2008 IRI (Indiana Robotics Invitational)

[Chris Marra]

Originally Posted by Kim Masi

Part of what was disappointing about picking a 4th alliance partner, is that our team was picked in the 2nd round (third robot in the alliance) and the 4th robot ended up playing all of our matches in the elimination rounds, instead of our robot. Although I know it was up to the alliance captain to make this decision, it was disappointing when we were the 2nd pick.

Even having 16 alliances with 3 robots would be better I think, with then playing an "elite 8" match.

Actually, I disagree with this. We (177) were the second selection by the 968-330 alliance, who then went on to pick 910. Yet against the 1114-2056-111(-494) alliance, our drive team knew offensive defense was the only viable strategy, and that 910 would play it better than us. Any other alliance, as Joe said, would have been defendable in different ways, but against three hurdlers we needed the ability to go head to head.

The point of my anecdote: Even as a 2nd pick who never played in the eliminations, having that 3rd pick allows alliances flexibility in their strategy. Very rarely can an alliance of three robots dominate so much that they can run the same strategy against anyone and still play the game they want to. Just imagine what golf would be like if every player only got a driver, an iron, and a putter. IRI gives players that extra club to work with.