Are we the only Hearder in this game?

[MegaSparks]

Herders and racers have their place in this game. If you can drive fast and maintain control you will be an asset to an alliance as there are only two balls of your color in the game. We had two fast racers in St Louis one was picking in the elimination rounds and the other was picked. Practice speed and maneuvering on Thursday push your comfort zone, but avoid penalties!

Good Luck!

[Ryan Dognaux]

Absolutely not. 1646 is a herder and can knock balls off the overpass as well. Why be just a race robot when you can be a race robot with ball control capabilities? That's our thinking as least, we'll see how things go at the Boilermaker Regional in week 3.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Absolutely not. 1646 is a herder and can knock balls off the overpass as well. Why be just a race robot when you can be a race robot with ball control capabilities? That's our thinking as least, we'll see how things go at the Boilermaker Regional in week 3.

That's exactly what we had in mind when we built Homer.

But I will guarantee we're the only herder that looks like a hippopotamus....

[JHSmentor]

Team 2374 from Oregon was a "herder" of sorts. We had arms to control the ball but found that they were in the way most of the time so we didn't use them. But, dislodging the ball was our specialty and was very valuable throughout the matches. We were picked for an aliance by 2046 for the elimination rounds and made it to the finals (as a rookie team). so, running laps, dislodging the ball, herding, and playing defense is a huge deal.

[XaulZan11]

I believe 2041, Midwest winner, was also a hearder. They had a clean ball pick-up method, and a great strategy in QF4-1 to bring the other ball around the track so 1114 had two ball to score with, leading to a high score.

[Goaliexam]

Team 1656 is a herder bot, with a method of knocking down the balls from the overpass. We'll be competing at Chesapeake this year.

[Lions for First]

team 2365 is a herder that can knock down trackballs we will be at AZ tomorrow

[seanl]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

I believe 2041, Midwest winner, was also a hearder. They had a clean ball pick-up method, and a great strategy in QF4-1 to bring the other ball around the track so 1114 had two ball to score with, leading to a high score.

wow that is relieving

[EricVicenti]

I think the problem with herding is that in many cases it is mathematically unwise to herd. If the ball is left on the overpass for the entire match, it gains 12 points, so to compensate for the 12 points that you likely loose by using the ball at all, you need to do 6+ herds.

This is of course operating under a number of assumptions. For one, it assumes the opposing alliance would not knock your ball down by the end of the match.

I remember one team during a practice match at SVR lost against nobody because they knocked down both of their color balls and made 2 laps. Because the 2 opposite color balls remained, they lost 24-4.

[David Noll]

Herders shouldn't focus on herding. Knock the ball down if you can and lap. The biggest thing though, and few people have been working on it, defense! Knock the other teams ball around, you see 'em going in for it, give them a love tap so they have to get moving. Even if you don't knock down show us you can lap and block, then you will get picked.

[DanDon]

Originally Posted by David Noll

Herders shouldn't focus on herding. Knock the ball down if you can and lap. The biggest thing though, and few people have been working on it, defense! Knock the other teams ball around, you see 'em going in for it, give them a love tap so they have to get moving. Even if you don't knock down show us you can lap and block, then you will get picked.

Tell that to Rage 173 . They've put up more points with "2 and 2's" (herd+lap) than some hurdlers I've seen.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by DanDon

Tell that to Rage 173 . They've put up more points with "2 and 2's" (herd+lap) than some hurdlers I've seen.

I have to second that. I just prescouted them and was very impressed. I didn't think a herder had much of a chance getting selected for eliminations before I watched some of their matches. A very good hybrid paired with good knock off and solid driving make them a very valuable partner in an alliance with 2 hurdlers (or any alliance for that matter).

[Elgin Clock]

There were a ton of Herders in NYC. More than any of the 3 other regionals I went to and saw this year.

Some teams just decide to take on the sure thing part of the game, than challenge themselves to go big.

It's all about what you want to do in the game. Nothing wrong with that.

[waialua359]

IMO,
herding the ball will have the same/similar impact as scoring 1 point balls in the corner goals of Aim High 2006, generally speaking.
Wont go into details but you get the drift. Lets remember that this is championships, where there will be a greater no. of offensive scoring robots than regionals in general, especially during the elimination matches.

Order of importance from what I've observed this season due to strategies, points awarded, and how many matches were won.
1. Hurdling
2. Hybrid
3. Placing balls
4. Laps
5. Knocking balls down. (ranked lower because you dont always have to do it).
6. Herding

[DarkFlame145]

We could hurdle and knock down the ball in hybrid, but we did mostly laps/herding with our flippers and hybrid mode.