As the coach for 294, I'd like to bring a little insight to the conversation...
Reading through the tread, I'm not surprised by some of the comments that 2041 and 1114 were blocking some of 469s shots, but I am surprised at the conclusion that it was somehow their fault. It was not a fluke that they were blocking some of their own shots. Nor was it a fluke that 2041 got stuck in their own goal... In fact, we were doing everything in our ability to ensure that these things happened.
To start off...
Quote:
Originally Posted by XaulZan11
Some one on my team said that the red alliance purposefully missed their shots in autonomous so 1114 would be 'tricked' to going to their close zone early, leaving half the balls for the red alliance to score with undefended. I haven't seen any video, but is this true?
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294, 67 and 177 were not purposefully missing shots in autonomous. We did make a strategic change during Einstein semi’s match #3 that we carried over into the finals through. 294 and 177 could not automatically aim in autonomous. Furthermore, 294 could not kick over 177 if they lined up collinearly. Consequently, one of us needed to start offset. Through much of the elims, we put 177 in line with the goal as their shots were more likely to go in, but after in losing semi match #2, we noticed that a number of 294’s shots ricocheted to the other side of the field and were easy pickings the defender. Hence, we moved 294 in line and 177 offline to minimize this and to use 67’s position to help coral the balls in front of the goal. We kept this arrangement through both finals matches. As a result though, we didn't score as many in autonomous.
On to the strategy...
Prior to the finals our strategy was: (In order of strategic importance
1. Jam up a goal. If an opportunity arose to jam either 2041 or 1114 into their own goal, stop everything and make it happen.
2. Clear out as many balls as possible before they entered the cycle.
3. Block shots within the cycle.
4. Clear out any blocked shot.
1. Jam up a goal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TEE
In the second match, 2041 got stuck in the goal during autonomous, and remained there for over half of the match, until 1114 came and helped them out, which was a fluke in favor of Newton)
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2041 getting stuck in the goal was not a fluke. They may have gotten hung up (1 wheel in the goal) in autonomous, but they definitely were not stuck (3 wheels in the goal) until we tapped them into the goal. In the TBA video, you can see us rounding the corner to do so just before they cut to another frame.
Naturally, this made our job easier. I was constantly on the look out for this opportunity. While it never came up in the first match, it certainly did in the second and we didn't hesitate. 2041 had about 1 second to get out before we were there.
2. Clear out as many balls as possible before they entered the cycle.
Once the balls are in the cycle, they're 10x harder to stop. Why wait? In each match we cleared 1 ball before trying to block shots. While it gave 1114/469/2041 an easy couple of redirects, it reduced the total count by one and put it in the hands of 67/177.
I feel this is where 217 went wrong in MSC. At the start of the match, they positioned themselves and waited for the cycle to start - allowing precious balls to enter the cycle.
3. Block shots within the cycle.
While I studied the motion of 469's redirecter during the semi's, we paid no attention to it during the match. In stead, we wanted to force them into a decision. We sought to push 2041 (and 1114) to one side of the field forcing 469 to choose the open side. Then, at the last moment, we shifted into high gear and darted to block the shot. As the balls tended to travel in waves, we sought to block the first shot and use 2041 and 1114 to block the second. During the brief moment of chaos, 2041 and 1114 were momentarily out of position and blocking their own goal before they could recover. This meant 469 didn't have a clear shot to either goal when the second ball hit their chute.
4. Clear out any blocked shot.
If we blocked a shot, we immediately tried to clear it. One less ball in the loop. While this left the goals exposed I return to my observation that the balls tended to travel in waves. 2041 did an excellent job in preventing our clear. By the time we had the ball, we were T-boned by 2041 and caught in the corner of the field. In both matches, we found that we had no other choice, but to abandon to the midfield and then return.
If all went to plan, 294 blocked the first shot and 1114 or 2041 blocked the second - forcing 1114 to collect it and score it again. As a result, I feel 1114 felt the need to stay in the home zone.
Why we were successful?
There's a couple of things that come to mind as to why we were successful in defending the 1114/469/2041 alliance.
1. Our driver has been on the drive team for 4 years - 3 of which he was driving. He also loves playing D!
2. Out codriver has been on the drive team for 3 years - 3 of which he was the co-driver to the driver.
3. For the previous 3 years, our primary role was defense during the eliminations - with the occasional offensive flare. We definitely know how to play D!
4. Before our robot was an offensive threat, we played 1.5 full elimination rounds as the defender.
5. We used current sensing and a heads up display to inform the driver/co-driver when we had a ball in possession.
6. We mounted the camera under our bumpers so we could see balls hidden behind the bump. (From the driver team's perspective, you can't see balls immediately behind the 2nd bump).
7. Our ball control device had an iron grip on the ball. We stole multiple balls out of the grasp of other teams with our intake.
8. Our kicker could clear both bumps (and occasionally score).
9. We had a 2 speed transmission. Nothing new, but I'd put us up for the fastest robot as well as the strongest robot with the design we fielded.
I apologize for being long winded, but I had a lot to contribute. I hope this gives you an "insider" perspective to the final matches.
On a side note: I'm a little disappointed in the videos thus far as they absolutely don't capture the excitement of those matches. As I was focused on our robot, I missed much of the rest of the match. I was really hoping to get to watch the whole match for the first time! 