Is Stronghold the roughest game yet?

[Tom Line]

This is the roughest game since 2006 - the last year before bumpers were added.

Robot to robot contact cushioned by bumpers simply isn't that nasty. Negative acceleration over the distance of bumper compression involves less g-force than a robot slamming into an essentially unmovable steel barrier with a portion of their chassis. If you add in the violent landing that occurs - even coming off the chili fries - you have a game that would test any robot.

In addition, I have yet to see a robot to robot interaction foul called this year. In 2014, interaction inside the bumper zone was very frequently flagged. This year it is not flagged, and some tippy defensive robots have spent a good portion of their match time landing on top of other robots.

In 2006, it was possible to have a chassis to chassis interaction of two robots travelling full speed in opposite directions. Robot interaction fouls were rarely called. I would argue those collisions may have had greater forces involved than this year. However, they were rare compared to defensive crossings.