Blockading

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by JB987

According to the Q and A, two on one defense generally is not to be regarded as a blockade:

<snip>

Your mileage may vary depending on the regional you are attending of course

It shouldn't vary, though, and that's my point. Q&A answered exactly what I thought, that 2v1 defence should not generally be considered blockading for the purposes of G25. Seems to me like the Head Ref at Waterloo was overstepping his bounds by calling G25 so aggressively.

Grand scheme of things, its too late to change now, and I don't recall any matches that were decided by a G25 (typically, the ones they were called in were blowouts anyway), but the point is that all calls should be consistent from event to event, and it should be consistent with the interpretation provided from Q&A/The Manual, if one exists.

[JB987]

I agree that mileage shouldn't vary...but it often does so all teams should at least be prepared to get the head ref to clearly define what he will call as a blockade during the drivers meeting.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by Racer26

Grand scheme of things, its too late to change now, and I don't recall any matches that were decided by a G25 (typically, the ones they were called in were blowouts anyway), but the point is that all calls should be consistent from event to event, and it should be consistent with the interpretation provided from Q&A/The Manual, if one exists.

I definitely agree that the calls should be more consistent form event-to-event, but that ultimately they can't be made identical...

I do think that just because no matches were decided by G25's doesn't mean it didn't affect the outcome of matches... Teams that had a G25 called on them for open-field 2v1 defense would probably avoid it in the future (20pt penalty is 1.75 cycles!). So, I'm guessing that more teams would've played effective 2v1 defense later in the event if they hadn't learned earlier in the event that it was likely to incur a G25.

At any rate, it was called as it was at Waterloo (they did at least seem pretty consistent about it calling it on 2v1 at Waterloo), the best that can be done is just using it as an opportunity to help improve continuity across events. Perhaps this is a case for particular training/clarification to the Head Refs from FIRST HQ?

As has already been said... if nothing else, teams should ask in the drivers' meetings about how the refs intend to call G25's.

[Mr. Lim]

Blockading has definitely been an interesting one this year. It's a 20pt call that could definitely change the outcome of a match. I don't it has in any of ours yet this year, but it's a huge points swing.

The way it was called between BAE and Waterloo was indeed very different - and I don't think I could call either way explicitly "right" or "wrong."

We saw lots of 2 on 1 defense at both events, and one consistent thing when blockading calls were made were two robots, lined up one in front of the other, driving sideways across the field.

This is about the only arrangement I've seen where blockading calls were made *consistently*.

The video referenced above shows that arrangement from about 28s to 20s left:
http://watchfirstnow.com/archive3.php?id=62472516

There's been plenty of 2 on 1 defense where that arrangement never happens, and no blockading call is made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3FMK...YdSlRb_rLXUTtM

It would be nice it we could define blockading a bit more concisely, but honestly, I'm not sure how.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lim

It would be nice it we could define blockading a bit more concisely, but honestly, I'm not sure how.

I'd much rather the GDC just abandon the concept entirely.