2011 New Jersey Regional

[thefro526]

Since no one really knows whether or not Looking Forward will be doing predictions this year, I figured I’d so some of my own for New Jersey. Just like predictions I’ve done before, Teams will be broken down into various levels with those who are most likely to seed well being locks.
New Jersey seems to have a pretty good assortment of teams, with some Traveling as far from Brazil to compete with us. We are missing a few Regulars though, 11, 1279, 103 (Second year they skipped NJ) and 2753 (No longer an FRC team ) so we’ll have to see if these teams are missed.

Locks:

From everything I’ve gathered thus far, it seems that these 3 teams will make up the top tier in NJ.

25 – They’ve yet to unveil their robot this year, but as posted in another thread, it’s “2007 with a minibot”. For those of you who weren’t around in 2007, 25’s quick and robust robot coupled with good decisions and smart driving made them incredibly difficult to defeat. Assuming 25 fields a Minibot and deployment system that is as effective as their Hostbot, they’ll be just as good as ever.

2016 – The up and coming New Jersey Power House is coming off of a strong season last year and I doubt this year will be any different. Their robot shares a lot of design cues with both their 2010 robot and a certain colorful robot that made it to Einstein in 2007. With some smart driving and a little bit of luck, the Mighty Monkey Wrenches should be in the Finals once again.

816 – Coming off of a relatively good season last year, 816 hopes to finally bring home their first regional banner. They’ve fielded their best robot to date, taking notes from very successful 2007 designs and putting their own spin on it. Just like 25, if they’ve got the Minibot to back up the Hostbot, they should be a formidable opponent on the field.

Tips:

1676 – The Pascack Pi-oneers are coming off of one of those seasons that most of us dream about. In 2010 they came home with not one, but two Regional Champion Banners and were the Curie Division Finalists. Their 2011 Machine looks pretty solid and is 1676 is one of the only Machines that I’ve seen with a working Deployment System and Minibot.

1647 – LRR has a fielded another good machine, but this one might be the best they’ve built since 2007. Assuming that they can hold their ground well enough, and play through some defense, there’s no reason that Lenape won’t be playing late Saturday afternoon.

1218 – Vulcan Robotics has had a lot of Success over the last few years, with a Regional Finals Appearance in 2010 and an Einstein Appearance in 2009. If 1218 is up to their Normal Standard, they’ll be a hard team to beat.

102 – The Gearheads always bring a more than Capable Machine to New Jersey and continue to progress from there. Even though I haven’t seen anything from them this year, If history is anything to go by, expect them to start a little slow on Friday Morning and Pick their game up by the time Alliance Selections Roll around.

1089 – Team Mercury seems to have one upped their robot from last year and have built another capable machine. With a little bit of practice, they have the potential to put up quite a few tubes a match.

1860 – Cephatron looks like they’ll be fielding a more than capable machine again this year. Their Decision to go with a Tank Tread System on such and open field has me a baffled but I’m sure they’ll make it work.

1923 – The MidKnight Inventors have proven time and time again that they can build capable robots along with competing like crazy. I haven’t heard much from them this year, but I expect them to be in their usual form.

2344 – Saunders Droid Factory is back for another NJ Regional and I expect them to be just as competitive as ever.

Wildcards:

192 – GRT is making the trek from California to compete with us. I don’t believe that many people know much about this team or their robot this year, but if past performance is anything to go on they should at least be a player in the Elimination Matches.

1302 – Team Lionheart had one of those dream years in 2007. They won both the NJ and NY regional’s and led a Championship Alliance to only be knocked out by the Division Winners. Since then, they haven’t been able to attain that level of Dominance again, but if they took their notes from 2007 and applied them to this year’s game, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be competitive.

Others:

The remainder of teams in the eliminations will probably come from this list: 41, 75, 223, 293, 522, 834, 869, 1155, 1228, 1547, 2180, 2495, 2590, 2729, and 3059.

Hints:

Like every Week 1 Competition, game play is going to start off slow as teams get into the groove of the game. Penalties are going to be common along with yellow and red cards due to a lack of knowledge of the rules. Don’t be surprised if you see at least one match where more than half of the robots have been carded.

In early matches Defense will probably be non-existent as most teams focus on scoring tubes. As tube manipulators break or don’t work as intended we’ll see those teams gradually shift to defense and feeder roles in most matches. By the time eliminations roll around, the Eventual Regional Champions are going to have to fight through some heavy defense if they want to win.

Mini Bots and their deployment are going to be HUGE game changers throughout the competition. Don’t be surprised if you see many matches where teams won by just putting their minibot up the pole. “Fast” Minibots will probably be in the mid-two second mark with deployment, but most Minibots will have a total ascent time of 4 or more seconds. That being said, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a “Fast” minibot. Even last place is worth 10 points.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Others:

The remainder of teams in the eliminations will probably come from this list: 41, 75, 223, 293, 522, 834, 869, 1155, 1228, 1547, 2180, 2495, 2590, 2729, and 3059.

Been doing this for four years now, and its the first time I've ever seen anyone include us in a list like this. Awesome feeling haha.

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by thefro526

25 – They’ve yet to unveil their robot this year, but as posted in another thread, it’s “2007 with a minibot”. For those of you who weren’t around in 2007, 25’s quick and robust robot coupled with good decisions and smart driving made them incredibly difficult to defeat. Assuming 25 fields a Minibot and deployment system that is as effective as their Hostbot, they’ll be just as good as ever.

Great review.. and you mostly correct about the "2007 with a minibot" ..

[Racer26]

The stream on mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov/njregional just died. Any news?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

The stream on mms://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov/njregional just died. Any news?

Lunch break?

Before that, were they airing stuff for practice day today?

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Lunch break?

Before that, were they airing stuff for practice day today?

All they had up was the live score/timer at the bottom with a blank video screen. From what I could gather, they weren't playing any matches, practice or not.

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

All they had up was the live score/timer at the bottom with a blank video screen. From what I could gather, they weren't playing any matches, practice or not.

Agenda says practice matches 2-8pm. These Bag and Tag Regional agendas vary a bit from regional to regional.

[coldfusion1279]

From what I heard, state wide standardized testing shifted the times a bit.

[jblay]

Does anyone know if they are showing matches on the stream? I've had it open for like 20 minutes and all I've seen is the logomotion logo.

[PayneTrain]

Dinnertime.
Matches are supposed to start again at 6:30...

[Akash Rastogi]

2016 is unstoppable.

[jblay]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

2016 is unstoppable.

They did look pretty amazing. looks like their strategy is gonna be to get the tube from the feeder station instead of having it thrown to them. with such a good acquisition system, i have to wonder why.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by jblay

with such a good acquisition system, i have to wonder why.

I have to wonder why everyone is throwing tubes willy-nilly and everywhere. All you're doing is making it easy for your opponents to score.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by jblay

They did look pretty amazing. looks like their strategy is gonna be to get the tube from the feeder station instead of having it thrown to them. with such a good acquisition system, i have to wonder why.

We'll have to see during a real match, but to me its obvious why a team would do this. It is similar to starving the field.

Teams who look solid:
25
2016
1647
1089
2344


I'm a little disappointed by robot quality at NJ. It's the same teams who are good/not so good. Maybe we need some more mentorship/collaboration going on, Idk.

[nuggetsyl]

2016 is the team to beat. Not only do they have a fast mini bot they hit their mark every time.