Re: Observations after week !
 

Been there before. Some teams have different attitudes toward the competition. I guess the best thing to do is make sure everyone on the alliance knows all of the rules. We make sure our PS is on top of everything they can screw up, so they don't.

Re: Observations after week !
 

More of the same comments:
Human Player is VERY important
Strategy is VERY important
Pinning and shooting is VERY important
Talk to your alliance in queue and work out your gameplan.
Empty cells and super cells are VERY important.
Did I say human player is VERY important.
Read the rules and test everyone before they go out to the field.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

Well...crap. I take full responsibility for that one. My poor strategy did that...

Re: Observations after week !
 

One girl on our team asked about it and was told it was ok to throw but when she did a ref gave a penalty.

Re: Observations after week !
 

That's why it's very important to ask the head referee when you have rules questions and to be very specific when you do ask the questions.

Now just for example, if your quote above was the question it sounds like it would have been:

"Is it ok to throw this?"

Depending on time of the game, what "this" is, and all other factors, your answers may vary.

If you ask "Am I allowed to throw an empty cell over the outpost shield during a match?"

...you get a much more direct and clear answer and you won't get penalties called on your team.

Re: Observations after week !
 

Since the rules clearly state that you cannot, it seems like you would never even need to ask the question?

Re: Observations after week !
 

Teamcap 2395-That is very interesting.....we too were at OKC (Team 2389) and you might remember we had comm troubles the entire regional. When I tried to get assistance, the FIRST people told me that we were the only ones having that problem and that no other teams were experiencing no comms. They simply blew it off saying it was "your robot" but I was simply trying to get a fix on what was wrong. I was a mentor for 2389 and we changed EVERYTHING except the receiver. The only reason we didnt change that was time constraints because it would force us to have to reprogram and have another numer assigned. I thing communications is a bigger problem here that what they want to admit. I think there was several teams having the same problems. One time it would be fine, the next match we would loose it. There's more to the story here..........

Re: Observations after week !
 

First off, I learned that the GDC did a really great job designing the game this year, for several reasons:
-This game involves more strategy than I have ever seen before.
-Offense and defense are finally balanced, as you can't really do one without the other.
-Autonomous is important enough that every team should do it yet simple enough that every team can do it.
-Penalties are not deciding matches as often as last year.
-The human player is very important.

...the list goes on.

As far as things I've learned:
1. DO NOT leave your disable dongle screwed into your competition port when you go out onto the field! This happened to one of our alliance partners at DC. The team was unable to get the dongle off in time; when our other alliance partner tried to help them, both were disabled for being out of position at the start of the match. That was the only qualifying match we lost.

2. Train your PS. Our's threw all four empty cells over the wall during a practice match, netting our alliance 40 points in pentalties. We're lucky it was only a practice match.

3. Be careful with batteries; it's very disappointing to watch the cRIO continuously reset itself because your battery is at 6V.

4. Don't get your trailer jackknifed in the opposing alliance's refueling station corner. This is the worst possible position you can be in on the field. It caused us to lose an elimination match; our robot was flat against the drivers' wall, our trailer was flat against the side wall, and we could not move while the opposing alliance's PS easily scored 5-8 moonrocks.

5. Attempting to win a pushing match is futile. Unless your opponent has absolutely no traction control, you will not get anywhere. Get out of the way and move on.

6. Supercells are more important than I thought they would be, especially in the elimination rounds.

7. This game is very difficult to scout.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

How do you know the higher seeded alliance wins half the time? This only shows red and blue wins.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

In elimination rounds, the red alliance is the higher seed. The cited stat was from elims, not qualifiers.

Re: Observations after week !
 

avoid two empty cells.
we had one in our system and trying to unload it we pushed another with our bumper...

it was a penalty.


and while super cells are a great life line, a strong alliance doesn't necessarily need them.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

red is always the higher seeded alliance in the elimination matches

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

Only if the higher seed wins.

If 1 loses to 8 in the quarters, 8 becomes red for every subsequent match they play in the elims.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

That is not true, At Midwest regional, in the semifinals the #8 seed alliance was red and the #4 was blue, and in the finals the #3 seed was blue and the #4 seed was red.

Re: Observations By the Numbers [<G14> - 11%]
 

Exactly. We were red in the finals at BAE, as the #4 seed, playing against the #2 seed.