Strategy

[MFennig8]

I have to say, treads, as much as our team has never tried them, seem to be a really good aspect. One of the members on my team brought up having three lines of tread, having four separate parts like they are tires and even a snowmobile idea with treads in back with wheels on front.

But looking at it, and how our team has come across being the strong defensive team we are, 6 wheel drive is our way of thinking. Having all 6 wheels powered off of two center wheel drive motors. We had a 2 wheel drive on aim high and it went smoothly up the 30 degree ramp of 2FT. We figure, why not do that and add a two speed transmission to the mix to get that extra help.

[CallieJ]

Our team did some prototyping and found that if the robot was under 18" high it seemed to be fine on the bumps, without tipping. This is also useful because it happens to be the height of the tunnel, so it leaves that option open. The chassis we were using had 6 wheels, a little smaller than the required ones for Lunacy.

[LostProphet]

You could possibly put a dome on top of the robot so you would not get penalized for holding the ball.

[Austinmead]

or you put memory foam on top of the robot and angle it to the front of the robot so the soccer ball falls infront of you....

[fsgond]

Originally Posted by Michael Ogden

If your robot is offensive, ther is no need to go over the bumps.

I think a good robot is able to do all aspects of the game, with that said I have seen a few very simple bots make it with a very specialized design.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by fsgond

I think a good robot is able to do all aspects of the game, with that said I have seen a few very simple bots make it with a very specialized design.

I believe that it's more important that what you do, you do well. Rather than playing the entire game. You have alliance partners to cover for your weaknesses (if you choose wisely)

Also, It doesn't matter how well you can play the different phases of the game if your robot is broken all the time. So build it "to work every time"

[PIDman]

Totally agree with Daniel LaFleur on this one. Good robots can do everything. Great robots can do one thing, and do it incredibly well.

[Bob Steele]

I believe teams need to think about playing this game just like playing soccer.
On the pitch you want to keep control of the ball... moving it from the midfield and into scoring position. At the same time you should be always watching for opportunities to score..

In this game you have 12 balls... not really all that many on this big field...you may be surprised when you start to play how much empty real estate will be there...

My evaluation is to continuously move balls towards your goal area...
If you have a shot take it... if you don't, just keep the pressure on the area in front of your goals... If you can keep more balls on your side of the field... the opposing team will have a difficult time controlling them.

Remember you can control your home zone... you can dump 8-10 balls in there and then bring your robots up and into the zone... the opposing team can only have one robot there.... you can then overwhelm the other team by blocking them and wait until close to the end and put the balls in...
Waiting to score until the end will mean the scored balls won't be put into play until too late for the other alliance to use them.

I believe this strategy will be seen in Atlanta...

When I coached and played soccer it is the same strategy... only with one ball....keep control... keep pressure on the defense... string them out...move the ball from side to side until you have an opportunity...then push through to the goal...

Keeping the other side unbalanced while you attack gives you a great advantage...

good luck to everyone we will enjoy seeing you on the field!!

[JohnFogarty]

The Treads have to be built right that is the main thing, you have to take all variables into concern. We built a friction drive Tread system and geared it to have the strength of 10 Bears.

The Turn issue you guys talked about earlier is not a problem at all, we actually turn better then previously built wheeled robots.

The best part of this is the fact that you get in a pushing battle with someone who has treads......I'm afraid you won't have much luck . I have already myself tried stopping our robot and it didn't turn out well.

We did have a center of gravity issue, but we resolved it by relocating the battery. If all goes well we didn't even build a hanging mechanism, we either shall try to get in other peoples way or the best part just driving up onto the box.

Have Fun out there

[Wayne TenBrink]

What's a defense bot to do?

During qualification matches, if you spend all your time blocking an offense bot, you aren't moving balls to your own offense bots or building your own score. If you are successful at hindering your opponent's best scorer, you are just reducing your own qual points.

If you are a really good defender, you should still get picked for eliminations. But then where do you spend your time? If you join your teammate in the mid zone, then your opponents will probably do the same thing, leaving both home zones undefended. The quickest & strongest ball handler in the center zone holds the advantage.

How many balls need to be in your opponents home zone before you feel the need to go back there to play D?

In my opinion, good defense will require more than just pinning an offense bot. A good defense bot needs the ability to get the ball away from the blocked offense bot and move it downfield.

[carbuff2228]

[quote=GingerBreadMan;928112]Totally agree with Daniel LaFleur on this one. Good robots can do everything. Great robots can do one thing, and do it incredibly well


i kind of disagree compared to like 148 and 217 and the other usual power houses they are great in my opinion because they can do everything well

[drtysteve384]

just sit your defending zone kick balls across the field and when you run out go into the middle and just kick balls like their is no tommorow, to prevent your opponet from having balls and scoring, and have a robot play defense and if there is a robot with a weak kicker jut put them in offense zone and kick balls into the goals, as it is not the much of a distance to kick...

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by carbuff2228

i kind of disagree compared to like 148 and 217 and the other usual power houses they are great in my opinion because they can do everything well

Can 148 or 217 go under the tunnel or suspend robots?

Though the best antithesis to the everything argument is probably 148 in 2008.

[carbuff2228]

no but in my opinion it is not needed to go under the tunnel as long as you can go over the bump well like 148 or 217. Though they cannot hang robots to my knowledge they can still do everything exceptionally well thats why i think there great

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Though the best antithesis to the everything argument is probably 148 in 2008.

Agreed.

It seems like Tumbleweed comes up in 50% of the strategy discussions here on CD.