Scouting Matters

[Joe Johnson]

Just back from the Reading NE FIRST District.

Awesome event. Well run. Great venue. So much to like.

But that's off topic. My reason for writing is to make a point to inexperienced teams just how vital scouting can be.

We were the number 5 seed at the end of quals and moved up to the #4 drafting slot when #2 picked #3. The new number 3 alliance captain drafted us but our scouting team had gamed out all the options and were confident that we should decline and lead our own alliance*.

We drafted the 18th rank team (RAGE - #173) on the first pick. When the serpentine draft came back, we could not believe our luck when the the 29th seed (The Outliers - #5687) was still available.

I am confident that few in the field house thought much of our picks, but our scouting team was on the moon, convinced that the we had the makings of a strong alliance.

As it turns out, we were a well matched set of teams, taking home the blue banner and scoring 145 (currently a NE FIRST top score) in one match and averaging 105.

I relate this story not to brag but to emphasize to teams that without our scouting data and analysis, there would have been no chance of our finding these awesome partners.

Scouting Matters. Ignore it at your own peril.

Dr. Joe J.

*nothing against team #3566 - they're a great team, we just felt there were teams that were better matched to our robot's capabilities.

[The other Gabe]

2046 had a similar experience at PNW Auburn Mountainview, making an alliance out of the 6th seed (after being picked by 2907, as I had hoped would happen) that made it to finals before being crushed by the #1 seed (we just didnt have the firepower to match up to them). both us and them have high quality scouting programs- if I may brag a little
we did similarly at PNW Auburn last year, being beaten by the same alliance (except the third robot) in finals after making it there from the 6th seed. this seems to be a common occurrence for us...

[who716]

your robot this year is pretty amazing and I wouldn't expect anything less from one of my idolized mentors in first, great job at reading 246....

I have a scouting story of my own to share that happened at Pioneer Valley.

This shows an example of what extensive scouting can do. on Friday 2168 Aluminum Falcons wasn't highly impressive, they struggled alot. Many teams clearly cut them from there scouting that night. We always give teams at-least one shot on Saturday for improvement.( And because it's one of my personal favorite teams in NE) There first match out on Saturday was impressive and was 100% better then Friday so we continued scouting them and by the end of Qualifying they were 3rd on our list of teams.

come alliance selections we were picked by the number 8 seed and 2168 was still available for our third pick. We told our alliance captain that this was an absolute steal to grab as a partner but they must have stopped scouting because they had no info on them, and as the alliance captain they made the decision to pick someone else. 2168 ended up being picked as the 3rd member of the 6th alliance.
2168 ended up being the only team at the event to get a 3 tote stack autonomous which they showed off for the first time in eliminations, a well as being able to cap up too 5 high which wasn't previously shown. 2168 ended up being THE CRUCIAL piece of this alliance and propelled them to a blue banner. for sure one of if not the best robots at the event.
for a team with this capability to fall to a late 3rd round pick goes to show teams shouldn't stop scouting Friday night.
my personal scouting of 2168 over the course of the weekend:
Friday morning:
No auto, drives around
Friday afternoon:
moves single tote into auto zone, tried stacking from loader station iffy.
Saturday morning:
Single tote Auto three 2 stacks from landfill
Saturday afternoon last qual match:
Single tote auto 4 2 stacks 1 three stack in Teleop placing them third on our list.

GREAT job to 2168 well deserved blue-banner for a very very very long weekend for you guys! looking forward to competing at Rhode island with you in a couple weeks.

[GeeTwo]

Thanks for the case historyies! I will be sure to use this storyese in briefing our scouting team for our week 4 event. I realized rather early that with the non-linear scoring of this game, scouting would be necessary not only from a pick list perspective, but also to manage seeding alliance strategies.

[Boltman]

In CV many teams were selected based on name recognition only...not performance metrics in day 1 and 2. How do I know?...scouting. I didn't even have a horse in the race (yet) but do have two working eyes. The problem with this game is the other two bots clouding contribution...if you don't take that into account. I don't like any surprises. Its three fold...The bot, the drivers and the scouts. We scouted as rookies, now kicking it up a notch.

[PayneTrain]

We love scouting. We'll scout even if we have a really bad event robot-wise. Why? When the actual alliances are selected, some of the miraculously boneheaded picks get to rear their ugly heads and I get to facepalm straight through my prefrontal cortex.

We saw some picks, even early on in South Carolina, that when paired with our data made it... very easy to figure out who was going home in the quarters and semis.

[rwodonnell]

Totally agree on team 5687! As 5th captain, we actually wanted to draft them coming back, but since we and the Force Team 1073 (our first pick, who would have been 6th captain) were both heavy users of the feeder station, and 5687 seemed to us to be better from the feeder station, we decided on the iRaiders 2713, who could work from the landfill. We wish we could have taken them both!

It was a pleasure to work with both 1073 and 2713!

[Jaywalker1711]

I remember back in 2012 when my team as the 5th alliance managed to scoop up a team that had bad luck with their alliances, the Comets. They were one of the best shooters at the district! Out scouting team was great.

We ended up going all the way to the finals, and lost due to a foul caused by a robot malfunction.

[K-Dawg157]

I feel as though that is one of the biggest scouting necessities this year: Feeder station or landfill?

Originally Posted by rwodonnell

Totally agree on team 5687! As 5th captain, we actually wanted to draft them coming back, but since we and the Force Team 1073 (our first pick, who would have been 6th captain) were both heavy users of the feeder station, and 5687 seemed to us to be better from the feeder station, we decided on the iRaiders 2713, who could work from the landfill. We wish we could have taken them both!

It was a pleasure to work with both 1073 and 2713!

[1629GaCo]

1629 GaCo, has a similar story from the Greater Pittsburgh Regional this past weekend. Coming into the alliance selections, we were ranked 9th, and quickly moved into a picking position as the top teams picked each other. When all was said and done, we picked Team 144, The R.O.C.K, who at the time was ranked 33rd, with our first pick. On the way back through, we picked Team 337, The Hard Working Hard Hats, who were ranked 16th at the time. Our alliance had about an 80 average in the QF's and then in the SF's we had an average of 131!!! Each team complimented the other's strengths and weaknesses and really began to gel come finals time. Our alliance went on to win the regional, upsetting the #1 seeded alliance. Without knowing who worked well with what we were trying to accomplish, none of this would have been possible!!!

[angelah]

I agree 100%. Scouting used to inform match strategy has led us to places higher than our robot alone was capable of taking us in our last two off-season events and now our first Recycle Rush competition, since we started running the data to the pits all day.

The same scouting data has led us to some great picks once we are alliance captains, too.

And we aren't event that good at it! We're still working with paper and pencils and a small team of scouts. Even the minimal amount we can do is extremely useful.