PCH District: Kennesaw Predictions

[PCH Informer]

Fall Back…
Week 3 saw our district stretch its elbows and span out over 2 events. While some teams chose to rest after week 2, a few teams opted to get right back in it and join the large group of teams competing for the first time.

With that being said, the number of teams playing for the first time vastly outnumbered those that were there for a 2nd round of a competition and ultimately, that created a bit of a drag on the gameplay. We expected the gameplay to evolve from one that was defense-centric to one that focused on scoring goals and capturing towers.

However, the shallow fields at Albany and Dalton, combined with all the teams playing for the first time, meant that the gameplay took a very slight step forward. In week 3, there were a total of only 6 tower captures, 1 at Dalton and 5 at Albany, and none of them came during the finals.

At Kennesaw, the district is coming together to field some of the most competitive teams in our district. Add that to the fact that teams have had many weeks to make improvements from their prior events, and we expect to see at least 6 captures in just during the qualification rounds in Kennesaw.

Spring Forward…
The Kennesaw District is shaping up to be an extremely power-packed event. Not only does Kennesaw feature one of the largest gatherings of the most capable robots in the state, but all teams attending are going to their 2nd or 3rd event.

This means that teams have had 2-5 weeks to implement any changes or improvements, and this going to reflect on the gameplay. Breaching defenses is 2nd nature to most teams by now, and the next frontier of competition advancement is capturing towers.

Ultimately, Kennesaw will feature an extremely elevated, fast-paced gameplay, that’s going to ease the way for many teams to take advantage of capture points. The team that best aligns their strategy around captures will find themselves in the best position in terms of ranking and eliminations.

Shooting Their Way to the Top…

4910 - We’ll be honest, 4910 caught us by surprise. Their low goal and shooting combination not only saw them to a victory at Dalton, but 4910 currently sits in 1st place of the normalized district rankings. 4910 shows a lot of potential to become a really good high-goal shooter. With that being said, their success at KSU will rely on their consistency and their ability to keep up with the pace of the game.

1261 - It seems someone forgot to tell 1261 that only their first two districts will earn them points. Whatever the reason, we’re happy to see that one of the most vocal opponents of districts is actively embracing the system by doing 3 events, and it’s showing in 1261’s gameplay. Towards the end of Albany, 1261 was easily hitting 6-7 low goals, and they were even flirting with 3-4 high goals. When you combine these numbers with an agile robot, aggressive driving, and the fact that 1261 still has room to improve, you’re looking at the best robot in the district.

2415 - Despite driving a 4WD robot through sand in Columbus, 2415 still managed to walk with the 2nd best OPR at the event and a finalist medal. With that being said, 2415 continues to improve as they refine their high goal gameplay and even work towards developing a climber. If they manage to get close to their rumored 6 high-goals-per-match, they’re going to find themselves in a position to run away with this event.

1771 - 1771 had a good run at Dalton, but their run ended with some not-so-secret troubles with their arm. However, even at full strength, 1771 looks a little timid and moves around the field really gingerly. As such, 1771’s success in KSU will revolve around not busting their arm gearbox, consistently climbing, and driving like they stole it.

Doing it the old fashioned way…

1746 - Otto breached their way to a 1st seed, a semifinalist appearance, and almost a capture in Columbus. However, the game is quickly evolving, and 1746 is evolving with it. Rumor has it that 1746 has the ability to solo capture in a match, which means a potentially major RP boost during qualifications. If 1746 can low-goal their bots off and secure captures in a majority of their qualification rounds, 1746 may find their way to another 1st seed.

5332 - Toaster Tech quietly low-goaled their way to the 3rd seed in Columbus. They lead an alliance to some pretty high scores and an eventual semifinals exit. With that being said, 5332 has all the makings of an extremely fast, potent low goaler. Their success at Columbus depends on their speed, aggressiveness, and low-goaling efficiency.

Something to prove…

4468 - At Columbus, 4468 quickly saw that their shooter arm was not going to cut it, and they ditched their manipulator in favor of an agile machine targeted at breaching. While that worked in Columbus, rumor has it that 4468 is now working on low goaling capabilities, which is good, because they’re going to need them. In a field where low goalers are tuning their gameplay and high goalers are starting to get good, 4468 has to hit the ground running in order to have a chance of low-goaling their way to success at Kennesaw.

5632 - At Dalton, 5632 proved that you can still breach your way to success. Featuring little more than a good drivetrian and a defense manipulator, 5632 rose to 3rd seed and found themselves in the finals. While that formula may have worked well at Dalton, 5632 is going to need to bring more to the table in order to continue their success at Kennesaw.

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by PCH Informer

5632 - At Dalton, 5632 proved that you can still breach your way to success. Featuring little more than a good drivetrian and a defense manipulator, 5632 rose to 3rd seed and found themselves in the finals. While that formula may have worked well at Dalton, 5632 is going to need to bring more to the table in order to continue their success at Kennesaw.

5632 will have a solid set of improvements to showcase at Kennesaw. Low goal and even scaling are some of the capabilities we intend to be one of the best at.

As far as quality of play I think things will be pretty good, but we will have to wait until state of course to see the best level of competition we can get in GA.

[PCH Reinformer]

Originally Posted by PCH Informer

The Kennesaw District is shaping up to be an extremely power-packed event. Not only does Kennesaw feature one of the largest gatherings of the most capable robots in the state, but all teams attending are going to their 2nd or 3rd event.
...
Ultimately, Kennesaw will feature an extremely elevated, fast-paced gameplay, that’s going to ease the way for many teams to take advantage of capture points.

