Your game predictions - Car Nack Style

[ALIBI]

1: A Hybrid score of 28 points or more will actually be fairly common. Most teams will be able to move forward 30 feet (12pts), one team will be able to remove a trackball (8pts), at least two teams will be able to move forward, turn left and move forward again (8pts). A good hybrid bot, at least one per regional, will be able to cross two finish lines, a lane marker and remove at least one trackball (24 points).

2: Trackball control will either win for offense if you can control your own trackball or win for defense if you can keep your opponents trackball away from them.

3: Being able to place two trackballs at the end will make or break most matches. If defense can keep the trackballs away or descore a placed trackball, the defense will win.

4: Chipping away two points at a time doing laps while occasionally bumping your opponents trackball in a clockwise direction and occasionally bumping yours over your finish line will be valuable.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

1> The alliance that wins hybrid will win the match 85% of the time

2> One of the winners on Einstien will have a higher number than any previous winner on Einstien.

3> The best hurdlers will average just over 1 hurdle per match.

4> Trackballs on the overpass at the end of the match will be rare ... under 10% of the possible number.

5> The winning alliance on Einstien will have 1 excellent hurdler and 2 very good, very fast herders

6> At the regionals at least 20% of the teams will have robots that go too fast to control properly.

7> 50% of the matches will see at least 1 robot overturned.

[Joe_Widen]

My favorite thread every year!! My first time to actually post on it though.

-- More then 50 points a match for an alliance will be a HIGH score, maybe one or two of these each regional.
-- Most points scored in a match will be 75-80.
-- 8 seeded team will beat a 1 seeded team through strategy
-- If a robot can hurdle 3+ times in one match, they are amazing. Less then 5% of robots can do that consistently
-- A robot will tip every other match
-- Many teams wont beable to control their robots nad there will be a few cards

[vhcook]

At least once during the regular season, a robot will accidentally fire a trackball into the stands. The crowd will respond by using it as a beachball. The footage will appear in most highlight reels.

At least once during each regional, a robot will turn too early and recross its own finish line.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by vhcook

At least once during the regular season, a robot will accidentally fire a trackball into the stands. The crowd will respond by using it as a beachball. The footage will appear in most highlight reels.

At least once during each regional, a robot will turn too early and recross its own finish line.

In 2002 there was this trackball sized ball being gleefully (and strangely competitively) bounced around the stands during the closing ceremonies. One of our mentors snagged it and tried to run away with it and she got jumped by three kids from another team who took it away from her.

[JesseK]

--> No less than 25% of robot manipulators will be damaged beyond repair due to falling trackballs

--> There will be an average of 2 flags per match that need to be replaced due to trackball damage or the fact that the flag is taller than the bottom of the trackball on the overpass in hybrid mode

--> 40% of the bots that successfully knock off a ball in hybrid mode will have knocked off their opponents' ball instead of their own

--> The best drive train by the end of the championships will have been deemed any drive train that utilises a differential

--> There will be rampant IR interference at the championships as more teams learn how to better use their 4 hybrid commands

--> Placement of a trackball on the overpass at the end of a match this year is synonymous with ramping last year -- it's an end-game decision, not a goal

--> There will be an average of at least 20 matches per regional where no trackballs are knocked off of the goals for the entirety of hybrid mode, regardless of how many attempts are made

--> There will be an average of at least 1 match per regional where no trackball leaves the overpass for the entirety of the match due to launcher-only or racing-only style robots, either due to lack of design or damage to said would-be manipulators

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

One of the winners on Einstien will have a higher number than any previous winner on Einstien.

It is worth noting that this has happened every year since 2003.

Originally Posted by Ricksta121

Defense will be almost non-existant in the first week.

Quite the contrary... defense will be most prevalent in the first week, as teams discover that their manipulators don't work. This game will look a lot like 2005 in a lot of ways for many teams.

[Jonathan Norris]

I agree with slot of these predictions saying that it will be a very auto heavy game with low scoring. But I do believe that there will be hurdleres who can average 3-4 hurdles a game. But thse bots will give up the advantage of being able to place at the end, but then again there will be the beatty, simbotics, poofs, ect. That can place and hurdle like mad.

