New Off-season Defenses

[Bryan Herbst]

I wouldn't put nothing in the base- the holes in the platform for the defenses' wheels would be problematic for robot wheels.

A flat defense that you put in the slot with the mentioned rule change would certainly be interesting.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Tanis

I wouldn't put nothing in the base- the holes in the platform for the defenses' wheels would be problematic for robot wheels.

A flat defense that you put in the slot with the mentioned rule change would certainly be interesting.

"Why would they select to put nothing in the defense position? What is the other alliance playing at?? "

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu, Art of War

The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by waterwaterwater

Ok, I know we were talking about the portcullis, but I have an idea to replace the drawbridge visibility issues. For both the sallyport and drawbridge, replace the wooden part with clear lexan, but insert a low bar sized cutout (with a few inches on each side) that robots can drive through. In order to make it more difficult than the traditional lowbar, doing the portcullis/sallyport the "proper way" (ie. without just driving through the cutout) earns one more defense crossing than it would normally (ie. proper earns both for the breach or 2 of the 3 if one more crossing is added to the rules).

Somebody pulls that, we'll have too big of an advantage. Fully damaged drawbridge/sally port in auto or something like that. Rewards very few of the teams for putting in a lot of hard work, penalizes the rest of 'em.

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by waterwaterwater

Or the new pseudo low bar crossing adds one to your tower score.

You mean that they cross it like they would cross a drawbridge, right?

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by waterwaterwater

Spoiler for Full Summary of Idea:

The sally port and drawbridge will both have a slot cut out of them at the bottom, 14" high and with a few inches on each side. A team that crosses them without using these cutouts will receive one of the following (depending on which one the event organizer feels is the most balanced);

1. An extra defense crossing.
2. An extra (5?) number of points for their crossing.

Another option instead of rewarding the proper way is to penalize the new way by;

1. Making the crossing worth no points AND/OR;
2. Adding one to your tower strength.

That's answers my question. I just wanted to know if the defense being crossed like a drawbridge or a sally port (I didn't realize initially that the sally port was included) caused the special points/tower increase/etc. to occur. Thanks.

[TheNerdJedi]

How about a simple ramp to jump over?

EDIT: Was already mentioned by Kevin!

[MARS_James]

If anyone from Florida(or any other area) is reading this and won't be making a fun unique defense to replace the Portcullis please don't just make it Cheval always as that leaves teams with only 2 defenses to pick for 3/4 of their matches (Lowbar, Cheval, Audience, and then what ever two are left) instead allow them to pick the Cheval or the other member of Category B or D they did not pick. It would make it so Field reset and defense coordinator has more work (Basically the defense coordinator selects the portcullis then has to write B or D under it to signal which other defense goes there, and field reset has to remember which two defenses belong in B and D) but at least teams will still have control of 3/5 of the defenses like we were told in the rules.

Now things that i think would be interesting for teams to decide to do:

• The Cliff (cheval stuck in the down.)
• A Breakaway Style (in shape not size) barrier: link for the young people
• A Chute Door
• Weighted High Bar (Create a tall low bar but attach pipes to the bottoms of the flaps like what were on the original low bar)

basically I want to keep the integrity of the portcullis in tact, since many tall bots were able to go through it in both teleop and auto and I don't want to further penalize them for their design decision. (Turning a 1/9 defenses impossible to cross to a 2/9 is not fair to them)

[hectorcastillo]

How about a stack of six totes with a can and a noodle on top sitting on a defense platform???

[Hitchhiker 42]

Originally Posted by hectorcastillo

How about a stack of six totes with a can and a noodle on top sitting on a defense platform???

Oh man, 2003 all over again.

[pmangels17]

What about just continuing the slope of the platform to create what would have a triangular cross section. Satisfies the Breakaway Brigade who want a giant hump/ramp, and also satisfies the Cliff Contingent who wants a ramp that robots can Dukes of Hazard over with incredible air, but with the added effect that you can cross it both ways. It should be dead simple to built too. FOr added fun, add rollers onto the ramp sides embedded into the ramp such that the only way to cross is to go really fast and fly so high you crash into the castle before you hit the ground.

[hectorcastillo]

Originally Posted by pmangels17

FOr added fun, add rollers onto the ramp sides embedded into the ramp such that the only way to cross is to go really fast and fly so high you crash into the castle before you hit the ground.

Rule change: Robots must now score themselves into the high goals at the end of a match in order to achieve a capture.

[ctt956]

1. Pit similar to the moat but maybe a bit deeper filled with corn, water, boiling tar, red or blue alliance flavored dessert related substance, mangoes, or mango flavored desert related substance
2. Pool noodles; could be arranged in a lot of creative ways or another spongy material that robots would sink into. Very high pile carpet might also work.
3. Bridge of Death
4. Spike Trap
5. Lunacy Regolith or another slippery surface; put it on a ramp for more fun
6. A spring-loaded or pneumatic ejector platform that launches robots in a random direction
7. Actual chili fries, or fries to be shoveled(Though I'm sure all robots like their fries unsalted, so be sure to leave out the salt)
8. A RUNNING bench grinder
9. Something like the rough terrain, but with the bumps on springs so they move up and down
10. A trapdoor that robots fall through

[Roger]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Was this from HQ, Andymark, or someone else? I'm just wondering what off-seasons won't have the portcullis.

Portcullis suddenly discovered to have ouchies.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by ctt956

Very high pile carpet might also work.

I was thinking pink shag carpet and beaded curtains.

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by ctt956

1. Pit similar to the moat but maybe a bit deeper filled with corn...

1992!