Just today, I realized that Rapid relay has the highest requirement for a robot to score points, as you need at least an arm and claw to do anything. Previous years, there was always options for a drivetrain to score, like the yellow dispenser in slapshot, knocking over red cubes and parking in full volume, or even just knocking the balls off the ramp in bank shot. However, in a skills run, a drivetrain has no way to score at all. Another thing I noticed, the hero bot this year is actually better than a lot of the other hero bots, which makes me wonder if a “starting zone leave” method of scoring could be added, but that is just speculation.
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Do you mean something like the parking of Full Volume? I do not think the GDC could add that as previous scores will basically be invalidated (but who knows!)
I also noticed that Swish is decent and can be copetivitave with only a few modifacations (intake speed + strength, two ball capacity, faster charging, better drivetrain…) Overall, I think the hero bots do their job well for the most part (I’m takling about you, Snapshot)
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Is this a bad thing?
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Remember that you get a pre load. Build a square drive base. Build an upper deck that is 2 pitch taller than the bottom goal. Build a holder for the ball that lets it overhang the base. Drive and smash the ball into the lower goal, it will trip the switch (1) and score (1). Not an awesome score but a score.
We build a base, put some kind of scoop on the front and spend an hour herding balls around to “pass” So a drive base can participate in the game, and actually be a big help with a shooter, just feeding them balls all match.
I agree with: Is this a bad thing? The hero bots help everyone rise a little more.
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Totally agree. There was really good scoring tiers/progression in the last few years. For our more competitive teams, this kind of optimization game is still holding their interest this year, but for our beginner teams, this game is a nightmare. The number of registered teams in our district is down 60% this year. Generally it’s been a decent game for our MS teams, but our ES kids absolutely hate it- even the competitive ones are usually paired with robots that can’t pass or score, and while differentiated strategies based on alliance are all part of the strategy, it just isn’t very fun.
Definitely think that parking or knocking a ball of a starting peg would have been good, or just having the space in between the goals be a floor-level goal worth fewer points would have been great.
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Even Slick the pusher bot can even pass. Remember, the pass rule is Robot A touches it and then Robot B picks it up and shoots it. The passing robot doesn’t need to do much more that push it.
In a good partnership game, Robot B could hang down at the scoring end and Robot A scoots around pushing balls into the gaping maw that is the loader for Robot B. A fast version of Slick with some driving skills attached to it would make a great partner.
Linq with rollers on the front (from last year) or Stretch with a slightly wider claw could both play and score this year.
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It’s true that even a basic bot can contribute to scoring in teamwork, though they can’t score in skills, and the two of them paired in teamwork couldn’t get more than a couple passes. Certainly the Herobot is well designed to accomplish the game challenge.
But I think the point still stands that the bar for scoring, and most of all for fun, is much, much higher. This perhaps is most obvious in autonomous skills, which almost no teams even attempted in our first competition, vs. the 5/20/32 easy points progression in Full Volume.
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Yes, you are right, that Full Volume easy Auto score got lots of roboteers excited.
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I’m just gonna add one thing.
I do not think this is a bad thing.
Swish can be very competitive.
It’s more fair to the teams that spend lots and lots of time on their robots to perfect them if they get paired with a team that may not have the time/resources to build anything more than a drivetrain or the hero bot (I was on one of those teams that could barely score last year).
VEX really doesn’t like pushbots this year. In High Stakes, a pushbot can’t score anything at all (In matches).
"The GDC which is made up from RECF and VEX staff do not like pushbots this year. " is a better way to say that.
Just a clarification for the new people here.
Thanks for being aware that skill levels change across team experience too.
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Sorry, I should know better than to make that mistake by now. Thanks for correcting me.
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