[BrendanB]

One of the metrics we used this year was asking what game will we see on Einstein and when has that style of play generally been introduced to the events.

2014 it was consistent three assist cycles.

2015 it was consistent capped & littered six stacks with the use of the cans from the step.

For 2016 we predicted:

Breach, capturing the tower with counts below 0 using the high goal, autonomous scoring, and at least one scaling machine.

Using 2014 & 2015 as our main examples from the previous two seasons in districts we noticed these prime strategies typically weren't consistent until the later weeks of district play with a few exceptions. It helped to show that the simple concepts would work well in this game when looking at a tower count of 0 with low goals being much easier to accomplish in earlier weeks compared to a tower count of 0 using high goals.

We also looked back at previous games and what the winning strategy was for our home regional in Week 1 knowing our first event in Week 2 had a similar playing field of fresh teams.

When it came to assigning times we said 3-4 cycles from the secret passage was our maximum output early in the season potentially 5-6 later on. We assumed each cycle would take roughly 25-30 seconds conservatively breaking down our route to 5 second increments to cross defenses, cross open sections of field with limited visibility, line up to receive a ball, line up to score, and add in some extra buffer time for traffic or difficulty in one stage.

Something you should always include is accuracy and plan on missing a few shots. When you crunch numbers during the first week of build season in games like 2012 & 2013 you should plan that at least one shot each cycle might miss potentially more when competing at your earlier events. Mid tier goals like 2012 & 2013 you can see some increased accuracy compared to going higher. Low goals in any game will still see missed attempts but has the highest accuracy which benefits early events.