Team update 16

[George A.]

I want to commend the GDC, because frankly they were going to upset people regardless of how they acted.


If they let things continue the way they had been going, we would have gone through 5 weeks of regionals, and the Championship with people outraged at the seeding system, and way the rankings were ending up. (The Bayou regional is a good testament to why they had to change it)

On the other hand, if they do change it (as they have) yes, the people playing in the week 1 regionals kind of got screwed, but they did the greatest good for the greatest number. This way at least the final 4 weeks of regionals can be played with how the game should be played.

Would it have been ideal to have this update before regionals? Yes, but in some of the scrimmages I saw, robots were struggling to move let alone score. So there was no way to really know how things would play out.

So let's give them credit, they saw an issue, made a tough decision as to whether to fix it or ride out the storm, and did what they felt was in the program's best interest. In my opinion, it should make the final weeks a bit more entertaining.

[cmh0114]

I'm also one of the people who saw no object with the 6v0 method. I wouldn't say that I liked it, but I was okay with it as a valid strategy.
Now, I don't have to worry about that! No more scoring on your opponent in order to get double seeding points, either. This will bring it so much closer to the wins/losses systems we've had in the past.
I can't wait to see how this turns out!

[Molten]

Week one is a great time to compete. First of all, it allows more creativity in playing the game because nobody has seen it played before or played it themselves. This means that there are no prior strategies that have been known to work, nobody has had extra time to perfect their robot, and that everything is equal. Think about last year, how many teams in week 5 converted to dumpers rather quickly at the competition? They didn't do this in week 1 because nobody knew at first dumpers would do better. In 2007, did people know how to defend around the rack very well at first? No, they learned it from studying matches and experience.

Also, to teams asking for an incentive to choose week 1...the above is that incentive. It's a pretty big one in my opinion. Sure week 1 has drawbacks, but it comes out about fair with the rest in most years.

[Swampdude]

MUCHO RESPECT GDC!!! BRAVO!!! That's how to demonstrate good practices. I think in addition to this perhaps next season 2010 week 1 teams could elect to get a break on registration fees perhaps. This changed my whole attitude about Florida. I was almost dreading it....

[Bill_B]

Any thoughts on the amount of the added seed points? Why +5 and not +6 or +10? Seems like some speed limit traffic signs I've seen, namely, can't shake the possibility of arbitrariness.

[Joe Johnson]

All good comments.

I like 2 things best.

#1, it shows a willingness to change things, even major things, mid stream if it is sufficiently important. Good for the GDC.

#2, it gives teams the moral leg to stand on to say, "the game is supposed to be played to win, even in the qualifying matches." Now we can say that the purpose is clear. The game is intended to be played to win.

I am very happy.

Joe J.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

This changed my whole attitude about Florida. I was almost dreading it....

This changed my whole attitude about the 2nd week, period. It's very difficult watching and wondering what's going to happen by 3rd week, 4th week, 5th week. We all do that anyway but, this year it was awful. I honestly broke out in hives on Saturday and I can't remember the last time I've broken out in hives. The concern for the teams/game was difficult to manage. From here on out, when discussions start about the 2010 FRC game, my first thought is going to be, hives.

Jane

[jamie_1930]

This is a blessing for which we thank the GDC and can finally say forget 6v0!

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

#2, it gives teams the moral leg to stand on to say, "the game is supposed to be played to win, even in the qualifying matches." Now we can say that the purpose is clear. The game is intended to be played to win.

I definitely agree. I also think this was already there, though.

7.1 OVERVIEW
Breakaway is a game played on the FIELD (illustrated in the figure below). Two ALLIANCES, one red and one blue, composed of three FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams each, compete in each MATCH. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent by shooting BALLS into a GOAL, climbing on the ALLIANCE TOWER or PLATFORM, or by lifting an ALLIANCE ROBOT off the PLAYING SURFACE.

[Chris Fultz]

Well bummer.

Now we have nothing to change for IRI and Copioli won't be able to whine about the rules...

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

All good comments.

I like 2 things best.

#1, it shows a willingness to change things, even major things, mid stream if it is sufficiently important. Good for the GDC.

#2, it gives teams the moral leg to stand on to say, "the game is supposed to be played to win, even in the qualifying matches." Now we can say that the purpose is clear. The game is intended to be played to win.

I am very happy.

Joe J.

Joe, I completely agree with you. I firmly believe that you should always play to win the game in every match. You help people if they need it, and work together in the pits, but on the field, you play hard, you play fair and try to win. This clearly does give an endorsement to that belief, and I commend the GDC for that. I also commend them for having the fortitude to make the hard decision and do what's right to make the game better for all teams and spectators. Bravo.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

Well bummer.

Now we have nothing to change for IRI and Copioli won't be able to whine about the rules...

Give him time, he has a lot on his plate right now.

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Madison

Remind me again why anyone, my team included, is stupid enough to keep going to week 1 events?

Simple we went to FLR to:

• Hang with my sister and Rolling Thunder!!
• Meet Koko Ed in person
• Meet Karthic
• Wings and BBQ at Quaker Steak and Lube
• Meet Kim
• Watch the glee in Steve as Canada teams come beat up on the Americans
• Meet with 20 Chairmain's Award Winners (some of them multiple times)
• Sticklips BBQ
• Watch a rookie team take on some bigger/badder/meaner (in a GP way of course)teams and take their prizes
• Meet Paul, the President of First
• Team dinner of BBQ at Dinosaur BBQ
• Come to a place with less snow than Philly
• See team 1551 put on a robot show that will be talked about for years
• Have 5 different teams either dance with or limbo under our giant screwdriver
• Oh yea, get the bugs out of the robot for Philadelphia

Thats why we came! And we had a good time doing it.

[Manoel]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

Well bummer.

Now we have nothing to change for IRI and Copioli won't be able to whine about the rules...

Watch out for FRAME PERIMETER shims flying out from 217...

I'd throw ours, if we could go to IRI!

[Enigma's puzzle]

Although i have to agree with the change in the ranking system, i cannot say that i agree with the GDC changing the rules on the 3" penalty. It seems like they took a critical engineering problem out of the equation, i cannot speak for everyone, but as soon as we saw the problem occur on the robot, we designed a solution. I was surprised how many people hadn't designed a robot to prevent themselves from doing that. Dean and Woodie even brought that point up at kickoff.