Look Back: Week 4

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Dan2081

What you cannot do is have one of each on your alliance.
2081 scissors, 1741 paper, and 1646 rock saw this to be true.
While we thought we had an unbeatable strategy, it seems that you definitely need to devote at least two robots to one cause as we saw the end of our runs in the quarterfinals as the #3 seed.

Well if definitely helps when your rock doesn't have a wire come lose in the 2nd match and essentially become a rock We put up a good fight though and I still think our 2 on offense 1 on defense strategy was the correct one to go with given our alliance and robots. You guys have such a great robot, one of the top ones at BMR by far.

But in all honesty, I think Atlanta is really going to depend on the mix in the divisions. Some divisions may have so many good scoring robots that you'll see offensive powerhouse alliances. In other divisions, dominant scorers may be more rare and a great defensive robot may be needed.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

But in all honesty, I think Atlanta is really going to depend on the mix in the divisions.

This.

And yet not so much. I believe its all about whom you play against.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

This.

And yet not so much. I believe its all about whom you play against.

Absolutely true. The division you're in has a huge impact upon this though

A little further testament to the defensive strategies: In our last match during BMR, we were up against 135, 234 and 393. Our partners were 292 and 447. 292 later went on to win the regional, obviously they were our scoring machine. However, we knew we could not outscore 234 and 135, so 1646 and 447 decided to run some killer defense on 234 and 135. 135 didn't unload a full robot of balls the entire match; we won by 2. If you can't outscore them, pin them - just make sure you keep an eye on your own trailer because you're probably a sitting duck.

[Unholypulpit]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Absolutely true. The division you're in has a huge impact upon this though

A little further testament to the defensive strategies: In our last match during BMR, we were up against 135, 234 and 393. Our partners were 292 and 447. 292 later went on to win the regional, obviously they were our scoring machine. However, we knew we could not outscore 234 and 135, so 1646 and 447 decided to run some killer defense on 234 and 135. 135 didn't unload a full robot of balls the entire match; we won by 2. If you can't outscore them, pin them - just make sure you keep an eye on your own trailer because you're probably a sitting duck.

Yes, this is true pinning can really cripple a high caliber scoring team like 1625, 234, 1114 and 135(from what I've seen). I personally think though at nationals you will not see as many defensive teams as you see in the regional matches. Esp. in the Finals there. Teams want to score as much and as quickly as possible. Therefore most defensive game-plans wont really work when you're going up against 3 high scoring powerhouses. (A little clarification for the above statement for my team: we had a ton of mechanical flaws Sat. at the BMR. Balls were entering our control system o the bot and somehow wedging themselves under our bot rendering us unable to move. Since the 2nd Quarter Final match our bot has been finally working the way it was built to.)

[Norman J]

Originally Posted by Unholypulpit

Yes, this is true pinning can really cripple a high caliber scoring team like 1625, 234, 1114 and 135(from what I've seen).

I agree. Some very high scoring teams (67, for example) have skid steer. My team built a crab, and it has helped us out of a lot of pins. But I'm sure someone has tried to pin 67 before, apparently without much success.