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Originally Posted by BurningQuestion
After getting my picture taken with Dave Lavery (new Who-Am-I coming soon!), he told me that this particular tactic was one of the things that the FIRST Game Design Committee and Woodie Flowers had personally wanted to see happen from the very beginning.
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Wow, hearing that made my day. (As if it wasn't made enough already!
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25 wanted a fast, powerful shooter and a team that could pick up all the balls off the field. They picked 968 - an amazing shooter. I am surprised they even lasted to the third pick. 25 also picked us. We were able to pick balls up while driving full speed, and hold as many as needed. The original strategy was for 25 to drive back and forth between the human loader and shooting. 968 was to pick off the field and shoot from the ramp. We were to pick all the remaining balls off the field, play defense, and dump in the corner at the end. While we were talking strategy in the pits, someone (Shaun from 25 I believe) asked if we could transfer balls. We immediatly brought both robots and all the balls we could find to the far corner of the pits (hidden from sight!) and practiced the move for about ten minutes. When positioned perfectly, we could transfer ~30 balls in less than 10 seconds.
We knew we needed to keep this a secret, and ended up breaking it out in the Newton semi finals after we lost to 987, 1503, and 1718. This was by far the toughest alliance we played and we needed something special to get by. Needless to say, the "A-Bomb" blew past our expectations and put two wins up on the boards. That and the ability to rob 176 and 111 (floor load only) of any balls on the field was enough to win Newton.
We ended up blowing a drive CIM and Victor on Einstein, but we able to transfer balls to 968 anyway. This was a great learning epxerience for us. You've gotta be tough to make it this far..
Anyway, I believe that our alliance was the greatest ALLIANCE that has ever existed. Our robots were perfect compliments, our strategies were killer, and our drive teams fit together like hand in glove. This just goes to show that you dont have to have the best offensive or highest ranked robot to win.
This weekend was the greatest time of my life.