What we learned from week 1

[TheMadCADer]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

A 7 disc auto would give you 42 points, no? Even more emphasizing your point on the importance of gaining a lead in autonomous. Your opponent would need to score 14 frisbees in the top goal to catch up.

I should have pointed out that I was assuming the other robot that yours "matches-up" against has a pre-loaded 3-disc autonomous, so it would be 42-18 before other robots factor in (giving you that 24 point lead). Your point is absolutely valid if the other robot scores zero.

[Hebrew]

Any videos out of eliminations yet? I checked BA and could find nothing.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by Hebrew

Any videos out of eliminations yet? I checked BA and could find nothing.

1519 has uploaded videos of 8 of the 9 quarter-finals at the Granite State Regional. Here's the playlist... http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLJ8AkRj4AlXS0TSTsI5BrWEbRxhDpuK3&f eature=view_all... I believe we have more yet to upload.

I'm sure more videos from this and other regionals will also appear soon...

[Akash Rastogi]

Observation/learned - many teams still don't have reliable, or any in some instances, 10 point hangers.

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

The most effective defenses I saw were mostly the cause of the offending robot. Too many times did I see teams try to push their way through a defender and waste lots of time doing that. I'm also seeing that the unprotected loading station seems to be the safest to reload frisbees.

[Billfred]

Fortune favors the prepared.

[EricDrost]

Originally Posted by jblay

I didn't really see this being a problem for any alliance in the webcasts, do you have an example of it being an issue.

When there are two robots shooting well into the high goal for auto (us and 2363, us and 245, etc.) The chains bounce up, leaving the back of the goal exposed. If you time it well, you'll be fine. If not, your shots will bounce out.

It also helps to have the robots shooting from different positions, not side by side.

[Wayne TenBrink]

Autonomous is critical. Its also fun to watch the barrage of discs going into the same goal - no need to coordinate timing to avoid mid-air collisions like last year!

Shooting from the pyramid seems a more robust strategy than from the feeder zone. You have options for feeding (floor, feeder stations at either corner) and shooting (left, right, center) and mobility (multiple paths to and from - harder to defend). Defense can slow you down, but can't shut you down. Full court shooting has only one place to go for shooting, takes time to set up, and can be blocked.

10 point hang is good.

I fear that all the time and effort we put into a climber may have been for naught. Even if it works, it takes a lot of time and adds a lot of risk for a modest net gain.

[Zuelu562]

From my vantage point (read bedroom), I noticed quite a lot at BAE

Climbers: 30 pointers are not greatly viable. Instantly turns the match into a 2v3, where you start with a 30 point lead (you hope). 10 point is stronger because you can work with frisbees or play defense, and get 30 additional points if everyone hangs.

Shooters: Long range is strong if you're good. Tower is strong if you do it well.

Defense: From what little I saw on Saturday, the "defense" was ramming into other robots at midfield. Defending long rangers with tall robots is ideal.

Hanging: Seems like a couple got away with ground touches, and I even saw one or two that looked to me like it was touching 3 zones while climbing.

Penalties: with the lack of audio on the BAE stream, I couldn't exactly keep strong track of penalties, but when I saw something, it was accounted for (by and large).

[Anupam Goli]

1.) Scheduling gods exist when there are 65 teams at a regional.
2) Being a consistent shooter is something that's not being seen much, but a lot of teams can do it if they use their resources wisely.
3) Defense is not being played, but when it is, there is a severe impact on an alliance's offense when.
4) A 50 point dumper is not enough to offset an alliance with 2 good scorers that have 10 point hangs.

Some of the more controversial stuff:

4) Referees are NOT calling the 10 point hang properly. I have videos of this, but in our Quarterfinals match 1-2 Team 1772 was not hung up properly, but they got the points, which ended up being the deciding factor and sending our quarterfinals to a 3rd match.

5) G30 exists, referees. Referees are not calling G30, and it's been affecting outcomes of matches! Our Quarterfinals match 1-3, 1772 infracted G30 5 different times, yet it was not called once. We tied that match 70-70, but because the referees instead called us for our human player putting a foot outside of the white line, we ended up losing 70-71, despite numerous infractions of G30 by 1772.

I understand the referees can't see everything, but 5 blatant infractions of G30 shouldn't go unnoticed, and everytime a climb is suspicious, DO THE PAPER TEST!

The toughest thing I had to do this afternoon was to help keep the students calm and explain to them the situation and about us getting unlucky. Toughest thing I have had to say.

I'll post another thread about this issue with some videos to make sure that any referees on CD can be prepared.

[Andrew Zeller]

Simple, feeder-station only fixed angle shooters with passive hangers like 862 can be very effective.

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

Originally Posted by Andrew Zeller

Simple, feeder-station only fixed angle shooters with passive hangers like 842 can be very effective.

I think you mean 862 At least I don't remember winning Kettering.

[robochick862]

Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb)

I think you mean 862 At least I don't remember winning Kettering.

I was just about to edit that
It was such a great way to start off this season, this is the first district win in 862 history. We we're ecstatic. Can't wait for West Michigan!

[Andrew Zeller]

Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb)

I think you mean 862 At least I don't remember winning Kettering.

Yes that is what I meant. I just edited the post.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by ttldomination

Did anyone else notice that the text on the event display is clear? Like, the team number, scores, and the timers are clear so that your see the feed through them?

There were a lot of quirks specific to the Palmetto event, and this was one of them.

Originally Posted by Wing

Referees are NOT calling the 10 point hang properly.

Referees are not calling G30, and it's been affecting outcomes of matches!

I understand the referees can't see everything, but 5 blatant infractions of G30 shouldn't go unnoticed, and every time a climb is suspicious, DO THE PAPER TEST!

From my ivory tower (suspiciously similar to a college dorm room), it was pretty clear that Palmetto definitely had a lot of the rough edges that come with running a Week 1 event without the experience that FLR and BAE have. Even still, it's no picnic. The game is still in its infantile stage.

Let me be clear, holding a Week 1 event is not an enviable task, which is why even though the number of total FRC events has ballooned as of late, the Week 1 number is very hesitant to break 10.

Palmetto is historically a later event, and I assume that the event will slot back into a Week 4 slot when it goes back to Charleston(?). I think that would be good for this event.