What do you guys suggest for teams that have little to no idea on anything

[Billfred]

I'm going to give you a jewel of wisdom I shared in our rookie workshop at Kickoff: you may not be able to win a regional just off drivetrain alone, but you can certainly lose a regional just off drivetrain alone. Get the AM14U3 driving, and shake it down. (Maybe not that violently, but drive it over things and make sure nothing rattles loose mechanically or electrically.) If nothing else, you don't want to be pegged as the team that blew a tower capture.

[staplemonx]

This could get you started http://team1389.com/knowledge/strategy-selection/

And if you want to chat via the phone private message me and we can get a conversation started.

[evanperryg]

Originally Posted by Heber Hooper

My team needs the help if ya'll don't mind.

I'm always amazed by the number of rookie teams who don't know about some of the best suppliers for robot parts, so I've included a bunch of them below, in addition to other resources you may find helpful.

• Read the manual. The whole thing, cover to cover.
• Now read it again.
• Buy metal, wheels, sprockets, etc at andymark, vexpro, CRP, and REV.
• Read the manual again.
• Good places to get bolts, screws and other hardware are mcmaster and boltdepot. There's many other good places for hardware, but these are the two I use the most.
• FRC Designs is a blog dedicated to sharing designs of great robots from previous games, as well as a good place to find posts about robot design, and tips for a successful team.
• Understand that the jack of all trades is the master of none. If you have limited resources, ask yourself- "what task can we complete consistently with what resources we have?"
• DON'T take apart the electrical components. If they aren't working, then odds are something is connected wrong. Before powering up the robot, triple check that everything is EXACTLY as it should be, cause if the right thing is in the wrong place, you could permanently damage a component.
• Whenever you're drilling a hole or cutting something near electrical parts, cover the electrical parts with a towel to prevent metal or wood bits from getting inside of them.
• Read the section of the manual listing all of the "G-00" rules. Alliance captains are much more likely to pick teams who consistently go penalty-free.
• Robot in 3 days is an awesome source of inspiration. If you ever are struggling to come up with ideas, Ri3D can often be the inspiration that you need.
• Know what scouting is. You're a rookie team, so you probably don't have the time to really make your own scouting system. Regardless, know that teams are watching your performance constantly, and cooperating with alliance partners and their drive teams will often earn you brownie points.

[IronicDeadBird]

Make a drive base doesn't have to be complex just make a drive base, that gives you everything you need to advance as a team. It is a platform for super structures, a way to test code, getting good at making drive bases is pretty important.