Feeder Robots: Do They Exist?

[Radical Pi]

During late quals and all of elims at FLR, I don't think I ever saw a single robot enter their lane to get a tube. The strategy became all of the human players chucking as many tubes into the center of the field as fast as they can and both alliances basically pulled from the same pool of tubes. While I doubt this was in the GDC's original intent, the extra level of competition between alliances to control the game pieces made the matches 10x more interesting.

I also saw the human players actively attacking opponents by throwing tubes at them while trying to score. Surprisingly effective!

[Grim Tuesday]

Most of the high level teams at FLR, including 217 and 2056 used this strategy, fully cutting out feeder robots:

They score in auto, etc etc, and then their human players throw two sets of logos onto the field. The teams proceed to push/herd the tubes into their zones, and then hang them. They venture out into the full field only to hang their third (possibly fourth) logo. Their third alliance member then plays defence on the opposing alliance. The good teams then deploy their minibots very quickly (of course!).

[JewishDan18]

20 became a feeder today, since we found that 3 robots trying to score was too many. we played defence and pushed tubes forward, and it worked pretty well.

[KrazyCarl92]

As Dan said, feeders exist in a big way. We played a hybrid between feeder and defense in the finals and that seemed to work best. However, these robots will not be very successful unless they can put up a competitive minibot and a consistent auto.

[Wayne TenBrink]

In elims at Traverse City, we had 141 move thrown tubes into the end zone and run interference while we and 201 hung them. It worked quite well. I'm pretty sure that nobody ever went back to the slot.

A good HP changes the job of a feeder - changes it from a tube carrier to a tube pusher, which doesn't even require the ability to carry a tube. Throwing a tube is a lot faster than feeding it through a slot.

Here is a video of TC finals match 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qEr44_0CoY

[KrazyCarl92]

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

In some ways I agree, but it depends on how you organize them. 175, 176, and 1519 organized themselves well were all consistently scoring on the rack.

[Siri]

If "feeder" means getting a tube from the Feeding Station, possessing it across the field and dropping it in the safe zone, then no, I haven't seen many and most are't fast enough to be useful. If "feeder" means getting tubes to where they're useful for scorers, then yeah, there are a bunch and they can definitely be helpful for your average and even above average scorers.

Our strategies at FLR didn't always specify "feeder" though. If you've got bots scoring upwards of 3-4 tubes each or are playing a tube-scarce or defense-necessary match, they play a big role. If it's quals and you've got 3 scorers at 2-4 tubes/match with normal opponents, switching around often worked out for the best. It's not really crowded with good communication and it helps if someone runs into issues.

Defense is only important with some alliance pairings and often isn't really what you need to max your RS. And at least at Week 1 FLR using a 2-3 tube scorer as a dedicated feeder tended to slow scoring down. Tubes tend to be close for most matches, though that should change some as HPs improve. Most bots didn't go past (usually even close to) their towers until Deployment.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

... and this was the exact strategy (2 scorers and a defensive bot) we played against you (20), 40 and 131 in BAE Quarterfinals.

QF1-3 was truely a tough, fun match.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Hawiian Cadder

feeder robot = some rookie team who accidentally direct drove their kit gearboxes to their kit wheels and has a robot that weighs only 60 LBS.

So a feeder has to be a team who doesn't know what they are doing?
Let's keep the comments positive.

To answer the question of the OP: yes, there are feeders out there. We made one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVyRMAc8a1E&sns=em

[vigkvagkv2]

Team 1778 will be using a feeder robot at the Seattle Regional.