Throwing Noodles, is it Worth it?

[Koko Ed]

Saw an interesting side effect of throwing noodles as a defensive mechanism to neutralize good robots as a tossed pool noodle got trapped in 987's robot and they couldn't put down a stack at all.
Obviously it's a long shot as a strategy but at least it's something.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...0050ae5cc17376

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

In the Finals instead of having someone focused on trying to get those points you could have them doing the math on what array of stacks you need to beat the opposing side. In qualifications you just want the points though. You have two ports for feeder station, and three human players. Might as well have that third player doing something that actively contributes. An extra spotter for a task that involves precision at distances is always helpful.

I thought this was the coach's role. That said, if using one of the HPs as a coach or scorekeeper works better for your alliance, I see nothing in the rules to prevent this. It appears that HPs and Drivers are permitted the same sets of actions. Coaches are more restricted.

FWIW, I expect that finals-quality alliances will need three working HPs to get those 40 game pieces out from behind the alliance wall to where they can be scored.

[MaGiC_PiKaChU]

Originally Posted by the duderoni

There's nothing in the rules about HPs accidentally throwing outside of the field.

I will go read the rules about this... maybe you're right

Our human player is pretty good but sometimes litter goes right or left if it's damaged... otherwise he can shoot it on the opposite alliance's wall

[Bochek]

After watching a few of the first qualifying matches of 2015 I find throwing way too risky.

I just watched a match where a teams own litter prevented them from scoring.

[the duderoni]

A bit of an update:

I was able to watch some of Week 1 in South Florida (it's the only one that I checked which is streamed on Youtube, which is the only one I can access at school) today. It seems that only 20% or so of the noodles actually make it the proper distance there. I did see one or two HPs who made almost every single noodle, which was nice. I can guarantee you that over the next few weeks the method of throwing will change quite a bit.

[philso]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Another good rule, especially if #2 doesn't apply to you. Risk management - don't put 40 still-likely points at unnecessary risk chasing 12-28 (assuming you're noodlling 3 to 7 RCs).

While watching the Dallas LiveStream, I saw someone throw a noodle that landed near a robot from the other side that was approaching the step with a stack of yellow totes. I guess the Human Player didn't STUDY the rules and their implications.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by philso

While watching the Dallas LiveStream, I saw someone throw a noodle that landed near a robot from the other side that was approaching the step with a stack of yellow totes. I guess the Human Player didn't STUDY the rules and their implications.

I'm sure most of the people reading CD have at least studied the scoring rules well enough to have waited a few seconds!

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by philso

While watching the Dallas LiveStream, I saw someone throw a noodle that landed near a robot from the other side that was approaching the step with a stack of yellow totes. I guess the Human Player didn't STUDY the rules and their implications.

I don't think alot of teams train their human players at all and just let them do what they please. So to feel useful they just toss the pool noodles across the field.

[cglrcng]

One other week 1 observation...Way too many penalties called for throwing Litter in the last 20 seconds of matches, negating many hard won points already scored...(when that 20 seconds left in the match horn sounds), Coaches will need to notify HP's (and pre-notify and remind all 3 HP's), HP's on your Alliance....To simply stop throwing the litter onto the field!

[electroken]

In our 2nd finals match the opposing alliance scored 44 litter points and won that match. Fortunately for us, Cy Young wasn't around for the 3rd finals match.

An anomaly? Maybe, but that kid could throw.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by electroken

In our 2nd finals match the opposing alliance scored 44 litter points and won that match. Fortunately for us, Cy Young wasn't around for the 3rd finals match.

An anomaly? Maybe, but that kid could throw.

I think the GDC did a good job with the point values this year.

[donnie99]

Originally Posted by electroken

In our 2nd finals match the opposing alliance scored 44 litter points and won that match. Fortunately for us, Cy Young wasn't around for the 3rd finals match.

An anomaly? Maybe, but that kid could throw.

Litter points being in both containers and the field! Don't forget that 558 was able to get litter into almost every single container that we got onto our side of the field! But throwing the rest of the litter all the way across proved to be the real game changer that match!

[Sanchberry]

I think whether or not you should throw litter depends entirely on the skill of your human player. At GSC, we averaged 23~ LP a game, and our final QA was ~52 iirc. We had more litter points than any other team there and finished seeded second. In Qualifying matches, we threw the litter usually with 60 seconds left. Our human player (aka noodle jesus) didn't have any problem getting 6+ noodles across to the other side in 40 seconds. In playoffs, we threw the noodles immediately because we knew that the noodles would get in the other alliance's way. In our second quarterfinal match, not only did our human player score all ten noodles by throwing them to the other side, giving us 40 points, he also inherently slowed the other side down, which gave us a huge advantage and allowed us to qualify for the semifinals.

After participating in a week 1 regional, I am convinced noodle throwing is a great strategy.

[Riverdance]

This is going to be an extremely unpopular opinion, but my captain has implemented a no-noodle policy that we as strategists are supposed to ask our alliance partners to respect if possible during match planning. He would like to avoid the possibility of the noodles getting stuck underneath the other alliance's robots' wheels and preventing them from functioning properly (as mentioned earlier) or getting stuck whilst driving (a side effect that we noticed at Suffield Shakedown), even to the effect that we gain four points per piece that they do not manage to corral into the landfill zone.

There's also the point that a lot of times the human player put in charge of noodle throwing can't throw it as far as they think they can, and it ends up hurting our alliance by cluttering up our side of the field and giving us more obstacles to maneuver around. Less of an issue for us with our sick H-Drive, but an issue nonetheless.

[KH987]

Originally Posted by KosmicKhaos

So, I've been watching some week one matches and it didn't take me long to realize that throwing noodles is a very viable game strategy. At first many teams (including I) thought the noodles were too flimsy to throw and wont go far, essentially rendering them useless unless you put them in a container, but now I'm seeing noodles actually fly clear to the other side. In many cases teams are scoring far more in noodle points than in anything else. I know my team was originally planing on to not even touch the noodles, but now I'm reconsidering seeing how many teams are scoring big on noodles. What do you guys think.

At the Dallas regionals, all three of our robots were disabled in our second semi-finals match. We still managed to score 28 points from just throwing Noddles, and for the time being this kept our average from dropping too low. Also, the noodles tend to get in the way of your opponents robots, forcing them to take alternate routes to score, getting caught in their wheels, as well as making them drop entire stacks. So noodles both give you points and essentially take away points from the opposing alliance.