What is the best strategy

[DaveA412]

What do you think the best strategy as far as types of teams are?
for example 2 offense and 1 defense or 3 offense 1 offense 2 defense etc

you can also add if they are human loaded pick up from the floor ball herders and dumpers just looking for input

personally i say 2 offense that can pick up from the floor and one defense with a great drivetrain and can possibly be a ball dumper.

[Tetraman]

1 robot with mastery in Automode.
1 robot with mastery in offence.
1 robot with mastery in defense and getting to and getting others to the platform.

[MrForbes]

I think you'll discover, if you have good scouting, that you can't break it down that easily...each team is unique, and has a unique combinations of strengths. In the end, reliability, adaptability and great teamwork might be what count the most.

[nuggetsyl]

win

[hayakuneko]

Just from being at the Arizona and LA regionals, I can tell you that the winning alliance has at least 2 robots that can pick up from the ground. From there, I'd also state that a winning alliance only has high (exit point) shooters, except for the ones that get on the ramp and do that whole deal. 2 shooters isn't exactly necessary (968 proved that in LA) but I think that you need at least a shooting robot that has a high point per game average. Then of course the dumping bot that also is good at defense.

Basically I'd say, the best strategy is to have a defensive robot (maybe it can also dump), a very competent shooter bot (high point average), and just one well rounded robot that can switch off between shooting, dumping, and defense.

[BHS_STopping]

Well, our winning alliance at the Sacramento/Davis competition had one very constant autonomous winner (which was a low goal bot, or "bottom-feeder", as our coach likes to say) which was also a good defensive bot, a high goal shooter which would help break a tie in autonomous by scoring 1 or 2 balls in the center goal, and one high shooter which would play spectacular defense during the whole match, while also being able to score if both other bots were blocked. Also, all robots were easily capable of getting up the ramp, as well as helping a disabled robot get onto the ramp with a push (Thanks 852!).

Any way it works, there are different alliances for different situations. It all depends what your opponents are capable of and what you know about the competition. In other words, it's almost impossible to build a winning team without decent scouting reports. You basically have to know the in and outs of each bot there, and then you can start building a top-nothch alliance that is capable of many things, not just scoring high.

The scouting strategy is quite possibly one of the most overlooked aspects of this competition. Next year, it would be wise of many teams to take a look at other teams individually, not by their seeds. I guess our experience just goes to show that picking the 16th and 36th seeded teams can pave the way to victory.

(Basically a longer explanation of squirrel's ideas.)

[DaveA412]

yes i liked my winning alliance also we were all able to get up the ramp we are spectacular at defense 233 waqs an amazing shooter 121 was an amazing shooter but could still push ppl around we all had awesome autonomous modes ours we blocked ppl very successfully and 121 smetimes blocked and shot and 233 shot it was a great team we were all friendly and made it even better i like both teams very much and cant wait to see them at nationals as we have been called sometimes the force because of our torque we can also puch people up the ramp and a special thanks to team 40 with all the sky wheels they gave us because we kept ripping the center out of ours well i hope to see all those teams in nationals ill stop by and say hello

[AcesPease]

To emphasize some of what has been said. Scout, Scout and then Scout some more. Scout every team in your division. Watch the qualification rounds. If you get to pick an alliance, picking well from any ranking can give you a chance to win this year's game. The Championships will have many robots that can perform multiple functions well, specialized robots may be at a disadvantage in eliminations where the other teams can plan and coordinate carefully. An alliance of three good robots that are working well together can win. There is no robot that can win this game by itself. Try to pick the best team available when it is your turn, and if the other teams picking have not done their scouting you will have the advantage.

[hillale]

From what I've seen, what seemed to work best is two robots with a center goal autonomous and one that could consistently put 10 balls in the corner. One of the shooters would stay as the back bot and load up on balls while the other 2 played defense, then line up and plant themselves so that it would be hard to move them just before their offensive period begins. Then when the 3rd period begins, they can just empty 10-15 balls in the center goal, if they hadn't already won the match by their autonomous period.

[xtremehumanheat]

i think the best strategy is having a good autonomous robot to win autonomous, having two robots that can load from human player and block the corner goals at the same time, and having the one robot one the other side of the field that can pick the balls off the floor and be able to shoot into the center goal when its time for offense.




if this idea was said before in a earlier post just know that i didnt read the other posts, I was just saying what i think is a good strategy.

[Duncan Macdonald]

So far the best combination that has apealed to me is two shooters and a bully bot (dumping ability preferable).

My experience is that if there is only one robot that can shoot it gets harrased by both defensive bots resulting in it never even being able to face the hoop.

[Nimmy]

I've heard this question so many times for people on my team "what's our strategy? what's the best strategy?"
well my strategy is to win =)

I think I learned that even more important then teamwork
adaptability is the most important factor
the skill of improvising during those crucial few seconds,

having an alliance who's drivers and coaches are good improvisers and have an adaptable robot is very important,

and ramp
the ramp rules

[bk111]

Originally Posted by squirrel

I think you'll discover, if you have good scouting, that you can't break it down that easily...each team is unique, and has a unique combinations of strengths. In the end, reliability, adaptability and great teamwork might be what count the most.

I agree. You build a driving strategy around the robot. If you devise a strategy around doing only a handful of things without getting in your opponents' heads, then you've already lost. Even if your robot accomplishes those tasks really well, proper defense could shut it down. I think good teamwork can be the most difficult. Even if everyone in an alliance is cooperative, properly complementing strengths and weaknesses can very tricky.

[Lil' Lavery]

Some related threads:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ce+structur e
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ce+structur e

[BBnum3]

Originally Posted by hillale

From what I've seen, what seemed to work best is two robots with a center goal autonomous and one that could consistently put 10 balls in the corner. One of the shooters would stay as the back bot and load up on balls while the other 2 played defense, then line up and plant themselves so that it would be hard to move them just before their offensive period begins. Then when the 3rd period begins, they can just empty 10-15 balls in the center goal, if they hadn't already won the match by their autonomous period.

I was going to say something just like that, and then add that that's what my alliance did at Milwaukee, and then I saw your signature, and realized you're from Winnovation. One thing I would like to add about that strategy: The non-shooting robot is almost better off not pouring its balls into the corner goal and playing a defensive autonomous mode. That way, since the alliance plans on winning the autonomous mode anyway, the defensive robot is on the defensive side of the field from the start. It can play defense immediately, which may be more important than the 10 balls it could have scored in autonomous. If the two other robots are good enough shooters (like 111 and 1625 at Milwaukee) then it almost doesn't even matter if the defensive robot scores. I'm curious to see if this strategy has been employed at regionals other than Wisconsin.