Defense at Week 1 Regionals?

[Jeff Waegelin]

Being one of the better hurdling teams at BAE, we were on the receiving end of a lot of defense (particularly in the elims). Most of it centered around teams trying to push the ball away from our robot, or trying to block us for a couple seconds to slow us down. We did get one team that parked in front of us for about 15 seconds to keep us from hurdling. They got a 10-point penalty for impeding for their efforts.

[Donut]

I only viewed through webcasts, but I believe there was still a good amount of defense present (and necessary for the best alliances). The defense, however, is guerrilla hit-and-run tactics as opposed to the all out pushing matches and pinning we've seen in past years.

If you want a good match for some defensive tactics, watch Midwest match 44 (I know, the final score was high, but with 33 and 1114 as part of the contenders it had the potential for more than that even). Perhaps two of the best moves I saw over the weekend were what 1675 was doing against 1114 part of the match. Twice during the match you can watch as they run on the inside of the track parallel with 1114, forcing them to slow down and have to maneuver around them to round the corner and adding a few seconds to their hurdling time. You can also see 1675 hit a a ball slightly backwards immediately after a hurdle, then trap the ball against a wall to prevent 1114 from grabbing it. They were able to grab the other red ball on the other side of the field so this only delayed them by a few seconds, but had they been with a partner who was using that ball to hurdle this would have robbed their alliance of 8 points. Also worth noting 1781 blocks the 2nd red ball from being knocked off in hybrid (though I think unintentionally), and 648 slows down blue alliance hurdling and lap running quite effectively at some points.

In matches where there are 2 good hurdlers (or herders) on each alliance and thus no spare trackballs, these defensive plays would have had an even big impact on the score. I think this type of defense, slowing down the opposition without impeding, and playing "keep away" trackballs, will prove to be vary valuable once elimination alliances all have at least 2 high powered scoring robots.

I think 48 also continued to play defense effectively even when everyone thought it would be almost impossible.

[Joe_Widen]

Originally Posted by Donut

I only viewed through webcasts, but I believe there was still a good amount of defense present (and necessary for the best alliances). The defense, however, is guerrilla hit-and-run tactics as opposed to the all out pushing matches and pinning we've seen in past years.

If you want a good match for some defensive tactics, watch Midwest match 44 (I know, the final score was high, but with 33 and 1114 as part of the contenders it had the potential for more than that even). Perhaps two of the best moves I saw over the weekend were what 1675 was doing against 1114 part of the match. Twice during the match you can watch as they run on the inside of the track parallel with 1114, forcing them to slow down and have to maneuver around them to round the corner and adding a few seconds to their hurdling time. You can also see 1675 hit a a ball slightly backwards immediately after a hurdle, then trap the ball against a wall to prevent 1114 from grabbing it. They were able to grab the other red ball on the other side of the field so this only delayed them by a few seconds, but had they been with a partner who was using that ball to hurdle this would have robbed their alliance of 8 points. Also worth noting 1781 blocks the 2nd red ball from being knocked off in hybrid (though I think unintentionally), and 648 slows down blue alliance hurdling and lap running quite effectively at some points.

In matches where there are 2 good hurdlers (or herders) on each alliance and thus no spare trackballs, these defensive plays would have had an even big impact on the score. I think this type of defense, slowing down the opposition without impeding, and playing "keep away" trackballs, will prove to be vary valuable once elimination alliances all have at least 2 high powered scoring robots.

I think 48 also continued to play defense effectively even when everyone thought it would be almost impossible.

Heres a link to the video. http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...p?matchid=5132

I believe somewhere in the middle is where the defense was happening.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Joe_Widen

Heres a link to the video. http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...p?matchid=5132

I believe somewhere in the middle is where the defense was happening.

Here's lower-scoring Match 29 where we *tried* to play D against them.

http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...p?matchid=5117

It just now occurred to me that 1114 knocked our red ball off in autonomous - thanks guys!

I think we played the pokey pokey defense in this match (pushing the trackball clockwise). I think it worked once. They still smoked us.

Can anyone tell me why we didn't get a penalty for crossing the line during the hybrid block?

[Danny McC]

I have been comtemplating a way to play defense. And from what I know it does not go against the rules. I will bring up to our driver and operator when Philly comes around. Unless they have a rule against it by than.