[Jay O'Donnell]

Here's 1058 kickoff day:
After watching the game animation a few times we read the manual. In great detail. Read the manual, read the manual, read the manual. Read it until you all know every rule by heart. Next, our team discusses as a group what strategy we would want to do. We first start by looking for game breaking strategies (which are rare, but you don't want to miss them), and then we make a list of every possible strategy we could use, and discuss the pros and cons to each strategy. By the end of the day, we have a pretty reasonable list of the strategy we'd like to compete with. Usually designing for the actual robot doesn't happen until the last hour of the first day or until the second day. I know for a fact that some powerhouse teams spend multiple days just going through the game analysis.

As a second year team, I think it will be important for your team to know your limits and design within them. Know what resources you have and use them well. Good luck with your season!