rookies need help! (was: we need help)

[IKE]

My recommendations:

Keep it simple but effective. Most Isreal teams only play 1 event, so it tends to play like a Week 1 event with relatively lower scores (compared to week 4-6 which typically have teams that are on their second events and score a lot of points). There are dozens of ways to score points. Make sure you figure out how to score some points repeatedly and reliably. A lot of teams will overreach and end up with a machine that does not historically score well if at all.
OPR is kind of similar to a calculated average team contribution. While there were robots last year that could score 24-30 points in Auton, a top 10 robot in the early weeks (or Isreal) would be a robot that consistantly balanced the bridge for 10 Points. There are many other simple and effective ways to score this year similar to balancing the bridge last year.
Check the links below to get an idea for what kind of scores you might be up against. Note those are alliance scores (3 robots on the field).
http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2012is
http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2011is

For your first year (or two or three), I would recommend the kit chassis, but if it only came with 2 CIMS, spring for the extra motors and go to 4 CIMS. Try to get this together soon so your programers can get a chance to work with it while you work on the other mechanisms.