Team Update 2-19 and FRC Blog - Week 0 Observations and Stop Build Day

Originally Posted by dodar

No. Climbing would not even be worth it if they were that low.

Maybe 10, 15, 20? Or 10, 20, 25, since from what I hear once you're on the second rung, you can easily get to the third.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Well THAT's a game changer if I've ever seen one. So long frisbee blizzard and ultimate frisbee human players. Definitely a blow to ground-pickup robots everywhere. On the plus side, late game maneuverability just got a lot easier.

During the least 30 seconds, I would be surprised to see a floor pickup and shooting robot manage even one cycle with white frisbees thrown by the human players.

Floor pickup will still be important with the number of Frisbees that will start on the floor, as well as those from missed shots.

After attending the Suffield Shakedown, I can attest to the safety issue involved here. If you want to, blame the lawyers, not the GDC.
The GDC made a thoughtful choice here.

Less than 10 percent of the Frisbees thrown made it into a goal.

At least the game reset crew is probably going to have an easier time of it.

Let's not make this a bigger deal than it is.

[nuggetsyl]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

During the least 30 seconds, I would be surprised to see a floor pickup and shooting robot manage even one cycle with white frisbees thrown by the human

We can easily do 2 if not 3 cycles in 30. I have to say this rule changes the game for us. I would like to see climbing lowered to level things out.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Let's not make this a bigger deal than it is.

It's a pretty big deal. Personally coming from a team that elected to go with a floor loader + 10pt hang as apposed to a 30 point climber because it gave us a greater potential to score more points in the last 30 seconds, this essentially kills our strategy based on the endgame blizzard. Unless we are lucky enough to be matched with a bot that can cross-court shoot, our floor loader is MUCH less useful.

I understand frisbees are less predictable and controllable than a ball or tube, and way more likely to deviate off course, but at some point, game element like this (nonscoring related) should not be changing.

[SM987]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Let's not make this a bigger deal than it is.

Given that it's stop build day, I haven't seen anyone overreact. That said, this is a minor plus for climbers and a minor bummer for floor loaders. I don't see it being a huge issue in anything but the highest level of competition.

[dodar]

Honestly, teams should have built for both human loading and floor loading.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by dodar

Honestly, teams should have built for both human loading and floor loading.

...based on what reasoning?

[Vikingtech2054]

Originally Posted by nuggetsyl

We can easily do 2 if not 3 cycles in 30. I have to say this rule changes the game for us. I would like to see climbing lowered to level things out.

I feel the same way. We designed a fast pickup for getting the frisbees at the end. I like the idea of lowering the climb points to even it out. Or possibly come up with a low cost netting system for behind the goals, and change the rule back

[steelerborn]

Team 1671 The Bird Brains made their entire bot to have an amazing pick-up system, to easily get disks from the ground. Now there will be only missed shot disks for us to pick-up. This really lowers the advantage that we had in the last 30 seconds. We could easily get 2 shots of 4 off in that time. I agree that something needs to be done to even the game out not sure what it would be.

Not too happy with FIRST about this decision but oh well :/

[Sam390250]

I think I am mostly just disappointed because that frenzy of discs was so fun to watch in the last 30 seconds! Just like building a slip n slide off the top of your house, you know its probably not the safest idea but it is so fun you can't resist! However, with FIRST being held responsible for the people on that slip n slide, I can regrettably understand their decision.

That being said, there were still a ton of discs on the floor from missed shots at our week 0 event. Though this change will obviously impact strategy, it might not be quite as drastic as initially thought. Our strategy of no floor pickup seemed a little questionable at our event because the number of discs that ended up on the floor early in the match was higher than we anticipated.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Madison

...based on what reasoning?

1. It should have been relatively easy to do.
2. Almost every year, the good teams have been able to get game pieces off the ground or from HP(2012,2011,2010,2009,2007,2006,etc..)

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by dodar

Honestly, teams should have built for both human loading and floor loading.

That's just not true. Everyone's strategy is different and based on the game rules. We were hoping to never leave our auto zone so human loading was not needed.

[Andy Grady]

GREAT rule change. While I could understand some frustration to not realizing this earlier, this is why there are week 0 events. Anyone who was at any of the scrimmages could have told you that the last 30 seconds were an absolute mess and needed to be changed...for the better of the game, and for the safety of those involved. Those of us who volunteer on the field are greatly appreciative of it, I assure you.

-Andy

[BugByte]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

That's just not true. Everyone's strategy is different and based on the game rules. We were hoping to never leave our auto zone so human loading was not needed.

Were you planning to get discs before the last 30 seconds?

[dodar]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

That's just not true. Everyone's strategy is different and based on the game rules. We were hoping to never leave our auto zone so human loading was not needed.

Well then this really doesnt affect you save the last 30 seconds of the match. So, 3/4 of your match strategy doesnt change.