Where is the sweet spot?

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

Did you think the Einstein finals in 2013 would have 30 point climbing?

I expected some, but am not greatly surprised. In 2013, if the alliances at the top level had generally been able to score all 60-odd discs they had available to them in 150 seconds in their highest-scoring goals (also leaving few/none for the other alliance to sweep up), being able to climbing high as well would have been critical.

This year is a bit swapped around from 2013. I expect top teams, and quite a few medium-level teams, to get a tote stack or 3 RCs (or both) to the auto zone. Once you have a tote stack, you only need to spend a few more seconds on coopertition, provided that the center aisle to the step is clear. The RC is the highest-value game piece, and apart from the yellow totes, the scarcest. Further, its point value is directly proportional to its altitude. This means that getting RCs and scoring them high will be the most important things in teleop. Best scoring of noodles is next, finally followed by scoring any remaining totes (including the ones on the step). Uncapped totes do not need to be in such tall stacks, though you have to be careful not to run out of room on the scoring platforms before you run out of totes. As processing litter is only 1 point per piece for so few pieces, and usually requires a different mechanism, I would be surprised if many robots, including on Einstein, had noodle manipulators at all. I expect even fewer with noodle manipulators that aren't either serendipitous or about as complex as a plow blade.