2013 SVR

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by roystur44

Don't forget about the Holy Cows, Space Cookies, GRT, Funky Monkey's, WarriorBorgs, WildHats and many other great teams.

Once California shifts over to District's we won't get this crazy level of competition anymore

You're totally right. At an already crazy regional, were going to get even more crazy play. There's even a chance that 254 might not win!

I wonder if any of the middle level teams (for SVR anyway) that we "shouldn't forget" will go for a defensive strategy to try to get with a winning alliance. SVR tends to be very offensive, and I'm interested to see if and how having so many powerhouse teams will change qualifications and eliminations play.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

You're totally right. At an already crazy regional, were going to get even more crazy play. There's even a chance that 254 might not win!

I wonder if any of the middle level teams (for SVR anyway) that we "shouldn't forget" will go for a defensive strategy to try to get with a winning alliance. SVR tends to be very offensive, and I'm interested to see if and how having so many powerhouse teams will change qualifications and eliminations play.

One thing I've noticed is that people seem to forget that there are a good number of teams which consistently produce quality offensive robots, but get overlooked because they're not making waves on the national level. I really don't like categorizing teams into tiers like this, but for the sake of discussion, we're talking about teams like 1868, 1280*, 192, 604, 846, etc. Just because they haven't been on the winning alliance in a while doesn't mean they haven't come close. They're still title contenders every year, and at every event they attend, and I doubt any of them would go defense just because a few more national powerhouses are joining the fray:

1) Trying to get on the winning alliance as a defensive robot for these teams is going to be a bigger gamble than just trying to build the best robot they can. They build quality robots, drive well and have good game sense, they would get snatched up before they make it back around. We're assuming that without their solid offensive play in qualifiers, the powerhouses will easily get to the top of the rankings. This also leaves the entire offensive field shallower, which means that the top few alliances will have all the offense, and leave the lower half picking up as much defense as possible...and they'll take these guys first.

2) With the addition of at least 118 and 148, things get a little tougher to guarantee in the rankings. Like a stacked Championship division, the top contenders often beat each other up in qualifiers. That opens up a lot of possibilities for the 1868's, 192's and others that are consistently reaching the 2nd-5th seeds to leapfrog over a few. Maybe one of them gets a chance to pick up 118 or 148...or 254. Now it's a whole new ballgame. But they probably don't get that chance if they go defensive

3) Most of these teams attend multiple events, and they're usually considered favorites for the medal at those, because they are quite good. Would you sacrifice your chances at your other events to try and get on the winning alliance at SVR as defense?

4) Let's say, hypothetically, one or more of the teams in question does choose to go defensive, and manages to sneak by and get themselves on the winning alliance. They make it to champs...and then what? Very few purely defensive robots ever make CMP eliminations. The defensive robots we see at champs are almost always** robots that have some offensive capability and are just really well driven with good drivetrains. These teams build good drivetrains every year, and drive it well every year, so they're only more likely to get picked at champs if they design a healthy amount of offense in.

*1280 is not currently signed up for SVR, but hopefully they get in via waitlist...

**Yes, of course there are exceptions, or robots which are specialized in a part of the game that's not considered primary offense, but they are few and far between. There's upwards of 350 teams at champs, the odds are not in their favor.

[Reanna]

Seems like it's going to be amazing as always. The Fembots will see you all there!
> insert advertisement for the Sacramento regional here <

[JB987]

It's a shame Vegas and SVR wound up week 6 The High Rollers were originally planning on returning to one of our favorite regionals and we were bummed when we learned SVR was moved to week 6. We can only imagine what it would have been like if we could have joined in the fun

[Chris is me]

I think "defensive" is a somewhat poor term - I like "utility" a lot better as it covers more strategies and robot designs. Utility robots are often "defensive" but limiting yourself to that title really cuts back on your options.

It's also totally possible to build a utility robot that seeds high enough to be an alliance captain, either via new seeding rules or by smart strategy. The trick is to add just enough functionality to either win outright or enable easy wins - even if you can't yourself put up triple digit scores.

I think a lot of the teams that have been mentioned are of a caliber where they can produce great offensive or hybrid threats, but more utility robots at a regional are never a bad thing.

[roystur44]

Talk about a rumble the Pink Team and the Greybots are joining in the week six fun. Is this going to be fun?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by roystur44

Talk about a rumble the Pink Team and the Greybots are joining in the week six fun. Is this going to be fun?

Fun for the viewers! I'm really excited to watch SVR.

[JB987]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Fun for the viewers! I'm really excited to watch SVR.

LVR might be worth switching back and forth with

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by JB987

LVR might be worth switching back and forth with

Agreed.

Maybe in the SVR pits we should have the LVR webcasts.... and vice verca

[DampRobot]

Wow. Can you say "stacked?" SVR will easily be four times as competitive as it was last year.

[JVN]

I love tough regionals. I'm extremely happy that 148 will be in one of the toughest shoot-outs of the year. It will be great to see some of my oldest FIRST friends, and get the chance to hopefully make some new ones.

It is awesome to see so many "Einstein" teams from the past few years in once place. Maybe this is finally the event to give MSC a run for their money?

-John

[JosephC]

Originally Posted by JVN

Maybe this is finally the event to give MSC a run for their money?

-John

One can dream

Originally Posted by JosephC

One can dream

Maybe 68 should come out.

[TheMadCADer]

I really like watching these types of events with lots of great teams from all over coming into one place. It's a great opportunity for those teams that don't get to experience Championships often to meet a better variety of teams. I hope FIRST keeps something in place so we can still have events like this in the future as everyone in the US moves to Districts/Regions over the next few years. Maybe just keep a couple 'open' events in large cities near the borders of regions that normally don't get to play together?

[roystur44]

Nuttyman,

It's time to give everyone a run down of the teams that are competing. Any favorites to run the gauntlet or will the defense be so tight that it will be a scheduling Gods decision?

The kids on 4543 are going big with a shooter and something special for the big guns.