Car nack 2014?
 

Will the great Car nack make any predictions this year? He has been quiet so far. I would love to hear his predictions for 2014.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I've been wondering this too, by this late into the build season Car Nack normally would've made 2-3 predictions.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

The great Car Nack has (if I am correct) retired from FIRST. Although, he did come back to make predictions last year, so you never know, he might do so again this year (But I doubt it, due to his lack of presence on CD this year.)

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

What about looking forward?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

He should be back.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I miss the almighty Car Nack. Hopefully he returns this season even if for only one prediction

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Have patience. It takes the great Car Nack time to navigate his camel across the Endless Sands. In due time, I am sure he will eventually arrive.

Like a wizard, Car Nack is never late. He always arrives precisely when he meets you.



Though I must admit, I am looking forward to seeing what gems of insight Car Nack has for us this year.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I too hope that the great, all knowing Car Nack can navigate the endless sands successfully and grace us yet again with his wisdom. I'd also like to thank him for introducing me to some hilarious Johnny Carson segments from way before my time.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

He was later in his prediction last year as well. I await the wisdom he will bestow upon us with great anticipation!

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Not trying to be rude but he seemed to be less correct these last few years. As he seemed to become less involved with first. I may be wrong and this id just my opinion but his correct predictions were super general. Perhaps it is time to crown a new oracle.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Blasphemy!

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Blasphemy! The great Car Nack will strike your house with his fury!

[Edit]: Darn, dodar beat me to it...

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Great Car Nack has no equal.

However, in a pinch, his long-time follower Kar Thack might fill in.:rolleyes:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Ugh, do I have to?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Yes.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

We love you, of course you have to come back.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

What if she doesn't want to?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I think the new Car Nack should be named Car Jack.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

So until he (she?) comes back, does anybody have some Car Nack style predictions?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Here is my "Car Nack" style prediction for the game. I wrote it a week ago, and I'm hoping to see if it comes true.

This year, due to the unique single-ball game, we will see a huge difference in match quality between the qualification rounds and elimination rounds at all events, including the championship. In years prior, there were few random alliance pairings where all three robots were able manipulate game pieces well, so teams will be forced to deal with the sticky situation of telling a partner that they don't want them to touch the ball the whole match, or sacrifice points.

That being said, a defensive robot can be really powerful and high seeding. A good defense bot can completely shut down scoring for a robot with a kit drive. The most successful qualification round robots will be the ones who can score quickly and accurately while avoiding passing or getting the ball on the ground. The top teams will do cycles by themselves in teleop, with the better ones scoring truss points and catching their own ball, and few may be able to make the "running truss goal", where the ball is launched by a moving robot over the truss and into the goal, with the robot reaching their zone before the ball goes through the goal.

Now for the elimination rounds. We'll see quite a few inexperienced teams in the top 8 this year, so the elimination alliances might not always be the greatest. OPR and the w/l/t sorting methods will be pretty useless. In the elimination rounds at regionals/districts with a deep enough pool of robots to choose from, elims will be really cool. Assists are more viable, and there will be a lot of fun pushing matches.

Finally, the two (three) biggest things that teams will miss. This happens every year.

1.) Catching. It's really useful. Being able to get the ball from a throw from the human player instead of picking it up from the ground is a huge time saver, especially if you're going the truss points too.

2.) Pickup. The build blitz/Ri3D style pickups work, but they aren't perfect. A great pickup will make the difference between top 8 and not playing in elims. Being able to pickup the ball if it's moving, not moving, from the side, and straight on are all important.

(3.) The 1114 design. I don't think it's great for this year. It works really well in 2008, but I would be really surprised if 1114 went with that design again. It lacks the ability to catch, and while it does have a decent intake, it could be better.

Also, one more prediction, this year is the year of swerve. I think we'll see at least a few of the big teams that haven't done swerve in a while (like 111, 118, 254, 1114, 148) go swerve this year.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Yes, I'm...
looking forward to it.




Wow Griffin... :ahh:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

The use of the goalie position will be exceedingly rare. In fact, there will be some regional/district events where no goalie is seen throughout the entire competition.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Here's my prediction

Shooting is being overemphesized. Some regionals and district events will see robots in the top 8 that cannot shoot at all.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

The only thing preventing this in my mind is how easy shooting is. Teams who can't will have to have chosen not to, for the most part. Teams will absolutely choose not to, but not in huge numbers. The (up to) 29 extra points per cycle from a shooter is very tempting.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Successful alliances will feature a combination of robots that can make a very soft toss and those that can catch the ball. The ideal pass/assist will resemble Lunacy more than Rebound Rumble or Breakaway. The transfer needs to happen in a moment's contact without careful alignment between of the passer and receiver.

