Re: Is Defense Finally Viable
 

All things considered you can't play defense if you focus on the ball. The rules on possession limit almost all intentional contact with the ball, the only exception is the goalie zone.
You can defend by pushing robots. As long as it's your bumpers pushing theirs you're fine. So i suggest you push them out of the way of passes, into other zones, and ultimately slow their cycle. You cannot erase assists, only delay the other team cashing them in.
That being said there is a 20 point leap for a third assist. Be a good offense bot when you can and slow the opponent when you cannot.

My interpretation of the rules is not official but i do believe it is against the rules and GP to intentionally control the other teams ball at all.

Re: Is Defense Finally Viable
 

To continue with what most people have been saying, a totally defensive bot is not a viable option this year but defense is going to be huge during all stages of the game. Of course getting the assist bonuses will be the first priority of all alliances this year but with only one ball in play there will be a lot of time where teams will be doing nothing to help their team and defense will be huge then. Blocking the one point goals and getting in the way of robots shooting for the ten point goals will cause more misses and the chance for less cycles, drastically changing the score of the game.

Also there might even come a time when we see counter defense against the robot preventing your alliance from scoring after the three assists and possible truss and catch. This strategy was implemented very well last year with the full court shooters and with no safe zones to shoot this year I can see counter defense becoming big in the later rounds of play.

Re: Is Defense Finally Viable
 

IF done right, a good goalie bot has the potential to severely impact its opponents. With the 20" extension rule, one could gain up to 40" of additional width/length. By using multiple vertical extensions that you deploy one at a time, what you potentially have is a 5' - 6' wide wall. Give it the ability to move and it just got bigger. If it can block one or more balls in Auto (favor the hot zone) the opponent has to scramble to score those before beginning a cycle. If they decide to not shoot in auto because they don't want to risk a block, you just cut out a potential 15-60 points. There is only one ball per cycle, and a bot that wide could cause a few delays in scoring.

I'm not saying it will or should be done, but it could be done, and it could be painful.

yes i know, it would be difficult to pull off and teams could always run counter defense, but anything is possible.

Re: Is Defense Finally Viable
 

Scoring in the top goal is not a simple task. And to add to the excitement we are already seeing reports of misshapen balls after moderate use.
But what really distinguishes Aerial Assist isn't the difficulty of scoring, it's the cost of a miss.
In 2013 a missed Frisbee meant a reasonable cycler got 3/4 of it's potential with no time lost.
This year a miss means at best wasted time hustling around the field trying to retrieve the rebound ball then resetting to score. If the ball bounces out of the field then there is a wait for the field reset volunteers to retrieve it and get it back to a human player - potentially at the wrong end of the field. Missing a shot really hurts an alliance.

Very few teams will build robots capable of scoring high goals reliably from a wide range of locations, and fewer still will be able to score while moving. So having a strong drivetrain and just getting in the way at the opponent's preferred shooting distance will be a viable strategy. Add some passive ball handling to push between zones and you have a capable robot.

Lasly, if we see a good specialist goalie robot this year with autonomous defensive capabilities then I'll be a very happy mentor.