2014 Lessons Learned: The positive

[Chief Hedgehog]

Originally Posted by asid61

This about sums it up for me. Last year was a lot less interesting in terms of strategy- you picked up frisbees and shot them. Then you climbed. This year, there are many different ways to play, allowing younger teams to do really well.

I agree, but this year's rookies/young teams needed to be solid - meaning that they had to be able to contribute to the play. I love how FRC incorporates young teams and allows them to qualify for the Championships - but in order to prove their meddle, they needed to be at the top of their game.

I think that we saw this play out in the alliances that made it to Einstein - with no team less than a few years old contributing to the field play.

[Matt17]

I think the Einstein Field flowed a lot better this year. Last year, there was too much time between the matches due to awards being given out and guest speakers. It was much better when the matches occurred closer to each other, keeping the excitement going.

[Yipyapper]

I still stand by my hatred of the game during quals for both champs and at the regional level, and to a lesser degree at some regional elim matches.

But those were the greatest elim champs matches I have ever seen. Ultimate Ascent was thrilling, Rebound Rumble had a nail-biting finish, but I've never been as captivated with elimination matches period as I have been with Aerial Assist. Now if only the process to getting there was a bit different...

[Sam390250]

Seeing those quick strategic autonomous changes in the Einstein finals was one of the coolest things I had seen in a long time.

The Einstein closing ceremonies (though only seen through a webcast this year) seemed a lot faster than in the past. Now, I was in the comfort of my own home so I can't speak on how the length was at the venue, but I think that FIRST really hit their goal of having a better length for the closing ceremony that kept everyone engaged throughout.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

I think that we saw this play out in the alliances that made it to Einstein - with no team less than a few years old contributing to the field play.

This is virtually always true. The fact that 5136 was even selected by our Newton alliance is impressive. 4334 (2012) is the only rookie in recent history to actually play on the Big Stage. This year may have been a unique challenge for rookies, but looking at Einstein can't illuminate much in that regard.

Originally Posted by Sam390250

Seeing those quick strategic autonomous changes in the Einstein finals was one of the coolest (F-3) most terrifying things I had seen in a long time.

The Einstein closing ceremonies (though only seen through a webcast this year) seemed a lot faster than in the past. Now, I was in the comfort of my own home so I can't speak on how the length was at the venue, but I think that FIRST really hit their goal of having a better length for the closing ceremony that kept everyone engaged throughout.

From the floor, it was much, much better. We knew when we would be playing and how long we had to prepare. The volunteer-to-coach communication was infinitely better than last year (and they really were putting an effort in last year). We all really enjoyed watching, and the pace felt a lot better overall. Of course, not having a last-second scoring error --> bumper switch may be biasing my opinion, but kudos to FIRST. Many thanks!

Fixed your post there for you well, for me, Sam.

[Maxwell777]

Originally Posted by ali_rockon22

The fact that this game couldn't be "broken". Meaning, there wasn't one robot design nor strategy that would guarantee a win.

You could play the perfect strategy one match but then have it defended against the next. (Einstein F1-2, for example).

I loved how scouting was incredibly important this year. It was absolutely necessary to scout in detail. This year was about thinking, not just building and driving. It reminded me of '05.

Totally agree. I saw so many launcher and grabber designs that worked equally well.

Also, with hindsight being 20/20, there were a few more factors we should've included in our scouting, for example, the performance of a human player can hurt a match just like a missed shot.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Siri

4334 (2012) is the only rookie in recent history to actually play on the Big Stage. This year may have been a unique challenge for rookies, but looking at Einstein can't illuminate much in that regard.

2753 (2009) was a rookie. The next year (2010) there were two rookies, can't remember who and who. The last time a rookie won the Championship was way back in the early days before Einstein Field existed.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by EricH

2753 (2009) was a rookie. The next year (2010) there were two rookies, can't remember who and who. The last time a rookie won the Championship was way back in the early days before Einstein Field existed.

1992?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

1992?

1994, I think (maybe '95). Woodside H.S. (now FRC100) from CA won in their first year.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by EricH

2753 (2009) was a rookie. The next year (2010) there were two rookies, can't remember who and who. The last time a rookie won the Championship was way back in the early days before Einstein Field existed.

