So there’s been a lot of discussions lately about the inability to be defensive in this year’s game. Also, I’ve been hearing that getting a highest stack bonus in the 5-pt zone is equivalent to just scoring a goal in the 10-pt, but that is not necessarily true. If you get a highest stack in the 5-pt and 10-pt zone, yes, it is equivalent to getting two stacks in the 10-pt, but that is leaving out one thing. If you get the highest stack in the 5-pt zone, you will be denying the other team’s power to get the extra 5 points in that zone. This may not be very important later on in the season, but I think it will be crucial early season when teams can only score in the 5-pt zone. Thoughts?
Thoughts? It’s good to see you’re thinking about point differentials instead of points. That is really what it is about.
Now, I’ll add to your suggestion. Let’s say you’re losing the 5-point highest stack. Move your 5-point mobile goal to the 10-point zone for an extra 5 points. But now the other team sees this and removes some cones from their 5-point stack to have both the highest stack in the 5-point zone and the 10-point zone. Now you slide your stack back from the 10-point zone to the 5-point zone, not gaining points but taking away 5 of theirs by stealing away the highest stack bonus there. And the options continue…
@callen I agree. Once people begin to open their eyes to the different scoring possibilities, I believe it will open the game up a lot.
Personally, it seems dumb to develop strategies that will only work against mediocre teams or lower.
How so? Winning all of the early matches allows you to acquire a lot of points that can later tilt you above a better team on the leaderboard.
Because you should have no problem beating the teams whether you use a strategy or not.
Well, yeah, I guess you have a point there! Haha 
Regardless, I like throwing out hypothetical situations.
two words: pushbot partners
You have to remember that the vast majority of point percentages come from cones, which are contested objects. One of the ways to play defense is to restrict your opponents access to cones, and therefore to 65% of points on the field. You can do this one of several ways:
- Block off access to the corners
- Hoard the cones by moving them to your zones
- Scoring them
The more cones you score, the more you restrict the scoring ability of your opponent, and thus raise the chance of your victory. There are ways to play defense in the game, you just have to think creatively
So is momentarily pinning an opponent allowed this year? If so, then what are the rules?
Yep! Hold up, let me find the ruling.
<SG4> A Robot may not Pin or Trap an opposing Robot for more than five seconds during the Driver
Controlled Period. A Pin or Trap is officially over once the Pinning Robot has moved away and the
Robots are separated by at least 2 feet (approximately one (1) foam tile). After ending a Pin or Trap,
a Robot may not Pin or Trap the same Robot again for a duration of 5 seconds; if a Team does pin
the same Robot again, the pinning count will resume from where it left off when the pinning Robot
initially backed off.
So you can harass a bot for five seconds after 5 seconds?
One of the teams in our school is building a mekanum drive that can expand on linear slides from the wheels turning. They are just going to block robots from entering the 5/10/20 point zones.
@callen I completely agree, points should be viewed as point differences, not just points scored. While it could definitely happen, I am not as confident that teams will move cones across their stacks. It would probably be quicker to just get more cones on the field or use the preloads and I doubt that all the cones will be scored until later in the year.
Yes, I’d originally made the suggestion when people questioned what to do after all 80 cones had been stacked, suggesting just parking. I suggested if one team just parks with plenty of time left, the other team could start stealing highest stacks.
I did this, but I did it with an X-drive instead. Do it with an X-drive. Also, if you try to do two parallel linear slides, you’ll have a really bad time.
@134Nate I would be mindful of the 48" expansion limit (theoretically up to 48*sqrt(2)" if you do it right). Another thing I would be wary of is that if you get pushed into the opponents’ zones, as long as they’re clearly doing it with the intent of reaching their own zones, you’re the one who would be handed the DQ, not them.
Entering the 5-point zone is [EDIT: meant to say NOT] forbidden. It would be hard to get pushed OVER a pipe into the 10-point zone.
Doesn’t say anything about the 5pt zone anywhere.
Super sorry - I meant to say “is NOT” forbidden. You’re right!
Yes I should have clarified - the opposing robot would have to push you into the 10 pt zone over the pipe. I guess that’s somewhat difficult if the blocking robot is well designed. Another consideration that just popped into mind was SG10a:
If the opposing robot was able to make contact with the bar despite your robot being in the way, then the blocking robot would have to leave. This also makes deployment a bit challenging, since a deploy during autonomous could easily be countered - the opponent robot just has to stay where it starts along the starting bar.
I’ll be very interested in seeing a successful wallbot. In the meantime, I’ll have to start thinking of ways to beat it 