Week 1 Analysis

[Michael Hill]

It seems like gameplay here at Central illinois has been much more violent than in years past. Teams realized when they don't have the ball, you double team on defense until you're open. I hope everyone built a physically strong robot.

[Steven Smith]

I think there is a misconception among the "kit bot built to defend" populace that defense equals shot blocking (interfering with the ball trajectory).

Many of these robots would have been better suited to avoid building a 60" tall wall that makes their robot top heavy (and the drivers move it around gingerly), but to instead build a basic kitbot with well mounted battery/electronics/etc, a few pounds of ballast, and just get in the way or hit teams as they try to shoot.

I haven't seen many (any?) "swats" of balls. The most effective defense has been pushing a robot as it attempts to shoot and altering the shot trajectory, or knocking it loose.

Any team can do this effectively IMO.

[Nebster]

After just finishing watching the 118 vs 148 match, it's very disappointing that the human player can not get a ball until after the ref's light up the post, which takes 10-15 seconds. As soon as a cycle is finished, the alliance should be able to get another cycle started right away.

Also, G40 seems to be the main decider of most of these matches...

[magnets]

OK, I'm confused. What just happened in the alamo regional?

118 sat there for about 10 seconds before the light on the pedestal lit up, and because of that, they couldn't get another shot in before the match ended. Why didn't the pedestal light up? No balls were on the field.

This is looking bad. Bad calls everywhere.

[magnets]

Another question, what was the field fault (alamo)? I'm watching an ad now.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by magnets

Another question, what was the field fault (alamo)? I'm watching an ad now.

refs declared 2 balls dead and then started another cycle

[MrBasse]

I think too much has been put on the refs this year. I saw several matches where low goal scorers had arms inside the low goal directly in front of a ref. not just in, but like 12-15 inches in and no call. Several long delays on lighting the pedestal after a score, lots of high goal bounce outs, and numerous pickups the in no way were 20" or less outside the frame. I also notice a few games that had scores climbing and climbing when multiple autonomous balls were still on the field. Lots of scoring trouble on top of all that. Several matches where no low goals were scored, but scores were odd numbers.

Overall, I think this game could be great with practice. But, we all might have to wait a few weeks to be truly amazed by it. It will take a lot for teams, refs, and volunteers to get the hang of this one. Even more for everyone to all manage it at the same time.

[Thad House]

I'm see alot of week 1 similarities between this year and 2010. Both were penalties are too large and ruining the game. For the past few years, it was fairly easy to make up a foul. a tech foul was hard, but still very doable. This year, unless you are an AMAZING alliance, making up a foul is difficult, and a tech is almost impossible. I wouldn't be surprised to see an update next tues with some major changes to the ways fouls work, because right now, it seems broken.

Also similar, is making up a deficit is very difficult, and i have seen very very few close matches so far, which is fairly different from what we have seen the past few years. Since most of the 2010 students have graduated, most students dont remember how bad that really was, and I see alot of similarities right now. I hope they can get fixed.

Something I would like to see, is that if fouls worked like they used to, and took away from your alliance, how many matches would be 0-0. Also, maybe grab that information from the last 2 years, and check those percentages as well. I think those would be interesting to see.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

I think too much has been put on the refs this year. I saw several matches where low goal scorers had arms inside the low goal directly in front of a ref. not just in, but like 12-15 inches in and no call.

Isn't this legal? You are just not allowed to break the plane of your opponent's goal?

Originally Posted by G26-1

ROBOTS may not break the planes of the openings of the opponent’s LOW GOALS.

Violation: FOUL. If extended, strategic, or repeated, TECHNICAL FOUL.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

I think too much has been put on the refs this year. I saw several matches where low goal scorers had arms inside the low goal directly in front of a ref. not just in, but like 12-15 inches in and no call. Several long delays on lighting the pedestal after a score, lots of high goal bounce outs, and numerous pickups the in no way were 20" or less outside the frame. I also notice a few games that had scores climbing and climbing when multiple autonomous balls were still on the field. Lots of scoring trouble on top of all that. Several matches where no low goals were scored, but scores were odd numbers.

Overall, I think this game could be great with practice. But, we all might have to wait a few weeks to be truly amazed by it. It will take a lot for teams, refs, and volunteers to get the hang of this one. Even more for everyone to all manage it at the same time.

The problem, in my opinion, is that refs are required to both watch a quadrant of the field that may include several robots and operate the scoring screen. If I recall correctly there used to be separate scorekeepers, and it's still listed as a volunteer position in VIMS; I know there isn't an endless supply of volunteers, but if there was ever a game that needed scorekeepers...

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

Isn't this legal? You are just not allowed to break the plane of your opponent's goal?

You are right, I wrote too fast for my brain to keep up. But I did notice it happening with defensive bots (that may have sustained a little damage) when trying to pick up a ball by the opponents low goal as well. Not very often, but at least three or four times in all of the matches I saw today.

[Laaba 80]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Just watched the last few matches at Alamo. Refs missed assists in each of the past two, on pretty cut and dry plays. Each match had a three assist cycle counted for two.

Something I've noticed is many teams inbound the ball to robot A, A passes to B, then B does a truss pass, but B never completely crossed into the white zone before passing so no assist is scored. The team took 20 points off the board for no reason.

Not trying to tell you what you saw, but I thought the same thing for a while until I noticed this. I've actually been pretty ok with the assist scoring so far, the slow cycle restarts are a different story though

[JesseK]

I haven't been able to watch a single match due to my day job. But after reading this entire thread, it really seems like typical Week 1 jitters.

Except for that anti-scoring device behind the goal. That really should be fixed. We spend thousands of dollars per year as an organization on FIRST's partners and I'm sure one of them can sponsor a fix.

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by JesseK

I haven't been able to watch a single match due to my day job. But after reading this entire thread, it really seems like typical Week 1 jitters.

Except for that anti-scoring device behind the goal. That really should be fixed. We spend thousands of dollars per year as an organization on FIRST's partners and I'm sure one of them can sponsor a fix.

If you want to see some matches, Auburn-Mountainview in Washington is still running http://www.ustream.tv/channel/firstwa-blue.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by PVCpirate

If you want to see some matches, Auburn-Mountainview in Washington is still running http://www.ustream.tv/channel/firstwa-blue.

Sweet, thanks!