My bad Eric, I should've articulated 'recent history' as 'a 4-year high schooler's FIRST career'. 2010 was awesome with 3357 and 3138 (both semifinalists).

[JeremyLansing]

Just my opinion, but I think the best thing FIRST did this year was respond to community feedback. They weren't always able to respond immediately, but it's pretty obvious that Frank reads Chief Delphi. Compared to previous years, FIRST did a great job responding to issues the community had, and while there are always areas for improvement, I felt FIRST was much more in touch with what we thought this year compared to years previous.

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by EricH

1994, I think (maybe '95). Woodside H.S. (now FRC100) from CA won in their first year.

I've heard 1995. We're still the only rookie ever to have won an FRC championships (aside from the first year).

[Billfred]

-Aerial Assist, in pure implementation, was a great game. The robot and strategic diversity (even with all the three-day builds) was a great step up from the past few years, even Ultimate Ascent.
-Frank has done a great job of communicating with teams the rationale behind things, and apologizing when he or his staff goof up.
-Einstein was incredibly exciting, and the up-tempo presentation style was definitely no small part of that.
-The AndyMark AM14U chassis was a gamechanger. 80th-percentile drivetrain right out of the box. 90th-percentile with bolt-ons.
-It took until Einstein, but thanks to Q&A's interpretations on things like Kinects and CheesyVision the autonomous period became a chess match for the first time since 2009. As someone who remembers the great chess matches of 2006, I hope the GDC was noticing.
-4-team alliances certainly opened up possibilities at Championship.
-FRC Teams' Twitter was pretty nice this year too.
-Championship front-few-rows seating was an overall success on Curie for me.

All told, I greatly enjoyed this year.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Billfred

-Aerial Assist, in pure implementation, was a great game. The robot and strategic diversity (even with all the three-day builds) was a great step up from the past few years, even Ultimate Ascent.
-Frank has done a great job of communicating with teams the rationale behind things, and apologizing when he or his staff goof up.
-Einstein was incredibly exciting, and the up-tempo presentation style was definitely no small part of that.
-The AndyMark AM14U chassis was a gamechanger. 80th-percentile drivetrain right out of the box. 90th-percentile with bolt-ons.
-It took until Einstein, but thanks to Q&A's interpretations on things like Kinects and CheesyVision the autonomous period became a chess match for the first time since 2009. As someone who remembers the great chess matches of 2006, I hope the GDC was noticing.
-4-team alliances certainly opened up possibilities at Championship.
-FRC Teams' Twitter was pretty nice this year too.
-Championship front-few-rows seating was an overall success on Curie for me.

All told, I greatly enjoyed this year.

Since you said everything I would have thought of after a session of proper sleep that I have yet to get, I'll agree and elaborate. After the last few seasons I was left saying "I'm ready for the season to end", but this time I said "I'm ready for a new season." Sure I'm tired and after spending the last 4 months in 5th gear I'm ready to take a little breather, but this year showed a lot of positive potential for the organization. Everything people took issue with at the championship event last year was gone and replaced with far better alternatives that we will certainly see in the future. Mistakes made by people in FRC and on teams during the year have mostly fixed themselves. There were no riots at champs with this game getting under people's skin a lot more than in year's past.

But what everyone has been talking about is the game of inches we all got to watch on Einstein. Over two breaks of 5 minutes, two teams made drastic changes to the previous match's strategy to gain half seconds of an advantage in a 10 second period of a 150 second match. Watching Eisntein this year was electric, not painful. The team quality on the field didn't change, but the design of the game and the structure of the event on FIRST's part made it great. Like I said before, I think the GDC has earned another run at a game like Aerial Assist. Something that is a thrill to watch in the stands, but maybe less of a heartbreaking roller coaster behind the glass and in the rulebook.

[ElvisMom]

Initially was not sure about the "team viewing area" - in theory it made sense, but in practice I was not sure it would work.

After being able to take guests down to the "front row" for one of our Archimedes matches - awesome idea in theory and in practice. Execution was great by the volunteers who were monitoring. Having the chance to introduce some young friends to the game up close was a great experience for me as a long-time fan and for them as new visitors.

Glad that the 3-D printing was still in full swing mid-morning Saturday, great to have a hands on activity or "take away" for our friends.

Thanks!