[waialua359]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I like the Serpentine Draft a lot more than the regular way. It adds a lot of balance to the alliance selection process, preventing the top few alliances from becoming too powerful.

If you give the top teams the ability to pick 2 of the best possible teams, like the other way, you tend to end up with an alliance which can dominate all the other ones, and in some cases not even create that much of a challenge doing so.


One thing I think would be an interesting addition to the system would be to prevent the top 8 teams from picking each other. This might add a new element of strategy to the selection process and could significantly level the playing field for all of the 8 alliances. Both of the regionals I went to this year had a number one team go and pick another high seeded team (top 5), and then go on to win every single match they played in the finals.


While Serpentine (and definitely the addition I mentioned) don't give as much of a bonus to teams that have earned their way to #1, consider that in most cases such teams are in those positions because they are good. Does a team that already has an advantage really need more of one?

The only thing I would be skeptical about in your suggestion, NOT to have the top 8 pick from each other is teams "throwing the towel" in some matches to lower themselves to pick each other.
Evening the playing field should have consideration, but ultimately, if another team is consistently good each year, I would talk story with them and ask how they do certain things, asking for advise.
I have rarely heard of any team that wasn't willing to share.
We have always admired teams such as 254, 233, 25 and especially team 368 year after year. Over the past several years, we have become pretty good friends as they have shared what they have built.
In fact, our robot base is very similar to what 254 built in '05 as we studied their website photos and took pictures of their bot last year, being next to them in the pit. They had no problems with that.
We may not have capabilities as the top teams out there, but we can certainly strive to do so, experiencing a few successes along the way.