I was just wondering what people thought of this years game.
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It is a very interesting game, should be nice to see what the teams come up with… altthough the tetras have to be raised sooo high.
While there dont seem to be as many different strategies for individual teams to take, it seems to me that alliance strategy and coordination is going to play a very large role this year.
A lot of interesting changes, it should be fascinating to see what designs the different teams decide on.
This year’s game appearers to focus more on the strategy of the game itself more than the design strategy of the robot…
controlling the bases on your side of the field and the center base is going to be crucial for teams, because if you control the bases on your side and the center one, then that will prevent the opposition from creating more then one bonus line. The bonus lines could be what makes or breaks a match.
Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed.
Sure, the tetras bring in some new spice, but, fundamentally, this game is “stack attack” with a tic-tac-toe twist thrown in.
The 3vs3 thing will, I think, ■■■■ more people off in the end, because, with the same size field, your robots are going to be crunching into each other.
Not to mention the ramifications this is going to have on scoring. The discrepencies between the high ranked and low ranked teams will win, and it is even less likely that a deserving team will go to the finals. After all, one great team might be able to carry a two person alliance, but a three person alliance? Pish.
The human player interaction is abysmal. As a human player from last year–and as an athlete–I think it’s a joke. Last year had a perfect meld between machine and person. This year, we have human players who are nothing more than glorified switches. Their job, literally, could be done by a trained monkey.
I understand why Dean, Woody, and the rest of the FIRST crew don’t like athletes. For one, they’re all nerds. Today was the first day I’ve seen Dean without his SEGWAY for a long time. For another thing, they are perfectly right in criticizing the disproportionate amount of influence and demagoguery that our atheletes weild among children today.
This is no excuse to cut athletics from the program, though. It is impossible to create the ubermensch Dean seems to have in mind while ignoring the body. Would it be so hard to involve a simple throwing variable? Last year was fun and dynamic. There were buzzer-beating shots!
What would I have liked to see?
A) If we had more alliance partners, increase the field size! Go to a hex shaped field.
B) Keep a human player role that required more skill than simply walking and having a certain weight.
Anyone else agree with me?
–Petey
Ask me in a few weeks. I have not yet had time to fully digest the game, but I am still very buzzed over it. 
Wetzel
The field IS bigger.
At first, I didn’t like this game very much, but as I have thought about it over the hours, I’ve begun to notice a lot of fun nuances in this game, and I think it will end up being a good game. I think this game, despite having less goals than last year will end up with less repetitive matches because there are so many different capping combinations.
The field IS larger than last year, rather significantly actually (more than 300 square feet larger) as well as 90% of the field is open carpet, it dosen’t have the obsticals and large area taken up by movable goals and the center platform we had last year. I think having 2 additional teams on the field at a time will make for much more happening on the field, and i’m sure there will be robots running into eachother during rounds, but this happens anyways- no matter how large the field.
Real head game. Very subtle. The game is also very forgiving for rookie teams. Could be anyone’s championship this year.
This game is the first in a while to almost force teams to manipulate the mainstream game piece, the tetrahedrons. In 2003, if you could get two robots on the ramp at the end, you had a fair shot for the win. In 2004, if you could have two robots hang, your victory was almost guaranteed. This year…10 points does little to alter the direction of the game, especially when the 10 points are as easy as driving backwards a few feet. We’re going to see alot of on-the-fly strategy and last minute caps that win the game, and alot of robot-on-robot contact if teams play competetively.
I am thrilled that FIRST has finally added in a new game element, and hey my college chemistry class has finally paid off for something, and I can now say and talk and be “informed” about the tetrahedral. 
I am excited about the 3v3. We shouldn’t get discouraged, angry, or upset yet. It could be wonderful for a change-up for some of us long running veterans to have some new strategy sessions, and it will require a whole new way of co-opertition. No where does this state that it is permanent, and it wont go back to 2v2 next year or in the following years, so nobody should be discouraged by an interesting little twist of 3v3. Enjoy a little added fun for a bit. 
Vision system! YES! :ahh: All I can say is let me have at it! I can’t wait to start working with the new software, the vision system, and programming.
Good Luck Everyone in the new season, and thanks FIRST for some new FUN!
Not when you’re talking about actively playable area. We increased the field floor by a 18 square foot margin, but much of that is taken up by the end zones which are, for all intents and purposes, out of play.
Also, to whoever cited the hanging system–
We’ve yet to see whether or not this system is fundamentally flawed.
–Petey
I have to say, they raised the standard of competeing very high this year, the standard kit transmision is pretty good. they set the stage for a brutal competition where only the strong survive. And this year, it will be clear in the seperation of the good and the bad.
I like the idea for this game. It requires a lot of strategy and teamwork. But what I would like to see is a competition to see who can make a stronger robot. Ex: do a “tractor pull” with robots. We could also have them fight other robots. I know we would be wasting money but it would be cool.
I disagree.
In fact, I think that we’ll see markedly less competition this year, and that this is the way Dean and Co. wanted it.
Think back to kickoff and Dean’s speech.
Now, look at the three partner alliance. This means that
- Three teams will be awarded the same number of QP’s, not 2, which means that there will be more teams with the same QP’s than there were last year
- More teams will have the same Ranking points, for the same reasons.
- Threee teams means that it is more unlikely that a good robot can carry an alliance. If one stellar robot is, by draw, paired with two less-than-stellar robots, that alliance will probably lose.
This is unfair. This is unfair because it is disingenuous to the very spirit of competition–any competition–to have hard work, ingenuity, and talent rewarded with loss.
It is, as AnonymousMan said, a microcosm of the same reasons Communism failed, although on a vastly less melodramatic scale. I simply draw parallels.
I predict that, at comp, you’re going to have a bunch of dissatisfied teams with good robots and good strategies who are being held back by their alliance partners, and a lot of mediocre teams being vaulted to a position of prominence and winning that they do not deserve.
I know, I know–it’s never been in the nature of FIRST to assure that the best team wins and moves on. But this year, we’ve seen a step that, instead of correcting this misguided habit, has indeed worsened this discrepancy.
–Petey
It would be cool if we could, in the offseason, petition Comedy Central to feature a FIRST only special edition of Battlebots where we all built gladiator bots.
–Petey
I happen to think that having partners of three is an intresting, but not a good idea. It does add challenge to the 10 point bonus for getting the robots in the end zone, but it could make massive problems if your teammates had bad robots.