Although, if you haven’t noticed, the trailers can’t hold an unlimited amount of balls, so assumingg they still have their human players (who are doing well), and their robots are scoring just as much, it could be evenly matched, if not tipped in favor of the smaller alliance.
You don’t know this. It’s not specifically covered in the rules, but <G10> says:
ROBOT Starting Positions – Prior to the MATCH, each TEAM negotiates within their ALLIANCE to select one of the three LAUNCH PADS of the ALLIANCE. Each ROBOT is then HITCHED to the TRAILER assigned to the selected LAUNCH PAD. The ROBOT and TRAILER are then placed entirely within the LAUNCH PAD, and positioned such that the TRAILER is in contact with the AIRLOCK or guard rail (as appropriate).
Which implies that TRAILERS are assigned to LAUNCH PADS, whether there’s a robot or not. Which means, there’d be 3 TRAILERS, even if there were only 2 ROBOTS. There is definitely a Q&A question here, just to be certain, but I’m pretty sure the TRAILERS stay. If they didn’t, why would you bother putting any robots out? No robots = no goals to be scored in. As long as your opponent was foolish enough to field a robot, you’d only have to land a single moon rock to win the match.
where’s the rule that prevents three teams from having no robots and only players…they can’t be scored on but they can still score?? I haven’t found it yet!
Thats what Kevin is talking about.
It’ll prolly come up in the Q&A.
Although I think they’ll still leave your trailer out, for that reason.
Although it isn’t clearly specified and needs to be brought up in Q&A, I’d tend to agree that there will be three trailers per alliance on the field regardless of the number of robots, both to avoid providing a competitive advantage to teams that fail to bring a robot and to simplify field reset mechanics.
Based on past observation of match procedures, I expect Field Reset will probably reposition the trailers in their launch pads and reset the orbit balls to their proper starting locations while match N-1 is removing their robots. Then they’ll flag the match N teams to bring in their robots, hitch up, and adjust position within the launch pad. This avoids having to carry the trailers in and out of the arena, which would have two negative effects:
Increasing turnover time by adding to the things being carried through the field entry/exit gates
Requiring designating a trailer parking lot in the queuing area, which is already quite congested in some venues
Would the trailer still be placed on the field in some fashion? This would be difficult, considering that the trailer cannot support itself (it only has two wheels).
If a trailer is not placed on the field when the robot can’t play, then an alliance with three no-shows would win every game.
In your scenario, three no shows on one alliance would be a 0-0 tie, since neither team can score.
I assume if your robot is no-show, than your team shouldn’t be able to throw balls? Does anyone have a rule on this? I would like to see this clarified.
Hm…weird, the actual rules dont say anything about this i think. I would say that a no show would in this case result in that each side would have one less hitch? i am really not sure
Also something interesting to consider–If your team does not send a robot out for the match, but the alliance you were supposed to be on either doubles or triples the opposing alliances score, does your team still lose its game pieces the next match?
There are two other threads about this already, both as inconclusive as this one will end up being:
Don’t forget, the trailer is large enough that even without a robot it will still have something to rest against (the bumper would touch the ground before the wheels cause it to fall on its side). Considering that the robot would most likely be powering the lights in the first place (allowing for changed colors if needed) the trailer would be useless without a robot to power it.
The Payload Specialists could still shoot moonrocks and score.
Players may still come to the field without a robot, and the Payload Specialist could shoot.
Depends. If you sent players out, then you would get a score, and if your alliance’s score is 2x or 3x the other alliance, you would lose a Cell in your next game. If your team is a complete no-show, then you earn zero points for that game, so you won’t lose a Cell in your next match.
The trailer is not powered. They have either red or blue bumper coverings.
Threads will be merged.
This is an interesting question. An unhitched trailer arm could be pretty damaging to other robots. In the past it has never helped your own alliance in any way if one of your robots can not play.
I’d hate to advise a partner who isn’t certain if their robot will run or not to sit it out. A dead robot with a trailer is much more of a detriment to the team that no robot and trailer at all. Heck even a robot that hasn’t achieved proficiency at scoring is more of a detriment than an asset if there’s an option for them to not be on the field (along with their trailer).
I think FIRST is going to have to have some sort of bot to hook to the trailer. It could be as simple as a chunk of plywood with wheels and bumpers mounted to it, or even the next robot who’s going to play in that spot but disabled for the entire match. I definitely do not like the idea of them not putting all three trailers out there.
I am inclined to think that all 6 trailers will always be on the field no matter how many robots show up to play. Otherwise, everyone would quickly learn the best way to win is to not bring any robots to the field only the human players and the game will become very boring very quickly. The question then becomes if only 2 robots show up which starting location is strategically the best to place start the odd trailer?
I am inclined to think that all 6 trailers will always be on the field no matter how many robots show up to play. Otherwise, everyone would quickly learn the best way to win is to not bring any robots to the field only the human players and the game will become very boring very quickly. The question then becomes if only 2 robots show up which starting location is strategically the best to place start the odd trailer?
i totally agree. I am hoping there will be some clearification on this situation, but this is the best suitable idea to make it fair amongst the alliances, or like you said they are leading themselves into a really boring game, where teams will use that too the advantage.
Well the trailers are still there if no one shows up. therefore it would be easier for the oposing team to score on the trailers especially since they begin at the opposing outpost station and furling ports.
Says who?
I have seen no response from the GDC indicating that this is the case.
While I am not part of the GDC, here are my thoughts on this…
I personally believe that the trailer will stay in its starting position if a team is not present. If the trailer is removed, this could potentially present a new set of strategic opportunities for an alliance. Based on the GDC’s response to various questions in this year as well as years past, I do not believe they would create a situation where an alliance could say, “OK, team X that we’re competing against in the next match has an awesome shooter(human or otherwise, you fill in the blanks yourself), so you(points to one team in the alliance) sit out due to a “broken” robot in this match. That will give them one less target to shoot for.” Yes, the team would still have to have their Payload Specialist on the field to prevent a DQ, but the trailer would still be removed.
I honestly doubt that the GDC would ever rule that a no-show robot means a no-show trailer.
Otherwise you can have an entire alliance agree not to put their robots on the field, and guarantee a worst case score of a tie, best case scenario a win (one of their human players score into the opponent’s trailer).
And if this was legal, why even build a robot?