different comp format?

[johnr]

I was thinking how this years game really requires the teams to work together far more then previous years and thought that a round robin type game would work pretty good. This would work best at IRI or a state finals. Three teams put together randomly and stay together for the whole event. You play best of three and if you lose drop down to another bracket and can work your way back up. Something along the lines the way wrestling comps are run. Obvious down side is you are with the same 3 teams but the longer you play together the better you get as an alliance. Just to different or maybe something to think about?

[Canon reeves]

Maybe something like this but you don't stay together the whole time? Because what happens if you get stuck with a dead robot, or with no shooting robots? So if you did tournament style matches to where each match is a best two out of three, but then you switch alliance partners? It would be interesting because when you beat somebody your strategy would have to adapt because they already know it. Interesting idea.

[CTbiker105]

...but the longer you play together the better you get as an alliance.

This seems like a cool idea. Gives you more time than just elims to formulate a consistent strategy. Of course, the more your alliance plays, the more other alliances are going to know your strategy and how to potentially overcome it. But that would go for everyone, so it'd be interesting to see how alliances' strategies would evolve throughout the competition.

[The other Gabe]

I have issues with teams getting stuck with teams that do not fit well with their playing style, or just general bad alliances. It is also in the ideas of FIRST that you have to evolve to fit your alliances and opponents as different people every match, and that your opponent one time may be an ally the next. without that, the qualities of coopertition will not flourish, since the 3 that are together will not want to help anyone else

[EricH]

Time to call on the old FIRST 101 threads...

Before I link to it, FIRST did actually do something like this WAY back in the Dark Ages (before alliances). The following link is a summary...

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39770

[PVCpirate]

There are some problems with random alliances as outlined above, but maybe at a 2 day event you could have alliance selections Friday night, and then have a few more hours to run elims and be able to get creative with them. One way to do it might be to split the 8(or more) alliances into 2 groups, play round robin within those, and then have them advance to the semifinals from there. You'd have to play against 5 different alliances to win that tournament!

[Billfred]

I forget what thread it was, but someone suggested a king of the hill format a year or three ago. Start with two alliances, play a match. Winner stays, losers (and everyone not playing that match) go back into the pool. Find two partners in the pits, queue up, take your shot to beat that alliance and take the hill. Lather, rinse, repeat.

(Practically speaking, you'd want to have two kings playing alternate matches. That creates the same cool-down period that playing in semifinals does.)

[Joe Ross]

I think a Round Robin on Einstein (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68573) would be perfect, and also support adding divisions.