What will FRC 2016 Stronghold be remembered by?

[mrnoble]

This game was as close to being the perfect vehicle for the mission and vision of FIRST as I have seen, or think to be possible. Raise the floor, keep the ceiling high, keep the challenge fresh, engage the culture, etc. I honestly think that Will.i.am's little statement is an "engagement with the culture" and will be a tool for reaching more students. It was the perfect capstone to a great game. I look forward to sharing that little video with my students next fall and watching the interest increase. It also doesn't hurt that this year's robots will be super easy to use as recruiting tools, unlike last year's. In short, I'll remember Stronghold as my favorite game.

[dirtbikerxz]

Brutal on your bot.
Brutal on other bots.
Insane Defense.
Amazing and complex Game
Required mad driving skillz (depending on the bot).
Extremly fun to watch.
Was possible for "lower" teams to win stuff, unlike other games *cough* recycle rush *cough*

And yes...: This $@#$@#$@#$@# is mother$@#$@#$@#$@#in dope

[Oblarg]

I have no complaints about the game itself as far as how it played, apart from the goofy fan-selected defenses (why?). Sure, it was brutal on the robots - but that's an engineering challenge like any other, and perhaps it's one we ought to have more of (only recent game where this was at all a concern was 2014, and even then it was almost all bumper-bumper contact which is much easier to predict/nullify than how rough Stronghold was on drive trains). Good learning experience for the students. The game was fun and engaging and the parity was great.

I do have a bone to pick over the gargantuan task of mocking up the field. The mock-ups were not particularly great simulations of the actual field, for starters (the portcullis, in particular...), but that's par for the course. However, there were simply too many things teams had to build. We barely had room to store all of the wooden monstrosities we had to make, and I shudder to think how difficult it must have been for teams with fewer resources to make all that crap in addition to building a robot. This is a very real consideration with game design, and it's usually not a problem (the only other recent year I really had cause to complain about this was 2013 and that ridiculous pyramid).

[emeraldstorm]

Originally Posted by BenjiSG

Newton being stacked, having its 7th seed win, and then going out in quarters on Einstein. What a journey.

This. I could(n't) believe how many favorites were knocked out so early. Especially (610/973/319/2474), (1114/27/20), with Newton alliances (118/1519/3309/1519), (16/2614/4001), (67/5172/1477), and the obvious (254/1241/708/1731).

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

I do have a bone to pick over the gargantuan task of mocking up the field. The mock-ups were not particularly great simulations of the actual field, for starters (the portcullis, in particular...), but that's par for the course. However, there were simply too many things teams had to build. We barely had room to store all of the wooden monstrosities we had to make, and I shudder to think how difficult it must have been for teams with fewer resources to make all that crap in addition to building a robot. This is a very real consideration with game design, and it's usually not a problem (the only other recent year I really had cause to complain about this was 2013 and that ridiculous pyramid).

We personally didn't make the drawbridge, sally port, or the portcullis.. (we also didn't make the moat, but that was because it wasn't a challenge for our bot). Since we don't have the resources to have a full field, we didn't really view not having those resources as a problem. We simply just used the specs (the dimensions) and designed the mechanisms as accurate as possible, and tweaked it on the thursday at regionals.

I personally like having so many components, it really varies the game up. I really don't think the GDC should limit themselves in this area due to this reason.

[Adithya Balaji]

I know personally I will remember this year by this moment:


But on a serious note, the amount abuse that robots sustained from this year's contest was insane. By the end of our district champs we had hubs chipping, gears shearing, and belts slipping just to name a few. Only the most rugged robots survived this year's contest. We did have our fair share of fun ripping defenses out of their bases though

[Drakxii]

One of the best FRC games. A game that great for all tiers of play while being both complex and rough. Even though the game was tarnished by ties and red cards.

Side Note: This game would be a great frame work for another game. Would just need to change the defenses, game piece and tower configuration.

[coalhot]

For me, inconsistent reffing (across district, DCMP and champs), and the game being treated like battlebots...

Bring on 2017!

