Alliance Request

[Aura_]

I was wonder if anyone had any advice on how to advertise your team if you are trying to get chosen by an alliance captain. I have found that no matter how you approach them the conversation is always awkward. Thanks in advance guys.

[Hallry]

Don't advertise in person. Advertise by showing your robot's full capabilities on the field.

[Sperkowsky]

My advice is don't. Let alliance captains do their thing. Imo talking about your alliance with them would just get annoying.

[Aura_]

Originally Posted by Hallry

Don't advertise in person. Advertise by showing your robot's full capabilities on the field.

Thanks, but when we get constant horrible match ups how are we suppose to advertise ourselves any better?

[CalTran]

Perform to the best of your ability. You gotta learn to play the hand you're dealt. If your robot does well, scouting will pick up the rest. There's more to picking a robot than it's win-loss record.

[Aura_]

Alright thanks for the advice guys. We will take your advice.

[jajabinx124]

Originally Posted by Aura_

Thanks, but when we get constant horrible match ups how are we suppose to advertise ourselves any better?

Winning in quals isn't everything. Good teams, regardless of whether you win or lose in quals, will scout your robot based on your individual performance. You can only advertise to a certain extent, otherwise your just get annoying as other people mentioned on this thread.

[MoralesJay]

Originally Posted by Aura_

Thanks, but when we get constant horrible match ups how are we suppose to advertise ourselves any better?

Yes I have the same question, at our 2nd competition we got matched up twice with a "no show" and malfunctioning robot. We racked up 50-60 points with one RP on our own on both matches and lost to 90+ points against us.

[KosmicKhaos]

The time to "advertise" your self and talk about your robot capabilities is on Thursday or Friday when teams are coming around doing pit scouting/benchmarking.

Having 1 or 2 people in the pits who know all of the robots capabilities and what to tell other teams on Thursday and Friday designated as "spokespeople" can help. These 1 or 2 people being the only people talking to other teams can insure that all information is conveyed as well as the information being conveyed is consistent.

Really the only people who will be talking to other teams about alliances is the potential captian or a strong first pick. Let the potential captian approach you if you are looking at being a 2nd pick, don't approach them.

[RonAyyyyyyyy]

If you perform above average and are consistent, you will almost always get picked, regardless of how many matches you won or lost

[Aura_]

Sorry guys if I am coming off as ignorant it is just our team has just gotten unlucky and ended up in the "no-man's zone" 7-12th too many times and I'm trying to find a way for us to escape this reoccurring predicament.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I think about the only time it would make sense is if your robot was broken most of Friday, but you finally got some killer 2nd pick system working 100% Saturday morning. Just thinking back to our 2007 GLR debacle where we had a double lift that was busted all Friday till we w welded together the gearboxes that night. Then it worked flawlessly Saturday morning 3 matches in a row. Double lifting basically guaranteed a win with decent defense or scoring, but we still dropped all the way to 1st seed 2nd pick, because most teams stopped scouting on Friday, or has already nixed us. 1114 nabbed us thanks to really on the ball scouting. We probably could've made things less nervous by approaching a few of the top seeds and briefly explaining the problem and the fix.

I don't think there's a function this year that's nearly that important. Not one that you'd rely on and base a pick on without seeing it work most of Friday.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by CalTran

Perform to the best of your ability. You gotta learn to play the hand you're dealt. If your robot does well, scouting will pick up the rest. There's more to picking a robot than it's win-loss record.

Originally Posted by jajabinx124

Winning in quals isn't everything. Good teams, regardless of whether you win or lose in quals, will scout your robot based on your individual performance.

This. Just remember, at the Central Valley Regional in 2014, 1st seed 254 picked 973 and 2135, who were ranked 43rd and 41st, for their alliance, and won the regional. There were only 45 teams there.

[Aura_]

TBH greybots are usually a pretty safe pick no matter what.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Aura_

Sorry guys if I am coming off as ignorant it is just our team has just gotten unlucky and ended up in the "no-man's zone" 7-12th too many times and I'm trying to find a way for us to escape this reoccurring predicament.

7th means you're picking, means you'd better be scouting and have a pick list. 8th seeds don't often take home trophies, but 7ths have, and if you just make it to the finals you can always pick up a wildcard.