Quote:
Originally Posted by 470-RBTX
When it comes down to it, in the elims, you score as much as you can as fast as you can, balance and just forget about the other alliance. If you're max points weren't enough to beat them then so be it, but playing defense is pointless in elims.
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I couldn't disagree more. Good defense can shut down or at least slow down even great alliances. (Bad defense can't, but that's always true.) It's happened already and will continue to grow. Yes, it's hard to match a triple balance, but we've already seen it defended, and defense has put very serious dents in alliance teleop scores.
There's man-on-man (such as it is) defense, which seems to be only/most effective with fender or at least close scorers. We've completely shut down both types, sometimes 2 at a time.
Ball starvation is also exceedingly powerful and also more versatile. Many teams have had success with hopping over (usually Barrier but also Bridge) and clean our their opponent's zone, either through feeding or just fast loading and scoring.
Other teams, including us, have had great success with blocking inbounder passes. My favorite method for this Inbounder Chicken: blocking their passes and thus forcing one of their scorers back to feed and basically trapping them there.
And of course there's bridge defense itself, especially against the triple balance. This is an exceedingly powerful, game-winning tactic.
The "just score" strategy works great if you can drastically outscore your opponents while handling their defense. If you plateau (and it is essentially a plateau) lower than your opponents though, no need to walk away--there are many other options that can win it all if well executed. In good match-ups there's always more to consider than just your own robots.