In Vex’s 2017-2018 game In the Zone, a viable strategy was to matchload until you had a high stack of cones, which you could then place to get points. This is very similar to Pinnacle, where there are 9 matchloads of pins and cups per robot compared to 5 pins and 3 cups per quarter of the field. It is also much easier and much faster to matchload than go around picking pins and cups up. Does anyone else think this is what the matchplay meta will be?
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I definitely think that match play will be match load at the beginning of the match, and the rest of the match will be toggles.
I don’t know if teams have started building high stacks yet, but based on some early interactions with the pins and cups, it seems like the stacks get really unstable by about 50 inches. Moving around the field with a huge stack might not work as well as hoped (these don’t nest as solidly as ItZ cones did, imo).
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Considering there is no vertical expansion limit, you could build a support structure to improve this problem, which is fun to think about (how to expand it, how to support stacks but also release them to score). At some point though the stack itself will raise your CG so much that you’ll just tip over trying to drive at any reasonable speed.
4 Likes
I definitely think that the pinnacle meta will lean heavily towards matchloading. One problem I see with this(i suggest gdc members take notes), it will create a split environment where its just a race to see who matchloads and stacks faster on alliance goals because they’re protected. Its an easy way to win and there isn’t really any incentive to go for the neutral goals as point values are identical to alliance goals but aren’t protected. As for center goal play, I think teams will only score on center goal when they are losing by a great margin because of the ownership scoring system. Lastly, yes, I do acknowledge this game was made on very short notice(from my understanding) so Im not trying be harsh
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This is just my opinion though
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