The new game has come out for a few days, and teams have realized that this is indeed a purely launching based game. While it is nice to see experiments with launchers and mentions of FRC 2012 going on, NBN, in my opinion, is strategically distinct from Rebound Rumble. Because I realize it is nearly impossible for me to compete as a major technician in NBN, I would just offer my strategic insight and hopefully promote higher level of match play in earlier season.
Alright. So first of all, what sort of strategy has an edge at worlds?
Of course, you need the best abilities, best driving and best everything. I’ll just cite Skyrise as an example. Everyone has 2/3 cube hyper fast intake, 60 inch reliable lift and stationary skyrise builder in world round robins. While these are important, when all of these ability match up, the true keys that determined match outcome are mostly 1. Auton 2. Dropping a skyrise section. Strategies that capture these keys while maintaining other high level abilities perform well in higher level game plays.
Another example would be Toss Up, in which the true keys are pushing, 4 Bucky Auton and Auton high hang, much more difficult tasks than just locking goals/hanging. Round Up Green Egg is perhaps the most appropriate here: storing goals in ladder destroyed everyone.
In NBN, and any robotics game in general, it is good to start right off figuring out how to build a 60 inch lift or a reliable launcher. But it is more imperative and significant to start thinking about winning/match locking keys and strategies like this. Which is not to say that design development is insignificant-- design is everything, but it should be directed by the highest level of strategy thinking.
So, what do we imagine world level robots to be able to do? Here’s my list:
- Super strong base plus pneumatic brake to lock optimal shooting position or defend
- Fast ball intake and accurate, high firing rate ball launching.
- High elevation in a few seconds. For VEXU, Auton high elevation.
Of course, we are all trying to build robots as such. But imagine you have this robot, and you are facing similar robots. What would you look at or attempt to do in a match to gain an edge?
**The answer is to get as many bonus balls in your high goal as possible. **
If you have two more bonus balls than your opponent, you pull back an Auton. If you have four more bonus balls, with an elevation, you basically lock the win.
Bonus balls, however, are not easy to obtain in Auton. They are stacked on top, and with restrictions of expanding, you cannot build arm to directly get it. Therefore, two ideas that can possibly implement a bonus ball obtaining strategy:
- Some sort of structure that quickly grabs the top ball of the stack, in Auton
2.** A filter intake system that utilizes color sensor to quickly spit out green balls and store bonus balls into launching position.**
And that’s the match winning keys in my opinion. Please correct me on various inadequacies I exhibited. Wish everyone a wonderful season!
//I will write more about my bot idea later if others would like me to share.