So week 1 regionals of lunacy are done and over with officially. Now am i calling on all the drivers to come here and so i can ask, If you could give one great piece of advice this year, what would it be?
Keep moving, no matter what.
After more though I realized that perhaps I should elaborate on this one. It’s not as simple as always moving. It’s learning how to do everything on the fly. A lot of robots would need to pin an opponent to score. The problem is, when you’re pinning an opponent you’re not moving either. Try not to stop, and never ever base your strategy around stopping. When you do this teams will know that you’re going to stop at some point in the match to do something, and they’ll be waiting.
that looks like the basic, most essential thing. I also plan on having my commandor watch out for bots gunning towards us and warn us and tell us to bolt out of there
As said in Monty Python, in the last 20 seconds of the match, RUN AWAY!
ya… you 'do not want to be the team that gets super cells scored on
By saying “keep moving” that might end up hurting you. I’ve noticed that driving full speed 100% puts you in poor places to defend yourself. By having different speeds, it makes you harder to hit from hp’s and robots.
It’s also a control question. With no traction, that means no brakes. Just like driving on ice, you need to increase the time it takes to do everything.
I think the better word would be always move WITH A PURPOSE. If that means that you back yourself into a corner with a hp with no moon rocks, that’s fine. Just always have the best stratagy before each match that you can.
Think a few seconds ahead of your opponent. Anticipate their turns.
the key to effective driving-communication with your co-driver:P
but seriously, Ive seen alot of teams where their down fall was lack of communication(ie…both drivers go into a “zone”)
I would say don’t gun it right away… measure your turns, think twice, and most importantly have fun 
Know your opponents and know your partners.
This goes right along with having a good strategy.
If you know you have the better robot in your alliance, anticipate getting ganged up on. If you have the weaker robot in your alliance… anticipate getting ganged up on.
Same goes for your opponents.
If your robot is a push monster like ours was, know which of our opponents will be easiest to pin. If you know that a teams human player has some Major NBA skills, stay away at all costs!
Buts in cases like that, make sure your partners know too.
As was said before, good communication can be a winning attribute within an alliance.
There are times when you may need to stop moving, pinning a robot so your teammate can unload on them for example. Just make sure that your coach is constantly watching the field and telling you when to move.
Also, if you are up against a dumper just try to keep the front of your robot facing the front of theirs. If they can’t get to your sides, they can’t score.
I agree… this is going to be very useful when you go against the dumper and shooting powerhouses, keep moving; pin people; rely on your coach and co-driver and again have fun…
I’m not a driver, but as a scout, here’s what I noticed:
With the exception of strategic pins and that such DO NOT STOP MOVING. This does not mean that you should always go full tilt though, since modulating your speed can easily make you harder to hit.
Although not exactly related to driving, make sure that your Human Player knows the rules and follows them. All of the penalties I saw were on the human player, and there was even a disqualification for touching a robot, which would quite obviously affect the outcome of the match (had that not happened the opposing alliance would have lost by around 20). Don’t throw empty cells over the outpost wall, don’t stick your fingers through the hole in the outpost or hook over the alliance station wall, don’t pick up moon rocks early and for god’s sake don’t pick up the super cells too early because it’s a double penalty. In practice matches, go ahead and throw what you’re not supposed to if you think the extra 2-4 throws will make a difference, but definitely not in the qualifications.
Be very careful about where super cells are. Stay away from those corners for at least the last 30 seconds (mileage may vary). We pinned somebody for around 10 seconds until a super cell got scored, so it’s not just waiting for 20, since you can be pinned in the corner.
my best advice is to learn how to use the trailer to your advantage. make it help you turn and make it help you move other people into a bad position. also make sure you have some sort of autonomous.
throughout the week, our robot had some problems with our dump mechanism, and throughout the competition, and espeicially the elimination rounds, we learned that pinning can be absolutely devasting. just find the best robot on the opposing alliance, and run it into the corner with ur alliances human player. with a pinned robot in front of them, it gets really hard to miss. this turned out to work very well for us.
so my advice, dont rely solely on ur robot, even if it the best out there. the human players are there for a reason. and if u can find a way to use them to ur advantage, the effects can be deadly
Know what you’re going for. Don’t just drive around hoping to end up behind someones trailer, hone in on someone and don’t give up becuase you think you see a better opportunity elsewhere.
I know our machine well, I know what its capable of, and I know how the traction control will effect my driving, and I was still making mistakes early on in qualifying matches.
It takes longer than you probably think to turn your robot around, even 90 degrees, and take off full speed in one direction. Frequently I was finding that I would “give up” on following a robot to dump into, becuase I thought I saw, in my mind, a better opportunity to score which was usually on a robot moving in a different direction than our robot was. **I wasted a lot of time turning around and if I have learned one thing from the GSR, it would be to stick to a target, and only change targets if you’re completely sure you won’t waste too much time doing so. **
Be patient and dont let the stress on the field go off the field, a whole team can fall apart because of one ticked off driver.
The main thing that you have to watch out for is which dumpers and human players have balls. This game this year is crazy and you need to have tabs on who can unload and score for you. Watch out to see where the empty cells go so you can get on the other side of the field.
The coach, more than ever, needs to have good field vision. They need to keep track of everything from where robots are moving to, to what human players are doing, to where the empty cells are going. There’s alot to keep track of in this game, it’s almost as if you need to split it all up amonst your entire alliance. You also need to figure out if the opponents have a better strategy than you, and adjust yours accordingly on the fly. That’s probably the toughest part.
With the driving as slow as it is this year, your decisions will only start to happen a second after you hit those sticks. It takes time to build speed, to stop, or to turn. Anticipate your next move and start to turn or stop a half second before you want to. And mostly, dont panic and gun your wheels. Spinning out leaves you vulnerable and incapable of turning.