With all that is being said here about how we beat 254 and 968, I just have to add what amazing machines 254 and 968 had that year. I do not think there was a more effective robot for the given game challenge in all of FIRST during 2009.
If you watch the teaser video of the 254 “Twins” filling a goal, your only reaction can be “Shock and Awe”. 968 won 11 straight matches before we faced them in San Diego. It truly was the best machine in FIRST for 2009 with very skilled drivers.
816 won the quarters because Dustin had a vial of pure win extract in his Fro, somewhere…
-Nick
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In no particular order…
Well practiced drivers.
A robot that is designed to play the game from the beginning.
Luck.
A robot that doesn’t break at a critical time or match.
Some more luck.
Partners that compliment your strengths and weaknesses.
A great strategy team taking good data on all teams.
Luck of the draw, i.e. either picking or getting picked by one of the teams high on your pick list.
A good coach who understands game strategy and doesn’t get caught up in watching the match.
Luck that one of your picks is still around for the second draft.
Being able to switch from offense to defense as needed for a particular alliance.
Having one of the above infect an opponent at a critical time.
Luck!
Think about this year. Good scoring robots, good auto modes (one better than the other), fast minibots (one the fastest in the division), fast robots, good defensive moves, good data on our opponents for strategy, great operators and human players, and experienced coaches who worked together. Any of the top alliances on any division could have just as easily put some or most of these attributes together for success.
That list right there is the reason why we won Lone Star in 2009. After we picked 704 and 1421, we spent our lunch time just discussing strategy and since we were the 5th seeded team, it gave us more time to talk about it when elims started. After the first match we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, then 118 brought us back down to Earth in the second match. That second match was really a turning point for our alliance and from there, we just clicked.
Basically I feel for a winning alliance, not only do you need good partners and teamwork, you also need some good chemistry. Chemistry helped us win in 2009 and I think all the winning alliances develop some form of chemistry to win every year.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6jawEPUnivw/TWM2kbGXrLI/AAAAAAAAArY/tNk8be9NGa8/s400/Winning-Planets.png](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6jawEPUnivw/TWM2kbGXrLI/AAAAAAAAArY/tNk8be9NGa8/s1600/Winning-Planets.png)
Strategy. It’s all about strategy. Have a plan for each match which makes the best use of alliance capabilities and takes advantage of your opponent’s weaknesses. Obviously having robots with more capability (and consistency) allows for more strategy options and less weaknesses for opponents to take advantage of.
I think a lot of teams with great robots also have great strategy. This causes people to think it’s the robot winning the matches, when really it’s the strategy. However, some teams have good robots with great strategies, and visa versa. This is when having the most capable robot doesn’t mean you are winning the match.
Understanding your capabilities is most important for your strategies. Be sure you have a good understanding of all 6 robots on the field and that you don’t over or under estimate their capabilities.
Don’t forget: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Make sure you are prepared and you will start to feel lucky. The alliance that is the most prepared will take the win.
-Eric
6 straight division wins makes that hard to argue with.
I definitely agree with what seems to be the general consensus here, that teamwork, well, works. This point was definitely highlighted in 2009, as many of the elite teams in the world fell to a well thought out and well executed strategy. The 254 example has already been brought up, but another example of this was when 1507, 121, and 177 (the 5 seed) took down 1625, 234, and 768, the one seed, on our way to winning Newton. The only reason we were able to do that was a very, very well executed strategy carried out by all 3 robots, with a healthy dose of luck. 1625 and 234 were definitely, in my opinion, better robots than us, but we were able to squeak out a win by executing our strategy to perfection. (the no pinning rule helped a bit too).
In my opinion, the lesson learned here is that it is not necessarily the best robots that win, but the alliance that can work together flawlessly as a singly entity, with each robot playing their part by carrying out a well thought out strategy.
Truly listening to the wealth of advice around you is so important.
Don’t work in a vacuum all season long.
You still have magical amounts of traction, that is all 
There might have been a higher OPR robot at champs that year.
973’s robot was very effective, although because of a bright orange paint job it was dificult to sneak up on anybody. This is why 973’s 2010 bot is all black.
What do i think is a winning combination?
Having a prototype robot handy before kickoff thats ready to test ideas. Build 2 robots so you don’t have to rush the build. Cad everything before building.
Before season design robots in cad that would be effective in past games. Use a previous game as a design challenge and then see what designs were effective. More often then not(and especialy for this game) solutions for past challenges will leak into the next. When designing a robot build it from the ground up, don’t reverse engineer someonesles design without testing it. And don’t ever remove a sim during comp to make weight!
Do the math! If done right you can check weights in CAD aswell as do strength tests.
With all due respect to EJ, Cory, Travis, and the rest of 254 (we’re friends, they know I’m a big fan of theirs, and I know they can take honest criticism), I wouldn’t call a robot that can easily get pinned for the entire match the most effective robot for the given game challenge. Most effective for a specific subset, certainly, but not for the entire game.
They have the drive and determination to win!
