2015 CAS/NE FIRST Connecticut State Championship

[cjl2625]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Congratulations to the winning alliance of 2067 Apple Pi, 228 GUS, and 3146 Granby Grunts, Augustus Pius Gruntus. Three exciting Final matches where small miscues on either alliance made the difference.
Canburgling was not as extreme as it was on Einstein, but the strategies were more creative. I asked Apple Pi, "Did you always have that autonomous?" A: "As of 5 minutes ago. Apple Pi is full of sweet surprises." Their RC showdown with the Cyberknights was most entertaining.
GUS hadn't shown this kind of gameplay all season, but today, all of the sudden, they were making a minimum of two capped six-stacks consistently by the playoffs.
Granby Grunts really bookended their season, starting with their first competition win in Springfield, being on the 6th seeded Galileo alliance, and being the second pick steal by the third alliance today. A very inspirational year for them indeed.

These strategic can battles were one of the highlights of my season. When we realized we'd likely be fighting against 195 in the finals, we knew that they'd contest us for cans and win the battle.
So, we devilishly schemed to play some mind games with their alliance.

So we switched from our usual bin-grabbing Automode #7 (Entitled: Two-Can Toucan) to our newly created Automode #11 (Entitled: trolololo) which simply strafes to the other side of the field.

It was literally a last minute effort - as Eric was announcing the teams, I was modifying the new auto to drive backward a bit before strafing to the left (Our auto scripting system allows for last second changes).

I kind of like these can battles - instead of sheer speed, these involved some neat strategical action.

Our alliance partners were fantastic. Even when robots had issues, the alliance managed to put up some great scores. 228 was an excellent first pick. They've made such an improvement since the start of their season, now being able to make up to 2 six stacks. 3146 was an amazing steal of a second pick. While they weren't doing so well in quals, we knew what they were capable of after seeing them on Galileo. And in elims, they did not disappoint.

Overall, it was such a great time. The 2836/195/1071 alliance was a formidable set of opponents, taking the finals to 3 matches, and it was great to have the opportunity to battle them. Thanks to everyone who helped make this event happen.