2009 New Jersey Regional

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

No offense but have we been watching the same matches? There's clearly a set of "dominant" robots and a set of the middle performers. There's a point at which they merge for a bit but there is a definite transition.

The finals will be different this year. This is being said because of a few things. 1 is Robot's with the same design are totally different because of the drivers, 2 is the accuracy and arm on the HP and 3 ya never know what will happen.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

The finals will be different this year. This is being said because of a few things. 1 is Robot's with the same design are totally different because of the drivers, 2 is the accuracy and arm on the HP and 3 ya never know what will happen.

Yup, but not talking about eliminations yet. Still referring to qualifying alliances in my previous posts.

[Lowfategg]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Bittersweet losing a match to our rookie team but w/e, they deserve the top seed.

See you all tomorrow. I'm not too excited for some reason =(

Well it was a great match.

So far things have been great for us, and the bot is performing awesomely.

Everyone else ready for tomorrow?

[Akash Rastogi]

On the rankings page:http://www2.usfirst.org/2009comp/eve.../rankings.html

What does the RS stand for/refer to? Thanks. Ours seems to be decently high....whatever it is.

[blaxbb]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

No offense but have we been watching the same matches? There's clearly a set of "dominant" robots and a set of the middle performers and lower performers. There's a point at which they merge for a bit but there is a definite transition.

Yeah me and two others from 1989 were down in Trenton today. I do know what you are saying. There are absolutely some great robots and there are less able robots, but the difference between both alliances (besides penalties which is an entirely different issue) in qualifications is consistently only a handful of moon rocks which could have gone either way by the slightest difference in the throw or position of the robots. I really do think that most elimination matches will come down to the wire and end with last second dumps/shots/throws that will decide the match.

Another thing I noticed was that a single team can't really carry an alliance to a win anymore. Sure some help more than others, but it almost seems that alliances are only as strong as their weakest link. Watching a non-functioning robot's trailer just get destroyed by the payload specialists was particularly painful, and there really isn't much a "powerhouse" can do to compensate for that disabled bot anymore.

IMO anyway

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by blaxbb

Yeah me and two others from 1989 were down in Trenton today. I do know what you are saying. There are absolutely some great robots and there are less able robots, but the difference between both alliances (besides penalties which is an entirely different issue) in qualifications is consistently only a handful of moon rocks which could have gone either way by the slightest difference in the throw or position of the robots. I really do think that most elimination matches will come down to the wire and end with last second dumps/shots/throws that will decide the match.

Another thing I noticed was that a single team can't really carry an alliance to a win anymore. Sure some help more than others, but it almost seems that alliances are only as strong as their weakest link. Watching a non-functioning robot's trailer just get destroyed by the payload specialists was particularly painful, and there really isn't much a "powerhouse" can do to compensate for that disabled bot anymore.

IMO anyway

Lol yes all things I referred to in previous posts. Again, im not referring to elim matches yet. Just nvm.


Btw I <3 qualification match 13. Best alliance ever.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

On the rankings page:http://www2.usfirst.org/2009comp/eve.../rankings.html

What does the RS stand for/refer to? Thanks. Ours seems to be decently high....whatever it is.

RS is ranking score. It is the first tiebreaker for official rankings.

Winning alliance receives RS equal to the unpenalized score of the losing alliance. Losing alliance receives their score with penalties.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Vikesrock

RS is ranking score. It is the first tiebreaker for official rankings.

Winning alliance receives RS equal to the unpenalized score of the losing alliance. Losing alliance receives their score with penalties.

Which is the second reason why you want to only win by 1 point... Everyone knows the other reason. (at least this year, it's new)

[Lowfategg]

Ranking points are very important, but there nothing worth losing a match over.

Just wondering,

How does everyone feel about supercells and how they are being used during the matches here?

[waialua359]

It was fun watching all of you today. I tuned into this regional a whole lot longer than the Midwest..
After flipping through regionals all day, I must say, this flooring has really evened the field of teams somewhat.
I saw great teams get stunned when rookies played lots of defense on them.

The bots that scored were the ones left unattended while picking up rocks from the ground, making them lethal when on the attack.

Clearly, even though our team chose a shooter, dumpers that unload all at once were highly effective.

In summary, I saw no high-level strategies being employed other than staying away from HP, PS, and high-scoring opponents, and chasing opponents to dump your rocks in.
In the midwest, I saw a few more strategies involved, limiting high scoring machines and some losing also. 2 on 1 strategies can limit your opponent a lot, based on my observations today thanks to that flooring.

[popnbrown]

Originally Posted by Lowfategg

Ranking points are very important, but there nothing worth losing a match over.

Just wondering,

How does everyone feel about supercells and how they are being used during the matches here?

Well by the looks of it...no-one wants any supercells. Teams started using them in the last couple of qualification matches of the day, but honestly I don't think it's worth it. There are so many chances to get scored on, and sometimes, the supercell might end up in your own trailer, if thrown by mistake.

Also, I don't think anyone really designed a unique handler for empty cells, so looks like most teams are not concerned with it.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by popnbrown

Well by the looks of it...no-one wants any supercells. Teams started using them in the last couple of qualification matches of the day, but honestly I don't think it's worth it. There are so many chances to get scored on, and sometimes, the supercell might end up in your own trailer, if thrown by mistake.

Also, I don't think anyone really designed a unique handler for empty cells, so looks like most teams are not concerned with it.

It's all about how you play the match. We've been averaging 1-2 Empty Cells Delivered to our HP's. The Issue is that we never had a good enough HP to make the shot because we were playing ours at the outpost. Once we put him down in the end he sank 12 moon rocks and 2 Super Cells.

As for Us we've practiced handling Empty Cells as much as we've practiced Dumping. You don't need a separate mechanism you just need to be able to stop and reverse your intake system to deliver the Empty Cell.

[Elgin Clock]

Good luck everyone today!
I can't wait to see how the competition is going by the time I get down there this morning. (10am-noon(ish))

Oh, and btw, if anyone is reading this & wants to trade team shirts, come find me in NJ today sometime!
I'll have a bunch of team 237 shirts to trade today!
I'll take an XL or L.

[nHouse]

Originally Posted by Lowfategg

Ranking points are very important, but there nothing worth losing a match over.

Just wondering,

How does everyone feel about supercells and how they are being used during the matches here?

If you ask Akash the Supercell is being used to cause havoc by having been scored on your own trailer and inducing 3 penalties in the same match jk jk I was watching that and it was a complete dumb luck scenario - dont be too hard on that human player

Seriously though, if have a robot that can get the supercell and quickly dispense it within 20 seconds i've seen a ton of games that could have been won by a 15 point last second swing so its worth it if you got the right scenario otherwise teams seem to be fumbling with it a bit.

EDIT: CONGRATULATIONS Team 2753 on your AMAZING performance at Trenton during the Qualifications

[PittCaleb]

i am sitting in the stands waiting for the finals to commence. never seen this competition before. simply amazing - so many different ways to approach the same engineering problem. you are all AWESOME!

that said team 2753 overdrive just rocks! rookies at that! Wow!

i wish they had this when i was young. i hope all of you go to CMU and MIT and make an incredible difference in our world!

PittCaleb