Lessons Learned - The Negative

[Dale]

This is the first game I can recall where robots are scoring on other robots. Normally the robots are all working with a neutral game piece and scoring with it on some disinterested structure. By scoring on other robots, the team you just scored on gets hit with the double whammy of you scoring points and doing it at their expense in an in-your-face way.

I saw many matches where a powerful alliance had obviously decided in advance which robot they thought was the weakest of the opposing alliance and then proceeded to take turns filling their trailer to capacity. I over heard one strategy session where they called this a gang bang! Yikes!

I would suggest in an environment where we are looking to increase the self confidence of weaker teams, and have them leave the competition feeling good about themselves, that game structure is counter to what we're trying to accomplish.

We're all used to having some alliances with a weak member and that's fine. Often the stronger robots can make up for that member. Lunacy put too much pressure on weaker teams. That, plus the boring traffic jams, is why it's my least favorite of the last six FRC games I've watched.