IRI - Dates, Info and Rule Ideas

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by EricH

It's harder because 85% of the 70-robot field is the caliber of 254 and 971. Not because the rules are harder. (The other 15% wants to be at that caliber.)

It's like shaving the cream that has risen to the top of each championship division putting them into a blender and serving the concoction up to the FIRST community for dessert.

[bduddy]

9 points for incidental contact on the opponent's bridge, including contact that doesn't affect the game at all, is way too much of a penalty. Aside from that, I can't really think of anything that needs to be changed right now - it would probably be a good idea to wait for Championships to see what really high-level competition looks like.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by bduddy

9 points for incidental contact on the opponent's bridge, including contact that doesn't affect the game at all, is way too much of a penalty. Aside from that, I can't really think of anything that needs to be changed right now - it would probably be a good idea to wait for Championships to see what really high-level competition looks like.

MSC and the MAR championship should be a real good indication of how IRI will play out.

[Bjenks548]

That coop bridge would get balanced 99% of the time. I say throw it out all together and use elimination bridge rules (much more fun). I don't like the idea of bonus points for shooting from far away because a lot of robots are not designed to shoot past the key. It would be fun with more balls on the field though maybe start 3 or 4 on each bridge instead of 2.

[AllenGregoryIV]

I want to see the triple implemented on all three bridges in qualification matches. It will make teams have to decide where to balance, triple on your own to win, or try to double all three bridges and hope for the win and coop. If you think you will loose you're better off trying to triple on the coop bridge with two of your robots and one from the other alliance. Rarely at IRI would you have a team not on the bridge at the end since they will be worth so many points.

1 QP for double coop bridge and 2 for a triple like others have said. I am not sure about giving a score bonus to the team with 2 robots, I don't see that playing out very well.

There have been so many creative triple balance strategies (NYC anyone), I would love to see impromptu triple balances on the coop bridge.

I also think that at least one ball from each alliance bridge should be moved to the center bridge. The battle for the bridge in hybrid is going to be so important at Championship that making it have more balls will increase competitiveness. Do you shoot first or go to the bridge first and shoot once you have the balls on your side. It would be much harder to 5 ball if you can't shoot your two first, though I guess you could shoot them while moving back to the bridge.

[EricDrost]

Perhaps alliance bridges (which should be cake to double balance at IRI) could be limited to use in the last 20 seconds. This makes you really work for those extra points. Penalties for early balancing would be similar to deploying a minibot early.

[efoote868]

Make the opposing alliance's bridge off limits for only the last 30 seconds of the match.

Increase the number of balls on the field, 6 more would be nice.

Make the key penalties 1 pt instead of 3.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by efoote868

Make the key penalties 1 pt instead of 3.

I don't know if they're actually able to do this, as this requires going down into the actual software and changing things, which I know is fairly difficult if not impossible.

[CalTran]

How about just taking the ball holding cap off all together? I know most robots this year are designed specifically to only hold 3 balls, but it would make for interesting starvation play...do you shoot and give your opponents the ball or do you wait and starve them of the balls you possess?

[Drivencrazy]

I would like to see <G28> changed to something like robots may not contact an opponent when breaking the plane of the opponents key or lane. It seems like teams have too much protection and it keeps teams from entering those high risk areas to take balls from their opponents. It also seems like refs are having a hard time with the <G28> <G44> <G45> combination. I would like to see that go away.

The removal of alleys. Makes it quite difficult to defend against the triple balance if all 3 enter from that side.

I like this idea. Allows for more open play on the offensive half of the court as well.

[Wetzel]

We spent an entire regional playing defense, gathering balls and mucking up traffic for the opposing alliance while only gathering 1 foul and winning the regional. It is not as hard to do as many seem to think.

Wetzel

[Aren Siekmeier]

I think the game is pretty near perfect as it is. Perfect point balance between bridges and shooting balls, and the coopertition bridge is an awesome aspect. And if everyone is balancing it as people have suggested, it wouldn't matter anyways. But why eliminate the incentive to work together with the other alliance? It's awesome to see two teams battle fiercely throughout the match, and then turn around and work together to balance that bridge in the last 30 seconds.

The one swing and a miss was the Kinect (as many of us were saying from the start). And given the extremely tight space at IRI, it would make a lot of sense to eliminate it, given that nearly no one uses it anyway.

[Marc S.]

I've got 2,

1) Every alliance gets one redo and/or time out.
The redo can only be used if the alliance looses a match due to; one robot breaking (like an obvious break (arm falls off, etc)), robot dies during the match (either unforeseen battery issue or loss of com), or something highly unexpected happens that causes the alliance to not get get as many points. Red cards may invalidate this redo... may not...

2) After the hybrid period the game stops until the head ref gives the OK to start again.
This solves any issue of hybrid balls not being worth full points due to either going in after the bell or because of a jam. There have a few matches that have been stop and replayed mid match due to a jam that occurred in the hybrid period, again this solves that issue. The pause could also be just 5 seconds to keep the flow of the match going.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Marc S.

2) After the hybrid period the game stops until the head ref gives the OK to start again.
This solves any issue of hybrid balls not being worth full points due to either going in after the bell or because of a jam. There have a few matches that have been stop and replayed mid match due to a jam that occurred in the hybrid period, again this solves that issue. The pause could also be just 5 seconds to keep the flow of the match going.

Perhaps a physical modification can be done to reduce the jam occurrence as well. Either way, I like this.

Wetzel

[EricH]

Idea: There are 20 basketballs on the field. Yes, that's 2 more than normal. But those two extra basketballs are special. They're +3 if scored during either Hybrid or the end game. Each alliance starts with one. But...

They're NOT the normal basketballs. Either they've been given a funky covering, or they're actual basketballs (or you could just wrap a Poof ball in duct tape).


And, make more than 2 on the Coop bridge an extra bonus--1 Co-op point per extra balanced robot. If you really wanted to be devious, the Coop bridge also gives points based on how many robots are on it, at 10 for one, 20 for two, etc. If only one alliance is represented, that alliance gets all the points and no coop points. If both alliances are represented, each alliance gets the same amount of points (the highest possible) and coop points.