[PayneTrain]

If I was given the option between a robot that can shoot at the pyramid quickly and consistently (5-6 lightly defended cycles) and have a 5 disc center-line auto, that puts it miles above an FCS.

I have not seen much talk about how much the game piece count will factor in late divisional eliminations and Einstein. There will likely be no more than 1 disc per alliance on the floor after auto is over, and if you have two quick, dialed in pyramid shooters that can run 5 cycles by themselves and an available "street sweeper" that could pick up that extra cycle's worth of discs back that the wall then proceed to pick up whatever it can find on the field, what use is a full court shooter? In a hypothetical match pairing a shooter/30-pointer, shooter/intake/10-pointer, and shooter/10-pointer hang, you will be getting just as much out of the shooter/10pointer as a full court shooter, in my opinion.

Alliances that make it to Einstein will have at least one robot doing intake all match, at least one robot that can run teleop cycles and make a quick enough hang to matter, and the second pick will likely be the best robot the alliance had left on their board, be it a center-line auto and teleop shooter, a cycle-based shooter, and a full court shooter that can run cycles in that order.

I feel averse to saying full court shooters can just flip a switch to running cycles and it's practically the same thing like some others are. Running efficient cycles is about your drive team sticking to and thriving under that strategy. 422's cycle count would increase as the day progressed, from 2 by match 1, adding a cycle (unintentionally) in each match. It's a rhythm. Teams like 620 (remember them, guys?) likely practiced running cycles until their drivers got sick of them, shaving off as many seconds as possible to add in more, but hey, they got 7 cycles in only one match in Week 1. Having to adjust that rhythm in the middle of championship eliminations is probably not going to be a wise pick. That's not the time you want to get wishy-washy on strategy.