"New" 2nd Week Scheduling Algorithm

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

... Depending on whether you are a pessimist or an optimist you can look at it in one of two ways:

1) A veteran team always HAS to play with a rookie team.

2) A rookie team always GETS to play with a veteran team.

But either way, at no time does the algorithm allow two veteran teams on the same alliance during qualification rounds. This effectively stacks the deck in favor of the rookies and against the veterans. ...

Hasn't this been beat to death yet? OK, so low numbered teams don't get to play with each other in qualifying. So what?

Like almost everyone, I agreed that the "perpetual opponent" algorithm was flawed. But as long as you get a variety of opponents so you can show your stuff, the new "random" algorithm seems fair enough to me.

In St. Louis, 148 got one of the worst draws I can imagine: every other match had them against either 217 or 45. And how did they respond? Undefeated #1 seed. (Well, except for one surrogate match.)

And although 45 seeded near the bottom, they showed the scouts clear and convincing evidence of their capabilities, and were picked 2nd in the draft -- their alliance captain was rewarded for that pick with a regional win.