, but still not enough against the power houses....OFFENSIVE DEFENSE!!
All coaches go home right now and play connect 4.

Thats all I have for now,
-Henry

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by Pavan

debatable calls by referees?

at vcu, the debateble calls were definently on the ramps. the call was wether the robot was supported by a piece of the playing field while on a ramp.

in one of our qualifying matches, there was a tube on the ramp, our robot drove up and landed on the tube. our interpretation of the rule was that if the elimate of the field was taken in out, would the robot in question still be on the ramp? so we thought it wouldn't b a problem. we lost that match because of that rule.

if someone really knows this rule well, would they please give us a clarification.

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by cziggy343

at vcu, the debateble calls were definently on the ramps. the call was wether the robot was supported by a piece of the playing field while on a ramp.

in one of our qualifying matches, there was a tube on the ramp, our robot drove up and landed on the tube. our interpretation of the rule was that if the elimate of the field was taken in out, would the robot in question still be on the ramp? so we thought it wouldn't b a problem. we lost that match because of that rule.

if someone really knows this rule well, would they please give us a clarification.

The only Q&A uling I found was this, http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=5292
, which doesn't exactly match your scenario.

However, IMO (which is worth nothing) if, by transitivity, a Robot supported by a robot supported by a Game Piece - is supported by a Game piece, then, also by transitivity, a Robot supported by a game piece supported by a Robot - is supported by a Robot.

You should ask the Q&A if they agree.

[Koko Ed]

The end game reminds me too much of Stack Attack. Teams could work thier butt off all match long and the other teams don't have to do much of anything and if they have a ramp can steal the match in the end. Thyey should have made it 15 per robots for 12 inches instead.

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

The end game reminds me too much of Stack Attack. Teams could work thier butt off all match long and the other teams don't have to do much of anything and if they have a ramp can steal the match in the end. Thyey should have made it 15 per robots for 12 inches instead.

i agree, 15 points for 12in. and 5 for 4in.

[KTorak]

I agree with the ramp points. 30 points is way too much. Mainly for the reason listed above. It's dumb for a team to just shove you all over the field for a min and thirty seconds, and then to just climb a ramp, or be lifted and get thirty points.

Other than that, the game seems to flow pretty well. However, the scoring of refs is questionable...but i'll leave it up to someone else to fill in the blank about that one.

[R.Greene]

Originally Posted by KTorak

30 points is way too much. Mainly for the reason listed above. It's dumb for a team to just shove you all over the field for a min and thirty seconds, and then to just climb a ramp, or be lifted and get thirty points.

The last 30 seconds was the most insane part of the match. With the penalties given for being in the opponent's home zone at 15 seconds, defending against ramp bots is almost impossible to do.

Way to many points that cannot be defended against during a match. As a driver, it is painful to watch a team load two robots onto another and know that there is nothing you can do to stop them from getting another 60 points.

[meatmanek]

Matches are getting a lot more aggressive. Some folks are saying the ramps are worth too much, but as the game goes on, the tubes are worth more and more. In week 1, until late Friday and Saturday, it seemed like most matches had 5 tubes on the rack. We're starting to see the racks get a lot more full. High scores are attained with tubes, not the ramp.

In my opinion, by the time Atlanta rolls around, we'll see consistent bonus points, where you don't win by getting on a ramp, instead you lose if you can't get onto a ramp (or make up for it with a valuable tube)

[technoL]

I'm not too sure about Week 1 regionals, but after getting inspected on Thursday night and seeing the board of inspected teams, there were still quite a few (like more than half) left to be inspected Friday morning. I'm just curious was the issue that teams were just not finished repairing in time, or were there just many teams that failed inspection the first time around?

I also agree with the chance winning of the game being based around the ramps. I remember seeing several matches tied with ringers, or even with more ringers than the opposing alliance, but then having that all crushed because the other alliance got at least one bot up 12".

-No L

[seanl]

on thursday when we weighed our robot it was a whopping 20 lbs over weight. so we spent the whole day shedding weight. we passed our inspection minutes before our first match.

[RKElectricalman]

They should've seriously made a requirement that before any robot from a single alliance can score by bonus points, they must atleast score one ringer for their alliance (or two), in order to qualify for bonus points. This way If an alliance of all three ramp bots can't just pick and choose a ramp before the match, defend via one-on-one defense, and then just ramp up to win.

Requirements, and Qualifying for bonus points.

my two cents.

Rameez

[sanddrag]

I think a whole alliance that works together well, and has done a lot of pre-match planning is key. From what I've seen, almost any combination of robots has a chance of beating almost any other combination of robots with a very detailed and well thought out and played out strategy.

[Eldarion]

Originally Posted by RKElectricalman

They should've seriously made a requirement that before any robot from a single alliance can score by bonus points, they must atleast score one ringer for their alliance (or two), in order to qualify for bonus points. This way If an alliance of all three ramp bots can't just pick and choose a ramp before the match, defend via one-on-one defense, and then just ramp up to win.

Requirements, and Qualifying for bonus points.

my two cents.

Rameez

I like that idea...good thinking!

Too bad FIRST can't do anything about it now...or can they?

[IndySam]

It cracks me up hearing people complaining that the ramp points are worth too much this far into the game. The GDC did a great job designing a game with two different scoring options and weight constraints that make it hard to do both well. My hats off to them.