The New Endgame

[AndrewPospeshil]

Personally I think the necessity of an endgame depends on the game itself. The "New" type of FRC game that more closely resembles a sport doesn't need an endgame. Matches could end in a very tense manner with last second scores for big points, putting them over the other alliance (or assuring their victory). Plus that's one less element to follow, one less mechanism to build, and a slightly more level playing field for rookies/vets. Games like UA kind of needed an endgame, otherwise they ended up being relatively stale and repetitive, even if hangs were generally only a few points. If we get more games like we saw this year, I would love for the elimination of an entirely new endgame like we saw with UA, and instead introduce a risk-oriented or strategy-oriented endgame, that didn't require any other game pieces or mechanisms, but smart plays and good strategy. One that was suggested in this thread was bonus points for balls scored in the last few seconds of a match. If the ball was scored, it could win the game for the alliance. If, however, they missed, the opponent may overtake the other alliance's score. This would lead to clutch plays and quick decision making, placing a little more power in the drivers' hands so that better robots wouldn't always win by default and rookie teams with skilled drivers/coaches would have more of a chance.