[FiM] Week 4 Recap and Week 5 Analysis
Back at it again for the conclusion and recap of week 4 events and analysis of our upcoming week 5 events. The regular competition season is over the week 3 hump and MSC is within sight with only two more weeks left. Are you ready? The week 4 events made us think about some important aspects of this game that have been relatively un-discussed by the majority of the FRC community, and that’s what we want to focus on today. As always, our weekly post will focus on the data we have available and rely on subjective opinions as little as possible in our conclusions.
If you guys and gals are like us, then you love to see the stats, so like last week let’s begin by updating those for this week and show some trends from week 1-4, which will help us mold our discussion topic for this week. To our surprise, maybe yours too, this game has been surprisingly consistent week to week. While we know the level of play has gone up as teams have gotten more efficient at playing the game, some of these stats have flatlined across the board from week 1-4, specifically:
This goes to show that the basic gameplay core mechanics aren’t changing, there is not really a new meta strategy that has occured or been mainstream enough to tip the scales (ha, get it?) toward one game element vs. another. What was important in week 1 is just as important in week 4. HOWEVER, and this brings us back to our discussion for this week…since the level of play has increased with lots of teams showing off multi-cube autos, lots of teams getting very efficient at throwing lots of cubes on the scale and switches, it is the little things that we think are going to start making a difference.
Week 1 was “I hope my robot works and we can toss a few cubes on the scale”
Week 2 was “Let’s start figuring out this whole climbing thing”
Week 3 was “Ok, multi-cube auto’s are pretty important, and we can see they have a big impact”
Week 4 was “Wow there are a lot of teams who can put a bunch of cubes on the scale, and climb, AND have autos”
Weeks 5-7, while also making all of the above critical to be successful will also need to focus on STACKING EFFICIENCY. Not only just placing cubes on the scale, but doing so in a manner which will support the placement of the crapload we are seeing put on the scale during high level matches and elims. We think that this has been relatively undiscussed because up until this point in the season, it honestly didn’t matter that much.
When we say stacking efficiency, we mean creating an organized base layer on the scale, so that your layer two and layer three cubes don’t have a skyrocketing drop rate due to an unstable foundation. Not only that, but early cube placement and position on the scale becomes critical. Those first 3-4 cubes need to be placed as close to the edge of the scale as possible to secure the early advantage against alliances who might be a little sloppier. With teams and alliances becoming so evenly matched in both scoring speed and autonomous in elims, cube placement is going to be a deciding factor for scale control early in the match.
The next topic we wanted to hit on this week is improvement, how much more efficient have the top 8 robots at the competitions got over the past 4 weeks? Based on the graph below, it shows us that the the biggest gap is between Rank 1 and Rank 2, with a difference just shy of 3 rank points (2.83 average). However, the biggest thing to note is the the 10% RP increase (approx 3 rank point) between week 1 and week 4 for almost all top 8 seeds across the board. That means you need an additional 3 climb RP in an event, or making sure that auto RP is super solid if you plan on being up there at the top come Saturday afternoon. Based on these trends, for this week 5 and week 6 next week, you could be looking at needing 34 or even 35 RP (2.91 avg RP) if you plan on taking the top seed. This is something that only 5 teams have done across all 4 weeks so far (In order: 67 - 3.25RP, 2767 - 3.16RP, 5561 - 3.08RP, 3707 - 3.0RP, 33 - 2.91RP).
To put that into perspective, that means you will essentially have to go undefeated in qualifications AND get the auto RP in nearly every match if you are a pure scale bot with not much climb RP potential, and that’s just to hit the average. Top robots are obviously hitting above 3.0 and will continue to do so. Obviously if you can consistently get the climb, that gives you more margin for error. And that folks is the reason why the multi-climb is so important. Come MSC, where many qualification matches could have been Finals matches at earlier events, even if you’re the best robot out there, going undefeated will be quite an accomplishment.
Fun Week 4 Statistic:
Of the 1614 matches played in michigan so far this season, there has been exactly one tie, and it happened in week 4 at Lansing, QM38.
Weekly Updated Rankings
After thorough analysis for weekly rankings of last week, we have some relatively minor changes for this week based on performance of those teams that have played. Again, we prioritize hanging RP capabilities as we believe this will be crucial for ranking in the top 3 in a division at MSC.
