Week 1 Observations

[angelah]

We competed at Southfield.

Things we thought would be a big deal but weren't:

• Picking up upside down totes (few people cleared the landfill that far)
• Driving over noodles
• Getting containers off the step in auto
• Tipping robots (a few did, but not as many as we expected)
• Totes falling on people or robots

Things that we didn't foresee:

• Noodles on steps cluttering up spots to stack (we lost a stack of points built by an alliance partner because of a noodle partially under it)
• Noodle throwing points making such a difference (I don't like this, but that's another conversation)
  The low scores

Things that were as expected:

• Totes landed on their ends (unless you used the drag-at-the-end method)
• The field is crowded (we built a smaller robot than most)
• Maneuverability would be critical, speed would not be
• Picking up containers laying on their sides would be necessary

Other general notes:

• We toppled a stack of yellows onto the other side in our second match. Granted, it was because of field communication issues, but still, we didn't get a penalty for it.
• There were two ways to go in an alliance... 2014-style where everyone took a role, or a more individual-style where you divided up the field and each did your thing. We played both ways depending on the match, but ended up building an alliance to work as a team in playoffs, which went well.

Overall, I like this game. I very much dislike the new system for playoffs.