Scoring Predictions Anyone?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

Does that include IRI?

i believe that IRI will have a 250+ points score, and that we will se more then 3 200+ scores prior to the championship.

In my humble opinion, this is lunacy.

If there is a 200+ point match, I will buy yourself, and every team involved a case of Dew (or their favorite alternative soft drink).

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

i believe that IRI will have a 250+ points score, and that we will se more then 3 200+ scores prior to the championship.

There are going to be some amazing robots this year, and I'm prepared to have my mind blown. That being said, let's put together a spectacular hypothetical alliance and do the math. (It's all about the math, right?)

Take a fast lap bot like 148, and two beastly hurdlers. Let's say that they can manage to knock down both balls in hybrid and cross twelve lines (roughly a lap each... odds are that one will go farther, and another will get hung up on another robot). They start driver control with 64 points. Despite the field congestion, 148 clocks a lap every ten seconds, netting them 24 points. The other two bots score a remarkable eleven hurdles and crosses... and they finish with 198 points. This would require an unbelievable alignment of the cosmos just to score that many points. On top of that, as these bots are hurtling around the field, they'd better hope they don't rear-end somebody hurdling for the other alliance, or they're out another ten points.

In any case, much like last year, the record score will not be set at IRI or at the championship... it will be set in qualifying at the regional level, with a heavily stacked alliance against a group of absent or broken bots. 190+ is feasible, once. 200+? I'll eat my hat.

[Peter Matteson]

You will see at least one 0-0 tie after penalties are assesed at a week one regional.

At least one regional will be decided by a "questionable" penalty call.

The end of match placing bonus will important for teams that understand how to use it properly which will become more apparant as the season progresses.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

Why is defense hard?

Defense is hard to pull off without getting a penalty...period.

You cannot get in front of a team and slow down...thats impeding.
You cannot pin a team against the side of the field...thats impeding.
If a team is attempting to gather a ball and you cross a line completely, and then try to push them around and accidentally cross(edit*** touch) the line again...thats a wrong way.

I am not saying defense is not going to be around, because it always will be, but this game does not have that "get in the way" defense built in like usual games have done.

The scrimmage opened my eyes quite wide to how hard it is to pull off defense in this game. Honestly, teams that want to hurdle are going to eventually hurdle. I just think a better use of time will be to try and score for your own team. If you happen to cross paths with a team, give em a nudge, or knock their ball away, but keep on scoring or you are not going to win matches.

[JesseK]

If a team is attempting to gather a ball and you cross a line completely, and then try to push them around and accidentally touch the line again...thats a wrong way.

Fixed the wording. Small nuance penalties like this will be match-breakers.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Fixed the wording. Small nuance penalties like this will be match-breakers.

Thank you... yes they will be

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

Why is defense hard? in at least 75% of the field, opponents bots are fair game, and for the remaining 25% it only matters if they are about to hurdle. Which means you can hassle an opponent for at least 80-85% of the time. Just don't go backwards or hit them outside the bumper zone (unless its gripper gripper contact) and you're good.[...]

So long as the offensive team was smart enough with their bumper placement, that's not true at all. Moving laterally or slowing down in front of an approaching bot is impeding. Using virtually any field element to the defenders advantage is pinning/impeding. You can't force them into penalties by pushing them across lines. When you cross a line, you can't return to defend previous areas.
So long as they have acceptable bumper configurations to "Signal to Pass", best you can do it push them laterally while they move forward, try and turn the while they acquire the ball, or try and delay them for six seconds. Granted, six seconds is not a negligible amount of time (in fact, some top-tier lap bots clock their open-field laps to be approximately six seconds), it not likely to take away more than one hurdle from a hurdler, even if you're doing it every lap.
More effective defense would seem to be possible on the game pieces themselves, but their massive size and unwieldiness, your inability to possess opposing game-pieces, as well as the limited direction of play, makes it very difficult to keep them away from the opponent without incurring penalties...especially for a "box-on-wheels".

[prettycolors91]

I think much of the scoring outcomes will rely on how people end up playing the game. If we play the game as it was designed (almost no defense) then scores should be very high in the beginning, but as trends show, people tend to get very defensive and in this game defensive tends to = penalties. That being said, I'm sure there are going to be numerous inventive ways to be defensive on the field without breaking any rules, and those will probably develop in the last two weeks of competition.

I'm definetly interested to see the trends from week to week at the regionals as well as the outcomes at championships....its going to be a very strategic year...

[AdamHeard]

I'm surprised we haven't heard any arguing between Paul and Ken over two fingers and a thumb


I'm predicting, offense will reign supreme this year. The only effective defense happening will be 148 style from last year (An offensive robot spotting an opportunity to spend 2-3 seconds to interfere with the other team [knocking a ball perhaps] then going right back to scoring).

