Los Angeles Regional Finals Match Defense

[TheFineLine]

Link to the first match of the finals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IulNn2whPXw&t=54m2s

Tip #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IulNn2whPXw&t=55m55s

Tip #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IulNn2whPXw&t=1h31m55s

Tip #2 was pretty awesome because 330 was able to right themselves even though they were completely upside down.

Judging from all the matches during the regional, defense was a huge part in the winning alliance strategies. Pretty much every ranged shooter was struggling to make high goals when a defender robot collided with them during the shooting process. You can see this during the 3rd final's match when 1452 was easily harassing arguable two of the best shooters at the regional (before their robot lost connection ). 330's robot was unique because it braced itself against the bottom of the tower, making it nearly impossible to defend...

Until it tipped. From my memory, 330's robot only tipped 3 times during the regional, all cases during playoffs, and two in the finals. 330's robot center of mass was fairly high, especially when its shooter arm was fully extended. Combined with a nudge directly against it side, it isn't surprising that they fell over.

However, in one of the previous play off matches, a low center of mass robot was completely flipped upside down by a defender, and the defender's robot alliance was penalized with a dq for the match. When the same thing happened to 330 twice during the finals, myself and many others around me (even listen to the commentator) expected the game would be automatically awarded to 330's alliance by dq. The fact this was not the case brings up questions about the scope of defending. In a case of a tip, when is it considered a warning or dq? Hopefully other teams at the regional know more information regarding the subject.

So a few things to learn from the regional. Defending is very important, especially if the other alliance has a ranged shooter of any capability. Also, if possible, teams might want to consider creating a shooting algorithm where their robot is flesh against the bottom of the tower. Defense seemed pretty rough this year, so team should work on a case to deal with that.