Best Stragtey

[Tom Line]

I'm a little shocked by the current survey. It seems people still think shooters are "better" than the high speed dumpers. I can't say why, since I'm not aware of any shooter that's played so far that has been consistent from more than a foot or two away (dumping) except on very very limited occasions (read as luck).

I'm in no way biased - we made a shooter as well. However, unless the shooters in the field drastically improve, it seems that dumpers are currently the way to go, as long as they have sufficient ball capacity and a good floor pickup.

[Jared Russell]

In the absence of separate "shooter" and "dumper" poll options, I'm assuming that people from both camps are voting for the "robot shooter" option on the assumption that it covers both cases.

But yes, I agree - there is no question that short range, high volume scoring (call it what you may) has been the most effective design/strategy thus far this season.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I'm a little shocked by the current survey. It seems people still think shooters are "better" than the high speed dumpers. I can't say why, since I'm not aware of any shooter that's played so far that has been consistent from more than a foot or two away (dumping) except on very very limited occasions (read as luck).

Strategy wise, there's no difference between a "shooter" scoring at close range and a "dumper." Look at the success that 148 and 1771 are having today, both of which could be classified "shooters." I agree with the post above me, "short range, high volume" scoring is great, but it doesn't always matter the design of the robot.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Strategy wise, there's no difference between a "shooter" scoring at close range and a "dumper." Look at the success that 148 and 1771 are having today, both of which could be classified "shooters." I agree with the post above me, "short range, high volume" scoring is great, but it doesn't always matter the design of the robot.

Strategy wise, perhaps they are the same. Shooters can score at close range, but dumpers can outperform them in terms of ball volume and rate of fire, since a "shooter" is generally constrained by firing 1 ball at a time.

By that measure, I'm not sure why people would pick a shooter over a dumper. All data points to dumpers currently being the best choice.

[sdcantrell56]

You are basing your logic still on the terminology of "shooter" versus "dumper". From the beginning of the season, we designed our robot to be a short range "shooter" just calling it that to simplify terminology. We only shoot 1 ball at a time, but we shoot 5 balls/sec. There aren't many robots, either "shooter" or "dumper" that can expel as many balls as us in a given time. I can think of possibly 5. With us having a turret and the ability to adjust distance while maintaining the same rate of fire, we have more scoring opportunities than a non turreted short range system.

This whole debate of shooters vs. dumpers has gotten ridiculous. The winning robot will be a very high throughput robot that has a strong and reliable drive team and strong alliance selection and strategy. The method of delivering balls, either in a single line or 2 or 3 wide will not matter if the robot fulfills these requirements.

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Strategy wise, perhaps they are the same. Shooters can score at close range, but dumpers can outperform them in terms of ball volume and rate of fire, since a "shooter" is generally constrained by firing 1 ball at a time.

By that measure, I'm not sure why people would pick a shooter over a dumper. All data points to dumpers currently being the best choice.

[nahstobor]

win?

[MikePres]

This is our funny story:
Our mentor convinced us that games this year would be decided with "2.. maybe 3!" balls. Well... he was wrong, badly, as we all have seen games with even 100 points. Back to our story, we planned and built a dumper AND a shooter on our robot and also a conveyor. 2 weeks before shipping our mentor decided to go on vacation in New-Zealand and due to return in April.
The result of all this: A) A crappy dumper, B) a crappy shooter, C) the most useless conveyor you have ever seen, i doubt if it picks ANYTHING... as we finished it almost in the last second.
Regional in 3 days ^^.

AKA: We are SO dead ><".

[Johnny]

I believe that the best method of scoring has been to pin opponents robots near your side of the field/human player and effectively use it to your advantage. In this fashion, regardless of what you alliance partners can do, you can score with dumping robots, score with your human players, and/or prevent opponents from scoring on you and your opponent from scoring PERIOD. It's a proven method. The best robots haven't really been dominating in elimination matches because of less sophisicated robots getting together, strategizing, and using one such as this. You don't need to be the fastest robot on the field to pin an opponent and get their trailer filled up. I've seen it done time and time again.
Ask Ms.Daisy how effective this stratgey works, they beat RAWC(968)!

[ZakuAce]

We lost (and won) more of our matches by the super cell, so I think transporting empty cells is HUGE.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Strategy wise, perhaps they are the same. Shooters can score at close range, but dumpers can outperform them in terms of ball volume and rate of fire, since a "shooter" is generally constrained by firing 1 ball at a time.

By that measure, I'm not sure why people would pick a shooter over a dumper. All data points to dumpers currently being the best choice.

JVN had a good post about the problem in breaking robots down into "shooters" vs. "dumpers". There is a complete continuum of scoring mechanisms. Is 254 a shooter or dumper? 148?

If by definition a shooter scores one ball at a time, perhaps the motivation would be so that in the event of a "bad shot", only one ball gets wasted. When a dumper misses, boy does it miss. For example, Miss Daisy takes a few seconds to deliver all her balls, but if at any point the target gets away we can instantly stop the flow of moon rocks. So far that ability has paid off for us. And even though they haven't yet captured a banner this season, I'd take a robot like 25, 103, 217, or 1114 on my alliance over your average dumper any day.

[coldfusion1279]

103 is a dumper now

Taking a page out of 2753's book.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by coldfusion1279

103 is a dumper now

Taking a page out of 2753's book.

They are both a shooter AND dumper now from the looks of it...

[EricH]

What match is it? Are there any "unattended" trailers? Who are my partners? Opponents? What do they do?

[NoahTheBoa]

Our strategy depends completely on who is on our alliance and who we are playing against.