2019 Summer Heat

written by Daler K. on 2019-06-29

On June 29, 2019, we travelled to South Portland, Maine, to compete at the 2019 Summer Heat event. At Summer Heat, if you placed two special hatches (called life preservers) and two beach balls in one level of a rocket, you got a free level 3 climb. In qualification matches, we tried to get the free level 3 climb, place a few more hatches and cargo, and then use our climber to get a second level 3 climb. After the qualification round, we were ranked 10th. During alliance selection, we were excited to be picked by Team 4311 (Swampscott Currents) to join Alliance 6. Together, we selected Team 4564's (Orange Chaos) offseason robot to join our alliance. We decided on a strategy of having 4311 place one hatch on the side of the cargo ship in auto, play defense, and climb to level 2; have 5813 place a life preserver on the back of the rocket in auto, place two hatches on the cargo ship, place 5 cargo, and climb to level 3; and have 4564's robot place a life preserver on the front of the rocket in auto, place the two beach balls, fill 3 cargo on the cargo ship, and park on level 1. This strategy worked wonderfully. After a tough loss in the first quarterfinal match, we regrouped and won the next two. In the semifinals, we kept the same strategy and powered our way into the finals in two matches. In the finals, we faced the formidable Alliance 1 that featured Team 133 (BERT) and our friends on Team 319 (Big Bad Bob). After two hard-fought matches, we emerged as event finalists by narrow margins. Although we didn't win the event, we were thrilled with the performance of our team and alliance. It was great working with 4311 and 4564, and we hope to work with them again soon.