The Seattle Olympic Regional was our team's only regional. Here's what we got from playing:
-Consistent scoring in the middle row is far better than erratic scoring in the top.
-Defense by tubes. Useless tubes make for a terrific obstacle for unprepared teams. See Final1m2
here.
-Tube scoring is far more important than people give credit it credit for. This is not because minibots don't matter, but because when alliances have equally fast minibots (at our regional, ~2s was the speed of the minibots on the finals match), a delay from a defensive robot of even 2 or 3 seconds will mean anywhere from a 10 to 30 point differential in the race. See Final1m1.
-The analyst is
absolutely huge. I took the role of the analyst in the elimination matches, and a passive analyst is devastating to any alliance. Take advantage of this role, because coordination between the teams is so critical in this year's game.