How do you define “higher-level” innovation?
Innovation is innovation.
If everyone has problems with the opponents doing a quick descoring of their scored blocks, then isn’t it also a worthwhile innovation to see how you can stop your opponents from doing that?
Or if teams are facing problems with their blocks rolling way beyond the control zones? then any ways to prevent that?
I don’t see all these efforts as a “lower-level” innovation.
Innovation is innovation. As long as it helps to give me an edge in the match, then it is a good innovation.
Drivetrain bots being able to contribute literally benefits everyone. A lot of clubs don’t have a lot of time for practicing or they might not feel the need of pursuing more complex mechanisms if they are working on something else. And the experts will always preform better on average, did you ever see an alliance with only roller mech robots and no autonomous beat well designed flywheel bots in spin up?
And it doesn’t? At least not this year. There was still a ton of innovation happening in Over Under, while it also gave lower level teams a chance to contribute to their alliance. I think this game struck a pretty good balance, where lower level teams can contribute, but won’t be winning anything, while higher level teams can still innovate and win tournaments.
The animated instructions for assembling the high goals show the clear tubes being mounted with 0.5" screws inserted from underneath, mating with nylock nuts on the inside.
We found that this wasn’t doable; the screws themselves came together in the center, and there wasn’t room to get the nylocks on. So we put the screws through from the inside out. I suspect other teams may be doing the same (based on a very limited review of RiXh videos).
Having the nuts instead of the screw heads protruding into the channel might present somewhat more obstruction (though I doubt enough to make much difference to descoring).
So, how are other teams assembling these joints? And are they actually supposed to be screwed from the outside in?
I did some testing with a field i just got and i managed to push 6-7 of the balls out of a long goal by pushing into it very quickly. a motion like this can be done with pistons, which could lead to some pretty chaotic descoring.
Looks like the Game is working the way it is designed to be plays. Fast paced, back and forth interactions between robots from opposing alliances. It appears not to be a flaw, but by design. Game play strategies will have to keep this in mind.
BTW all the balls can be cleared from all the goals as it is opened, it will be fun to see what prototypes are developed in the coming weeks.
I actually think this is fine and makes for a more dynamic game, having fast descore hurts BOTH teams, it’s better to get descored on and have the opportunity to score than to have a game essentially locked because they can just camp one place the entire match. I feel this improves dynamicism, and we should just focus and put our effort towards the real issue, the game manual
Yea I must say i agree, I’m from Hong Kong but I learn vex in Shen Zhen. One of the main problems with the field that i had must be the center goals. Because we are using 600 RPM motors with large machines, whenever we ram into the center goals they just lift up pulling the foam mats underneath upwards. This tilts literally just drops all the blocks out. Like when we are in training, one of our strategies when the control bonus is given to the opposing team, we just spam forward and backwards and that just clear everything out. This season feels like a massive disappointment and a huge flop, and it might have been one of the most anticipated seasons and one of the most competitive seasons that we have ever had. Especially with the popularity of vex increasing and as the competitiveness and spirits grows higher. This just feels like the designers gave 1. no effort whatsoever in the design 2. Zero testing of the game mechanics. And don’t even get me started on the quality of the materials. The plastic is weak and flimsy. I swear my coach is getting worries about this. The field cost 900 USD or 7200 Rmb / hkd. It’s been around one month, and I can already see the scratches and cracking in the plastic. Remember the High Stakes Tower and the Poles on the edge. Those were strong, credit to whoever designed those. Or the Over and Under ones. Those could withstand entire machines ramming into them, and for good reason. Those were held by actual strong metal. Both of these were Heavy, durable, and functional. Unlike the absolute joke of a field that’s in this season. By the way, the quality of the field seems to be a recurring problem. The materials used in the season was an absolute failure. The metal used to hold the goals are thin like paper. They have practically zero weight and they go flying the moment any robot makes contact with them. This season has a poorly designed game, minimal testing, and the absolute joke of a field that literally no quality. For a 7200 RMB field, you’d think that you’d be getting something good. Theres many more problems that I don’t want to mention because this isn’t constructive feedback and it isn’t what the vex team needs to fix the game. Here’s some solutions I have: 1. Rubber rings facing inwards that attach to the side of the goal. This forces drivers to race against the other team to fill the goals to the maximum. After all the slots are filled the drivers can then use their robots to descore, because they need more force to be able to descore from the inward facing rubber rings. 2. Change the rules of parking to become easier to earn the 30 points. Although teams may be punished for parking because the opponents can descore. These two rules make it harder for people to descore and more rewards to parking. Giving people more motivation to park. 3. Quality wise I would say there’s nothing we can really do about it. Just remind the game designer of next year’s games to find better materials for the field. Let this be a reminder for the game designers. To test the game and have better quality materials.
The metal used in the goals is 2.5mm Steel. This is approximately 25x thicker than a standard piece of paper. 2.5mm Steel is very strong and is one of the thickest steel field elements we have ever put on the field…
A little harsh assessment coming from someone who just joined the forum and whose first topic is concerning. I would recommend not posting for a bit and use the time to read the myriad of helpful articles in library.recf.org - policies, Game Manual, etc… https://v5rc-kb.recf.org/hc/en-us
It sure may be strong but its really light, and like I mentioned, whenever a robot merely bumps it, it goes flying and sending all the blocks within it back to the floor.
If they did one thing write it would be the blocks. They are the same material as the rings from High Stakes, which should be pointed out. Good job for sticking with something that already worked.
that could be a possibility, thanks for the suggestion. I’ve actually been to a competition already in Wu Han and the courts there have the same issue as ours here. Thanks for telling me that, I’ll try to give more helpful comments. Sorry for any problems caused by my previous comment.
Truly sorry about that. Back in Hong Kong we’re used to harsh criticism, however if this is not the norm then I will change the way I give feedback. I should reconsider how I approach things like this.
