Lessons learned in all weeks.

[nighterfighter]

Peachtree

[theprgramerdude]

Floor-loading is the key to taking home the gold for the tube part of the game --- no exceptions. If you can reliably pick stuff up off the floor, you save tonnssssssssss of time compared to driving to the pocket. It's even nicer when you can grab tubes in mid-air as they're thrown by the opposing alliances human player.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by theprgramerdude

Floor-loading is the key to taking home the gold for the tube part of the game --- no exceptions.

I think two exceptions have been pointed out already: 1503 and 179.

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by EricH

I think two exceptions have been pointed out already: 1503 and 179.

I believe 175 human loads as well...

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I believe 175 human loads as well...

They human load but they can pick up off the ground, just it isn't worth it according to a member I spoke to.

[BIGWILLI2081]

just my $0.02:

- As previously stated, minibots are a game changer

- Be careful if there is a defender on your end. If you get pushed into the opposing alliance's lane, it is a penalty on you and the defending bot only gets one if the action is deemed intentional. My strategy for this is to not come out of your home zone unless you know you've got the defending robot beat.

- There are many strategies to Logomotion. If it seems the team you're going up against can outscore you, or has only one minibot when you have two, try starving the field. It will produce lower scores for both teams, but if you get more minibots scored than the other alliance (and have successfully starved the field), it is likely you will win.

- Don't underestimate the third alliance pick. They have to be a good at defending and herding tubes for your alliance to be successful.

- Lastly, beware of over inflated tubes. The rules about tubes changed after the build season and they are now inflated to 7-8 inches instead of just being 7. My team had to cut off some of our claw to fit in the boundaries at the beginning of the match, but it seemed the inflated tubes (especially the squares) were easier to pick up, so it was a blessing in disguise.

[racesick222]

Teams have to learn not to set up at the min i bot tower with 30 some seconds left. Complete a logo or just place a piece on the rack you will get back to the tower in time for most team.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by racesick222

Teams have to learn not to set up at the min i bot tower with 30 some seconds left. Complete a logo or just place a piece on the rack you will get back to the tower in time for most team.

Defense. If you place that piece, your opponent will get between you and the tower, and then you won't get to the tower. If you're on the tower at 30 seconds, they can hit you for 15 seconds, debate whether to back off for 5 seconds, but if they hit you after that, they get a red card. If you're placing a tube before running back, they get between you and the tower, and you can get a pinning penalty. Worse, if you try to ram your way through, you need to be careful not to hit your opponent at their tower, because then you get the red card.

330 learned that the hard way in Arizona last weekend.

[mwtidd]

The sum of the parts do NOT equal the whole.

In alliance selection taking critical points away from other alliance can equal big points for you.

This means minibot and autonomous monopolies can determine wins and losses.

Come Einstein though, I expect that minibot and autonomous monopolies won't exist. What will be critical on Einstein is being able to leave your best robot (not robot + minibot) at the rack to finish capping those last critical tubes. I predict that unless there are huge upsets in the elims, the 6 points captured from each of the lower level rack will differentiate the winners from the losers.

but for now minibot and autonomous makes the difference. You have to have a monster of a robot to offset not having a minibot (148 being one of the only teams able to accomplish this), so if you don't have a minibot, unless you are one of the best, you are in trouble.

same is true for autonomous. Having a consistent autonomous is very valuable.

reliability > potential for everything (IMO)

[torihoelscher]

Autonomous and MiniBot very important.

Autonomous that doesnt go backwards!!! LOL

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by theprgramerdude

Floor-loading is the key to taking home the gold for the tube part of the game --- no exceptions. If you can reliably pick stuff up off the floor, you save tonnssssssssss of time compared to driving to the pocket. It's even nicer when you can grab tubes in mid-air as they're thrown by the opposing alliances human player.

The key is to be versatile. You will need to be able to pick from the floor and the feeder station. At Pittsburgh Simbotics was quick to make rows from floor loading in the mid field. During the elims, when we played them, we were able to stop their floor loading by getting to the tubes quicker, so they immediately switched to the feeder stations. Althought our strategy did not win us the round, we were able to keep their scores a little lower than others.

[Eagleeyedan]

Originally Posted by theprgramerdude

Floor-loading is the key to taking home the gold for the tube part of the game --- no exceptions. If you can reliably pick stuff up off the floor, you save tonnssssssssss of time compared to driving to the pocket. It's even nicer when you can grab tubes in mid-air as they're thrown by the opposing alliances human player.

Grab tubes in mid-air? I've never seen a team do that. How would that be possible?

[WizenedEE]

Something very important: At our regional, at least, tower bases got dented. They're made up of about 12 different pieces with radial support structures between each piece (look at the field drawings), and by the end of our regional every single one of them (on all four towers) was dented inward. This made our deployment lining up mechanism mess up. Make sure you account for some denting, especially in the bottom half (the top part of the pieces weren't so bad).