316 Needs Feedback

[SammyKay]

I'm not totally sure if this is the right place to post this, but since it has to do with the Baltimore Regional, I think I'm in the right place.

316 has consistantly been ranked in the middle range right before alliance pickings in every regional we have been in. At the Baltimore Regional, we were ranked 24 out of 60 teams. While we are glad to be in the middle range and not the lower range, we are looking for some feedback from other teams about what might be our weaknesses. Because we are so focused on the in-the-moment part of the competition, we aren't really able to look at the whole picture.

One thing we have noticed is that in practice before we shipped the robot, we decided that backing up and coming to the tubes head on worked better than having to turn around a lot. However, in the matches we did just what we decided was a bad idea to do.

Did any other teams notice things that we did or did not do that are preventing us from getting higher in the rankings?

-Samantha

[thefro526]

From what I've seen in my time in FRC, once you're out of the top 12 teams or so, rank means very little - if anything. When alliance selections roll around, what matters most is what you can do, and how reliably you can do it - not how many matches you've won or lost.

From what I saw on Saturday in Baltimore, there was a relatively large group of "mid-range" teams (2-3 tubes, no/inconsistent minibot) which 316 seemed to fall into. The issue with being one of many teams in the middle of the pack (Statistically, not by ranking) is that there's not much that will differentiate one team from another so it's extremely difficult to stand out above the rest.

Usually, "mid-range" teams are picked based on their ability to fit into a strategy. Usually they're tasked with doing some task other then scoring, like Defense, Feeding tubes, or focusing on deploying a minibot. Sometimes a team will be selected from the mid-range based on a single advantageous trait like scoring an Ubertube with 100% reliability, or having a really consistent mini-bot that isn't fast, but works. The more versatile you can be, then the more of an asset you can be to an alliance, therefore the more of a chance you have to be picked.

If I were you, I would ask myself two questions: Do we want to stay in the Middle of the pack and create a Niche for ourselves? If the answer to that is no, then I'd ask "What do we need to do to become a top level team, and can we do it?"

[Dancin103]

Dustin's points are very accurate. Each game defines what will help make your rankings. In this case, from my point of view, to be one of those top 12 teams Dustin talked about, you need to be making full logos, have a minibot, and do it with the highest amount of accuracy. I was at Baltimore as well, and saw the same things. If I were 316, I would definitely ask your self the set of questions that Dustin presented. That's just my $0.02 and if you need any additional help with anything please do let me know and I can see what we can do.

Cass

[SammyKay]

Originally Posted by thefro526

If I were you, I would ask myself two questions: Do we want to stay in the Middle of the pack and create a Niche for ourselves? If the answer to that is no, then I'd ask "What do we need to do to become a top level team, and can we do it?"

Were you hiding in our closet at the meeting Tuesday night when Don said that?? hahah

We are wanting to be a top level team. Thus us trying to figure out what is holding us back from being in that level.