What we learned from week 1

[Brian_Selle]

@MrForbes

I only saw a few matches on the webcasts, mostly during eliminations. I was surprised how few teams were attempting floor pickup in autonomous…this looked to me early on to be a great strategy, and more “worth the effort” than building a high climbing mechanism.

1. The floor pickup during autonomous is huge. I definitely think you will see at least one team on every championship alliance with this capability. This past weekend at Hub City we were up against 1986 in the semi-finals. When they single-handily rain 42 pts in 15 seconds right above your head there is a psychological impact not to mention the 24 pts you need to make up.

2. Defense is huge. Fast <30" robots can significantly slow down the shooters. At Hub City, I was really surprised to see 1801 slip through the cracks until the 1 1986 alliance got them on their 3rd pick. If anything the other alliances needed a defensive robot like this to beat 1986. During one of the qualification matches I saw 1986 either stopped or running for their lives when 1801 was playing defense against them. They were still able to get to/from the feeder station but their cycles times were significantly extended. I’ll bet they were pretty darn happy to have them on their alliance instead be playing against them during the elimination rounds.

3. I wish there was a little more point incentive to go for the top climb. 10, 20, 40 pts like last year’s bridge would be great. It’s a huge risk and hard to do… it deserves a special bonus. It’s also a huge crowd pleaser… the whole stadium gets loud and lights up when a team is going for it. I think the 30 pt climbs will become more important as the season progresses but you have to do it fast or it’s not worth it.