Who is going to be on Einstein?

[MrJohnston]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Actually, at least how they were calling it at CT, the FCS would receive the technical foul in this situation. That strategy was determined to be "forcing the other alliance to get a penalty".



This doesn't work. FCSes take time to line up, and as soon as it leaves the protected zone it can be rammed indefinitely.

I honestly do not think an FCS is a hard requirement for Einstein. A 7-disc floor loader (or at least extra points) is far more important, and all three robots need to score in auto. I think for that reason, 3 of the 4 alliances are guaranteed to have a floor loader on them. From there, a triple volume offense strategy can actually stay competitive versus an FCS / rebounder / defender + hang combination.

You want as much offense as possible with as many quick "extra" points as possible this year, either in the form of a complex autonomous or a high hang. That's not to say there won't be plenty of D, but everyone should have scoring ability for maximum versatility.

* It sounds like the referees need to communicate across the events... The rationale for not callling the technical on the FCS was basically this: If a 60" robot were attempting to block the FCS and the FCS pushed it across the autoline to open up a shot, there woudl be no foul. However, shoudl that 60" robot, between matches, suddenly duct tape a pool noodle on it's top, it would suddenly be illegal to shove it out of the way. Moreover, if the FCS attempted to go around the "pool noodled defender,' it risked either hitting the pyramid or knocking Pool Noodle into the pyramid, incurring fouls. This effectively meant that the 84" defender could contorl the entire right side of the court.... This seemed unreasonable - giving a little too much to the "power of the pool noodle." The judgment was made that, so long as the FCS was tryign to open up a shot, it had a right to try to clear the other robot out without worrying about commiting a foul.

* As for how long a FCS takes to line up, that really depends on the robot and driver. I saw 1425 in Central Washington slide 3' to its left and hit a pair of three-pointers in a period of about five seconds -with the biggeest delay being in the firing mechanism. The first shot was off in less than two seconds. 948 can line up for several different shots just as quickly. Both robots' biggest delay is when they try to line up perfectly such that they are in line with the feeder *and* the three point goal at teh same time - this is much trickier than just lining up with the three pointer.

Is a FCS necessary for Einstein? No. No particular robot is. However, a good FCS is brutal weapon that can certainly help.