Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

I believe that also happened to 1261 in one of our quarterfinal matches as well. I think it was after this match too :rolleyes:

During matches I've seen so many human players sacrifice tubes to unsuccessfully try and stop a team from scoring. It gave them a nice tube conveniently nearby to score again right after.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

The field gets so flooded with tubes sometimes it looks like a ball pit.
I don't think it's necessary to throw all those tubes out especially if you're just helping the opposing alliance score more tubes. Teams should be more judicious about chucking tubes all over the place.

Also I can't recall a more flimsy game piece than these tubes. They get trashed so easily. Every event it looks like were gonna run out of them. FIRST should at least double the amount they have on hand at the events to make sure we don't run out.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

Each feeder station is provided with enough tubes to fill up each alliance wall with 6 logos. I don't think one team taking another's tube is so important, since there are probably 11 other tubes of the same kind on the field.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

I think you're confusing people with the over use of the word each. I'm not sure where your getting six logos per alliance wall per feeder station.

Each feeder station (4, one on each corner of the field) contains three of each tube. So 12 of each game piece in total, some of which will still be with the human player or already on the grid.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

Sorry! I meant 6 of each tube!

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

While there may be enough tubes to fill up the entire field, there is certainly no need to gift easy tubes to the opposing alliance or needlessly clutter your own side of the field. Many HPs I saw this weekend seemed to be throwing tubes over the wall without any real strategy or thought of where they might end up.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

Keep in mind, this is all from what I experienced from my regional, Seattle Cascade:

- Most of the dispenser-loaders got left in the dust. This wasn't always the case if the robot was fast and maneuverable, however: 488's robot was primarily fed (could do both however), but was so fast that it didn't really matter, and was what helped their team get to the finals.

-tubes getting stuck in the lanes would Really hinder robots loading from the dispenser. If you can at least move the tubes out of the way with a simple mechanism that can drag tubes on the floor, it can save the day

-Actually getting tubes onto the peg was a huge problem for a lot of teams... they could pick them up easily enough, but spent a whole lot of valuable time trying to actually drop the tube. Robots that could propel the tube or drop it with an articulated mechanism excelled at scoring, and winning games.

-Minibots literally make or break the game. nearly every game that would have won from scoring was lost when the other was the only one to deploy the minibot. In fact, there was a game that was 33 to 4, except the latter deployed, which would have won them the match with 34 if not for a penalty. Also, if you are the only team that deploys the minibot, it almost always means a win for you, and that actually happened more often than not.

-The penalty I hear most often is teams breaking the lanes, and when I was watching, I noticed a lot of teams moving almost intentionally moving into the lanes to navigate around blocking robots. This actually cost those teams a lot of games. Be sure to be read up on the rules, and don't break those lanes.

-For alliance pickers, if you are worried about picking your 3rd alliance, choosing one with that doesn't score well or at all can still be advisable if they have a working mini-bot. This actually got us into the semis.

And of course, have fun!

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

General stuff in no particular order:
- Good HP's are faster than feeder bots and free them to play defense without affecting your score significantly. HP skill is more critical than any other game, with the possible exception of Lunacy.
- Struggling or untrained HP's are faster - for your opponents - than their own feeder bots. I've seen HP's empty throw their entire supply and never get one past midfield or wait for one to be collected by their own alliance. Baffling.
- Floor pickup is good. Fast floor pickup is great.
- A lot of teams have more trouble releasing the tube onto the peg than they do aligning it to the peg.
- There's only room for two hanger bots. The other should feed or defend, depending on the situation.
- Defense can't win unless somebody on your alliance is scoring.
- An ubertube in a top row logo is worth as much as an entire mid row logo. That took some time to sink in. Take the time to do it reliably.
- Minibot deployment reliability is much more important than minibot speed - especially at the regional level. Give it the attention it needs.
- Few successful teams will finish the season with the same minibot they started with.
- A single strong team can carry an alliance in most qual matches. Not true in elims.
- There really isn't much contact between the alliances. In many cases, you could put each alliance on the field by itself at different times and just compare scores/minibot times to determine the winner. If you ran staggered 2 vs. 1 matches it would be almost completely true.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

It's been said before and I'll say it again. If you keep throwing the tubes into the tower, don't throw the tubes! You could potentially knock down the tower lights as what happened at West Michigan, You could ring the tower which happened multiple times at West Michigan, you could descore the opponent and cause a red card, or you could simply throw the tube into the opponent's zone. So make sure your team's HP knows what they are doing.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

At the Seattle Cascade regional, the HP for FIRST Team 1510 was on the field all Thursday throwing tubes during the practice matches whenever there was an open slot. It paid off as the Wildcats were part of the winning alliance.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

Do not underestimate the role and importance of the Analyst. During the match, this person sees the entire field and moves around from team to team and advises them as needed. This becomes especially important during Eliminations: the Analyst must maintain the strategy set forth by the alliance...this person is the Field General, if you will. While the Coach is concentrating on his/her own team and watching the clock, the Analyst needs to coordinate the entire alliance and sees things that the Coaches do not.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

From playing at the Peachtree Regional and making it all the way to being an alternate for the elmination rounds (we are only a second year team), having a bot that is EASY TO CONTROL is important. there were many times where we had a tube but we had a lot of trouble either putting the tube on the peg or orienting the bot on the field due to confusing controls. DO NOT CHANGE YOUR CONTROLS AFTER SHIP DATE UNLESS YOU HAVE TESTED IT IN THE OFF SEASO AND YOUR DRIVER IS PARTICULARLY GOOD WITH THEM! It cost us a regional. And make sure your bot can pick up off the floor quickly. if you can, but it takes forever, go to the feeder station. it is better to go to the station and get a tube than spend the entire match attempting to pick the same tube from the floor. CHECK YOUR BATTERIES! there were two matches where we sat there dead n the water because we hadn't bothered to check our batteries in the pit. Learn to use the kit parts as well. All of them. well. learn their features, how to use them, when, and learn to get creative.

MOST OF ALL, HAVE FUN!!!

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

The key is to be versatile. You will need to be able to pick from the floor and the feeder station. At Pittsburgh Simbotics was quick to make rows from floor loading in the mid field. During the elims, when we played them, we were able to stop their floor loading by getting to the tubes quicker, so they immediately switched to the feeder stations. Althought our strategy did not win us the round, we were able to keep their scores a little lower than others.

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

Penalties make all the difference.

We would have been the 1st overall seed, had one of our alliance partners not been called for pinning.

During elims, a double red card in the semis meant a replay of the third semi-final match. The important issue became that we now carried a yellow card.

In the finals, we won the first match and dominated the second match, but there was a penalty on one of our alliance partners that resulted in another yellow, so a red card was given again. We went on to lose the regional, but this is how important penalties are.

[Disclaimer] We are not mad at any of the teams mentioned above. I just wanted to put this out there as a learning experience for all teams.[/Disclaimer]

Hope this helps people, and good luck for the rest of the season!

Re: Lessons learned in all weeks.
 

I believe 175 human loads as well...