With the announcement that Infinite Recharge will be played in 2021 along with some potential tweaks, what changes would you like/dislike to see?
easier 4th rp.
Make the control panel worth more, along with changes to use it more often
Regolith
Source new game pieces that act more like the ones FIRST initially shot 10,000 times without seeing any change in and less like the ones we ended up playing with. Also replace the color wheel with almost anything else.
A completely new game ball.
Don’t make any.
That being said, remove the wheel of fortune.
Slightly changed layout
Get rid of the bump in the middle. Didn’t really affect us, but I still want it gone.
I remain strongly in favor of changing G10/G11.
Replace color wheel with tower with 10 bonus balls (different color worth x2 when scored). Have a chute door the robot have to lift to access the balls. Teams are allowed to do it autonomously too, for what ends up being 4x per ball.
edit: I don’t think it would be possibly because the balls wouldn’t fall quick enough but imagine a perfect scenario of scoring all 10 bonus balls in autonomous in the center back goal. It would be 10 x 2 x 6 points = 120 points. That would make for some exciting autos, and not alter the game too much.
Footballs!
(Edit, no not to replace a round primary game piece - perhaps a supplemental task that replaces the wheel of morality and does NOT necessarily require shooting said footballs.)
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Replace balls to other 7" balls that can survive a full season.
(or at least increase the amount of new balls per event). -
Replace wheel of fortune top surface, with another surface who will contain a mission with new game piece.
(anyway need to keep the height limit for teams who designed their robot with this limitation in mind). -
New starting configuration of balls (I’m looking for new challenges for the students, than not necessarily involve major change of the game).
yes, chute door
Chute door?
Yes, Chute Door.
Edit: for those that don’t get the reference, the Chute Door was part of the alliance station in 2015, meant to restrict the flow of totes onto the field. FRC 999 asked a question about it in the Q&A that year, but their first attempt was literally “Chute Door?” The GDC’s response is quoted in the non-edit part of this post.
People saying a new game ball, that means a significant redesign for some teams.
I think we will not see significant changes to current game mechanics - this decision was effectively to trade a new challenge to allow cash-strapped teams a fighting chance.
I’m thinking changes will be limited to rule changes to reshape gameflow, and maybe a new or additional endgame-type item which is optional, but worth a lot of points.
Control panel will be interesting to see as it was rarely used, and only got to level 2 in the highest level matches. It’s easy to develop therefore. Some kind of control panel L3 or something, perhaps.
I’d like to see the return of minibots, for one, but that’s probably wishful thinking.
Field changes that require wholesale drivetrain retooling are likely out of the question, though we did have one student suggest that we just do a real throwback and flood the field with corn.
Mirror image?
Make the color wheel relevant somehow.