- 2767 - Stryke Force
- 67 - HOT
- 33 - Killer Bees
- 1918 - NC Gears
- 27 - RUSH
- 3707 - TechnoDogs
- 3357 - COMETS
- 4003 - TriSonics
- 5460 - Strike Zone
- 5561 - Raider Robotics
- 3536 - Electro Eagles
- 3656 - Dreadbots
- 245 - Adambots
- 494 - Martians
- 217 - ThunderChickens
Honorable Mention:
3098 - The Captains
Week 5 Analysis:
East Kentwood
This should be a great competition to watch with some high powered robots in the mix. 2767 leads the pack as our #1 overall robot in michigan. After cruising to a win at St. Joseph, by taking advantage of those valuable climb RPs, they will look to do more of the same here. Combined with slick swerve drive and nice autonomous modes, we expect good things given they have had 3 weeks for improvements. Meanwhile, we finally get to see 1918 again after their rank 1 performance at Traverse City in week 1. We will see if they have used the last 4 weeks to effectively improve and try to take advantage the climb RP with their triple climb capability. 2474 is also here looking to improve upon their Rank 2 and finals appearance at St. Joe, only being toppled by the 2767 alliance. Competing for the top spots will also be 6090 who won the Gull Lake event as the #1 overall pick for the first alliance as an effective scale bot. Meanwhile 244, who was the second pick of the #1 alliance still has their tan after their flight back from successful weekend in Hawaii (we’re jealous). Coming home with a blue banner, they are hoping to continue their success as long as their jet-lag has worn off! 2771 looks like they have good potential although they just competed last weekend so we doubt we will see major changes this week. With 5 teams who have already accumulated blue banners at this event, this is the Michigan event of the week to watch.
Livonia
Another event which should have a good showing this week is Livonia, starting with 302 who is having an incredibly successful season with blue banners at each of their events so far. With a speedy robot that can effectively scale and a consistent climb, they will be looking to keep the heat up this weekend here. 27 will be looking to gain some traction this week after a surprisingly early exit in Milford. As the #3 climb RP robot in Michigan, they will be looking to capitalize on the climb RP and consistent auto modes to bring them to the top. 3641 will join the mix after taking the win at the Lincoln district as the #1 overall pick, bringing an effective scale bot and nice close and far scale auto modes. 5050 is looking for another shot at gold after falling to 3641 in the finals after securing rank 3 at Lincoln as an effective scale bot with a flip-up single stage elevator. Also dont count out 5531 and 314 who are both effective switch and exchange bots, and we’ll see what kind of improvements they’ve been able to make.
Shepherd
Now this is an interesting one. Despite having some teams that have played very well, only one team with a blue banner is in attendance. Team 74 who is playing their third event won as the second pick in St. Joe in Week 2 and is hoping for another here this weekend. 1506 is our personal favorite who was one of the first teams in Michigan to debut a multi-cube auto, and rank 4 at the Kettering #2 event. 573 should also be a strong contender for one of the top spots after being rank 2 at the Southfield event, after 4 weeks of improvements we should see some good things from them, especially if they worked the kinks out of their dual ramp solution for the climb RP. Finally, 6100 is here looking to improve upon their SF finish in Traverse City after being rank 2.
Troy
Last but certainly not least for this week is Troy, with nearly a third of this field of robots (13 to be exact) that have been ranked top 10 in their previous events. This is sure to be a competitive event. Leading the pack is HOF team 67, currently our #2 climb RP robot in Michigan who capitalized on the buddy climb in Milford to secure rank 1. However, team 245 who has two blue banners this year so far will be right there wanting that top spot as well. It will be interesting to see if this high quality scale bot will be able to keep up in the RP race. 4362 who has shown to have a very effective scale robot and auto’s will be looking to improve upon their SF milford finish as well. There is almost too many quality robots at this event to mention them all in detail, but any one of these teams including 2337, 5436, 5460, 226, 68, 2851, 4961, 70, 308, 6099, 910, 2960 and 7178 could be banging on the door for the alliance captain positions. This is one of the deeper fields we’ve seen at an event this season, ensuring that all 8 alliances will have quality robots, it should make elims very fun to watch, making this event neck and neck with the East Kentwood for event of the week.
Until next week…
TMR