Is the Boiler worth it?

[jtrv]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

The fastest way to get the boiler up will be to dump 50 balls into your robot from a hopper and stream them into the high efficiency goal during auto. Not easy, but fast. I think some teams will do this; i.e., the teams that go to Einstein.

I think that far more teams will be able to do this than the Einstein teams. I truly believe that 3-10 teams per regional will be able to do this. Maybe not in week 1 or 2, but by champs, I believe it will be common.

In regards to whether or not the boiler is worth it: Yes, in the right situation. Say your alliance has time to score 10 gears. So you score 10 gears, then climb. You've gotten 3 rotors spinning with 0 fuel. But you had 3 rotors spinning at 7 gears - you've completely wasted time scoring 3 gears because those 3 give you a grand total of zero points. Whereas if the opponent alliance had the same gear scoring speed, but stopped at 7 and scored fuel for the remainder of the match, then climbed, that alliance is victorious. And also maybe got an extra RP.

I can't speak for whether or not the boiler is "worth it" in eliminations. But the boiler is an incredibly easy way to get a RP during quals, especially with a strong autonomous.