Defense will be important and brutal, but less of a winning strategy than many think. Unlike previous multi-piece games where the result was based on pieces scored, a defense specialist can't produce a net "positive" for the alliance by taking down the opponent's top scorer. Having the third bot possess the ball - even briefly - is worth 20 points per cycle. Everyone that is capable of possessing the ball will be compelled to do it. Those who can't won't go far in eliminations. Defense will be everybody's part time job, not their career.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

^This.:)

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Agreed.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Theoretical
Alliance A:
2 robots that can throw and catch. 1 robot who is a box bot career defender.

Alliance B:
3 robots who can possess and throw but not catch.

Situation:
Box bot locks down 1 robot making it a 2 on 2 match. Who wins?


Point being that career defenders will be strong if up against the right alliances. This game is a little bit like last year in that the entire flow and strategy of the game is based on what you have to work with and what your opponent has to work with.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

There will be >0 goalies on Einstein.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Why is everyone focusing on playing defense on a single robot? There's only one ball - your defense should be focused on that!

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Mech wheeled robots will not be alliance captain, 1st pick, or 2nd pick on Einstein.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Andy Baker puts mecanum wheels on his robot ... and wins champs anyway. :rolleyes:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Ok I will bite Which team did this? And my comment were for this game.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Andy Baker's team. I understand that this year, Andy Baker's robot can acquire the ball from the Human Player, throw it over the Truss and catch it itself, and score in the high goal, all in approximately 4.5 seconds. The rest of the alliance? Trying to slow down Andy Baker's robot so it can actually be seen.

Last year, Andy Baker's robot could shoot every white frisbee into the high goal in roughly 2 minutes, then dump all 6 colored frisbees into the pyramid goal (and yes, it did take two trips) while scoring the 30 point climb bonus AND hauling its partners up with it for an extra 60 points. How, you ask? It was Andy Baker's robot.


(... and sometimes they just jump into the boat. :p )

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Andy Baker is Chuck Norris

Sticks and stones may break your bones but Andy Baker robots will beat you

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

254 has shown me 14 years and counting, that you can be successful with a WCD no matter what game is presented. I'd be shocked to see them do a swerve this year. Much like 1717 NOT doing a swerve.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Anything that moves sideways is a waste of time.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Why do you consider "career defense" and assists to be mutually exclusive?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

You can specialize in defense and never "complete" a cycle, but if defense is ALL you do, you are costing your alliance 20 points per cycle. Defense specialists will need to take frequent (hopefully) pauses from playing defense to handle their own alliance ball. By the same token, offense specialists will find themselves needing to play a lot of defense.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Who says you need to "pause" playing defense to handle your alliance's ball?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

#caughtbluehanded

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

:ahh:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Also from 254:
:yikes:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Hmm...http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/29988 ;)

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Somebody's been getting into the Tumbleweed lately... :rolleyes:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I know these are 148's swerve (even though it's not sheet metal:D ), but how were these made? A solid block of aluminum? If so, that's awesome :cool:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Guys, these are clearly not 254's. I mean come on, they're not even slightly blue. :p

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I predict that atleast 1 person is going to get hit by a ball scored through the goal week 1.

I also predict that FRC will eventually put nets up behind the goals of some sort to protect innocent viewers.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

We were both right! Although I would never have guessed that 1114 would be the goalie.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Other prediction hindsights:

Truss catching was undervalued and never really caught on.
Human Player utilization was HUGE!
The Build Blitz/Ri3D/TBD pickups were fine and were used by a majority of (good) teams.
The 1114 design worked fine, and was used again by 1114 and MANY other successful teams.
Swerve still hasn't won Einstein yet?
Shooting could be worked around at district/regional matches, but your alliance had to shoot 10's to win the event.
Defense WAS everybody's part time job/not their career.
FIRST never put nets up to stop the balls from hitting people.

What else did I miss.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Swerve
111 09
148 08
67 05

Others maybe?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

111 in 2003.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

16 in 2012

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Not week 1, but still hilarious:

https://www.facebook.com/frc1114/posts/835558103125416?

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

I don't agree with this, events could definitely be won with the one point goal.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

He's likely referencing the Southfield district, where the 7th seed made an excellent appearance with 3-assist low goal cycles, but lost to faster, 2-assist high goal cycles. While I've seen matches won that way, and it happened a lot in champs qualifications, once weeks 3 and 4 hit, elims were too high caliber to consider strictly 31 point cycles as a valid strategy.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Case in point: The winning alliance at the WPI District: 190,2877,4473

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

We won Livonia and were finalists at Lansing with our alliances shooting no high goals after autonomous.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

It is? :eek:

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

In that other thread, Tom clarified his position very nicely, and Jeff explained very clearly why your team's robots don't really waste time moving sideways.

Re: Car nack 2014?
 

Come back to us.. Great Car Nack...