FRC Blogged - What Do You Think? The ‘Invite to Decline’ Strategy

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by srippetoe

When we look at alliance selections, one of our concerns is the formation of an alliance we really don't want to play against. Such was the case at TRR when 3310 asked us if we would say yes if asked to join their alliance. If that had happened, we were pretty sure 624 and 118 would get together. We looked at what might happen if we did not accept and thought that gave us a better chance of winning TRR. We ended up with 359 just as we expected.

We told 3310 that we would decline their invitation but they asked us anyway. I found that a little surprising as it did not affect our ability to invite other teams and we were the second seeded alliance so no one else could ask us to join them. We knew 3310 had a good robot and drive team but an alliance between 118 and 624 was a little frightening.

I like the idea of asking teams if they want to accept or form their own alliance. This was definitely our thinking at the Bayou Regional where we thought we had a chance at a wild card slot if we met 118 in the finals and we were the alliance captain.

Scott Rippetoe
Texas Torque

Geez Scott,
I thought you were returning the favor after picking you folks at IRI the week before?
For the record, The best and 3rd time was when you folks asked us to join your alliance at the Texas Roadhouse for some BBQ ribs, fries, loaded baked potato and chicken after the event. I'll never forget that one.