[Tottanka]

Originally Posted by jgannon

There are going to be some amazing robots this year, and I'm prepared to have my mind blown. That being said, let's put together a spectacular hypothetical alliance and do the math. (It's all about the math, right?)

Take a fast lap bot like 148, and two beastly hurdlers. Let's say that they can manage to knock down both balls in hybrid and cross twelve lines (roughly a lap each... odds are that one will go farther, and another will get hung up on another robot). They start driver control with 64 points. Despite the field congestion, 148 clocks a lap every ten seconds, netting them 24 points. The other two bots score a remarkable eleven hurdles and crosses... and they finish with 198 points. This would require an unbelievable alignment of the cosmos just to score that many points. On top of that, as these bots are hurtling around the field, they'd better hope they don't rear-end somebody hurdling for the other alliance, or they're out another ten points.

In any case, much like last year, the record score will not be set at IRI or at the championship... it will be set in qualifying at the regional level, with a heavily stacked alliance against a group of absent or broken bots. 190+ is feasible, once. 200+? I'll eat my hat.

Got your point, i've exagarted.
let's say 3 150+ scores and 1 190+. Seems more likely?

[Swampdude]

I'm not sure what you call lateral movement. If there's a lane open and the opponent could get around me but I stay between them and their ball, or pin the ball, or ride along side them and head them off at each attempt to a ball (all while leaving a lane open) thats not pinning or impeding. and seems simple in my mind, I haven't tried it yet, but... 1/2 of the grippers I've seen grab the ball on the sides (horizontally), which means if im on the front side of thier bot, but moving along with them they can't get the gripper out around the ball. All a driver needs to do is look ahead of the opponent their defending and go to the balls they're coming up on (again, as long as there's a lane open) I think picking up a ball while another bot is on it is going to be a real feat few bots can do.

[Guy Davidson]

Originally Posted by jgannon

In any case, much like last year, the record score will not be set at IRI or at the championship... it will be set in qualifying at the regional level, with a heavily stacked alliance against a group of absent or broken bots. 190+ is feasible, once. 200+? I'll eat my hat.

Agreed. I just really don't see anyone putting up a score of above 200. A score of above 100 will be extremely rare; 200+ just sounds impossible to me.

I also agree with the many posted who commented on defense. I think that particularly in early weeks, but also in the later regionals and the world championship, most defensive efforts will be met with penalties. This game is designed to combat most traditional defensive with heavy penalties. So while defensive efforts will prevent robots from achieving their full scoring potential, they will pay a heavy price in penalties.

[Spider-Man]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

I'm not sure what you call lateral movement. If there's a lane open and the opponent could get around me but I stay between them and their ball, or pin the ball, or ride along side them and head them off at each attempt to a ball (all while leaving a lane open) thats not pinning or impeding. and seems simple in my mind, I haven't tried it yet, but... 1/2 of the grippers I've seen grab the ball on the sides (horizontally), which means if im on the front side of thier bot, but moving along with them they can't get the gripper out around the ball. All a driver needs to do is look ahead of the opponent their defending and go to the balls they're coming up on (again, as long as there's a lane open) I think picking up a ball while another bot is on it is going to be a real feat few bots can do.

That's the right idea. I think one of the good defensive strategies out there would be for a robot resigned to knocking the opposing trackballs around, lapping when required by direction of traffic. At any point the defender could change to only lapping for more points. Also, it may be in the best interest of the defending robot to herd the opposing trackball around the track a number of times. Three laps herding = 8 points for the opposing alliance, but if that ball is not hurdled at all, which could have resulted in 24 points for three successful attempts, I say that's a workable strategy against a good hurdling robot. Of course the overall strategy is dependent on the full makeup of both alliances, so there maybe more or less crazy ideas put to work.

[IndySam]

I think many of you are seriously underestimating the amount of defense that will be allowed in this game.

A robot can impede you from getting to a ball it just cant impede you from getting around the track.

These balls are very bouncy and a few strategic hits can make them very hard to pick up. Also the angled walls can bring a nice twist to the game.

As far as huge scores go, I don't think it will happen as some imagine. A smart alliance is not going to run up the score on their opponents. This year an opposing alliance can score for their opponents. A team that gets a big lead will be well served in remembering the importance of the RP's

[TheNotoriousKid]

Originally Posted by hill

I predict that Midwest will be the most heated week 1 regional.

I did not mean to point you out at all by the way. But, I was just wondering why it seems as if no one has any faith in any other region of FIRST?