Reigonals versus startegies

[MisterX]

It seems very interesting how teams from similar geographic regions seem to view parts of the games in similar ways even before the first competition with basing their robot off the same idea it seems. I.E. While hanging was dominant at some regionals (VCU I believe was like this) it was all about the multiplyers at others (UTC) then there has probably been the most goal grabbers seen this passed weekend with the midwest. Has anybody else noted this or what do you guys all think on this matter or phenomenon? Or am I just over analyzing things

[Beth Sweet]

I agree with you. There's an answer that seems fairly relevant to me of, hey, look, they did it and got lots of points, plus both of those robots did it well. If we can do it, then we can work with them and get lots of points too.

[Will Hanashiro]

hmmmm, i noticed this as well... but i cant quite figure out why this "phenomenon" is taking place. maybe we're just overanalyzing, but GLR was won by hangers, midwest seemed to be dominated by balls that were then capped... hmmmm.

should be interesting at the nationals to see all these strategies come together!

[Eric Bareiss]

It's a region thing. People in the east play a different kind of game than people in the west. Each region has it's different way to play the game.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Word gets out in different regions of the country. It turns into "Well, I heard so and so and that other team are BOTH hanging this year.. maybe we should too."

[Jones571]

I think it is as the weeks go on and people find out of strategies that have worked for other teams they then adapt them to there robot. I don’t believe this is a Region thing more of a time thing as the time goes on the game becomes more difficult and intense because more teams find the best way they play. Isn’t that is what FIRST is about always improving. Also as time goes on it is more likely that teams have already competed in a regional already being able to know what will work and what wont.

[David66]

I would agree with it being a "region" thing. take a look at a few examples:

We won GLR with two other hangers. the only teams that came close to (or actually did) beat us were hangers.

At VCU 33 was able to dominate with their superior ball handling capabilities. however when they returned to detroit they were beaten out by a hanger (47).

midwest seemed to be dominated by small balls capped, which would mean there was little defense played-it was a primarily offensive game.

Now imagine nationals-on the first part of Friday many teams are going to attempt to use their original strategies and often find themselves missing out. Midwest vs. GLR the ball handlers would never have gotten those balls to cap.
VCU vs. Midwest: scores would have been pushed even higher.

Only another week of competitoin will really tell what's going to happen.

[JVN]

I have seen the future, and it is Chicago.

Having watched all of the MWR webcast, I think that is the way things will be in Atlanta. There was a good balance of everything, and the game dynamic matched the dynamic we (229) speculated at kickoff.

There was a great change in strategy as the weeks went on, and also as the robots progressed in functionality (anyone else notice most teams came out the gate a little slower than usual this year?) I think now that most robots and drivers are getting closer to 100% we're going to see some more variety of play. This game has TONS of different strategies, TONS of moves/countermoves... A good variety of each is necessary for any successful alliance (adapting the balance is crucial).

I expect the finals in Atlanta to play out just like the finals in Chicago. (Complete with team 45's amazing machine ).

$.02

John

[Alex Cormier]

what i saw at buckeye, was if you could hang and do it fast and well you could almost win every match. also the ones who could get the mobile goal under the balls and uncap and decap it was succesful.

Originally Posted by David66

Midwest seemed to be dominated by small balls capped, which would mean there was little defense played-it was a primarily offensive game.

Now imagine nationals-on the first part of Friday many teams are going to attempt to use their original strategies and often find themselves missing out. Midwest vs. GLR the ball handlers would never have gotten those balls to cap.

As a in person witness of both events, I'd have to disagree with you there. Teams were playing primarily offense, but teams also realized that their totally offensive machines were needed to play defense. Our alliance of 45, 269, and 930 was just like our alliance at GLR, us (being balls and cap) with 2 hangers that assisted in balls/hang/defense. There are plenty of teams out there that have made improvements to themselves and I think that if GLR was next week, it would have had a different result. The 2 hanger alliance isn't going to cut it in Atlanta...balls and cap will make the difference.

We'll see for sure in 2 weeks.

[Greg McCoy]

Originally Posted by JVN

There was a great change in strategy as the weeks went on, and also as the robots progressed in functionality. I think now that most robots and drivers are getting closer to 100% we're going to see some more variety of play. This game has TONS of different strategies, TONS of moves/countermoves... A good variety of each is necessary for any successful alliance (adapting the balance is crucial).

I agree with John. I think that most of the differences in strategy come from robots progressing in reliability and functionality. The most sucessful robots/alliances are going to be the ones that can adapt to the game situation the best. I can't wait 'till Atlanta...

[c-squared_2006]

That's correct and it's also about what the opponet can do. And the types of robot entered in the regional. For Buckeye the bar was a main thing. That was the only regional we entered in so I wouldn't know about the other regionals.