GDC you have failed us.

[Jeff K.]

You can look at it however unleveled you want. A team has the capacity to use such and such over teams that don't have that capacity, etc etc etc. There is no way to truly make the playing field level unless they give you specific amounts of materials, and make you have to use those exact materials. Then everyone would complain about the GDC restricting us too much, which I believe happens to be another thread topic...

You can complain as much as you want, you may get a few game updates here and there, but all your complaining is wasting time you could spend designing or figuring out a way of solving the problem.

The thing about veteran teams having more knowledge. Many veteran teams are willing to share their past designs with other teams to help out rookies. If this is a reason for why teams don't perform well, how does this explain "the amazing phenomenon" of rookie teams outperforming veteran teams?

[waialua359]

I am not so sure the issue is about leveling the playing field, which is what this thread is about so far.
If anything, with a new control system and tougher constraints, the gap will widen with a few elite teams. I'd bet, this will be evident at CMP.

[synth3tk]

Just because a rookie team is a rookie to FRC, doesn't mean they may not know what to do. As stated by Billfred, a good amount of first-year teams have done very well.

A sigh of relief went through the room as we heard that these KOP wheels were mandatory. Everybody knows that this will "level the playing field", even if not completely.

In my honest opinion, a few of the previous games weren't really all that "difficult" to everybody. Sure, some teams had the time, resources, or creativity to do very well in the competition. But just because you were in the program since 1998 (I know it started in '92) doesn't mean that you're automatically a powerhouse team.

I agree with whomever stated that this time would be better spent developing a solution instead of complaining about the problem.

[waialua359]

Its 1992.

[synth3tk]

lol, That's besides my point, but thanks for the fact.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Its 1992.

Well then about 10 teams are at an advantage. ;P