Strategy during Final at Einstein

[Hoover]

We were watching Einstein live from home. The first match spread was 8 point and the second match's was 10 points. Very exciting and good quality matches by all teams.

After the second match, my daughter and I agreed that 1690-2056-1405 should change from a defensive game to a strategy where all three teams go on the offensive.

The reason for this is math. For 1690-2056-1405 with two robots scoring and one on defense, the scores were roughly equal to 120-2481-330 with their three robot offensive. Say the defensive strategy impaired 120-2481-330 to strength of 2 1/2 offensive power. Then doesn't it make sense 1690-2056-1405 were good enough with two scoring robots, that a third robot on offense could have taken the third match?

Additionally, a defensive strategy was where downside risk of fouling dwelled this year.

[EricLeifermann]

1405s defense is why the scores were close. With out the defense the 330 2481 120 alliance would have pulled very far ahead.

[rick.oliver]

Their strategy was correct, in my opinion. In fact, after their first Quarter Final match, I thought that they should switch to a defensive strategy ... and they did.

It served them well to get to the Final matches.

[GKrotkov]

I agree with the above two posts - defense wasn't their issue, it was a huge benefit to their alliance. In fact, I'm surprised that more Einstein alliances didn't play defense like Tesla's alliance did with 1405 (direct defense), or like Hopper's alliance did with 2990 (defense through boulder management).

[Chris is me]

1690 and 2056 could score quite a lot of balls on their own. If it were 2v2 versus 330 and 2481, I think 2056 would have won. 1405's defense was less good against 330 and 2481 because 2481 could line up and shoot quickly and 330 was a tall batter shooter, but it was still their best chance and undefended the Carver alliance surely would have run up the score. 120's offense and hanging made a huge difference.

[barn34]

I can assure you that they made the right call going defense against us. In fact, I was hoping they would have made a change to all offense because I knew that was a favorable match up for us.

With 120 in our lineup, we averaged 229 points.

In matches our alliance was left undefended, we averaged 243 points.

On Einstein, when facing defense, we averaged 215 points.

Tesla averaged 221 points with 3015 in their lineup (more offense)
- if you remove their worst match outlier of 165.

Tesla averaged 213 points with 1405 in their lineup (heavy courtyard defense)
- that's only a delta of 8 points of offense sacrificed with the potential of reducing our potential offensive output by 28 points down to 215.

213 vs. 215

or

221 vs. 243

Which situation would you want?

Going with 1405 on defense put them essentially even with us on the potential scoreboard, and that was represented in how close the final matches played out. These matches were essentially a coin flip in this scenario. Letting us run wild on offense would have been a much more difficult scenario to overcome.

With that said, we did just enough in the midfield to slow down 2056 so they couldn't get that 1 more ball that would have made the difference. Any time we saw them in the midfield, we looked to make them work for it. Anything to cost them an additional second or two. Over the course of a match, that can add up to potentially be the difference when it's so close. Turns out, that's exactly what happened and 1 foul was the difference.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we're both champions in my book. #2champs a year early.

[g_sawchuk]

Their defense was, without a doubt, necessary. Without it, the scores would've been separated by a larger margin. 1405 typically stopped quite a few shots.

However, one thing to note is how vulnerable 1405 was to defense, and how easily Einstein Finals could've been won in 2 matches.

1405 typically made some close calls in regards to when they left to capture. This was clearly evident in Einstein Finals 1, where the blue alliance failed to capture due to 1405 not making it to the batter. In Einstein Finals 2, 1405 was able to get to the batter by 8 seconds, leaving at just under 30 seconds. The red alliance, at 30 seconds, could've simply flipped the courtyard roles, playing defense on 1405. They would aggressively prevent them from reaching the SP for as long as possible. The result? Pretty scary for 1405. They can't leave through a defense, because the red alliance would be close by, and contact would result in the blue alliance being fouled. You could extend this defending of 1405 until past 20 seconds, but as this point you could raise concerns/debate in regards to if you're trying to draw a foul (of course, you're not, you're just trying to prevent a capture).

All in all, if you held them until 20 seconds, based on how long it typically took them to make it securely to the batter, the red alliance would have achieved a capture, and the blue alliance would not have.

Just like that, Einstein Finals would be over in 2 matches.

[BenHildy]

I would agree wholeheartedly that the defense played by 1405 was necessary in the finals against a team with as much offensive power as the Carver winners. My reasoning is this:

1) The effective use of defense more or less shut down 120 in their attempts to shoot high goals. Furthermore, 330 preferred shooting from or near the batter, which is much easier (and safer) to defend against than 2481's consistent outerworks shot, but is deadly if left alone.

2) The offensive capability of OP and Orbit was certainly enough to go shot-for-shot with the opposing three robots while they were inhibited by defense, so the alliance wasn't losing much offensive power to a member playing defense.

3) The most important thing to do against that Carver alliance was to slow them down, which was done well by 1405. When left alone, I noticed that 2481 was winning nearly every neutral zone "Boulder battle" that they entered, and Carver could've quickly beat out Tesla using a choke strategy. However, since 330 was taking a few extra seconds to shoot every time they cycled, this gave OP and Orbit the time they needed to grab the balls before 330 and 2481 could get to them.

