Change Up strategies/driver practice

[Daryl]

At this point, robots are more competitive (at least in my region) than past seasons possibly because of the simplicity of this year’s game.

1. Since robotics are generally high quality this year, competing without strategies would put you in a disadvantage; what are some effective strategies that are used in matches?

2. Since robots this year are generally done in a short amount of time, how much driver practice do you think would be necessary to preform well? If you have no teams to stimulate matches with, how can you get prepared for match situations?

Any advices would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Xenon27]

since matches are so chaotic and fast-changing, any kind of rigid strategy will disintegrate the moment driver control begins, the best strategies are just general things like aim for goals that form rows and playing smart defense when you have the opportunity.

[mustaf]

in my belief, there is no limitting about driving practise. we were practising hardcore last year which led us to be champion of the robot skills part. with a record at turkish region

we were practising for seconds. i mean we found the optimum robot skills score that our robot can and memorised it. i still doubt about is it ethical or not but lol

as a consequence, always try harder on practising. aim higher. rows is the most important thing in game, try to make more rows even if you have one owned ball in goal. like if you are red:

red
blue
blue

yes, at that point blue team gains 2 score but row is so much more.

[Xenon27]

one thing I’ve seen often in match videos are that teams will score multiple balls in one goal, when their efforts would be better spent distributing one ball to each goal.

Also if you can’t descore as fast as you can score, it might be a good idea to prioritize goals that have a free spot on the top.

And one of the biggest time traps I’ve seen occur is a robot spend all match fighting over the center goal. imo, it’s best to ignore the center goal until the last 10-15 seconds, because if you spend all match fighting over it, you don’t accomplish anything else and the outcome of the center goal isn’t any more favorable than if you only fight for it in the last few seconds.

[trontech569]

@Daryl

Since robotics are generally high quality this year, competing without strategies would put you in a disadvantage; what are some effective strategies that are used in matches?

Ignoring possible references to 240P, the actual game in-person seems to be pretty chaotic. Since scoring rows earns the most points, you should probably just focus on that. Most effective strategy is probably just winning auton and getting the Home Row Bonus, that will probably be killer.

In Live Remote Tournaments, the matches I have watched are relatively calm. So try to put 4 balls in a couple of goals, but make sure that you have ALL THE BALLS SCORED! THEY ARE ALL WORTH POINTS! And always be touching a goal at the end, even if it isn’t the best goal to be touching.

@Daryl

Since robots this year are generally done in a short amount of time, how much driver practice do you think would be necessary to preform well?

Well is a subjective word. Depends on your definition of satisfactory how much driver practice will be necessary.

If satisfactory is “We had a good learning experience and won a couple matches”, then about 2 hours of driving practice would probably get a little past there. If satisfactory is “We did the Vex hat trick, winning the Tournament, Robot Skills, and Excellence award”, then maybe upwards of 12 hours of driving practice would be closer to your expectations.

@Daryl

If you have no teams to stimulate matches with, how can you get prepared for match situations?

Skills practice always helps with your literal skills, with the added bonus of helping with your skills score. Doing drills is nice too. Maybe you could practice going up to a goal and putting a ball in it, fielding, cycling, etc.

[mustaf]

by the way there is an app which you can count your points and rows easily called “VRC Hub” on app store and google play

enjoy!

[2775Josh]

IMO auton is far more important than it has been in previous years. A consistent auton, robust build, and driver practice will take you way farther than adding mechanisms or increasing complexity.

[Ethan5956F]

@2775Josh

A consistent auton, robust build, and driver practice will take you way farther than adding mechanisms or increasing complexity.

yes just be good and you’ll do good

[2775Josh]

Big brain (basically what I’m saying is don’t rebuild a lot)

[Daryl]

@Xenon27

since matches are so chaotic and fast-changing, any kind of rigid strategy will disintegrate the moment driver control begins, the best strategies are just general things like aim for goals that form rows and playing smart defense when you have the opportunity.

I agree that matches tend to be chaotic; in my first comp, it looks like teams tend to not have any strategies.

@Xenon27

teams will score multiple balls in one goal, when their efforts would be better spent distributing one ball to each goal.

Are you saying that teams should top balls for the most part, and generally disregard balls on the first and second level, so the goal here is to out run your opponents on topping balls?

[Xenon27]

@Daryl

Are you saying that teams should top balls for the most part, and generally disregard balls on the first and second level, so the goal here is to out run your opponents on topping balls?

precisely.

worrying about the other balls is a waste of time, since the vast majority of points come from the rows.

[JustALonelyAstronaut]

@Xenon27

And one of the biggest time traps I’ve seen occur is a robot spend all match fighting over the center goal. imo, it’s best to ignore the center goal until the last 10-15 seconds, because if you spend all match fighting over it, you don’t accomplish anything else and the outcome of the center goal isn’t any more favorable than if you only fight for it in the last few seconds.

What I’m getting from this is that the center goal is a lot like the center platform was a few years ago in Turning point.

[Foster]

(Reviving this thread rather than a new one)

Lots of skills events out there, some with decent scores. Whats your driver/autonomous strategy and how is it working out? I’m seeing some pretty high driver and auto scores being posted.

Teams are looking forward to head to head (live or remote). Are you still thinking corners and then the center or have you come up with the sly series of moves that lock in your alliance victory?