Team Playbook

[Cyberguy34000]

This was just an idea I was toying with at our Saturday build session yesterday.

You know how in football they have a few dozen plays that seach team member memorize and then in the middle of the game they might call for that play?

Well what about having teams with FIRST triple play playbooks? Since teamwork is one of those important aspects this year, being able to just print off a series a plays that your alliance could work with might be pretty cool. You wouldn't have to give them the whole playbook, just 2-3 that they might want to consider. There'd be autonomous plays, end-game plays, and a whole lot of mess in between.

What do you guys think? I'd like to hear your ideas.

[Cory]

Sounds cool, but way too complicated.

My guess is the whole thing would be shot to hell once the match actually starts.

[Cyberguy34000]

Not necessarily. The plays would have to be more simple then complex. Strategies such as having two bots play defensive by blocking the space between the center goals while the last one loads them up with tetras could be viable strategies for something like this.

You wouldn't plan out the entire match in a play-by-play. But you might give your allience members some opening, closing, middle-game stratigic plays to consider. Then during the match, when you yell out the play your allience members would know what you're talking about instead of wasting valuble time during the match trying to explain it.

So as you're thinking about this, think simple.

[Bill Gold]

"Playbooks" like that were used very often in 2001, when choreography of robot movement was incredibly important to alliances. It was easier to stick to plans that year, since there wasn't an opponent to disrupt your plans. It's normally much easier to stick to vague goals in matches against live opponents, like "we're going to cap the stationary goal with 10 seconds left" last year, or possibly something like "we're going to cap the central goal on the far row, and you guys cap the central goal in the middle row with 10-15 seconds left" this year. In this game, you can't choreograph every movement throughout the entire match.

[JulieB]

Awesome idea

Just keeping the game going the same mite be a problem

[Greg Marra]

Autonomous playbooks are especially useful for when you and your alliance partners are planning who's going to run what program.

But normal playbooks might be a good idea too. Our team is making a bunch of different situations and assembling them in a book format, so I guess we already have one!

[GoDaisy341]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

Autonomous playbooks are especially useful for when you and your alliance partners are planning who's going to run what program.

But normal playbooks might be a good idea too. Our team is making a bunch of different situations and assembling them in a book format, so I guess we already have one!

We kind of dropped the ball on this last year but I think it would be nice to have come competition time. I'm going to try and make it a reality this year. The other good thing is if you have a hard copy at competition you can have something for your alliance partner to look at.

[663.keith]

my team decided to make a little strategy "book" this year to help with our organization. Most teams probably have something similar to this already, but we wanted to be a bit more organized this year. Last year we had to scrounge around finding little scraps of paper that told us about what are plans were.

[abeD]

While a playbook would be handy...I think something very useful is a minature field or field layed out on a whiteboard...alot of teams do use small whiteboards during strategy meetings to allow for many different strategies..and because its not very hard to use.

[Ali Ahmed]

I think a playbook would be cool and useful. I think it would work even better in finals because you know your alliance and opponents. You would have to make it in the most simplest of situations because you would have to assume a lot. But I think it would work.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I think there are a few noticeable effects of playbooks.

On the more negative end, yes it's hard to stick to some of the complicated designs that come around during the actaul match. You've got an adrenaline high, and one of the most important aspects of a quality drive team is the ability to think on their feet.

Also, it will depend so highly on what your alliance partners do. You can't limit yourself to a play and find yourself in a corner mid match because it didn't work out perfectly. As Bill Gold said about 2001, it's easier without an opponent.

However, I see a few awesome perspectives.

I think a playbook is a great way for the team to organize and explain the game for newcomers. Last year, I didn't have a clear understanding of the game until midway thru my first competition, and it wasn't until Nationals that I even truly understood our drive team's awesome strategy. Having a small playbook available for competition newcomers to look at (on the bus on the way to comps or something) could increase bonding, and the entire pit crew could have a voice if they didn't like a design all of the sudden.

Also, it's true that designs shouldn't be complicated in 2005's game. It would teach your strategy team true engineering: they would have to take what resources they have and put them into a complicated situation and narrow down beneficial possibilities by looking at all angles and costs. Instead of having them plan stuff in a textbook for some class, they would be doing it for real knowing the high technological and logistical limitations.

As long as you don't limit yourself, a referanceable playbook is a great option

- Genia

[Cyberguy34000]

You might also want to consider the advantages of being able to quickly plan out a strategy, especially in autonomous mode, between matches. There will most likely be games at regionals that you only have 15 minutes in between a match in which you have to plan, develop, and perfect your strategies for your alliance for the next round. And on top of all this, you have to repair your robot if it took damage. If each team had a playbook, the drivers could quickly confer on what the best plan of action would be for the coming match instead of each team throwing out vague and non-descript tactics.

Teamwork will be very important this year. Anything that could help teams work better together could be very important.

[dhitchco]

I created a 11"x17" version of the field layout (without the dimension lines) for just that purpose. It's like a "John Madden" football playbook.

But, in all honesty, I think that doing "what-if" strategies is fine, but gut instinct and a quick assessment of all three robots in a given alliance will dictate who plays defense, offense, etc.

But here's the paper chart if you want to use a whole stack of them.

[DrShadowSML]

IF your alliance can remember the plays it would be a good idea. If something goes wrong, just call a different play. This sounds cool. My team might be interested in doing this also.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Originally Posted by DrShadowSML

IF your alliance can remember the plays it would be a good idea. If something goes wrong, just call a different play. This sounds cool. My team might be interested in doing this also.

I think that brings up a huge point. For one thing, your plays need to be open to having only 2 people or even just yourself available during a round. Robots break, yah, but if you're lucky, your ideas won't. Remembering them by number seems like a tough decision. Maybe a good way to sort this out would be to outline some goals in your playbook such as..."Cap Offense", or "Destroy opponent alliance rows". This way you could quickly assign tasks before the round based on your alliance capabilities.