[Bruce Newendorp]

After spending the weekend at the Northern Lights Regional at the northern end of I35 (compared to all the buzz about the one near the southern end of I35) my observations are:
Pros:
1. A manipulation game vs. a shooting/throwing game is a very nice change. Quick scoring is still highly valued but this game requires smooth driving and finesse.
2. I was concerned the playoffs would be fairly predictable and end up with the alliances getting the same score for every playoff match. This was not the case and the playoffs were exciting through the finals. Our alliance (3130, 525, & 4215) had scores ranging from 99 to 163 over the 7 playoff matches. With the scoring coming in large chunks one wrong move can completely change a match outcome.
3. Alliances of robots with varying ability is a huge benefit. We are a feeder station robot and can make 2 stacks with containers. 3130 was very good at getting containers off the step and can make 2 stacks with containers from the landfill. 4215 made stacks from the other feeder station. Picking alliance partners with the best skill fit is critical to success this year.

Cons:
1. The alliance vs. alliance competition is missing and takes away some of the excitement. In previous games strategic decisions on both alliances matter. Not so much this year.
2. Since high scores is all that matters, coopertition was and will not be a priority for all teams. Simply put some teams can score as many or more points on their own as they can doing the coopertition stack. We had to turn down doing coopertition with our opposing alliance because it was not advantageous to us. That’s not how we like to play but given the qualification scoring rules we have no choice but to maximize our score every match. We are sorry to any teams we had to have that discussion with.
3. Autonomous is very strange this year. Unless a team can get the three tote set, there is not much value in doing any autonomous scoring. An orderly field is easier for teams to plan a strategy around and generally the autonomous routines I saw made a mess of the field leaving it in a disadvantageous state for teleop. With more work we think we can get the three tote stack in autonomous but I doubt we will work on it any more. The risk does not outweigh the reward so we are likely to continue to use autonomous to get a container in position for teleop.

Other:
1. At Northern Lights the two teams that could make two 4-6 tall stacks with containers had qualification scores in the mid 90’s. There’s a significant gap to the next 6 qualifying scores which were in the upper 60’s to upper 70’s. Getting 2 tall stacks in 135 seconds will put teams at the top of the ranking. The litter and cooperation points average out over all the matches.
2. While coopertition points are a good way to get qualification points they have no value in the playoffs. Alliance selection picks need to consider this.