Best Atlanta Alliances

[Madison]

2 tube machines that play well off of one another and a machine that's devoted exclusively to defense and lifting are the way to go.

You'd have to be enormously cocky to play an offense-only game this time around.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

2 tube machines that play well off of one another and a machine that's devoted exclusively to defense and lifting are the way to go.

You'd have to be enormously cocky to play an offense-only game this time around.

This is my belief as well.

[Faith]

I don't know, an entirely offensive alliance does have its perks.
-More likely they will all be amazing scorers rather than good ones
-Durign endgame, the other alliance has to make a difficult choice: go for 60 and leave 3 robots by themselves to put up tubes, leave 1 defensive bot out to stop some tube scoring and get 30 points, or forsake the extra points and try preventing them from putting any tubes up.

Since just putting one tube on a row could add 64 points, the ramp is not always worth it. And with 3 amazing robots free to score, the possibilities are endless.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Plooshiska

I don't know, an entirely offensive alliance does have its perks.
-More likely they will all be amazing scorers rather than good ones
-Durign endgame, the other alliance has to make a difficult choice: go for 60 and leave 3 robots by themselves to put up tubes, leave 1 defensive bot out to stop some tube scoring and get 30 points, or forsake the extra points and try preventing them from putting any tubes up.

Since just putting one tube on a row could add 64 points, the ramp is not always worth it. And with 3 amazing robots free to score, the possibilities are endless.

I think you're optimistic if you believe that nearly 1/3 of the robots in any division are going to qualify as 'amazing' anything. By the time the draft rolls back on down to the first seed, there will not be much left to pick from, I think. That places the number eight seed in, arguably, the best position for an offensive alliance selection -- but that alliance will necessarily be made from teams that are inferior to those above them in almost all circumstances.

If teams are in a position to work with a reliable lifting robot, it's in their best interest to limit tube scoring during the match and that's pretty easily accomplished if you think things through.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

I think you're optimistic if you believe that nearly 1/3 of the robots in any division are going to qualify as 'amazing' anything. By the time the draft rolls back on down to the first seed, there will not be much left to pick from, I think. That places the number eight seed in, arguably, the best position for an offensive alliance selection -- but that alliance will necessarily be made from teams that are inferior to those above them in almost all circumstances.

If teams are in a position to work with a reliable lifting robot, it's in their best interest to limit tube scoring during the match and that's pretty easily accomplished if you think things through.

I don't know.... looking at some divisions (Galileo for one), there are atleast 24 good offensive teams.

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by Plooshiska

I don't know, an entirely offensive alliance does have its perks.
-More likely they will all be amazing scorers rather than good ones
-Durign endgame, the other alliance has to make a difficult choice: go for 60 and leave 3 robots by themselves to put up tubes, leave 1 defensive bot out to stop some tube scoring and get 30 points, or forsake the extra points and try preventing them from putting any tubes up.

Since just putting one tube on a row could add 64 points, the ramp is not always worth it. And with 3 amazing robots free to score, the possibilities are endless.

The alliance looking to lift two robots can keep the opponents from scoring more than a row of 4 with some defensive tube placement. Two columns of tubes with two columns in between them limits the offensive alliance to rows of 4. The most they can get is 80 points. For that alliance to score 12 tubes would be unbelieveable. Especially if they already exhausted their human players' tubes and have to run across the field to the other homezone where there are a bunch of robots in the way.

[Dreadfrost]

Ok well everyone knows that going offensive is risky (since it easier and faster to stop someone scoring that score yourself) but clearly in atlanta it will be required.
Also a lot of good scoring robots like 1114 in Galileo have only needed to use their arm in the regionals and yet to really test other robot capabilities of climbing their ramp. We went against 1114 in the finals of both Waterloo and GTR and i didnt see them use their ramp once until the final few matches at GTR.
So we could see some changes in the way robots dominate at atlanta compared to regionals.

Dreadfrost

[ScoutingNerd175]

3 Strong drive trains, all other qualities are negotiable.

Ideally that would include 2 strong ring scorers (with the ability to get up a ramp) and one hybrid bot with very good ramps and solid scoring.

In this scenario, the alliance can adapt to play whatever strategy is necessary (Defense, offense only, offense and ramp, defense and ramp). But, I've seen plenty of great scorers stopped by teams with better drive trains.

[Donut]

I think it will be an alliance made up of 2 extremely good arm robots (they may be a hybrid, or they may be just an arm, either way they're there for their arm ability, not their ramps/lifters), and 1 robot that is either a hybrid arm/ramp or a ramp with defensive power.

The winning alliance will put up an amazing amount of tubes (trying to score at least 2 tubes in auto every match, being succesful usually), but will start out with strategic placement to limit their opponent's options. Then at the end they'll either lift for 60 with their very consitent ramper or they'll put up the 7th ring, depending on how the game has played out.

I don't see a defensive game where you just push the other guys around and ramp at the end winning. More than half of all elimination alliances will have a good lifter; I see ramps becoming a necessity not to win matches but just to survive them. You need a ramp just so you have the option of cancelling out the 60 your opponents will put up with theirs.

[SSMike]

My Ideal Alliance:
1 ramp/lift bot that can efficiently elevate 2 bots to 12 inches almost everytime (if not everytime). This bot will also play defense and have a very strong drvie train to push other bots and not get pushed themselves. It may also have some way to put ringers on the rack. Examples: 316, 67, 503 etc.

2 scoring bots that can score a lot of points not only while alone, but while they are guarded. Must be able to efficiently clib ramps. At least one of these must have a semi-successful autonomous mode. Examples: 191, 1126, 25, 217, 67 etc.

[hipsterjr]

2 small scorers with high torque for push away defense are playing defense.
1 large hybrid to score a couple ringers, but primary for defense and ramp

Few teams can survive without defense. You can win by playing incredible defense and lifting 2 bots @12''

[Ericgehrken]

An amazing hybrid (such as 330) and two amazing cappers

[BBnum3]

I think we'll see a variety of alliances doing well in Atlanta. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 5th or a 6th seed win it all because of the picks those teams will have. I could see a 5th seeded good tube scoring robot pick another solid tube scoring robot and on the wraparound get a good ramp. The same thing could be said for seeds 6-8. The top seeds will have trouble filling up that second pick with a solid ramp bot.

That said, I think the alliance that will win it all will have two good scorers. That's all I can say for sure. The third robot could be A. A decent hybrid B. A decent tubes-only C. Ramp/Defensive. I think we will see alliances of each kind advance very far. I think it will be very tough for anyone to win purely by tubes, as a little defensive tube placement can quickly negate any big scores. Also, I haven't seen a robot that couldn't be rendered significantly less effective by a good defensive bot. Defense will be key, whether it is by tube placement or pushing.

[KTorak]

1 team that DOMINATES offense and can score 5-8 in a match
1 team that can score atleast 3-4, BUT can play defense IF needed
1 team that has 2 easy to use ramps at 12"+ and can play GOOD defense and/or score if needed.

As a side note, you need a robot capable of removing spoilers and a robot that is capable of picking up tubes efficiently from the far side.

You also need a good strategy going into each match. I'll admit to losing some matches that my alliance clearly could have won due to bad planing. If you over exert your scoring, you can let the other alliance in to block you with a tube. Say you score 1, 2, 5 and your partner scores 8, 7, 6 and no one quickly scores 3 and 4 for a row of 8, the opposing alliance may see that and block the row with two tubes, severely limiting your score.

[seraphim33]

2 defensive bots cpable of 2@12
1 great scorer


thats way the 2 defensive bots will limit scoring and the scorer will provide points during the match and the end 60 should do it