Our team is struggling with an appropriate strategy for worlds. We have looked at published OPR/RPA data for the Hopper division and decided to explore a pivot in game piece focus in an attempt to be picked as a 3rd or 4th alliance member.
We have made some improvements to our robot since our last regional. At the moment we can get 5-6 cones high/mid consistently vs 10-13 cubes low/mid.
Here is a 13 cube (3 mid -10 low) teleop leaving 15 seconds to climb. This particular “match” we ran out of cubes. We expect this number to be lower with other bots cycling or we can potentially be a feeder for better bots
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2555tBqj4sok4hG67
Additionally, we are unsure how often grids will be super charged and how this will effect our strategy.
When considering how competitive these divisions are, which robot would you choose to play as?
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11 in the low/mid is worth more points than 6 high any way you slice it. being able to complete a lot of links and fill the grid is more important than where you score on the grid. I’d be prioritising low links.
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If you can contribute 13 game pieces a match you are getting picked - that is just under half the grid. If you can only contribute 6 game pieces a match, you are not.
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If the choice is purely between 11ish game pieces low and mid vs 5.5ish game pieces mid and high, I’d take the volume without hesitation. Here are some other factors to consider.
- Maybe your alliance in qualifications needs high game pieces to be competitive to win the match. Could you provide one or two high pieces to help complete high links without totally sacrificing your volume?
- Taking up cycling space on the “clearside” is premium space. If you’re angling to be picked in the later rounds, the alliance might be expecting to have other robots operate in that lane. Can you still cycle at high volume if, for instance, you’re asked to cycle over the charge station?
- I love how you’re picking cubes up from the edge of the loading zone, leaving the chute open for an alliance partner. Is it possible to pick them up with the robot rotated 180 degrees to make more space for partners to get into the zone? Would that slow you down?
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Most likely with other better bots cycling with us, we will be doing 10-11 cycles during teleop as we usually give them priority in the loading zone. Is feeding viable? We haven’t seen this strategy yet.
Go for the volume. You get more points getting links, and your scoring is much more consistent going low (looks better for scouting and EPA lol). Additionally, with the new links threshold, soloing 3 of the links makes it way easier to get the link rp every match. When winning means filling the grid, having a bot that can put up pure volume is important.
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You have 10 qualifications matches. Do both at various points. Employ the strategies that best fit your partners in a given match.
Here’s an example from week 1 of an alliance using a feeding strategy. Obviously week 1 gameplay is significantly different from how things progress at the CMP level.
I’d be pleasantly surprised if there are 32 bots in each division that can consistently score 6 game pieces.
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For an accurate look at how many pieces you an do on an actual field, look at 1923, I believe they hit 15 in empty practice fields regularly but then did some % less on the actual field (due to other robots, crowding, etc.).
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Yup! We were hitting 16-18 cycles on an empty field pre-DCMP, but that became closer to 12-14 on field with partners. Obviously the two biggest congestion points are the feeder station and the community. The faster and more efficient you can be in those zones the better.
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Have you done any testing w/ something like filling up your community with cubes all at once and then scoring at the end? I’m guessing that was slower than scoring them one at a time (full cycles).
So we have practiced this, shooting over the charge station. It greatly increases our cycles during teleop, however we are concerned that flooding the community with cubes might introduce chaff that will slow down alliance members. It would be interesting to see if they naturally get “pushed” in low during normal gameplay or if alliance members will take a moment to place cubes high as a +1 each cycle.
See one of my favorite moments from MAR DCMP, red alliance side with 60 seconds left on the match clock in this match (it should auto play from there)
Much more commonly you get alliance members that will use their bumpers to “sweep up” the community towards the end of a match. You can see 1807 do that for red in this match (and 1923 also tries to move a double scored cube to a higher position)
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