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Re: Unscheduled Team Update: 3-20-2014
I know that no one team causes any updates, but feel like we might have had a role in bringing this update into existence.
At SAC this year, a variety of electronics and mechanical issues prevented us from getting our shooter working until late on Friday, by which time we had discovered we could play really good D. We had a fast, powerful WCD, and a strong frame and bumpers. Our driver had never really practiced D, but could be coached pretty easily, and ended up being able to shut quite a few teams down. Teams at the competition and alums watching videos noticed that we were playing really hard defense, and even the announcer was commenting on it. We always play to win, and those matches where we were playing defense were no exception.
When we play D, we don't play with the intention of ramming other teams into oblivion. Not only is that a really mean way to play the game, but it's the wrong way strategically too. Playing positional defense (being between them and the ball, between them and their shooting spot, them and the 1 pt goal, them and the teams they're receiving from, them and the human player, etc) is a far better way to prevent teams from scoring then by trying to ram them into the stone age. But defense is a contact strategy, and when there is contact, there's usually some rapid changes of speed and direction. Sometimes you have to hit the corner of an opposing robot to turn them, and sometimes you have to get your robot between the opposing bot and where they want to go. Ramming isn't the goal, but when you play defense, high speed collisions are going to happen some of the time.
This team update essentially makes any team that is able to execute a defensive strategy the target of massive penalties. If you are playing defense effectively, you're going to have some high speed collisions. And I highly suspect that this is only going to be called against teams playing effective defense, whether or not there are other teams hitting harder.
We're revamping our robot for SVR, and plan to put up points in teleop instead of being stuck preventing other people from getting them. Perhaps my opinion will change then. But I feel like this update too broadly penalizes teams for playing defense.
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The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.
-Plutarch
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