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Unread 05-04-2015, 22:39
Squillo Squillo is offline
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AKA: Cynthia Hannah-White
FRC #2465 (Kauaibots)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Posts: 153
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Re: A Recycle Rush Reflection

All the talk of "selecting the proper team to complement" a high-ranked alliance is totally true, from the point of view of the top alliance captains, and I know they take it seriously,* however it ignores the fact that by the time the top alliances get around to picking, their choice of "the best complement" is necessarily be made from among a group of teams that DOES NOT INCLUDE many teams that would have actually made a better "complement" - but got picked already. You can be the best "niche" team ever but if so, you will almost certainly be picked BEFORE the top alliances get to their second picks.

I do have to admit that it was hard for our team this year, when we had the best robot and drivers ever, to know at 11 a.m. on Saturday that because we were good enough to be picked by a #4, #5, or #6 Captain (and of course couldn't say no unless we wanted to put together our own #7 or 8 alliance with even worse chances), we had basically no chance of being a finalist (this may not be true at all competitions, I know the #6, 7 and 8 alliances have won a few this year, but it wasn't happening at either of ours), whereas a robot that wasn't even top 20 would have a much better chance of ending up on the winning alliance. Yes, they would have to be a decent robot, the best of what was available then; but EVEN IF we'd been the "best" complement to the #1 alliance, we had no chance of hanging around long enough 'unpicked' to be able to be chosen by them. And same was true of many very good robots, niche and otherwise.

*My comment about the "popularity contests" actually comes from second-hand anecdotes I have heard from years ago, not only re: FRC but (probably moreso) other competitions, that involve younger students. I haven't seen it happen the past few years in FRC, I have to admit. So consider it withdrawn as having been the ill-considered product of frustration.
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