Was Aerial Assist Better than Ultimate Ascent?

[allen.mays]

Originally Posted by Vupa

However, the game is also flawed simply in the way that it restricts the potential of teams that aren't in-bounders, but are not technically capable enough to be a high-level truss shot or finisher..

I am not trying to be antagonistic, but essentially you are saying that a robot that is not very good at performing the tasks of the game should have more opportunity to prove itself?! It's kind of like saying I can't throw well, catch well, or hit well, but I deserve a tryout for the MLB.

In Ultimate Ascent, our fledgling team was sometimes told to "stay out of the way and we will win" by more experienced teams. A team - typically a well-resourced veteran team - could design a scoring machine and forget that anyone else was even on the field. For Aerial Assist, the emphasis on passing points forced top-level teams to find ways to incorporate lesser robots into the match. While this year we felt the frustration of having an overall well-designed concept that did not advance, I fully understand the reasons why. As with any competition, if you are not THE talent, then you better at least have something significant to contribute.

Overall, this year's game raised the floor without lowering the ceiling.