Value & Credibility of 4th robots on an Alliance

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by ASD20

As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the discussion. If the manual says the 4th bot is part of the alliance, then they are. I do think that right now the 4 bot alliance puts the 4th bot in an awkward spot of feeling unworthy and needing to justify why they deserve the win, but people do the same thing to the 3rd bot as well. I do think that something needs to change, whether it's just a culture shift or a change to the system, but overall I like the 4 bot alliance and the potential strategy opportunities. I wish that DCMPs would change to the 4 bot alliances as well.

Soon the manual will say that there are two championship events. That'll be "right", but is it right? The manual gets updates during the season. It isn't some infallible, unquestionable document.

Wasn't the decision to switch Champs to 4-bot alliances mostly a logistical one? During elims it's a lot easier to call up a backup bot that already has a mobile pit and to let other teams pack up immediately to make load-out easier. Not every alliance used a backup bot before the change, and I'm sure not all do now.

My team was a 4th bot (thanks 4334, 294, 2013!) that only touched the carpet once during elims (and shredded some gear teeth and could barely drive during our match). If our alliance went on to win the division or Einstein and that was our only in-match contribution I would have felt great about taking home some blue banners, but pretty embarrassed by our own on-field performance. We were definitely a member of the alliance, but we were there as a backup/defense bot, and the first 3 teams deserve basically all of the recognition for the matches the alliance won.