week 1: Three Things I've Learned

[dtengineering]

This game is good, and I strongly disagree with the original poster's opinions, but just imagine how much better it would be with a slightly larger field.

As it is right now, killer autonomous/hybrid bots can be very effectively neutralized by having one robot move forward about four or five feet, blocking passage across the second line. With a longer field, there would be space for them to find their way around the blocking robot.

Likewise good offensive bots can be slowed down by very simple machines just getting in their way. With a larger field, the high flying drive trains would have more room to maneuver and would force everyone to build better robots in order to succeed.

I am not saying that defense is wrong, or bad... or not part of the game... we played some very effective autonomous defense in Portland. It's just that offense is much more fun to watch. Thankfully this game gets rid of a lot of the boring pushing matches that have slowed down previous games, but maybe an off-season event could try playing on a field ten feet wider and fifteen feet longer just to see how much more exciting it could be.

Jason

P.S. Yes, penalties play a role. Sometimes that happens in sports. It isn't a bad thing that teams that "play clean" get an advantage.

P.P.S. If you think 1114 is practically indefensible because of this year's game, obviously you didn't watch them much last year... or the year before that... or... wait a minute, maybe it is 1114 that is the factor here... not the game.