Well,
We arrived home at 12:30am Saturday night (Sunday morning) and it is my 1st day back at work. We learned a lot at Pittsburgh and will be ready to go at Great Lakes this weekend. Here is a list of things I observed (no particular order):
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Getting to the wall first is a big advantage, but if you don’t get there first, good driving can overcome it.
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The pusher bots (especially limbo) with good drivers dictate the game. De-scoring is very important and these bots do it well. I was very suprised by how much the pusher bots had affected the outcome.
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I have not given up on stacking, but it is really easy to de-score and render good stacks useless.
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Teamwork will win this game. Unlike other years, you will NOT win without teamwork. Good teamwork is the best way to make stacking possible. A team must run blocker while a stacker is stacking or run interference to keep the bins in scoring position.
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One robot will not win this game by itself.
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Did I mention teamwork will prevail.
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A single KOTH bot will not win this game. Great KOTH bots will emerge, but they will soon realize that they can’t do it alone. A team who protects their stack can win with a 1 robot deficit on the hill.
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From what I saw at Pittsburgh (competing) and Buckeye (observing), it seems like the winning combination is one robot that is fast to the wall and 2 strong pusher bots (limbo not necessary, but helpful).
-Paul