[sammyjalex]

Indeed, The Poofs always build an incredibly beautiful robot, but of course in every game there are more variables in any given match than how polished is your machining.

In the example you give here, 341 learned by playing 968 in the semis at San Diego that while a power dumper was the best strategy of design for Lunacy, what was even more potent was a tall dumper that could direct shots over a pin. While this machine is incredibly awesome, it could also be pinned and left powerless in the match pretty easily. This also gives some insight into why 254 and 1538, a similar design that year, were not able to come away with the win at Las Vegas that year. If you read The New Cool, you can read a step by step story of the intense and important process of strategically designing for the game and playing the game with varying strategies, based on that specific newly created alliance.

It always depends on both your machines design as well as the strategy you employ when selecting your alliance and how well you employ that strategy in each situation. What I love about the FRC game each year is that the role of the rest of the alliance and how well the teams work together is so huge. One team can't win an event alone, no matter how amazing. There are so many variable to make that dream come to fruition and so much of it is based on how strong are your group dynamics and how creative your collaborative problem solving.

Please understand that I absolutely loved 254 and 968's design in 2009; but I also want you to realize that you can never over emphasize the importance of the alliance and game strategy.