Nerf Co-op and Litter

[MrJohnston]

* Coopertition: I like it. I like it a lot. It adds a dynamic in the preliminary rounds that is *almost* required in order to make it into the eliminations - at least as a captain. We specifically chose to address this in our designs from day one, spent a lot of time on it and how have now problem doing 75% of the work for a coopertition stack. To eliminate such an integral part of the game at this point in time would be... very unfair to teams who chose to dedicate time and energy to accomplishing this.

* Noodle Points: I do think they are a little too heavily weighed as a part of the game and, though I was pleased that they made a change to address the infamous "Noodle Agreement," the adding of the tape significantly altered the way they fly through the air and further increased their utility - both for scoring points and for potential "defense." I would rather that "unprocessed litter" be worth 3 points and sticking them into a stacked RC be worth 8... Perhaps even letting the noodle points count if the RC is on a scoring platform, but not stacked. (i.e. score the noodle, but not the RC). But, hey, I know that everybody has a different opinion and that I don't get to decide on rules. We'll enjoy playing the game as is...

* As for your statement that "weaker alliances were scoring the most points," it sounds to me like the "top" teams needed to scout better. Yes, coopertition skews the standings in terms of being a predictor for elimination success, but good scouting can see right through that.

* Can low-resource teams compete? Yes - if they have some engineering expertise. This *is* an engineering challenge so to ask for a game where strong engineering skills are not required is, well, self-defeating.

Tasks that can be done with little more than a kitbot: Sweep pool noodles into landfill; push totes onto scoring platform (not stacked);

Task that can be done easily by adding something to the kitbot:
Stacking totes; stacking RC's on short stacks of totes; sticking pool noodles into RC's at HP station; Snatching RC's from center during auto; pushing multiple RC's and totes into autozone during autonomous.

Yes, money and access to a machine shop can make a huge difference and reaching Einstein without such access is very, very difficult. However, you can compete very well at the district and regional level with very little money, mediocre tools and some ingenuity.