This may be exaggerating the potential level of gameplay just a little... And to say this event is a gathering of the most capable robots in the state is also a bit of a stretch, with top teams like 1648, 2974, and 4188 not competing. It'll certainly be fun to watch some of the older GA FIRST teams compete all together again, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a faster-paced game...

Originally Posted by PCH Informer

When you combine these numbers with an agile robot, aggressive driving, and the fact that 1261 still has room to improve, you’re looking at the best robot in the district.

Totally unbiased observations here.

[PShaw25]

Originally Posted by PCH Reinformer

Totally unbiased observations here.

. Myself and my team are deeply offended that anyone would think we stoop so low as to create an anonymous CD account to promote our team. Please do not make unsubstantiated statements against any team, especially from another anonymous account.

Team 4910, East Cobb Robotics will be in attendance, but I do agree the event will not comprise of all the top teams in the state.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by PCH Reinformer

This may be exaggerating the potential level of gameplay just a little... And to say this event is a gathering of the most capable robots in the state is also a bit of a stretch, with top teams like 4188, 2974, 1648, and 4910 not competing. It'll certainly be fun to watch some of the older GA FIRST teams compete all together again, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a faster-paced game...

On the other hand, I think it will be much faster-paced game. Its been 2.5 weeks since anyone has played, and the last time 1746 and 2415 played, they had to play on AstroTurf and survive brownouts. I'm expecting elims to be competitive and blow out the other 3 events in terms of excitement.

[vikesrock777]

Originally Posted by Anupam Goli

On the other hand, I think it will be much faster-paced game. Its been 2.5 weeka since anyone has played, and the last time 1746 and 2415 played, they had to play on AstroTurf and survive brownouts. I'm expecting elims to be competitive and blow out the other 3 events in terms of excitement.

Indeed. Albany and Dalton both had some talent, but a lot ended up split between two events. Additionally, with only 25 and 28 teams at each event, it was more difficult to have a "deep" field. I haven't looked at concrete metrics of OPRs or other such things, but with the combination of it being the second event for many people and having the largest collection of teams since week 2 astroturf, I feel like (and hope) we'll see some more high scoring results.

Lastly, with the large gap between events, many teams will have had good opportunities to iterate (something I imagine was much more difficult for teams who were in their second event week 3.)

[Kellen Hill]

I think the depth of this event rivals that of Columbus, but with the benefit of teams already having been through an event. I expect this to result in more captures throughout the event particularly once we get to elims, but still not too many. I'd reserve those higher expectations for next week at state champs in Athens.

Breaching consistently is still going to be good enough to seed in the top 8. The match schedule is going to have a large impact in who seeds at the top. Top teams facing off against each other in qualifications will force someone to walk away without 2 valuable ranking points.

Looking forward to seeing how the improvements to our bot compare to the rest of the competition. Can't wait to get loaded in on Friday!

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by vikesrock777

Indeed. Albany and Dalton both had some talent, but a lot ended up split between two events. Additionally, with only 25 and 28 teams at each event, it was more difficult to have a "deep" field. I haven't looked at concrete metrics of OPRs or other such things, but with the combination of it being the second event for many people and having the largest collection of teams since week 2 astroturf, I feel like (and hope) we'll see some more high scoring results.

Lastly, with the large gap between events, many teams will have had good opportunities to iterate (something I imagine was much more difficult for teams who were in their second event week 3.)

All true. We did struggle making major changes to our robot, mostly settling for minor upgrades and a small wedge on the back of our robot for the portcullis. We should have some nice improvements for Athens, but Kennesaw will be great in the meantime.

I'm excited to volunteer there and get to watch a bunch of awesome matches. Another team that I'm looking forward to see at Kennesaw is 1002. They have a pretty nice bot this year, picking up the #8 seed's first pick at Albany, but struggled with communication issues. If they can figure some of those out, I wouldn't be surprised to see them do well, even in a very good field.

[thomas272]

Yeah, over at 2415 we're definitely expecting the fastest paced action in Georgia yet despite the lack of a few of the top teams, and definitely expect to see the highest level of gameplay in Georgia pre-state, sorry PCH Reinformer.

Though, to be fair, 1261 put up the highest OPR in the state, highest defense points, and set the state high score, so it is understandable that they would be named number 1 from what has been seen so far.

However, we are honing in on that sweet sweet 6 high goals per match (with defense), we changed our intake to pneumatic and it is much smoother.

Hopefully after Kennesaw it'll be us

Totally unbiased observations here.

[cmwilson13]

Originally Posted by thomas272

Hopefully after Kennesaw it'll be us

Totally unbiased observations here.

Not the only ones making improvements. ;P
we cant wait to show of our 13 wheel shooter , the 6 we had was not enough at dalton

[nighterfighter]

I'm definitely looking forward to having more than ~27 teams this time.

I think it will be the most competitive event in Georgia this year, except for District Champs obviously.

As Christopher said, 13 wheeled shooter time...

[Jay Burnett]

Nice to be mentioned as a team to watch! 5332 is looking forward to driving on just one layer of carpet this weekend, and we know that our cycling speed will definitely increase. Captures here we come!

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by cmwilson13

Not the only ones making improvements. ;P
we cant wait to show of our 13 wheel shooter , the 6 we had was not enough at dalton

Originally Posted by nighterfighter

As Christopher said, 13 wheeled shooter time...

Yeah, I mean, everyone knows that more shooters wheels => better shooter. Just look at 1717 from 2014.

- Sunny G.

[JohnFogarty]

#52WHEELINTAKE

[TDav540]

Anyone have a good idea of what the points cutoff will be for DCMP? I expect somewhere around 44 pts but I'd like to see what other people think.