unfortunately, i can only comment on what i know, and i have not seen any other regionals than BAE, but i can tell you what i saw there:
winning alliance
501- good hanger, cap/uncap, minimal ball herding, auton=push goal
69- awesome hanger, cap/uncap, auton=?
aces- (sorry, i forgot
..anyone from aces feel free to fill this in)
runner-up alliance
138- good hanger, cap/uncap (unused ironically), decent ball herding, auton=5sec knockoff of bonus ball (2 stage, gyro for angle of attack, then IR to find ball)
40- awesome hanger, decent ball herding, uncap, auton=?
175- no hang, ball collector, cap/uncap 2x, auton= line follower: 13sec
most of the quarter/semi/finalists had many hangers on the alliances, and fewer ball collectors. those who are saying that hanging is important are right, however it is important only when coupled with another robot that equalizes the balance. in the finals I believe ALL possible strategies are going to be critical as odd as that sounds, and the teams that omit one are going to sink VERY fast.
also, I was disappointed at the lack of autonomous mode functionality this year. though the balls end up on the floor anyways, I believe it is important to control your environment quickly. if you can nail the auton, you have 30 seconds more than you normally would in order to collect and score balls, and that is a substantial advantage if paired against a team that has to wait for the 45 second limit to pass.
/suddenly realizes length of post, runs
