Different approach from a rookie player

[RichardJames]

There is definitely merit in this sort of strategy - effective blocking is always a skill which can change the outcome of a match. Some robots are designed to be the "blocker" bot on a team, the problem is that if two or even three robots oriented towards blocking end up on a team together, you`re in a bad situation. Don`t forget that seeding rank is determined first by number of wins, losses, and ties, and then is further sorted by the number of qualifying points your team has received (aka the average of the losing team`s points scored in all of your seeding matches). Thus, even if a team wins by mostly blocking, they will be usually seeded below a team that wins by mostly scoring.

Anyhow, I think it`s more exciting to score and really play the game then to rely on a winning strategy. In the past my team has always opted for the most fun bot design over the most likely to win design.

[theycallhimtom]

Well the score of the losing team only matters if two teams are tied in terms of wins and losses. So low scoring only hurts you in terms of a tiebreaker.

For the strategy I might use it if there is a really dominant scorer on my team I want to protect but other than that I probably would not bother.

[meatmanek]

Originally Posted by RichardJames

Anyhow, I think it`s more exciting to score and really play the game then to rely on a winning strategy. In the past my team has always opted for the most fun bot design over the most likely to win design.

You know, that sounds like a really good idea.

Anyway, be careful that you don't ram the other robots when you're dashing across the field to get in their way. Maybe ultrasonic rangefinders, etc could be useful.

Actual quote from 2005:
"Ramming in autonomous? That's not even a rule, is it?"
After one of the programmers forgot to take out his test autonomous code,
if (time < 3 seconds) { FULL SPEED AHEAD! }

Yes, 868 programs in English.

[Ian Curtis]

Last year's rulebook doesn't differentiate between teleoperated blocking and autonomous blocking. At the driver's meeting in Atlanta we were told that high speed long distance ramming in autonomous would not be penalized unless it occurred within a starting box, as that was the only way they could objectively judge intent. At our regional (BAE) ramming was not called in autonomous. I'm sure this will be clarified in the Q&A.

To the thread starter, I would suggest going back and looking at some of the discussions on this forum that occured last year regarding autonomous. Essentially, blocking last year in autonomous was a very viable strategy, as there was a wide open field. In Atlanta with the Championship title on the line the alliance led by 25 (one of the most talked about robots), decided to go completely defensive and keep the alliance led by 296 from scoring. Unfortuneatly those pesky CMUcams did their jobs, and 296 and company still scored.

Also, autonomous scoring may be difficult this year, or it may be easy, we simply don't know yet. If it is relatively easy, a high seed will most likely be searching for a more defensive robot for his/her second pick. Reason being the serpentine draft tends to get rid of the most effective scorers before the they get to pick again. So a decent scorer with above averasge defensive abilitilites may be a decent bet at getting picked during the second round. We'll see come March...