One question I think a lot of people are wondering is do you carry a mobile goal around and stack cones inside your robot, or do you pick up a cone and stack it on the nearest goal? I am interested in hearing your opinions on the strategy of scoring.
I believe that the dominant strategy this year will be carrying mobile goals. This opens up the option for hoarding cones on your robot. I plan on carrying one mobile goal at all time, and I will pick up my first one during autonomous period.
After about a month with the objects/prototyping I think the dominate strategy will be to drag/carry mobile goals to a desired spot, let go of it, and then start stacking cones on it until you get a good height(~10ish). Then you’ll drag it to you scoring corner. I think the stacks are too “wobbly” to move them while scoring cones on them.
I disagree but would love to see you prove me wrong.
I’ve stacked ten cones (all I have) on a mobile goal and shook it around more than a robot likely could. They stayed on fine. It’s not just a matter of having the mobile goal close to where the cones are, physically carrying the mobile goal everywhere you go removes the time needed to line up with the mobile goal when you are scoring cones.
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For my design, I am having the mobile goal mounted onto my robot and stacking cones on top. My bot will be able to hold the mobile goal at the bottom, and the claw will hold it at the top for stabilization when driving over the pipe.
I wonder about something being overlooked in the meta-strategy. Let’s say nearly everyone is carrying around mobile goals. But a single robot is focused on speed and reach to build tall stacks. Each team has one goal that is not mobile. That robot will surely get the highest stack on this. Meanwhile, if teams have trouble getting tall stacks into the 20-point zone, this robot may well be able to guarantee highest stack there.
Is it possible that this robot teamed up with a carrying/dragging robot will perform better than a pair of carrying/dragging robots? If so, since you get to choose partners later on, I could see alliances going for such pairings. Of course, maybe two carrying/dragging robots could load cone faster and just pick up too many more cones. But maybe not.
One thing I have noticed while testing pieces is that the field is very crammed and tight. I think that it is possible that stacking while carrying a mobile goal will not work as well as stacking on the nearest goal after picking up a cone.
Why would the field being crowded make it harder to carry a mobile goal with you?
@Gallium I think @Some Person means that because the cones are so close together it would be more efficient to just start stacking cones on goals than to pick up the goal and start stacking.
@callen You bring up some good points, but we plan on putting a few cones on a mobile goal and putting it in the 20 point zone during auto and leaving it there, so we don’t have to worry about bringing large stacks into the 20-point zone. If the other alliance wants to commit more cones to get that 5-point cone, we will just build taller ones in the 10 and 5.
I’m not sure what pairings will work best this year. My first thought is that the two fastest robots have the best pairing, but one robot carrying around mobile goals and stacking with the other picking them up 1 by 1 lets an alliance stack on mobile and stationary goals quickly. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see 
Just be aware there is more to the strategy than that. You can unstack your own cones to move them to other stacks. That allows you to adjust your stacks to maximize your bonuses.
So, let’s say you put a stack of 3 cones in the 20-point zone, 12 and 3 in the 10-point zone, 12 in the 5-point zone, and 10 stationary. The other team sees that and has a speed-reach designed robot. They adjust to 4 cones in the 20-point zone, 1 and 11 in the 10-point zone, 13 in the 5-point zone, and 11 stationary. No matter how clever a distribution you come up with for 40 cones, I can come up with a distribution that will beat you for 3 of 4 highest stack bonuses if I get to adapt to your distribution, and that is still true if I adjust in your favor by letting you use around 42 cones to my 38 cones.
Getting large numbers of cones on a single mobile goal is surely faster when carrying the mobile goal. However, getting cones on the stationary goal and moving cones between goals is faster if you’re focused on speed-reach, not worrying about the motors and pieces needed to handle and internally stack mobile goals.
I’ve just been bringing up these whole meta-strategies involving restacking and the differences between stationary and mobile goals because there has been so much focus on mobile goals that details seem to be getting lost.
Yes, you’re right. We will have to wait to see.
I myself don’t believe it will be tough to make a robot that can both internally stack and speed reach. It should only use one motor to be able to internally stack, and if you set it up right you will still be able to stack one by one.
Ok I know that I’m probably being just VERY VERY paranoid, but do we have any definite thread that allows us to hold a mobile goal with cones and a separate cone in a claw or other intake? I’m pretty sure that it is legal, and obviously everyone has assumed it is, but do we have an official ruling for this? Otherwise, could somebody just like write up a small explanation just for my mental satisfaction? Thanks
By this definition if you are holding a mobile goal with stacked cones and another separate cone you are still technically possessing one cone, as the stacked cones don’t count.
Ok this makes sense and I’ve looked at this rule a million times before. Sorry to bother you but I just needed some mental satisfaction.