So, this game manual update (Sep 3) is pretty insane, practically reworking quite alot of game features, such as the expanded positive corner protection as well as the new corner shapes. What are your thoughts? How do you think the strategy will change, along with the meta?
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I don’t think this game manual update will actually change strategy that much, but more so speed up its natural progression (that being wall stakes and climbing becoming more important). For example, I think we were already beginning to see wall stakes being important in more competitive matches. However, the rewritten SG4 rules will make wall stakes more appealing and encourage more teams to use them earlier in the season. As for climbing, it has not yet become important, but I believe it would have later in the season even with the rules as they were. However, with the extended 15 second positive corner protection, there is more time for climbing while also allowing some teams to focus on protecting their mobile goals from being placed in the negative corners, so I think more teams will go for tier two or three climbs.
Otherwise, the triangular corner shapes I think will affect strategy some, forcing teams to really have their mobile goal all the way against the corner of the field, I predict, easier to defend. The only thing I’m upset about really is that rings now count as scored even if they’re contacting the field tiles (I was looking forward to tipping mobile goal).
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How long was the corner protection before? I though it was 15 seconds. I
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Previously, the protection for the positive corners was only 10 seconds.
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I’ve had to peel so much tape for this game. First the corrner stickers, now the corrners themselves, I’m just not going to retape until v3 at this point.
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In version 1.0 it was 10 second protection in positive corner.
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Well…
I have read through the changes, and am feeling lazy so I won’t quote every change and respond to them separately. I’ll just give my consensus.
I think that this update was a step in the right direction. However, I don’t think it will cause the about-face that many competitors were hoping for.
The new corner definition is probably better. Easier to ref.
The 15 second protection is probably good. Even more time to hang
The ring placement swaps are above me. I don’t see any large effects of that.
The SC3 change is probably an improvement. Teams will be forced to actually descore.
The SG4 change is probably good, but not that big of a deal. Descoring is still difficult and risky.
China is cooking up some good robots though, and I think there is hope for High Stakes.
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One strategy I could think of is purposely tipping your own goal so it is harder to score in the negative zone because the points still count.
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My thoughts on the update:
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The corner rework is interesting. Notably, the corners are no longer defined as the white tape lines and foam tiles themselves, and are now defined as a infinitely tall 3-dimensional volume bounded by the white tape lines. This will make it much easier to ref, and not quite as difficult for a single mobile goal to be quickly shoved into a corner.
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I dislike the awp changes but everything else is just kinda ok
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Those only apply for worlds qualifying events such as signatures or regionals. It is the same as before for normal tournaments. It is this way because last year thoes competitions had a crazy AWP rate (it was like 70%+ but not sure) so this makes a reliable auton more important at higher level comps.
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I know but I still kinda don’t like it because it seems like the GDC is just trying to kill solo AWP (which is still possible with this update but harder) which makes matches with pushbot teammates even worse.
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I feel like it makes sense that pushbots at state competitions can’t benefit from another person’s AWP. VEX is an inherently teamwork based competition and if your teammate can’t score a single ring in auton then your team will most likely loose anyway.
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I agree with that, but I disagree with being dragged down by a random teammate even if you’re good. Solo AWP guarantees that even if you lose, you’ll still get some compensation. Killing that makes qualifications even more luck based where, on certain occasions, anyone can go anywhere on the list non-representative of their actual skill.
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This video is a great breakdown of the new rules and changes, thanks for sharing
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I don’t believe the actual strategy will change much, since most of the update was rewriting definitions and changing the sizes of the corners. The next game manual update should probably change the definitions and rules for climbing the ladder, but that’s just me
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I’m just curious but what do you guys think about the 2.0 manual update? I have mixed feelings, especially about not being able to tip mobile goals anymore and positive goals being protected for a longer period of time.
FYI, you can still tip MoGos the rings touching the ground just count for points now
I think that the tipping debuff could make strategies more interesting as you can tip your own goal to stop the other team from being able to put it in the negative corner. The longer engame is exclusively beneficial (honestly I want it to be 30) it reduces the camping in the corner, increases the time to get a tier 2 or 3 climb, and (along with the sg4 change) makes wall stakes more viable.
Most of the post MoA complaints are at least partially solved by this change, and while there could be more, this is a great change.
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