New Off-season Defenses

[TheMagicPenguin]

Originally Posted by CalTran

Since it's off season though, I don't feel quite as shafted that they're not distributing the Port. It's large, difficult to see around when reffing (Particularly when it's in position 2 or 3), and there seems to be a few "major" injuries related to it (Or at least, more injuries than I've heard about from past seasons field reset), and teams have already had a chance to use whatever mechanisms that were purpose built.

I see your points and your certainty not wrong, but I still believe it's not enough of a reason to get rid of it.

Originally Posted by CalTran

And on the plus side, if you take off your Port manipulator, you might now have enough weight to cheesecake a climber on!

I would normally agree with this however we already have a hanger and a pound or two to spare. Another good point though.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by TheMagicPenguin

I see your points and your certainty not wrong, but I still believe it's not enough of a reason to get rid of it.

There were multiple instances of multiple fingers broken because of the portcullis. That right there is absolutely enough reason to send it to the off-season events.

Had it been sent I would still be considering not running it at the Rumble in the Roads. The last thing I want is one of my volunteers to get a major injury.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

There were multiple instances of multiple fingers broken because of the portcullis. That right there is absolutely enough reason to send it to the off-season events.

Had it been sent I would still be considering not running it at the Rumble in the Roads. The last thing I want is one of my volunteers to get a major injury.

yea matt but what about the love of the game bro

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

yea matt but what about the love of the game bro

[Crew Cox]

Anyone got an old treadmill belt and some spare 775s?
Really easy to cross one way not so much the other.

[RoboMom]

One of these. Check the PODS. They might be stored there. There was no room on the truck heading back to FIRST.

[Gravity]

We should have a defense that's just a bunch of boulders glued together. I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder.

[JG1902]

Revolving door?

[teku14]

The bumps from Breakaway

[kyle_hamblett]

Originally Posted by teku14

The bumps from Breakaway

Actually... That sounds like it could be lots of fun - It fits the same general idea of "crossing defenses" as well as being somewhat easy to replicate.

[jijiglobe]

My favorite idea is some variant of the cheval de frise. Most teams that can cross the portcullis can cross the cheval de frise, and, if not, they probably never got the portcullis picked against them anyway.

I'm tempted to say that we should just not have a portcullis, seeing as how it was rarely picked at champs. The only time I can remember seeing a portcullis was Einstien QF3M3, but that only happened because both alliances forgot to put in defense selections. (in our defense, Einstein is weird, and the timing is different from other fields)

Anyway, a defense that's like cheval but backwards, or all the quarters are attached together so that they move in unison seems like the best solution to me. Keep in mind that, if any new defenses are added, teams will not be able to test/write autonomous routines for them, so it's really only fair if it's basically identical to a portcullis, or a cheval.

[bobbysq]

In theory, if a team had a sponsor capable of making high precision metal parts, a bunch of spare polycarb, and the springs, they could offer to build a competition spec portcullis if it won't be present at an event.

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by jijiglobe

My favorite idea is some variant of the cheval de frise. Most teams that can cross the portcullis can cross the cheval de frise, and, if not, they probably never got the portcullis picked against them anyway.

I'm tempted to say that we should just not have a portcullis, seeing as how it was rarely picked at champs. The only time I can remember seeing a portcullis was Einstien QF3M3, but that only happened because both alliances forgot to put in defense selections. (in our defense, Einstein is weird, and the timing is different from other fields)

Anyway, a defense that's like cheval but backwards, or all the quarters are attached together so that they move in unison seems like the best solution to me. Keep in mind that, if any new defenses are added, teams will not be able to test/write autonomous routines for them, so it's really only fair if it's basically identical to a portcullis, or a cheval.

A cheval de frise that is connected together and moves in unison probably would work best. It could be angled down towards the courtyard so you have to use a cheval routine to cross from the neutral zone to the courtyard, but crossing the other way doesn't require any extra work.