What do you guys think will be the best type of Alliance in Atlanta…
2 Hangers 1 lifter
3 Hangers
or what?..
I think 3 Hangers
2 scorers and one hybrid - the hybrid of course being both a good lifter/scorer
1+ ramp/lift capable of 2@12" easily & consistently
2+ bots capable of scoring on all 3 levels
3 bots capable of scoring consistently
1+ bot capable of removing spoilers from all 3 levels
2+ bots with strong drivetrains capable of maintaining position
2+ bots capable of playing defense
1+ bot capable of scoring multiple tubes while being defended
3 bots with great drivers
3 bots that can score in autonomous
My ideal alliance 
13 robots ?!?!?!
2 tube machines that play well off of one another and a machine that’s devoted exclusively to defense and lifting are the way to go.
You’d have to be enormously cocky to play an offense-only game this time around.
This is my belief as well.
Sean gets to play his own game. We’ll be having some interesting games on Galileo… 
Well… if you think about it, with 13 robots on the field, of course you’re gonna win.
Heck… I want 13 robots on my alliance too.
I don’t know, an entirely offensive alliance does have its perks.
-More likely they will all be amazing scorers rather than good ones
-Durign endgame, the other alliance has to make a difficult choice: go for 60 and leave 3 robots by themselves to put up tubes, leave 1 defensive bot out to stop some tube scoring and get 30 points, or forsake the extra points and try preventing them from putting any tubes up.
Since just putting one tube on a row could add 64 points, the ramp is not always worth it. And with 3 amazing robots free to score, the possibilities are endless.
so basically 1626and a clone of 1626 and a 71 as a ramp?
I think you’re optimistic if you believe that nearly 1/3 of the robots in any division are going to qualify as ‘amazing’ anything. By the time the draft rolls back on down to the first seed, there will not be much left to pick from, I think. That places the number eight seed in, arguably, the best position for an offensive alliance selection – but that alliance will necessarily be made from teams that are inferior to those above them in almost all circumstances.
If teams are in a position to work with a reliable lifting robot, it’s in their best interest to limit tube scoring during the match and that’s pretty easily accomplished if you think things through.
Two scoring robots, and a great lift bot capable of 2 robots 12inches high in ~15 seconds or less, every time. They should be able to score one or two tubes, but if they can lift in say, 5 seconds, then I wouldn’t worry about being able to score tubes. One or two from them is a plus though.
The way I see it, if one team can get 6 tubes up in the right spots, they are unstoppable if their lifts work. Two vertical rows of three, directly opposite each other, allows the other team to only score 96 points, and that’s if they can put up -18- tubes. Now the team that has 6 tubes up, two vertical rows of three, is capable of scoring 76 points, and they only put 6 tubes up. That’s three tubes per scoring robot, and if they lift bot puts one up then the other alliance’s score goes way down.
With 76 points, the other alliance -has- to score 16 tubes. 16. I don’t know why the teams with lifts go for wrap-arounds. Offensive defense is where it is at.
(my math might be off in some places. Correct me as needed)
I don’t know… looking at some divisions (Galileo for one), there are atleast 24 good offensive teams.
I actually added autonomous, making it 16.
In reality, each bot would have multiple roles within the alliance, there are just 16 roles that need to be filled to have an “ideal alliance”. The winning alliance won’t quite have all of these, but they will likely fill the majority. And you may notice some of them are related to playing defense and/or maintaining position. 
The alliance looking to lift two robots can keep the opponents from scoring more than a row of 4 with some defensive tube placement. Two columns of tubes with two columns in between them limits the offensive alliance to rows of 4. The most they can get is 80 points. For that alliance to score 12 tubes would be unbelieveable. Especially if they already exhausted their human players’ tubes and have to run across the field to the other homezone where there are a bunch of robots in the way.
Ok well everyone knows that going offensive is risky (since it easier and faster to stop someone scoring that score yourself) but clearly in atlanta it will be required.
Also a lot of good scoring robots like 1114 in Galileo have only needed to use their arm in the regionals and yet to really test other robot capabilities of climbing their ramp. We went against 1114 in the finals of both Waterloo and GTR and i didnt see them use their ramp once until the final few matches at GTR.
So we could see some changes in the way robots dominate at atlanta compared to regionals.
Dreadfrost
My Ideal Alliance:
1 ramp/lift bot that can efficiently elevate 2 bots to 12 inches almost everytime (if not everytime). This bot will also play defense and have a very strong drvie train to push other bots and not get pushed themselves. It may also have some way to put ringers on the rack. Examples: 316, 67, 503 etc.
2 scoring bots that can score a lot of points not only while alone, but while they are guarded. Must be able to efficiently clib ramps. At least one of these must have a semi-successful autonomous mode. Examples: 191, 1126, 25, 217, 67 etc.
3 Strong drive trains, all other qualities are negotiable.
Ideally that would include 2 strong ring scorers (with the ability to get up a ramp) and one hybrid bot with very good ramps and solid scoring.
In this scenario, the alliance can adapt to play whatever strategy is necessary (Defense, offense only, offense and ramp, defense and ramp). But, I’ve seen plenty of great scorers stopped by teams with better drive trains.
2 small scorers with high torque for push away defense are playing defense.
1 large hybrid to score a couple ringers, but primary for defense and ramp
Few teams can survive without defense. You can win by playing incredible defense and lifting 2 bots @12’’
-“Team 1626, who would you like to choose as an alliance partner?”
+“Team 1626 would like to invite team 1626… Team 1626 graciously accepts”
(Later when they come back to you)
-“Team 1626 and team 1626 who would you like to pick for your third alliance partner?”
+“Teams 1626 and 1626 would like to invite team 1626”
-“I’m sorry… 1626 has already been chosen…”