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Phase 1 — Strategy

Window: Kickoff day + first 3–5 days.

Gate: Strategy Approval Review.

Nobody touches CAD, cuts cardboard, or writes robot code until this gate passes.

Strategy is the discipline that keeps the team from building a mechanism just because it looks cool. What the team must do is decided by numbers, not enthusiasm.

Objectives

  1. Understand the game deeply enough to argue about ranking-point math.
  2. Produce a Priority List ranking every scoring action.
  3. Choose a Robot Archetype that matches team capacity.
  4. Set numeric performance targets that later gates measure against.

Step-by-Step

Day 1 — Kickoff

  • Watch the game reveal video at least twice as a full team.
  • Read the game manual sections: field, scoring, penalties, ranking points. Full team, together.
  • No mechanism brainstorming allowed today. Ideas go on a parking-lot whiteboard for later.
  • Homework: every student and mentor reads the full manual before Day 2.

Day 2 — Game Analysis

Break into small mixed groups. Each group answers:

  • What are all the ways to score points? List every action.
  • What are the point values, cycle times, and difficulty of each?
  • What penalties exist? Which are common, which are catastrophic?
  • What ranking points exist? What actions unlock them?
  • Where is the field crowded? Where is defense easy vs hard?
  • What auto-period scoring is possible?
  • What endgame scoring is possible?

Regroup. Reconcile into a single team-wide game action inventory.

Day 3 — Priority List

For every scoring action, fill a row:

Action Points Est. cycle time Difficulty (1–5) Defense vulnerability Points / sec Priority
e.g. "score high goal" 5 6 s 4 Medium 0.83 1
…
  • Points/sec = points ÷ cycle time. This is the honest measure.
  • Priority 1 = the action our robot must be excellent at.
  • Priority 2 = the action our robot must be competent at.
  • Priority 3+ = ignore. Do not build for these.

Small teams should have no more than two priority-1 actions. Ambition kills small teams.

Day 4 — Archetype

Pick one:

  • Cycler — high-throughput scorer of one action.
  • Specialist — does one hard thing exceptionally (e.g., climb, long-range shot).
  • Support / defender — plays alliance-supporting role, disrupts opponent.
  • Hybrid — cycler + specialist in one bot. Highest risk, most fabrication.

Write the archetype in one sentence: "Our robot is a cycler that scores priority-1 in <=6 seconds and delivers a priority-2 endgame."

Day 5 — Scoring Simulation

Spreadsheet or Python. For a hypothetical match:

  • Our expected priority-1 score = cycle time × match duration × accuracy.
  • Add priority-2 and endgame contributions.
  • Estimate alliance total. Compare against expected competition-average alliance total.

If our modeled average is below competitive average, revise the archetype now, before fabrication.

Reference: Ri3D (Robot-in-3-Days) reveals — watch a few. If a Ri3D team achieved our priority-1 in 3 days with COTS, our target is 5–10x better in reliability or speed.

Deliverables (required to pass Strategy Approval Gate)

  • Filled Priority List, signed by lead student + mentor.
  • One-sentence archetype statement.
  • Scoring-sim spreadsheet with source assumptions.
  • List of scoring actions explicitly rejected and why.
  • Numeric performance targets (e.g., "priority-1 cycle time <= 6 s at 90% accuracy").

Targets carry forward. Every later gate compares actual performance to these numbers.

Roles During Strategy

  • Strategy Lead (student): owns the Priority List and archetype statement.
  • Mentor Facilitator: runs discussion, blocks anyone who tries to skip to CAD.
  • Scouting Lead (student): starts building scouting plan against this year's actions. See 06_integration_testing.md and future scouting doc.
  • All students: read manual, participate in prioritization.

Handoff to Stage 2 (Prototyping)

The Priority List names which mechanisms must be prototyped. Any prototype not tied to a priority-1 or priority-2 action is refused funding and shop time.

Common Failure Modes
  • Skipping to CAD on Day 1. Every hour spent designing before priorities are set is an hour re-designed later.
  • Everyone wants everything. Priority-1 list of six items = you build nothing well. Cut to two.
  • No numbers. "It'll be fast" is not a target. "Cycle in <=6 seconds" is.
  • Ignoring defense. A priority-1 action defenders can trivially block is a priority-3 action in a real match.
  • Copying last year's archetype. New game, new priorities.

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