Role of Analyst

[GCentola]

So what are your guys' thoughts of the new human player position? Is he/she like a coach for the entire alliance? Just curious to see what other people think or how you plan to go about it at competitions (what team gets feeders/who gets analyst).

[EricH]

My personal instinct would be to use the analyst as a communication facilitator/strategy overseer to convey information quickly to each alliance, like a quarterback calling audibles.

[CassCity2081]

My original thought is that the analyst will help the other human players know what game piece they should give to the robots.

[nighterfighter]

Originally Posted by CassCity2081

My original thought is that the analyst will help the other human players know what game piece they should give to the robots.

But aren't the human players on the other end of the field?

[CassCity2081]

Originally Posted by nighterfighter

But aren't the human players on the other end of the field?

Yeah I guess there will have to be hand signals or something but I can not really think of any other reason for them.

[GCentola]

like running back and forth with messages between alliances? Changing strategy if something happens or adapting to different situations? I think the job will prove very interesting!

[Waffles]

The analyst is almost like a secondary coach for the alliance.

A possible role for them is to focus on communication with the feeder in terms of informing them of which piece to feed next, etc.

It's questionable whether feeders/analysts can bring like, signs with them... but there's also hand signals, and of course, FLASHY ROBOT LIGHTS! (if you have the expenses to get fancy!)

...not to mention it'd be a REAL dance party. trololo.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Waffles

The analyst is almost like a secondary coach for the alliance.

Too many coaches dilute the strategy.

[Waffles]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Too many coaches dilute the strategy.

Sometimes. Although, an extra set of eyes doesn't hurt.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Waffles

Sometimes. Although, an extra set of eyes doesn't hurt.

Three coaches should be more than enough.
You only get two minutes to do what you gotta do so you need to be decisive and precise. One coach on the alliance should be the one making the final strategy decisions and the other two should be doing their part. Human Players should stick to delivering the good and nothing more.
You get too many people talking and it just becomes noise.

[Tetraman]

It's the question of "What do we do with the third Human Player". If you are scoring on the second stage pegs, you will be reducing your vision. Might be nice to have another set of eyes.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Three coaches should be more than enough.
You only get two minutes to do what you gotta do so you need to be decisive and precise. One coach on the alliance should be the one making the final strategy decisions and the other two should be doing their part. Human Players should stick to delivering the good and nothing more.
You get too many people talking and it just becomes noise.

Because your way to run an alliance is the best?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Because your way to run an alliance is the best?

Because a human player on our alliance told his driver to go get in the red zone where we playing defense in the finals of our regional. They flipped over and got us a red card and cost us a match.
Human players should not be making decisions. Coaches should be making decisions.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Because a human player on our alliance told his driver to go get in the red zone where we playing defense in the finals of our regional. They flipped over and got us a red card and cost us a match.
Human players should not be making decisions. Coaches should be making decisions.

What's so sacred about the coaching position? If an analyst or human player is trained effectively and ready to make decisions, let them make decisions. Sounds to me it was just a case of that human player not being prepared properly to make that call, not an indictment of all human players' decision making abilities.

[XaulZan11]

I just think they needed something for the 3rd human player to do so they gave them a special title. In nearly all cases, I would put the 'best/brightest/most experienced' human players on the job of distributing the game pieces on the field. Having a human player that is smart enough to know when and which peice to through out will be critical.