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Unread 06-04-2010, 14:01
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J_Miles J_Miles is offline
FiM Referee
AKA: Jared Miles
no team (EngiNERDs)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Posts: 128
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Post Re: 2337 hung-2959 suspended

Our biggest hope (or, at least, MY biggest hope) is to get put on an alliance with two robots that have the ability to lift off of the horizontal bars on the tower. A double suspension would be an incredible achievement, and I think that if it happens, it'll happen in Atlanta. Our biggest concern is the fact that simply lining up to perform the maneuver is a BIG time investment. For the most part, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, considering the fact that once our elevation mechanism is attached to the tower, other teams can almost instantaneously attach to it without affecting the process of our elevation (although the suspension with 2959 may be some indication of otherwise).

The greatest problem with fulfilling our hopes is that, unlike us, most teams foresaw the high-scoring matches, and designed robots that were geared towards purely scoring, and rather ignored the endgame, or, at least, set it low on their list of priorities. There are a small few that can elevate themselves consistently and successfully, and even fewer robots that can both execute endgame maneuvers successfully while still being a powerhouse during the match (I'm looking at you 33, 27, 2619, 67, etc.); moreover, teams who are strong scorers and have the ability to suspend other robots are nearly nonexistent.

Our robot is a good all-around robot, don't get me wrong, but as far as pure scoring goes, we would NEVER stand up against a team like HOT, Bees, or the Thunderchickens in a match. Our real strength is in the endgame play, as well as defending teams who play in the middle zone (if there is any doubt to this, just talk to practically any team who played a match against us at Kettering).

My point is that while our elevation/suspension system is one of the more consistent and strong systems out there, our main focus is scoring from the middle zone, and that is even subordinate to the strategy of simply controlling the game pieces and dumping them into the near zone. I see it as a distinct possibility that we may have a double suspension at Atlanta; however, I acknowledge that if we feel that it would not be worth the time spent setting up for the maneuver, such a thing will not happen. After all, our intention is not to shoot for the "WOW!" factor, and, while this certainly would be the case, as seen with the suspension at MSC and the prospect of a double suspension at FWC, we focus more heavily on scoring and winning matches, as that's the overall objective, no?
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