Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
In no particular order...
Well practiced drivers.
A robot that is designed to play the game from the beginning.
Luck.
A robot that doesn't break at a critical time or match.
Some more luck.
Partners that compliment your strengths and weaknesses.
A great strategy team taking good data on all teams.
Luck of the draw, i.e. either picking or getting picked by one of the teams high on your pick list.
A good coach who understands game strategy and doesn't get caught up in watching the match.
Luck that one of your picks is still around for the second draft.
Being able to switch from offense to defense as needed for a particular alliance.
Having one of the above infect an opponent at a critical time.
Luck!
Think about this year. Good scoring robots, good auto modes (one better than the other), fast minibots (one the fastest in the division), fast robots, good defensive moves, good data on our opponents for strategy, great operators and human players, and experienced coaches who worked together. Any of the top alliances on any division could have just as easily put some or most of these attributes together for success.
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That list right there is the reason why we won Lone Star in 2009. After we picked 704 and 1421, we spent our lunch time just discussing strategy and since we were the 5th seeded team, it gave us more time to talk about it when elims started. After the first match we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, then 118 brought us back down to Earth in the second match. That second match was really a turning point for our alliance and from there, we just clicked.
Basically I feel for a winning alliance, not only do you need good partners and teamwork, you also need some good chemistry. Chemistry helped us win in 2009 and I think all the winning alliances develop some form of chemistry to win every year.