I don’t see anything in the actual game rules about when an alliance must select their defenses. The kickoff video says they must be selected “while in line” which makes sense. It certainly has to be done by the end of the previous match if the game is going to proceed at a decent pace.
Does anyone see a rule on this that I’m missing?
Refer to 5.5.10
In quals, you have to let the Defense Coordinator know before the end of the match 2 matches before yours (in queue #2)
In elims, you must let him know before the end of the match right before yours (in queue #1)
5.5.10.2:
Ahh, thank you. So you must select while in queue position 2 and then when you get to position 1 you get to see what you are facing so you can devise strategy.
The Defense Coordinator position is going to be pretty key in keeping on schedule.
Oh goody…something else for the queuers to do…
I think you get a pass on this one Ed. There’s a new volunteer position, the Defensive Coordinator (DC). Seems to be like a sub-Field Supervisor. A representative from the alliance goes to the DC and gives them their selections.
I’m wondering, how many times is the Audience Selection done? There’s an example of the match schedule with 3 matches, all marked (A). It seems to indicate that the audience is selecting a defense from group A for those matches. Does the selection change each match, or is it static for all the matches marked as (A)?
Supposedly audience selection happens every single match, but the choice is between two predetermined options.
Once per round, so for Michigan it is 12 times per qualifications, twice for quarter finals, once for semis and once for finals. The selection is static per round.
Elsewhere in the manual it says the FMS randomly selects a starting group and then goes through the groups alphabetically, so the example should read:
Qualification 1 (A)
Qualification 2 (B)
Qualification 3 (C)
I suspect that’s a pastographic error in the manual.
Doug, I believe the audience selection is changed by round. The round is a group of matches during which each team plays once. In which case the first three matches should be the same.
Correct, I found it in 5.5.10.1:
Prior to each round of Qualification and Playoff MATCHES, the audience selects one of the DEFENSES used by both ALLIANCES on the FIELD
.
Rounds for Playoffs are defined in a table as well.
I was beginning to worry about needing to have 9 or 10 minute match separations!
Ahh, here is the definition of a round:
5.3.1 Schedule The Qualification MATCH schedule is made available as soon as possible, but no later than one (1) hour before Qualification MATCHES are scheduled to begin. **Each Qualification schedule consists of a series of rounds in which each team plays one (1) MATCH per round.
**
The rounds must be of variable length with the maximum number of matches per team being floor(teamCount/6).
The minimum number of matches per round would be 2 or 3 less than that based on how the matchmaker works.
So with 60 teams (as in Duluth) the maximum round size would be 10 and the minimum would be 7 or 8.
Peoria (where last I saw there were 33 teams) the maximum round would be 5 matches with the minimum being 2 or 3.
I believe with 60 teams at an event, the round length would be constant at 10. If you had 58 teams the rounds would vary between 9 and 10 matches. I am not sure how you would define the end of a round if a match spans two different rounds.
With 60 teams, the gap between matches for any team will generally be in the 6 to 12 match range.
If the round was set at 10 for 60 teams you would guarantee that some teams would be playing twice in each round.
I could play in the 8th match of round six and the 3rd match of round seven and the 8th match of round 8. That would mean I would have two vastly different break lengths while keeping the round length the same.
Yes you could. My point was that if there are 60 teams at an event, even though the “natural” round size is 10 it’s guaranteed that there will be teams repeating before that 10.
It’s a moot point really, we’ll know what the FMS does in a few weeks.
It could be variable, it could be static at floor(teamCount/6) or it could be static at floor(teamCount/6) minus some number.
Whatever it is we’ll deal with it.
You can read up on how the rounds and matches are generated here.