Car Nack Predicts 2010-1

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Kyle

On the topic of hanging, those that were around in 2004 remember how fast robots were able to climb the stairs and platforms and hang with just seconds left in a match. I remember robots that were able to hang and lift with seconds left in the matches on a consistent basis using very simple mechanisms. 8 points in the end game, I can see it happening, and I think the regional(s) that I will be able to attend I will see it with my own eyes.


Best of Luck

Back then, there were no bumper rules, no frame perimeter restrictions, and no size limits after the match started. Kickers, super size wheels, and other mechanisms to help teams climb the platform were common.

And a hang was worth 50 points, in matches where most scores were 80-200 points. And if you had a good alliance partner, they could either cap one of your own goals (potentially causing up to a 100+ point increase), uncap the opponents' goal (potentially causing up to a 100+ point swing in your favor), or hang themselves (50 points). There were all single actions, that could have a relatively large swing on the score, which made it easier to deal with one robot being "out of play" because they were on the bar.

Since this year's game is soccer, having a complete alliance to keep scoring is much more important. Having one alliance partner "out of play" (because they are hanging) makes it much more difficult for non-hanging alliance partners to do their job and continue to score soccer balls. Hanging may actually negatively affect the potential score your alliance could have scored if you have decent kicker robots and kept on just kicking soccer balls, especially if it takes 30-45 seconds to at least get one elevated and one suspended robot, never mind a second suspended robot for the 8-point hang.

At this point, I'm 99.9% sure the GDC will not change the point value of any scored object in the game. Entire robot designs and strategies were all coupled around a specific set of rules. Tweaking these points even slightly would completely destroy some strategies and open up new ones. This would basically waste an entire week of the build season for some teams, if they realized that new point values would make a completely different robot more advantageous. This would cause a massive uproar in the FRC community - "Rabble! Rabble! Rabble!" - which is the last thing FIRST wants right now.