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Unread 26-04-2005, 02:21
SharkBite
 
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Re: Favorite Teams that did not get picked

More than ever this year I was extremely surprised by some of the alliance choices. Teams were not only picked in an order I did not expect, but many excellent teams seemed left out. I was trying to understand what the difference might be that caused this sort of mess and I can't help but point towards the 3 on 3 aspect of the game. Not only are there 85 teams in each division, which is almost too many to keep track of, but it is nearly impossible to keep track of all 6 robots in the match and their interactions. Teams that were extremely reliable and consistent were also boring and seemed to get overlooked. Also, when the game was 2 on 2, a team still had a chance to overcome an unfortunate alliance pairing if their robot or drivers were good enough. It is less possible for one team to have an impact on a match now that it is 3 on 3. The other factor that I think contributed was the lack of time between the last match and the call for the representatives to be sent down to the field. I think a while back there used to be a lunch break between the last match and the pairings which gave some time for teams to really review stats and not rush into decisions based on politics.

I think it is nice that some teams that may have otherwise not had a chance in the finals got to play due to this mess. My one disappointment was that I really look forward to the matches in the finals pushing the limits in terms of scoring. When you really have the cream of the crop out there together you end up seeing some amazing stuff. There were definitely a few matches in some of the divisional eliminations that did not meet my expectations of this.

FIRST really likes to play down the importance of robot performance, but it will always be the reason that people go without sleep for the six weeks of the building season. For this reason I am really hoping that something changes for next year so that the alliance choices are a little more "predictable".
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