[engunneer]

Originally Posted by nighterfighter

I was the team representative during alliance selection that year...I still remember hearing you yell "WOOOOO!", even over all the noise, when we picked you. And we still tell our new members stories of piling random objects (hammers I believe) into your robot to buff up your weight, to play defense. One of our other mentors still has the cockasaurus rex t-shirt!

On topic:

Depending on where you are seeded and how you have performed, you should know if you are going to be a 1st pick or a 2nd pick. If you are going to be a 2nd pick, you will most likely be playing defense or some other utility role. (This year it might be breaching, or maybe you can specialize in doing a solo drawbridge/sally port). Use that to your advantage. Gently remind teams that you can cross that defense by yourself, and can grab a ball, cross the defense, then drop the ball off for your alliance partner to score in the high goal. Or mention how you can add a goal-blocking mechanism to your robot if needed.

At Rhode Island this year, I talked to the drive coach of the top 5 teams Saturday, and asked them which of two strategies they wanted to see out of our robot. Most picked "breach and ferry", and GUS wanted to see boulder scoring (we had a good match with them Friday). We got picked by #3 as a second round breach and ferry bot. I think GUS (#2) would have picked us for the same role, if we were still available. Our alliance made it to semifinals where we lost by ~5 both matches.