[Ginger Power]

I think when the dust settles and people are looking back on Stronghold from a distance it'll go down as one of the best FIRST games of all time. Red cards, fouls, mocking up defenses... I think most of those things will be forgotten by all but a few diehards (aka the people on this forum).

We can take some very important (and amazing) things away from Stronghold:

Some of the greatest matches in the history of FIRST. Whenever I'm selling the program to others I'm going to pull out the video of 330's otherworldly match. Fall down, don't give up, get back up and win. I feel so blessed to have seen that match in person. Greatest sporting moment I've ever seen especially considering where it led them.

Most teams have an incredible demo bot now. Big pneumatic wheels, a powerful shooter that fires a dodgeball... I don't know about other teams, but I know for a fact that 4607 will be playing dodgeball against our robot and practice robot. Plus those big pneumatic wheels are great for driving off road. We'll be driving our robot out onto the football field and in parades. Something we wouldn't do with 4" omni wheels. I'm excited for the marketing possibilities that this year's robots provide.

We all now have access to a soundbite that will undoubtedly make it loud. When Will.i.am said #tsimfd the people around me went absolutely insane. They weren't upset at the crude language. They were in absolute agreement. We all know what FIRST is. We all know how freaking incredible the program is. Will.i.am just went ahead and said what we all know to be true. I can't wait to show that clip to people.

Stronghold was one for the ages. It certainly brought energy back to FRC after that 2015 Game (whatever it was called) tried to suck the life out of it. I could see a Robozone-esque show on ESPN with highlights of Stronghold. I was sitting behind some older ladies who seemed to be outsiders to FIRST (no relation to teams + new to FIRST) and they were biting their knuckles and freaking out with the rest of us during those playoffs. There really isn't an audience that this game/program doesn't get to in some way. Very marketable game. Let's hope the GDC can keep up the great work.

[maxnz]

I will definitely remember the field faults. And 330's amazing semifinal match. That is one that will not be forgotten easily.

And how fun it was to watch our bot literally bounce over the defenses.

[Jopidia]

This game will be remembered as getting on that batter in the last 20 seconds. While it sounds simple enough, many teams would have won a match, but failed to get all of their teammates on the batter so they ended up losing. You could outplay the opponents the entire match and lose it all in the last second if your scaling mechaism disconnects or you get stuck on a broken game element (RIP Newton Alliance 3 semifinal 2). This was probably my least favorite part about this game. Also, excessive red card pulling. They clearly stated at the Drivers Meeting that the tip had to be intentional to be a penalty. They said something along the lines that if two robots go at each other and one tips over because they are top heavy, there is no penalty. But yet we saw it called time and time again.

[Koko Ed]

Stronghold will be remembered for being awesome!
and rather destructive....

[GKrotkov]

Originally Posted by Steve Compton

Unremarkable high scores in elims in light of relatively low to no defense.

This is a key point condensed a bunch. Many alliances made it too easy to pilfer out of thier secret passage, or committed to a triple cycler offense when it was neither needed for the capture nor beneficial in the light of the strength of the opposing alliance.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Stronghold will be remembered for being awesome!
and rather destructive....

This sums it up.^

And for the weirdest match result I can recall. Stressful on the group at the scoring table trying to get the call right*, and on the alliances who had to go out and play again after that.

And for TSIMFD.


------
* Whether they ultimately did will be debated, I suppose. My own view matches Jared's.

[Wayne TenBrink]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

... Raise the floor, keep the ceiling high, keep the challenge fresh, engage the culture, etc. I honestly think that Will.i.am's little statement is an "engagement with the culture" and will be a tool for reaching more students. It was the perfect capstone to a great game. I look forward to sharing that little video with my students next fall and watching the interest increase. ....

I won't be sharing that video with my students. Is FIRST changing the culture or is the culture changing FIRST? For the better??? I may be old school, but I found his remarks offensive.

Originally Posted by pipsqueaker

...played out of their goddamn minds. ...

I know people mean well, but I hope we can do better than this. Our choice of words is important.