If to score a ranking point I need to score 49 balls but on my alliance side of the field there are only 24 power cells, since power cells that are scored go to the opposing alliance loading station this means that to score 49 balls I need the opposing alliance to score around 25 balls as well, I realise that balls can be “stolen” from the opposing alliance, however you’re still gonna need the opposing alliance to score a significant amount of balls which seems odd to me.
Am I missing something? Maybe stealing balls from the opposing alliance is in fact key to score a ranking point, so are we to expect a heavy pushing game?
Every ball you score is subject to the 15 limit in the opponent’s driver station. So they will have to start dumping them back out onto the floor. If they don’t have a robot available to catch them, they are free game for you.
Thanks for the responses! I read that rule but still, the opposing alliance can release only 1 ball at a time to avoid fouls and then release the rest when a robot from their alliance is close.
I will still be getting a constant power cell flow but I’ll have to cycle 1 or 2 balls at a time this seems awkward am I missing something or maybe over analyzing this?
I think that there is an intentional need to cross back and forth across the field to your own loading zone, unless you can overfill the area behind the other alliance wall.
With only 15 power cells behind each alliance wall, there should be at least 18 on the field at any time. As robots can only hold five each, there will always be a few loose ones.
Assuming optimal defensive strategy, an alliance can only hoard 30 cells (behind the glass and within the robots) before balls have to be released unprotected onto the carpet. That leaves 18 for the taking.
If all 3 of your alliance’s robots were full too, that still leaves 3 cells unaccounted for. There’s more than enough game pieces this season.
Thanks, it makes more sense to me now, There had to be a constant flow of game pieces around the field I just needed to understand the logic behind that flow.
Quick follow up question do you think taking cells from the opposing alliance loading station will be important or the cycles will mainly be the full court ones?
I think that if you’re able to that it will be a massive plus, but the rule about contact in target zones will probably deter this.
G10. Right of Way. A ROBOT whose BUMPERS are intersecting the opponent’s TARGET ZONE,
TRENCH RUN, or LOADING ZONE may not contact opponent ROBOTS, regardless of who initiates
contact.
G6. No more than five (5) POWER CELLS at a time. ROBOTS may not have greater-than-momentary CONTROL of more than five (5) POWER CELLS at a time, either directly or transitively through other objects.
A ROBOT is in CONTROL of a POWER CELL if:
A. the POWER CELL is fully supported by the ROBOT,
B. the POWER CELL travels across the FIELD such that when the ROBOT changes direction, the POWER CELL travels with the ROBOT, or
C. the ROBOT is holding a POWER CELL against a FIELD element in attempt to guard or shield it.
Can’t teams hold 15 power cells though? My concern was that team would only release power cells when their alliance robots are positioned in the loading zone, therefore preventing teams playing offense from being able to “steal” power cells from opposing alliances in fear of getting a tech foul
It will likely end up a little like PowerUp in that if you can get far enough ahead (overfill the other alliance’s station), they will be forced to release them anyway, making it easier to score points even faster.
This raises another strategy issue - if you have reached CAPACITY of a stage but haven’t yet ACTIVATED it, do you keep scoring POWER CELLS? I think the answer is yes. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some alliances ignore the control panel during eliminations.
I could see that happening in elimination but do you think that having all three robots focused on power cells is a viable option for an alliance, considering the power cell flow or would a better option be to have a third robot do control panel or even play defensively?
POWER CELLS scored after a stage is at CAPACITY generate MATCH points but do not contribute to the next stage’s CAPACITY. POWER CELLS scored after Stage 3 is ACTIVATED continue to generate MATCH points.
I think having 3 robots focus on scoring power cells is great, but if one of those robots can do the control panel, it’s not like the control panel will take very long. I think a lot of teams will have automated code to do the control panel.
Obviously, it depends on your team. During the game it may be an easy task, but it may be very difficult to develop a mechanism to complete the task reliably. Some teams may figure that they can score more points by spending their resources to build a more effective shooter and give up on the 30 CONTROL PANEL points. That’s a perfectly valid strategic analysis for some teams to make.
Would you say the teams who choose to give up on some game tasks will give up the Control Panel?
From my point of view the minimal bots will have low shooter and a Control Panel, those bots will give up the option to shoot high
Maybe some teams will choose to give up the high shot; maybe they’ll choose to give up the CONTROL PANEL; maybe they’ll choose to give up something else. Every team is going to analyze the game differently based on their priorities, resources, season goals, etc. I wouldn’t presume to tell any team how they should be analyzing the game.