Overall, while defensive penalties proved to be their eventual downfall, I believe that the strategy Tesla took was certainly appropriate for the opposing one. Frankly, I was just relieved to see defense being played on Einstein at all, because I noticed that many of the alliances ended up being three high-goal shooting robots. No offense to these alliances by the way, I just prefer to see a varied strategy on an alliance. Good job to all and special regards to the Carver Division Alliance!

[bam-bam]

If 3015 and 1405 didn't play defense, they would have likely lost to Archimedes... in quarterfinals. Defense was definitely the right call, and I'm very impressed that 2056 had the foresight to pick up 1405.

[Brian Maher]

Originally Posted by bam-bam

Defense was definitely the right call, and I'm very impressed that 2056 had the foresight to pick up 1405.

I would hypothesize that 3015 had something to do with it. Both 3015 and 1405 competed at the Finger Lakes Regional, where 1405's defense skill helped their #5 alliance with 20 and 639 upset the #4 alliance, the #1 alliance, and the #3 alliance. The #1 and #3 alliances definitely could outscore #5, but 1405 gave them the defensive edge to take home banners. 1405 plays superb defense, and the Tesla #1 alliance was lucky to be able to pick them up.

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by BMSOTM

I would hypothesize that 3015 had something to do with it. Both 3015 and 1405 competed at the Finger Lakes Regional, where 1405's defense skill helped their #5 alliance with 20 and 639 upset the #4 alliance, the #1 alliance, and the #3 alliance. The #1 and #3 alliances definitely could outscore #5, but 1405 gave them the defensive edge to take home banners. 1405 plays superb defense, and the Tesla #1 alliance was lucky to be able to pick them up.

2056/1690 actually announced both picks simultaneously, so there wasn't any lobbying from 3015 (as far as I know). In fact, they were some of the fastest decisions in the Tesla selections overall

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by BigJ

2056/1690 actually announced both picks simultaneously, so there wasn't any lobbying from 3015 (as far as I know). In fact, they were some of the fastest decisions in the Tesla selections overall

Not uncommon on the #1 alliance. In Hopper we had 364 and 2990 as side by side picks on our draft list so it was easy.

[Electronica1]

The 3 team offence was the right strategy in my opinion since it minimized the risk of penalties. The only change I would have made was to put a taller defense near the low bar. The blue alliance's human player was able to get a decent number of boulders all the way to the opposite side of the field in some of the matches by going over the ramparts.

[LeelandS]

Originally Posted by Electronica1

The 3 team offence was the right strategy in my opinion since it minimized the risk of penalties.

This was actually the reason our team felt so comfortable playing defense. Oliver, our driver, is an exceptionally smart driver, with a great skill for foresight and controlling the field as he wants. It was his knowledge of the rulebook and awareness that kept our penalties to a minimum.

At Finger Lakes, where we were our alliances defensive robot, we drew 2 penalties in the quarterfinals, and then we did not draw an additional penalty afterwards. And those penalty-less matches were pitting us against the likes of 5254, 2791, 3044, 4930 and 340.

In playoff matches at champs where our robot was fielded, our alliance never drew more than 1-2 penalties. In any match where we did draw penalties, the opposing alliance did not successfully capture the tower, so I believe one might argue that our defense contributed more to our alliance than against it. The only matches where this streak falls through, ironically, are the final Einstein matches.

The penalty we drew whilst in the 3rd final match on Einstein was hard to avoid, as Oliver had no visibility of the courtyard referee (a recurring problem for him all throughout the event). As many have noted, it was a tough call by the referee to begin with, coupled with the fact he was having information relayed to him instead of seeing it with his own eyes, it would have been quite a feat for him to have been aware of the whole situation. But hey, that's the risk we took.

In the end, it couldn't have been any closer. As far as I'm concerned, all 8 teams deserve to be world champions. It just so happens that the record books with not have our alliances names in them. It was a disappointing loss, especially given the fact that it was such a crazy alliance to work with (3 different countries represented, and allied with another team from our region). It would have been a good story to tell, but nevertheless. Congrats to the champs, they were hard fought matches and I'm happy with our season in the end.

Edit:
In response to our choice of strategy, 3015 was constantly used throughout eliminations. In our first QF match, our line-up was 2056-1690-3015, and our alliance ended up putting in 250pts. It was quite a spectacle, but we found that that match was a "perfect scenario" and difficult to repeat. Essentially, 3015 with their superior shooting (to us at least) and being a good defense robot as well, was our advance team, and was fielded in the first match of each round. If it was found that we couldn't brute force our way against an alliance, then we took the field. We knew that if it came down to 2v2, 2056 and 1690 could overpower almost any other duo, so all we had to do was take our one robots worth of shots, and that sealed the deal all the way to the finals.

[throwaway]

I was surprised that 330-2481-120-1086 didn't employ much defense against 2056-1690. OP in particular was really vulnerable as they were doing mid-court shots that they could not have gotten away with under heavy defense. Had their been defense played against OP I think their ability to score would've been dramatically inhibited and I doubt the finals would've gone to 3 matches.