2015 - A New Kind of Scouting?

[alextried]

What do you guys think about this new game in relation to scouting? I feel my numbers/info will be hard to organize/simplify because of the sheer number of variables. I find the new organization of alliance selection rather troubling.

I think this year's game needs to be approached differently in many ways, due to the vast number of changes. Anyone have any speculations or feedback for me? Thanks, and good luck!

[JosephC]

Quantitative : #of stacked totes, # of trash recycled, # of penalties, etc.

Qualitative : Can stack X high, Good at coop stacking, Can manipulate X game piece, etc.

Just a general jist from my perspective, haven't had a lot of time to dig that deep yet.

[Connerd]

Originally Posted by alextried

I think this year's game needs to be approached differently in many ways, due to the vast number of changes. Anyone have any speculations or feedback for me? Thanks, and good luck!

Just an idea to deal with the large amount of variables. You could set up a spreadsheet, with each column/row being one variable. Then, using analysis of the game, assign each variable a weight score, then assign each robot a score out of 10 in each variable. Compute the weighted score. Higher score probably = better alliance member.

Hope that helps. GL!

[Tim Sharp]

In my opinion, scouting will be easier than last year. Since there will be no interaction between opposing alliances, you should only have to scout your alliance partners. That means two scouting reports per match rather than five.

Scouting may well be more important though. Well prepared teams will have "ideal scoring algorithms" worked out based on all the possible skill sets of their alliance members. Alliance selection may end up being an exercise in calculating combinations and permutations.

[ThunderChief]

There is no need to Scout for other teams' weaknesses to make a plan of how to beat them.
The most important Scouting is to find those other teams that complement your own features for the Playoffs. And to Scout your future Qualifying Match alliance partners to see what they do and how they do it.
The huge difference in playing against the clock is that in the Playoffs, Alliance #8 does not have to beat Alliance #1 to get into the semi-finals, etc. There is more hope that any Playoff Alliance Captain can build the perfect complementary set of 3 robots to maximize the scoring.
I would say that Scouting is even harder and more important than usual.

[AutodeskGeek]

Originally Posted by Tim Sharp

In my opinion, scouting will be easier than last year. Since there will be no interaction between opposing alliances, you should only have to scout your alliance partners. That means two scouting reports per match rather than five.

I would disagree. There's no reason you shouldn't scout the opposing alliance robots for the same reason you would scout your own partners. You need to know about them just as much as you need to know about your own teammates, because they could be your teammates in the future.

[KevinG]

It's going to be more about synergy than competition. Looking at it from the perspective of what are your own weaknesses, and how you can utilize the strengths of others to offset them. For example a team that has a robot that can stack three crates in autonomous might want others who can focus on getting grays, moving litter (although to be honest I don't see that being a huge part of the game), or handling the trash cans.

[brndn]

I think scouting will be easier for a few reasons.

1. There aren't robots driving around across the field and in each other's territories (an individual robot is easier to keep track of)

2. There is no defensive measure to evaluate - something very subjective and variable among different scouters

3. The teams you want to pick will, for the most part, simply be the teams that score the highest (but don't forget to consider how teams make up for other team's weaknesses)

[StAxis]

The game itself, easy to scout, the lack of bumpers on which to put numbers? Scouting will be a nightmare for that reason alone.

[forbes]

Originally Posted by StAxis

The game itself, easy to scout, the lack of bumpers on which to put numbers? Scouting will be a nightmare for that reason alone.

R2 requires large visible team numbers from every angle- don't think it will be very hard to see.

[StAxis]

Originally Posted by forbes

R2 requires large visible team numbers from every angle- don't think it will be very hard to see.

Somehow missed this, that's a relief, thanks!

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by AutodeskGeek

I would disagree. There's no reason you shouldn't scout the opposing alliance robots for the same reason you would scout your own partners. You need to know about them just as much as you need to know about your own teammates, because they could be your teammates in the future.

I think what he's saying is that when you're coming up with your gameplan for every match, you don't need to be aware of what your opponent is doing(until finals). You don't need to say, 'oh well opponent robot will be the main scorer, opponent robot will play heavy defense, etc...'

Originally Posted by forbes

R2 requires large visible team numbers from every angle- don't think it will be very hard to see.

I like this. I expect plenty of teams to miss it and hope that it gets enforced to the point that teams that miss it will have to have large, ugly paper printouts of their number on their bot.

[bh202548]

I would focus on the extent of a robots capabilities not how many points they get. Focus more on what your team is missing and what it could use from other teams and how they could help the alliance. For example in auton can every robot on your alliance push their tote and bin into the auto zone or do you want two robots just to drive into the auto zone while the last one gets all of the totes and stacks them in the auto zone. Another example is if you can top off any stack with an extra tote and a recycling bin then you want to look for teams that are able to quickly build shorter stacks that you can top off even if alone those teams don't get many points cause their stacks only get 4 high with no recycling bin to top them off. It is more about what your team need than the raw points other teams can score completely alone though that data is useful as well.

[superlizardmo]

In this game more than any other since 2012, you need to know about the other alliance. Forty points of your score require you to work with the other alliance and in those interactions, knowing who the best robot to stack totes on the step from the other alliance is essential. Additionally, the four cans in the middle require your alliance to be first to the step. From my reading of the game, there won't be elaborate defense strategies based on scouting data, rather there will be calculated races against your opponents and discussions with other alliances that will make or break your performance at competitions.

[Amy33Amy33]

There are basically three defensive strategies you can have in this game. Blocking noodles thrown by the human player, Delivering noodles thrown by the human player to the landfill or the recycling bin, and retrieving the totes and recycling bins in the middle. These options are limited, but probably will be important.