Hey, just a quick question. My team is thinking that when you have control of the opponents switch you don’t get 1pt/s you just keep them from getting 1pt/s.
Is that true? I thought that no matter switch or scale if you have control of it you are getting 1pt/s other than auto which is 2pt/s.
See section 4.2. There’s a blue box that may clear things up for you:
The Blue ALLIANCE’S SWITCH accumulates points for the Blue ALLIANCE when the PLATE illuminated and pulsing with blue lights is down.
The SWITCH does not accumulate points for either ALLIANCE when the blue PLATE is above 6 in (~15 cm).
They are correct. You might want to update your version of the Manual to the current one; I believe this was in one of the first four updates.
First blue box in Section 4.2 makes it very clear.
That is true.
The opponents switch gives you no points, it only denies them points.
I believe you don’t get any points from your opponents switch. You do prevent the other alliance from getting any points from their switch.
Also, it makes sense when you think about it. Ownership of a switch is worth 1 pt/sec - either you get 1 pt/sec, or you deny the other alliance 1 pt/sec. It’s also the “easy” scoring target. The scale, on the other hand, is a 2 pts/sec swing - you get 1 pt/second while denying the other alliance 1 pt/sec. And it’s the “hard” scoring target. That creates a point imbalance between the two targets that rewards teams for going after the “hard” target instead of the “easy” target. It’s not quite as obvious as past years (like the low/high openings for the boilers), but it’s there.
Another way to think about it and get the same result is that the scale is worth as much as both switches put together - a total of +1, 0, or -1 points per second.
2 Switches = 1 Scale
1 + 0 + 0= 0 +1 +0
Conclusion, its highly beneficial if you feel your opponent will own the scale simply own both switches
Thanks everyone. How plan is to focus on vault and on end game or near it if there is time left mess with the opponents switch or maybe work on our switch a bit.
Remember, there is zero bonus for owning anything at the end of the match–everything is down to seconds of ownership. Open up the spigot at your switch as soon as possible, ideally in autonomous–it’ll put up more points than the vault in the long run. And if you’re going to mess with the opposing switch, you’ll get more fruit out of your efforts if you do it early in the match so they’re playing on the back foot.
I will share a little bit of analysis I did for my team.
Assume that at the end of autonomous, all three field elements (both switches and the scale) are controlled.
Let MS=“My switch”, the number of seconds where my alliance held my switch.
Let TS=“Their switch”, the number of seconds where my alliance held their switch.
Let SC=“Scale”, the number of seconds my alliance held the scale.
Neglect autonomous, and any power ups. Neither one changes the result of the analysis. There are 135 seconds in a match (after autonomous). At the end of the match
My score = MS + SC
Their score=(135-TS)+(135-SC)
Difference=My score-Their score=MS+2SC+TS-270
Now, suppose that a rules update was published after the end of the match. The scores will be calculated differently. Instead of giving 1 point for your switch, and no points for their switch, they will instead give 1/2 point for either switch. So, I get 1 point for each second I hold the scale, and 1/2 point for each second I control either switch.
The new score calculation is as follows.
My score=1/2 MS + SC +1/2 TS
Their score= 1/2(135-MS)+1/2(135-TS)+(135-SC)
Now, the difference in scores is:
Difference=MS+2SC+TS-270. which is exactly the same as in the actual scoring system.
In other words, although the number of points is different in the two scoring systems, the margin of victory is identical. So, although it looks pretty complicated and factoring my switch is different than theirs, and the same points are available for your own switch and the scale, that’s really smoke and mirrors. You can think about it as if each switch is worth 1/2 point per second, and the scale is worth 1 point per second.
This really is different than the actual game, because a switch in a neutral (level) position is currently scored the same as if it were owned by the distant alliance. An alliance only has to *neutralize *the far scale to get the same scoring benefit as dominating it. Of course, dominating it makes it harder for the opposing alliance to take it back.
I am assuming that the switches are very sensitive, such that a very small difference in torque will be enough to flip them, and they will spend very little time in the neutral position. (i.e. if both alliances have placed two cubes in the balance, but one alliance placed theirs farther away, the balance will tilt.)
If that assumption is false, then it invalidates my formulae…and I’m not sure if it gives an advantage to controlling one switch or the other.