Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

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Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

Ouch...that sucks on the .4 points lol. Yea I totally agree with you when you say a good robot should be guaranteed something, but I still think that a good robot will have enough of an edge in a game. All I am saying is that it will be hard to separate from the pack.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

there were a lot of frustrations for us also in many areas during week 3:
Penalties, penalties, penalties which kept killing our alliance and matches. It takes 3 to be successful and sometimes its frustrating when teammates lack an effort to be penalty free. I think our alliance had over 18 penalties in 12 matches including the playoffs. That's too much.
The week before, we only had 1 the whole weekend during seeding matches for our ENTIRE alliance caused by one of our partners.
Despite them, you only really need ONE good matchup where team alliance captains remember how good (or bad) your robot is. Its key, especially during the second round when teams look to complete their alliance.
Anybody can scout the top 10-12 teams, but what about the rest?
Teams that put up a good showing and/or have a reputation for doing well will always be selected during the elimination rounds. I'm not saying that we are good (or will we toot our own horn). However, we knew we would be selected by the #2 seeded team in the second round since they remembered our one good match winning 72-14 with two penalties. It was the only partner we had that could hurdle the entire seeding matches. That is all it took, one match. We have been fortunate, especially during our early years to have made the elimination rounds every regional we ever attended.
There is a lot of luck involved in winning regionals consistently and many, many reasons why teams can make the elimination rounds.
I think we all remember MORT in NJ last year or PINK in Florida. It didnt matter how they did for whatever reason. They were ensured a playoff spot. :)
I think the hardest thing for a good robot (not in the top 8) is being selected by a good #1 seeded team with the LAST pick.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

At the Connecticut Regional, we were first seed, and when talking with our first pick alliance partners (second seed) about who to pick last, we were shocked at how many good teams hadn't been picked. We had planned out our partnership with 175 ahead of time, and together we made a list of the top 24 teams according to us. We got #8 on our list for our third partner, amazingly. At least half of our top picks didn't get chosen to be in the top 24. I think it's because other teams weighed the ranking number too highly.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

sadly, this 'luck of the draw' thing has existed in a lot of FIRST games for a long time. Grading teams based on rank is, well, stupid considering all the variables that go into that one number. a team could be seeded highly because they rode on the backs of good alliance parners, or seeded lowly because they had tough matches and incompatible alliance partners. This is nothing new.

good scouters will usually counteract the seeding system. We chose 716, a team who was not seeded so well, because we saw them as a powerful partner who would complete our alliance.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

Though you may not be able to add to your opponents' score, you can let them score more by not playing defense on them. It seemed to us that that's how team 175 kept their 1st place position for a while, when both our teams were undefeated.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

this is the truth and well said! I see too many teams who keep watching the scoreboard, placing too much emphasis on QS and RS scores. I would instead keep watching matches to see what teams can do.
Again, its a no brainer ranking the top 10-12 teams on the scoreboard. The real skill is finding the team that is outstanding but had hard luck in random match pairings and/or other issues during seeding matches.
Its even harder to do when you attend some new regional for the first time and you start your event where everyone else is just a number at first.
Scouting is important, big time, especially for regionals with 60+ teams.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

Not playing defense won't help A LOT of teams that I've seen out there. When you're paired up against 3 teams that can't hurdle or outright can't move, how can letting them score get you qualification points. Sure it's great that you get a win, but it's not so great when you get 8th because robots that were not as good got slightly harder competition who could do a lap or 2.

Yes I am exaggerating and most teams who get first seed deserve it and teams that can't move aren't very common, but you get my point.

Re: Looking Back: Week 3
 

All you are doing is further pushing the point that the qualification system has the potential to overlook otherwise excellent teams. It seems as though we are all in agreement on that point, so why argue?

:D