Ball Hogs

[Swampdude]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

How is negotiating with a potential ball hog any different than a "ramp hog" last year? It made sense for only one of the 3 robots to deploy the ramp; who should do it was based on each bot's relative merits.

Granted there will be multiple opportunities to ball hog in a match, vs. the end-game aspect of ramps. But the strategy negotiations between alliance teams will be similar.

Negotiations are one thing, but I think this game plays differently in that there are constant decisions throughout the entire match whether or not to pass on multiple scoring opportunities in lieu of your partners.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

Negotiations are one thing, but I think this game plays differently in that there are constant decisions throughout the entire match whether or not to pass on multiple scoring opportunities in lieu of your partners.

Fair enough, I agree. I thought the point of your original message was about an over-enthusiastic team member or coach who dominated the negotiations. We've always had to deal with that.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by rick.oliver

We've been discussing a strategy we've dubbed "Dancing with 1114" that was inspired by the Q&A they submitted concerning hurdling. The description contained in their question reveals a "devious strategy" or more accurately, an ingenious strategy whereby three capable machines share the two trackballs. Cooperating in the process of hurdling such that neither ball ever touches the floor. Oh, by the way, both balls are on the overpass at the end. I imagine that the GDC envisioned just such a game play. It should be fun to watch. Imagine if six robots were doing the dance!! That would rival the six ringer auton at IRI

Hey Go Thunderhawks!!! I know you guys from being coach of the RoboDevils a few years back and from nationals last year.

We are designing for just such an eventuality... At nationals we hope to be part of a triumvarate that acquires the trackballs at the beginning of the game and passes them to each other over the overpass so that the trackball never hits the ground. To that end, we should be able to "catch" the ball another team puts across the overpass without crossing the line. One ball would be in transit the entire time while 2 robots are passing..

This could be very interesting to watch...and a real teamwork effort for an alliance and it is EXACTLY what (in my humble opinion) the GDC was thinking about when Woodie talked about being on the other side of complexity..

Of course I may be completely wrong.
I hope we can play with you guys at Nationals...
We will be there!!!

Good luck to everyone!!!

Bob Steele

[JesseK]

We initially designed our bot to BE the ball hog slash galmour bot. It has a great way to capture an unpredictable ball. It has a great way to place the ball on the end, and a fast enough way to hurdle. It has a way to knock only our own alliance's ball off the overpass in the beginning. No guts no glory right?

As it turns out, there are bots that are able to hurdle much better than us. We intend to support our alliance using any means necessary, including giving up the ball to a launcher. We all benefit when we use our most efficient methods to score, and I think everyone echos that sentiment for eliminations.

However, the question of whether or not another hurdler is "better" than us at hurdling will inevitably come up in seeding matches, especially in the early matches since we've never seen the other bots play. This will be a judgement call, on the spot. Even to the detriment of our own team, we'll probably give up the ball in order to give another bot a chance while we simply play support. We do, after all, have ways to score that a launcher does not: reliable placement at the end. Knowing the competitiveness of the later matches though, this may not always be the case.