FIRST Game Survivor: Round 7

[Justin Montois]

Here's how it works. Each week we will "vote off" a past FIRST game until we have our "Survivor"

Voted off
Round 1: 2000- Co-Opertition FIRST
Round 2: 2001- Diabolical Dynamics
Round 3: 1995- Ramp n Roll
Round 4: 2007- Rack n' Roll
Round 5: 2003- Stack Attack
Round 6: 2005- Triple Play

If you are unsure about past games, you can read up on them on the links below:

http://firstwiki.net/index.php/Game

http://www.technokats.org/historyproject.php

[smurfgirl]

My favorite two games are gone already. ): I have a feeling 06 will be the last one around.

[Fe_Will]

As long as 2004 makes it to the end all will be right in the universe...

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by 340x4xLife

Here's how it works. Each week we will "vote off" a past FIRST game until we have our "Survivor"

Voted off
Round 1: 2000- Co-Opertition FIRST
Round 2: 2001- Diabolical Dynamics
Round 3: 1995- Ramp n Roll
Round 4: 2007- Rack n' Roll
Round 5: 2003- Stack Attack
Round 6: 2005- Triple Play

If you are unsure about past games, you can read up on them on the links below:

http://firstwiki.net/index.php/Game

http://www.technokats.org/historyproject.php

I'm getting server errors for all those links for 1997 on 45's site.

[Lil' Lavery]

The fact that 2005 and 2007 (and if things don't change, 2002) went before 2008 makes me very upset.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The fact that 2005 and 2007 (and if things don't change, 2002) went before 2008 makes me very upset.

People just don't know the best FRC games, Sean.

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The fact that 2005 and 2007 (and if things don't change, 2002) went before 2008 makes me very upset.

Well, since 2008 is the most recent retired game, most likely the greatest number of people here know it, and are less likely to vote it off. It's way easier for me to vote of a game played before I joined because I'm not as attached to it as I am a game I built a robot in and played for an entire season. However, I agree that 2005 and 2007 should not have gone as early as they did. Those are my two favorites out of the six games on this poll that I have extensive knowledge of.

[ATannahill]

I think that 2007 was the best, 2005 vs, 2008 is a toss up.

[martin417]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The fact that 2005 and 2007 (and if things don't change, 2002) went before 2008 makes me very upset.

I have to disagree. Maybe because it was my first FIRST year, I think Overdrive was great! No human player, very important autonomous, reasonable, non-convoluted rules (except maybe G22), and a fun, exciting game to watch.

This year, while not on the list, is fun to watch, but the human player has way too much influence on the outcome of what is supposed to be a robotics competition.

Edit: Possibly the reason I liked overdrive was the unique nature of our 'bot. This year's bot is probably more capable in the overall scheme of the game, but is similar to several other bots. Last year, 1771 built a bot that was not only one of the top teleop scorers in the country, but was also totally unique. Not one single team built a bot similar to it (yes, I know there were other bots with a vacuum manipulator, but none that could shoot). Anyway, that is probably why I am prejudiced.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by martin417

I have to disagree. Maybe because it was my first FIRST year, I think Overdrive was great! No human player, very important autonomous...

Human player was replaced by a Robo-Coach, which in almost everyone's eyes was a human player.
Autonomous in 2008?? No.
It was called Hybrid Period man, and that's when the Robo-Coaches did their thing!
Are you sure you played Overdrive?
Ya know... just sayin'.


Btw, I agree completely with Iron Will up above.

[Billfred]

I don't think that FIRST Overdrive is going to win. I do believe it was a superior game (taken as a whole experience) to Triple Play and Rack 'N Roll, but I just can't see it beating more-universally-loved games like FIRST Frenzy and Aim High.

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I don't think that FIRST Overdrive is going to win. I do believe it was a superior game (taken as a whole experience) to Triple Play and Rack 'N Roll, but I just can't see it beating more-universally-loved games like FIRST Frenzy and Aim High.

Actually, you're right... I can see Aim High winning. Almost everyone loves that game. Our 06 robot is my favorite... but for some reason, the game isn't.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The fact that 2005 and 2007 (and if things don't change, 2002) went before 2008 makes me very upset.

I (partially) disagree. 2002 was, in my opinion, boring. The gameplay was just too simplistic and repetitive. 2005 was really a coach's game - great for winning with strategy, but not the most exciting for the audience: "robot x puts a tetra on a goal; robot y puts a tetra on the centre goal; oh, wait, here comes robot z to put a tetra on their opponents goal!; and look robot x is putting another tetra on a different goal!"

I agree about 2007 though, it was better than 2008. More complex strategies, equally interesting to watch, all while still not being difficult to understand, at least at a basic level. (and no silly penalties for rotating 5 degrees too far and crossing the line)

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I agree about 2007 though, it was better than 2008. More complex strategies, equally interesting to watch, all while still not being difficult to understand, at least at a basic level. (and no silly penalties for rotating 5 degrees too far and crossing the line)

BaneBots transmissions. Mandatory shipping of batteries and controller boards, whether you were five minutes or five hours from your event. Lots of robots with nothing to do for three-quarters of the match--which means copious amounts of unenlightened pushing. (I'm not saying it's bad--we were one of those teams that year for the entire match--but it's not necessarily the most exciting thing to watch.) Tubes stuck on flagpoles. A slew of Q&As causing angst, relative to more recent years. (Naturally, I can't find the Interesting Q&As thread from that year at the moment.)

Gimme Overdrive any day of the week.

[Lil' Lavery]

Following up on my earlier comment and responses.

2005 was a lot of fun for a number of reasons. There wasn't a lot of variety in robots, which hurt it (started the trend of more and more robots looking and being the same). But most robots could score, even if they weren't good at it. And every scored tetra definitely mattered, a lot. A single well placed tetra could swing the final score of the match by as much as 43 points. It was easy to follow for the fans, and everyone in the audience could build a definite appreciation for the strategy involved. The penalties kinda sucked, but they were easy to avoid and most teams learned their lessons about them early on.

2007 had the most interesting and dynamic blend of offense and defense I think we've ever seen in a FIRST game. You needed strong defense in order to be a good offensive team. Unlike 2005, where you could cap over an existing tetra, you only had one shot to grab each spider leg. It made speed, strategy, and execution critical. I admit, at some of the lower levels of competition it could be boring (but that's true for almost any game), but when played right (see Galileo and IRI for example), it was incredible. The amount of interaction and strategy required for an alliance to excel was awesome.

2008 was one of the most boring games, imo. While I personally think G22 was easy to avoid and there was no reason for that many penalties, there were tons of them. They even flipped the outcome of matches on Einstein. There wasn't much variety in bots, and many matches were over even before they began with HUGE hybrid leads for one alliance. At the highest levels it was fast paced and somewhat interesting, but the strategy was minimal and most alliances played the game more or less the same way, and the matches that involved ball pinning were incredibly boring. By the end of the season most successful alliances simply used two hurdlers and a third bot capable of getting laps and annoying the crap out of the other team by moving their ball around.

Granted, I'm not saying 2005 or 2007 are the best games. I still think that honor belongs to 2004 (truly fun game with some of the most fun robots I've ever seen). But I like them a lot more than the glorified race that 2008 was (also note, I voted for 1998 this time. Any game where a placebo wins a match... ).