IRI - 2015 Rule Modification Ideas?

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

For Chezy Champs, we have discussed only scoring noodles that are inside of cans. No processed or unprocessed noodle points.

Changes like this are good because it does not require extra work if an event is using the FMS to run the event.

Would you allow the noodles to still be thrown or would this be a penalty? At a higher level I can imagine the incentive to throw noodles isn't coming from the points, but the disruption to the other alliance.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Jim Zondag

These are my suggestions to make this a better game overall:

1. Disallow Noodle Throwing.
2. Place 2 additional RCs on each side of the field, at the end of each scoring platform.
3. Eliminate the Co-op feature.
4. Retain the Autonomous bonuses, but allow yellow totes to be used as regular totes in stacks.
5. change orientation of inverted totes in landfill back to right side up.
6. change tote count for human players to at least 40 per alliance.
7. Eliminate some of the totes on center step and place 2 additional RCs on step.

These changes would remove nearly all of the capacity, debris, distraction, and chokehold constraints currently in the game, and this would change Recycle Rush into a more pure high level execution game. The alliance who can build the most and tallest stacks would win. It would be awesome to see how far we could go if the limitations were removed.

my $0.02

Good suggestions. Refs and field reset will love not having to care about counting noodles.

[Poseidon5817]

What if playoff teams were ranked by max score at each level rather than average score? Then an alliance that puts up a 250 and an unlucky 150 would move on before another that puts up two 170s, but is capped at that score.

[KPSch]

Please don't modify the tote chutes. A lot of teams have designs that depend on the current chute geometry and/or using the chute door to control tote speed as it enters the field.

Get rid of noodle throwing.

Do away with the yellow totes causing penalties when they fall. It discourages co-op stacking.

[JamesCH95]

Allow can-on-can stacking to count for points.

Allow more than one piece of litter per can.

Make litter in the landfill worth 5pts and litter on the floor worth 1pt. This would strongly discourage noodle throwing in addition to being representative of recycling - bad idea to litter, good idea to put litter in a landfill.

I like the idea of a-la-carte auto, with extra bonuses for getting multiple sets. Totes and cans? +5! Stack and cans? +10!

End-game bonus of touching the barrier, forcing teams to decide if they want to score more totes/RCs or get a few bonus points.

Expand eliminations to 3 matches per round, averaging the highest two. Permits some freedom in experimenting with different strategies without great fear of screwing up one match.

[LoweIQ]

I like the idea of giving extra cans to each alliance. I don't like changing the RC configuration on the step. This change would be pretty lame for teams who spent weeks of the season designing and optimizing can-burglar mechanisms.

+1 for yellow totes acting as grey totes in teleop, and restricting noodle-throwing shenanigans until the end game.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

Changes like this are good because it does not require extra work if an event is using the FMS to run the event.

Would you allow the noodles to still be thrown or would this be a penalty? At a higher level I can imagine the incentive to throw noodles isn't coming from the points, but the disruption to the other alliance.

Red/Blue colored alliance noodles on the opposite side of the field should count as a penalty. Otherwise I'm not sure how to make the distinction between throwing and placing over the wall without a ref watching.

[T^2]

Allow teams to throw recycling containers over the step. That way, they can potentially knock down the other alliance's stacks, but if they miss, the other alliance benefits by having another RC with which to score.

I hate this game.

[tindleroot]

With the introduction of Totebots (i've seen one from 868 and 3940), maybe each alliance can use one camouflaged totebot that they can place in the opponent's landfill secretly so that they can defend their opponents during the match.

[rick.oliver]

I am happy with the rules as they exist. The change I suggest that you consider concerns entering litter onto the field and the value of the litter.

Litter entered onto the field must remain in contact with the human player until it comes into contact with an RC, except during the final 20 seconds. Litter scored in RC as per current rules. Litter on the field worth 1 coop point for each alliance for litter contained within the two landfill zones.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by Jim Zondag

These are my suggestions to make this a better game overall:

1. Disallow Noodle Throwing.
2. Place 2 additional RCs on each side of the field, at the end of each scoring platform.
3. Eliminate the Co-op feature.
4. Retain the Autonomous bonuses, but allow yellow totes to be used as regular totes in stacks.
5. change orientation of inverted totes in landfill back to right side up.
6. change tote count for human players to at least 40 per alliance.
7. Eliminate some of the totes on center step and place 2 additional RCs on step.

These changes would remove nearly all of the capacity, debris, distraction, and chokehold constraints currently in the game, and this would change Recycle Rush into a more pure high level execution game. The alliance who can build the most and tallest stacks would win. It would be awesome to see how far we could go if the limitations were removed.

my $0.02

I agree with all of these except removing co-op. Some teams specifically designed features of their robot such that they were able to do co-op.

However, if co-op still exists, the penalty for accidentally pushing yellow totes over the step should be removed.

Otherwise this is the perfect set of Recycle Rush game rules in my opinion.

The other things to consider changing are tournament rules.

Personally, I'd love to see rankings done by median score to eliminate outliers and make rankings more representative.
I also think returning to a 2 out of 3 traditional style tournament would be better, or at least taking only the two highest scores from your semifinals to average.

[Nick Mercadante]

Allow robots such as our tee-shirt canon Shockwave to play and shoot hacky sacks to knock over cans.

Or just allow robots to shoot actual totes at opposing stacks. Would be much more interesting.

[JohnSchneider]

Allow noodles to be introduced into play during the entire match, but remove throwing them.

Like 2012 - just remove Co-Op altogether. Allow the yellow totes to function as grey totes.

[Travis Hoffman]

1. No Co-op.
2. Add ramps to the exposed center step.
3. 40 points for single king of the hill bot on top at match end.
4. Add a 8' high hanging bar there just for fun. Automatic king of the hill win for first to hang.
5. Still no bumpers.
6. No height limit while on field.
7. Acquire lots of popcorn and prepare it.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Bring Aerial Assault robots, play that.

Bring FLL robots, play that.

Bring Lunacy robots, play that.

The SrFLL robots we built this winter or the regular FLL ones?

This game is going to have capacity issues at championships, so you know it will be an issue at IRI. Allowing teams x amount more totes behind the wall (I would say 12) and y more cans for the alliance to place anywhere on their side of the field (maybe 2?). Killing litter would help this game a lot. I would say you disallow litter entirely (not even in cans) but it's the second worst game mechanic I have ever seen in FRC so drowning it in the bathtub feels like the right thing to do. Keep Co-Op but allow for 60 point co-ops and have them count as regular totes in elims. Pull out the landfill size and put those totes right side up like they should be.