Nats Alliances

[Corey Balint]

25 is out.

[xzvrw2]

Originally Posted by Corey Balint

25 is out.

YES THEY AER!!!

[VEN]

1305 176 2166

[Psychoflood]

25 went down suprisingly fast o.o

[Bongle]

1114 has been only above average, not at their normal level.

In all honesty, I think 1114 is simply not as dominant a design as they were last year. At each of their regionals, they were good, yes, but they weren't as unstoppably good as they were last year. Last year, their autonomous was 90%+ accurate, they were unmoveable when in shooting positions, they were very easy to human-load, they were fast. This year, they are good at everything, but the margin that they are better than other people isn't quite as large.

Maybe part of it is that when the triplets were all together, tactics-development proceeded at three times the rate. 1503/1680 might try something with their robot, and say "hey, this worked for us", and so their tactics would evolve quickly.

On the tactics note, they certainly matter a lot more at nats where people can conceivably fill the rack in a match. At most regionals, you could be satisisfied with just putting up tubes as fast as your alliance could do it, but here it looks to be ludicrously important to block off your opponents early.

[Barry Bonzack]

2165 and their alliance is out. What a great rookie year from a team in smalltown Bartlesville Oklahoma!

[tkwetzel]

Go 116!!!

They advanced to the semi-finals with 93 and 1595 knocking off 45, 217, and 2272!

[Adam McLeod]

I think the difference isn't in the design of the robot, it's in the game. This just isn't a game where you can shoot tons of balls into a goal, rather it's a game with a limited number of scoring opportunities and a common goal. Last year's game was one where a dominant robot almost never lost (25 is another example), this year's game is one where a dominant robot like 1114 (yes I still think they're dominant) has to work a bit harder to win their two regionals. Note that they still won those two regionals...

Originally Posted by Bongle

In all honesty, I think 1114 is simply not as dominant a design as they were last year. At each of their regionals, they were good, yes, but they weren't as unstoppably good as they were last year. Last year, their autonomous was 90%+ accurate, they were unmoveable when in shooting positions, they were very easy to human-load, they were fast. This year, they are good at everything, but the margin that they are better than other people isn't quite as large.

Maybe part of it is that when the triplets were all together, tactics-development proceeded at three times the rate. 1503/1680 might try something with their robot, and say "hey, this worked for us", and so their tactics would evolve quickly.

On the tactics note, they certainly matter a lot more at nats where people can conceivably fill the rack in a match. At most regionals, you could be satisisfied with just putting up tubes as fast as your alliance could do it, but here it looks to be ludicrously important to block off your opponents early.

[nutron5skills]

any divisions done yet?

P.S. I think 195, 121, 1276 are going to win their division (curie??) and 233, 71, 179 win arch

[ahecht]

Wow, upset in Newton. #8 alliance (190, 177, 987) just beat the #1 alliance (2194, 33, 1503) to move on to the semifinals.

[tkwetzel]

Originally Posted by nutron5skills

any divisions done yet?

They all just finished the quarter-finals. Time to move to the semis!

[Corey Balint]

Newton: 8 seed won. 4 seed. 2 seed. 3 seed
Galileo: 8 seed. 5 seed. 2 seed. 6 seed.
Archimedes: 1 seed. 2 seed. 4 seed. 3 seed
Curie: 1 seed. 5 seed. 2 seed. 3 seed.

[ahecht]

Originally Posted by Corey Balint

Newton: 8 seed won. 4 seed. 2 seed. 3 seed
Galileo: 8 seed. 5 seed. 2 seed. 6 seed.
Archimedes: 1 seed. 2 seed. 4 seed.
Curie: 1 seed. 5 seed. 2 seed. 3 seed.

Wow, Galileo had three upsets!

[PatrickN]

Originally Posted by Bongle

In all honesty, I think 1114 is simply not as dominant a design as they were last year. At each of their regionals, they were good, yes, but they weren't as unstoppably good as they were last year. Last year, their autonomous was 90%+ accurate, they were unmoveable when in shooting positions, they were very easy to human-load, they were fast. This year, they are good at everything, but the margin that they are better than other people isn't quite as large.

Maybe part of it is that when the triplets were all together, tactics-development proceeded at three times the rate. 1503/1680 might try something with their robot, and say "hey, this worked for us", and so their tactics would evolve quickly.

On the tactics note, they certainly matter a lot more at nats where people can conceivably fill the rack in a match. At most regionals, you could be satisisfied with just putting up tubes as fast as your alliance could do it, but here it looks to be ludicrously important to block off your opponents early.

If you look at their actual robot, I think it's more advanced than last year. Note that at their four competitions they've still been either the captain of the number one alliance or the first pick. Although they made it look easy I'm sure it was somewhat draining to make three robots. I think what you've described is mostly a result of the nature of the game and the fact that they have an enormous target on their backs everywhere they go.

[Bongle]

I really didn't expect whatever alliance 2056 ended up in to be a ramp-dependant alliance. I figured they'd just be scoring monsters.

If you look at their actual robot, I think it's more advanced than last year

Oh yeah, the robot is amazing. I still can't really figure out how it goes from normal->ramp mode. It's just a blur of motion, and BOOM: there's a ramp. But I guess it is probably the game as well this year: a well-picked alliance of 2 boxes-on-wheels and a ramp that quickly blocks off your scoring chances can be a big threat to a scoring-heavy alliance. Picking strategy this year is more important than last, where it was more or less all about the ball output.