Does anyone have any ideas for a strategy for the NEW COMP???
If you have any suggestions pease write to me!
I see the most common strategy prolly being get control of at least one goal and one ramp… which most teams can fairly guarantee each match… then, winner will be determined by base points and time cutoff… to which a lot of factors can cut in…
However, the risk-takers will make some of the most beautiful plays of the day… i wanna see a limbo bot that can make it over the wood WITHOUT a running start… come talk to me, i’ve got a strategy for ya…
And yes, I think the game favors those who can balance one goal… whether on or off the bridge… and those robots who can score on a balanced bridge WITHOUT unbalancing it…
So in my opinion: the top seeds will belong to those who grab one goal, fill it up with their balls, balance it… maybe get a ball up in under 1minute…
The major highs and drastic lows will belong to those who attempt to control boths goal, or both ramps, who try throwing their balls in the other goal… who steal balls, who try and defend others from getting in the endzone… etc etc etc…
The winners: the risk-takers. the ones who will risk getting both goals at the cost of maybe losing them. Will be interesting!
–colleen
I think some of the common plays are going to look like this:
(note: BB stands for Big Ball, PS for player Station, SB for Small Ball)
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The near bot plays the near goal against the PS, and the far bot grabs a BB. Near bot goes over bridge, far bot places BB, near bot balences. Pro: small balls and big ball base points; bot in end zone, this play can score a lot of points and most drivers are familure with how it works. Con: may be time consuming placing BB, there’s always the chance of getting hit and losing the BB or something equally tragic.
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Near bot interferes with other teams (pushing around goal, blocking bridge etc) while far bot pushes goal to PS for SB’s and balences. The pro of this plan is your on the offense and control the actions of the opposing allience. The con is that your score is going to be lower, both because of only one of your bots will be scoring points and the other allience may not get any.
Tell your human players to take long shots with balls. I think that there will be a lot of matches won and lost over the SB’s.
Remember that your final score is your score plus the score of the losing allience. This will be key. While I don’t expect goal stuffing ala 2000, some alliences may chose not to interfere with the oppostion if they feel confident. So I expect most winning teams to be a bit more conservitive. If you grab both goals, you pretty much deny the opposition any score. This means that while you will win, your final score may suffer.
It won’t pay to wear your bot out in the first 3 matches. You can’t win in a stretcher, so be careful about the hits and shoves you take and the hits and shoves you give.
Remember aslo that this is a very diffrent game. It’s compleatly fair for the other allience to nock a ball out of your claw or to bump your goal. The human coaches will have to spend a good deal of their time watching out for a charging bot, and warn their drivers to take action (I can’t wait to shout “evasive manuvers!”)
In most game plans, at least one bot is going to be the balencer, and the other is going to be more free to run interference. Take advantage of this, establish from the start who is going to do what and how aggresive you want to be. Get ready to change that plan fast, since your going to be dealing with 2 bots that are out to make life difficult for you. Make sure your allience is constantly talking to each other.
Don’t forget to take advantage of the far side placement zone. This is perfect for grabbing a BB. Don’t pass up those 10 points unless you have to.
-Andy, with another long post
RAGE can go under the bar, without much of a running start and therefore I am interested in hearing this strategy…
1: If there are a fair number of defensive minded teams, small balls will be more of a hinderance than a help. You and your goal are pretty much sitting ducks during the 15-20 seconds you’ll spend trying to get the goal filled. I predict that there will be a lot of empty goals balanced.
2: As it stands right now (although I bet the rule will be changed), the human players are allowed to throw small balls at a goal balanced by the opposing alliance (only “opponent robots” are prohibited from upsetting the balance). If this rule is not changed, I think we’ll have more of a robot dodge-ball game going on than anything else.
im pretty sure we can go over the wood without a running start…
MY TEAM IS HAVING A SPECIAL MEETING THE DAY BEFORE BATTLECRY TO DECIDE ON SOME STRATEGY ON HOW TO PLAY THE GAME. HOWEVER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN OUR BOT YOU KNOW WE ARE NOT THE OFFENSIVE THREATS THAT OTHER BOTS ARE. HOWEVER I DO EXPECT TJ TO BE THE BEST DEFENSIVE BOT AT THE COMPETITION!
DID SOMEONE SAY HAMMER!!!
Does anyone think it’s possible we’ll see those PVC goals take quite a beating. It might a wise defensive play to knock a goal over especially if it’s got some small balls that can roll out. Also another thing to consider…how many machines were built w/the ability to right a goal??
-Justin
…remembering that Litchfield County was responsible for breaking both goals at Mayhem 
I see it happening… definitely…
T190 can tip a goal…
But we can right it as well…
And it makes sense to tip a goal to lose the other teams small balls… BUT!
If you’re that close to the goal, why not just take it and balance it… either you’ve got the other goal or the other team does but in either cause, it’d be more beneficial for you to balance it than tip it… but, in a stuck situation, it would work…
Another thing to remember though… is that you gotta read the rules… ala FIRST2k, the winning alliances QPs = their match score + loser’s match score…
So unless it’s the only way to ensure you’re the winner, I would ditch the underdog alliances chance to score all together
*Originally posted by Justin *
**how many machines were built w/the ability to right a goal??-Justin **
The Bobcats have the ability to right a goal… we’ve gotten a fallen goal back on its wheels in about ten seconds… not too shabby for doing this with a machine that was not designed to do that 
Tom
I’m not going to Battle Cry, but I’m always interested in strategy. How good does everyone expect the strategy to be? Looking back at the early competitions (I watched KSC on the web) the strategy looked good at the time, but compared to the later regionals & Nats, it was very primitive. I’m sure the inexperience of the drivers and the non-perfected bots were a factor, but strategy was a big problem. I remember when people believed that running all 4 bots to the endzone and stopping the clock would be enough to qualify for the elims, or when I thought we won WMR with 2 goals balanced in 1:30.
It takes time for good strategies to develop, so how good does everyone expect strategies to be at Battle Cry?
Mike
Unperfect bots and inexpirenced drivers to play a part in these competitions. We have to remember that this is the first time anyone will have played this 2on2 game. Some of these drivers may never have played in a 2on2 game at all. We also have to remember that while these robots were designed to interact with this field…they weren’t designed to play 2on2…perhaps speed may be important here were it wasn’t in the 4v0.
There is no doubt in my mind…it will be interesting.
-Justin
This is an interesting situation.
The main selling point of the 2 vs 2 is that there will supposedly be no set plays or at least none will work that well. But at the same time, people are going to go into it with set plays. The question is, are we going to be sticking to them? maybe, maybe not.
So perhaps we won’t see to much shoving and offense. It may simply be to hard to score high points in this game to be worrying about nocking balls off the other teams goal. It was hard enough with 4 bots working together. It’s going to be the teams that can find the right mix that will do well. Or, the teams that can some how convince the other teams not to mess with them. Maybe, you never know.
-Andy
I think that it is important to look at the list of teams that will be at BattleCry. Many of these teams, thought not all, are “veteran” teams. By vertan teams I mean teams that a few years expirence with 2on2. I’m wondering/hoping this might be the chance for some of those teams to do well. This game has a weirdness to it…because on the one hand it is a new game, new rules, etc, etc…but we’ve seen the field before. So I wonder if as a result teams will start out by trying what has worked well on this field before them. I also wonder if teams that have just been itching to launch a ball @ those big balls perched precariously on top of those goals will finally be able to break free, distinguish themselves from the rest of the back and rise to the top. Who knows.
I think that the unknowns out number what is known about how this game will be played…but I also think that they are hidden behind the familiarity/security of the field.
-Justin