Building a Picklist

What a picklist is

A picklist is your team's ordered ranking of the other teams at the event, best partner first, that you bring to alliance selection. Build a deep list — a common rule of thumb is at least 24 teams for a typical non-Championship event — because by the time it is your turn many top teams are already taken and you must keep moving down a trustworthy list.

Why one ranked list is not enough

The single most important picklist idea: the best partner depends on what your alliance needs, not just on raw strength. A common, more powerful approach is to build multiple lists or a list plus role tags:

• A list of the best overall/offensive robots.
• A list of the best defenders.
• A list of robots that fill a specific role your robot lacks (a reliable endgame, a great autonomous, a fast cycler).

During the draft you choose from the list that matches the partner you still need. If you have a strong scorer, your first pick might be another strong scorer to overwhelm opponents, or a great defender to shut them down, depending on the field.

How to build it

1. Aggregate your scouting into per-team averages and reliability flags (your averages sheet from Module 2).
2. Pull public analytics (EPA components from Statbotics, OPR/CCWM from TBA) next to your scouting.
3. Reconcile disagreements. Where your scouting and the analytics disagree, investigate. Analytics blind spots (defense, reliability) are usually the explanation, and that is where scouting earns its keep.
4. Weight by need and reliability. Demote inconsistent or frequently-disabled robots even if their averages look high; a robot that is great half the time can lose you an elimination match.
5. Hold a picklist meeting the night before or morning of selection. Get scouts, strategists, and the drive coach in one room, walk the list, and let the people who watched the robots speak.

Things scouting catches that numbers miss

• Reliability: a high average hides a robot that broke in three of eight matches.
• Defense quality: invisible to OPR/EPA but often decisive in eliminations.
• Compatibility: two robots that want the same field space or scoring location can clog each other; a great partner complements your cycle, not duplicates a bottleneck.
• Driver skill and composure: elimination matches are high-pressure; a smooth, calm driver is worth a lot.

Output

Finish with a clear artifact your alliance-selection representatives can use under time pressure: a primary ranked list, role tags or secondary lists, and a short "do not pick" set (robots with disqualifying reliability or behavior issues). Keep it on paper as well as a device, since you cannot count on connectivity on the field. A picklist you cannot read quickly under a ticking pick timer is not finished.