[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Paul Copioli

I watched every single one of our GLR matches on video and we had single, and sometimes double, defense against us in every match except 1 but we managed to play through it.

The ability to play through defense is key in almost every FIRST game, so I suggest you figure out how to play through it because camplaining about it isn't going to make it go away.

Great point, Paul. Ever since our FTC tournament in late February I've wondering why 575 didn't do better. Of the three robots our program fielded, they had by far the highest scoring potential, and worked perfectly every minute of every match. It was the only one of our three 'bots that didn't have some sort of mechanical problem during the event, and yet it finished qualifying ranked in the teens (out of 28), and only dominated a couple of matches. This week I finally got the video from the mentor who was shooting our matches and watched the entire thing. In every single match after the first, 575s opposition keyed on them. No matter what they were trying to do, there was an opposition 'bot trying to stop them.

417 finished ranked first after quals, using a lower-scoring strategy than 575s, but one that was much more difficult to block. 417 was ranked first after qualifications. By using a pretty-good strategy that was hard to stop they ended up being more effective than the high-potential, but easier-to-block 575. One more thing to add to my mentor's "strategic concerns to go over with the teams" list. If you build a good robot, the opposition will focus on stopping you -- even to the extent of abandoning their own scoring.

A good robot can score a lot of points. A great robot can do it when the other alliance does everything they can to stop it.