IRI (CONTEMPLATED) Rule Changes

[Chris Fultz]

There is still lots of time before IRI, but here are some of the rule changes being considered. None of these are firm changes, and they require agreement with the planning team and referee team before we formalize.

1. All minibots worth 20 points, regardless of place.
Why? This actually adds some strategy. How long do you take to place that last tube before driving to the tower? How close can you get to :01 left on the clock to deploy? With so many fast minibots, should it really be worth 20 more points if you can climb in .15 seconds vs someone elses .2? This also saves teams from spending the next 8 weeks trying to make an (even) faster minibot.

2. Score Ubertubes in teleop. The Ubers could still be a doubler (if another tube is placed over them) but they don't get the 2 or 4 or 6 points from Auton. If an alliance doesn't score one of theirs, it is up for grabs. There could even be an extra one or two one the field...

3. Reduced lane violation calls, if it doesn't impact an opposing robot or have tube contact.

4. Instant Replay. Considered for the towers, for deployment, but may not be wanted / needed if change #1 gets made.

Others are being discussed. Nothing that has a drastic change on the way the game is played or negates a good design will be implemented. Just little adjustments that we can make with the hindsight of several weeks of gameplay.

I will commit the IRI Team to have all rule changes agreed by June 15 so teams know of any adjustments to make and have time to do it.

[santosh]

Because almost all teams at IRI can score on each peg with similar ease, is there any thought to making each peg and logo set worth the same as to not marginialize better robots with diminishing returns?

[Chris is me]

I love 20 point minibots. There's still a benefit to being fast: Faster minibots make the clock stop faster.

I really think the best way to add value to the game would be to get rid of the diminishing returns on the rack. Make them all 3 points.

[AdamHeard]

What about making the bottom row worth more points?

With the high quality teams present, I see the middle and full becoming saturated pretty quick.

[Ziv]

Part of the excitement came from the fact that the minibot race was in fact a race. Another interesting element of the gameplay is that the match ends when all four towers trigger.

Maybe 1st and 2nd place get 20 points while 3rd and 4th get 15? It's a very possibly worth-it tradeoff if you decide you really must delay the end of the match so your alliance partner can hang that last tube. It also rewards teams that have spent time making superfast minibots without making it necessary for every other team to develop (very heavily inspired) new ramps and minibots.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Ziv

Part of the excitement came from the fact that the minibot race was in fact a race. Another interesting element of the gameplay is that the match ends when all four towers trigger.

Maybe 1st and 2nd place get 20 points while 3rd and 4th get 15? It's a very possibly worth-it tradeoff if you decide you really must delay the end of the match so your alliance partner can hang that last tube. It also rewards teams that have spent time making superfast minibots without making it necessary for every other team to develop (very heavily inspired) new ramps and minibots.

I'm of two minds--at the regionals, where not everyone's minibot was stupid-fast, it was more exciting than at Championship where you would be surprised that the clock made it any lower than 7. The 20/15 split might be a worthy middle-ground.

I like the idea of ubertubes after autonomous--but how about giving that extra ubertube to a feeder station only if all three ubertubes are scored in autonomous. (If you really want tension for that third robot, put it in the feeder station at 15 seconds. You'd almost certainly have to allow ubertube-over-tube to count, though.)

[Cory]

I really hope the minibot race stays a race.

The points are way out of proportion right now due to the low value of the middle/bottom row, but there is nothing inherently flawed about the premise of a minibot race to end the match.

If all minibots are worth 20 points it would remove some of that excitement.

If the bottom row of the rack was worth as much as the middle I think that would help with the issue of diminishing returns on the rack.

[Chris Hibner]

I would like to see the lane violation eliminated unless you impede an opponents robot. If you go in the lane to get a tube but don't inhibit anything, then no penalty.

All minibots worth the same would be interesting. What would be really fun from a strategy standpoint is if you make each minibot worth 10, but you can score on any pole. If you want to leave your rack early and try and score 3 minibots for your alliance, then so be it. Maybe that would change the game too much.

[Don Wright]

All mini-bots the same points makes interesting strategies... Deploy early then try and stop the other team who waits until the end to deploy...

I personally like all the changes suggested...

It's going to be insane no matter what...

[MechEng83]

Another thought on how to alleviate diminishing returns:
The point value of a scored tube increases by 1 point IF AND ONLY IF the row above it (left or right side, independently) is full.

This would result in normal scoring for the top row, and then the 2nd row would be worth the normal two points per tube unless there aren't any available pegs above -- then it's worth 3 points per tube. Bottom row would be 1 point per tube unless rows 2 and 3 are full -- then it's 2 points per tube.

All ubertube and logo doubling would still apply!

[Jim Zondag]

What we need is more reason to score more tubes, and a way to reduce the diminishing returns effect of the original scoring system.
We will have many matches with 3 awesome scorers and we have already seen that the motivation to score more or less stops at 4 logos.
We want to see as much action on the field as possible:
Solution:
Allow ALL tubes on the rack to score, including double tubes deep.
Allow a double stacked logos to count.
To enable this, you need to provide the HPs with 4 logos worth of tubes each.

If you provide more opportunity on the rack, the Minibot race will diminish in importance so you will not need to change it.

Oh yeah: Get rid of the feature that ends the game when the 4 minbot hits.....this is stupid and prevents exciting attempt for last second logos.

[vhcook]

Perhaps a bonus for a full wall of logos?

[bduddy]

What about the rule Bill's Blog talked about, where the last minibot is the one that gets the most points?

[LightWaves1636]

Originally Posted by Ziv

Part of the excitement came from the fact that the minibot race was in fact a race. Another interesting element of the gameplay is that the match ends when all four towers trigger.

Maybe 1st and 2nd place get 20 points while 3rd and 4th get 15? It's a very possibly worth-it tradeoff if you decide you really must delay the end of the match so your alliance partner can hang that last tube. It also rewards teams that have spent time making superfast minibots without making it necessary for every other team to develop (very heavily inspired) new ramps and minibots.

It be interesting if it were 1st and 3rd were 20 points and 2nd and 4th 15 points.....

[dtengineering]

Why not exponentially increase the value of logos... the first is worth 5, the second is 10, the third is 20... or some appropriate system.

It was also put forward on another thread that it was considered to have the minibots be a race to be LAST to trigger. It would be interesting to see that in action.

It would also be interesting to see something like VEX's programming skills competition... you could have two robots on the field (they have to stay on their own end of the field) and go head-to-head to score the most points in one minute.

I just know there are some programmers out there who are looking for a chance to show what they can really do....

Jason