Has ramps been a key thing for sucess?

[astephen68]

i am wondering Has ramps been a key thing for success?

[Koko Ed]

I can't see how you can win without a ramp.

[astephen68]

1114 has won a lot of there ramps by just scoring at the waterloo regional. Getting 6 or 7 around usally makes sure of that too!!!!!!

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I can't see how you can win without a ramp.

The Chesapeake winning alliance scored a total of 0 bonus points. The UTC winning alliance would have won all their matches that they won without any ramp points. The Peachtree winning alliance was rack dominant. The New Jersey winning alliance typically shone when their opponents went back to ramp up, giving them free reign to rack up the rack points (pun intended). It's definitely possible, but I wouldn't advise it.

[Rich Ross]

Yes, but how did 1114 play the end of the elimination matches? Oh yeah, they used the ramp. GLR was won with ramps, and almost every great alliance we've seen has at least one robot that can lift at least one partner. Ramps are the key, especially in the eliminations.

[Daniel Brim]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I can't see how you can win without a ramp.

Extremely strong offense and very little offensive opposition. As long as the opposing alliance gets 2 on with the other getting 6 (assuming scoring on just one spider for simplicity's sake), ramps still makes it anyone's game. Once 7 and 8 starts getting in the mix, spoilers and ramps are still a potent combination to win, if applicable.

[astephen68]

Sometimes but 1114 many scores they only use their ramp if they know they will need the points which is rare because the teams playing defence on them couldn't catch up to them!!!!!!

[EmilioM]

Yes. Ramps played a large part in our success at SD. We were able to lift 18 robots in 10 qualifying matches and the times we didnt resulted (because FIRST disabled our alliance partners mid-game) in a loss...

However, with strategic and effective scoring in tandem with tenacious defense a solid 60-point lift can be rendered insignificant.

[Hairygutball]

The key is finding a ramp bot that isnt usless for the rest of the match. 548 lifted alot of bots and they still had a very effictive arm.

[themagic8ball]

Ramps work very effectively in low-scoring affairs. 537 won Wisconsin with a ramp bot (A very good one at that (King Tec)) but we attempted all out offense at Buckeye. It paid off in the first two matches (we won by 100 pts both times) but we ended up being defeated by a ramping alliance in semi's. It all depends how fast you can score on the rack.

[EmilioM]

Ya, we were able to place 2-3 ringers consistently over the course of the qualifying rounds and elimination matches, we would participate out in the field fo the first minute then return to the home zone to deploy our panels then activate the gas spings to lift the panels with about 5 seconds left.

In the elimination rounds, we realized that our aforementioned strategy was way too conservative and decided to return to the home zone with only about 30 seconds left; doing so we could place 3-4 ringers every time.

Still, as i said before, that startegy was still defeated by a very solid alliance of 330 696 and 835 (1216 too) - great job guys.

[Ericgehrken]

In qualifying at UTC about 8/10 matches in qualifying were won on the ramps.

[Tim Baird]

Originally Posted by Daniel Brim

Extremely strong offense and very little offensive opposition. As long as the opposing alliance gets 2 on with the other getting 6 (assuming scoring on just one spider for simplicity's sake), ramps still makes it anyone's game. Once 7 and 8 starts getting in the mix, spoilers and ramps are still a potent combination to win, if applicable.

I agree. I keep thinking that eventually this game will be like 2005 in Atlanta when nobody touched eachother in the finals. The game came down to who could score the fastest. If this happens this year, it'll come down to who can put up the most ringers first, and then it'll come down to spoiler control. The spoilers will turn into the black balls from 2000, extremely coveted and often held onto until the very last second (watch what we (126) did in fm3 at Nats, ugh). If this is the case, ramp climbing may be unimportant as last minute spoiler manipulation might prove to be key to success.

However, the opposite form of game play may come down to battling it out for 1:40 or so with all three robots trying to score and block eachother simultaneously, resulting in extremely low scores (rows of 2-3, for example). Send your rampbot back at 30 seconds, deploy, and park very quickly in the last few seconds. In this case, an alliance might win strictly on the basis of ramp-climbing.

I'm very anxious to get to Atlanta right now...

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I can't see how you can win without a ramp.

Too bad San Diego wasn't webcast. Finals matches 2 and 3 revealed one way. Ramps don't work too well if nobody is able to climb them...

[sanddrag]

In San Diego, both 330 and 696 had ramps/platforms but didn't need them, because the alliance was a scoring and defense powerhouse. Ramps/platforms can win it every time against an opposing alliance of do-nothing bots, but if the opposing alliance has a decent scorer with free reign over the rack, ramps only just aren't gonna have. They are good to have, they can win a lot of matches. They are great if the rack is scattered or if the opponents are going really hard on defense. But, you really need a good scorer or two, and a good defender to win. And from what I've seen, a lot of teams have trouble getting up ramps. Also, in the last 20 seconds that an alliance spends getting 12" high, the opposing alliance can be making huge points on the rack. If you have a row of 6, and can make it a row of 7, that is more points added than two robots at 12".

So, I guess the bottom line is there is a lot of ways this game can go. There is no clear-cut "this is what wins it every time." You just need an alliance with great robots, great teams, and great people, who like to play hard, in whatever way they can.