[Taylor]

1. At over half the regionals, there will be a rookie on the winning alliance.
2. "Racecar" style robots will commonly be top-seeded.
3. There will be a robot identical to one in the GDC animation
4. Collaborating teams, such as the Martians or Triplets, will be a force.
5. At least one Indiana team will be World Champion.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by ALIBI

1: A Hybrid score of 28 points or more will actually be fairly common. Most teams will be able to move forward 30 feet (12pts), one team will be able to remove a trackball (8pts), at least two teams will be able to move forward, turn left and move forward again (8pts). A good hybrid bot, at least one per regional, will be able to cross two finish lines, a lane marker and remove at least one trackball (24 points).

2: Trackball control will either win for offense if you can control your own trackball or win for defense if you can keep your opponents trackball away from them.

3: Being able to place two trackballs at the end will make or break most matches. If defense can keep the trackballs away or descore a placed trackball, the defense will win.

4: Chipping away two points at a time doing laps while occasionally bumping your opponents trackball in a clockwise direction and occasionally bumping yours over your finish line will be valuable.

1) I don't believe so. Going straight for 50 feet is hard! It took us nearly 3 years to get it down (granted, we didn't spend the whole time working on it). And the real problem won't be that BLUEABOT1 isn't able to do it on his own, it'll be that BLUEABOT2 and BLUEABOT3 will be gunning for it at the same time, and someone will get clipped, then they'll spin out, and trap the rest of their alliance behind them. Additionally, it will cost nearly all teams at least 5 seconds to stop, knock the ball down, and then start up again. Not to mention, it's probably worth your time (if you hurdle) to have hold of that ball from the start of tele-op.

3) Why not just hurdle it and ensure you get the points? If you place, you get 12 points that can be taken away, if you hurdle, you get 8 guaranteed points. While this builds up over two trackballs, will you get 2 good hurdlers together in a seeding match? I'd bet maybe twice a regional. So I see hurdling as more valuable unless you absolutely need those 4 points, and can't get them racing around the track in the time it takes you to position that ball.

[gurellia53]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

1)

3) Why not just hurdle it and ensure you get the points? If you place, you get 12 points that can be taken away, if you hurdle, you get 8 guaranteed points. While this builds up over two trackballs, will you get 2 good hurdlers together in a seeding match? I'd bet maybe twice a regional. So I see hurdling as more valuable unless you absolutely need those 4 points, and can't get them racing around the track in the time it takes you to position that ball.

I agree. Hurdling gets you 8 points plus 2 more if you cross the finish line. So taking the time to place a ball would only get you 2 more points.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by gurellia53

I agree. Hurdling gets you 8 points plus 2 more if you cross the finish line. So taking the time to place a ball would only get you 2 more points.

unless you are on your opponents side of the field with no chance of getting to your finish line.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by gurellia53

I agree. Hurdling gets you 8 points plus 2 more if you cross the finish line. So taking the time to place a ball would only get you 2 more points.

This is a completely design-dependant statement. There are those designs that easily could have 1 thing different happen in order to stop a hurdle and instead place a ball in the same amount of time it takes them to hurdle. The difference for those designs is still 4 points instead of 2. It might seem small, but percentage-wise it's still significant enough to design for and consider for your strategy.

[Swampdude]

• The flags w/ lap detectors will be broken, flying and unplugging pwms, and manual lap counts will be iffy
  
• getting clotheslined on the overpass will happen every other match - which means most bots on their backs will be right in front of the overpass. other teams will help you get clotheslined, even teammates
  
• bots will move in clumps and scrum for 1 ball while good scorers will break away from clumping
  
• launchers will be very successfull - but somebody will get hurt. There will be a launcher in 75% of winning alliances
  
• at least every 3rd seeding match, hybrid mode will have a 2 bot pileup 20' from the start line
  
• the I/R controls thing will cause many match delays
  
• bots won't be going more than 13'/s even if they could - too much going on

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

• bots won't be going more than 13'/s even if they could - too much going on

couldnt agree more here. Not enough of a "runway" to get up to speed and so much going on.