Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam_Mills
Not looking to start a flame war, but I disagree 100%. Pushing through defence is nearly always slower than driving around it. Granted, very few teams have the brecoflex tread like you do, but if I am looking for a cycler on my alliance, I am looking for agility not power. Just ask anyone on 610. They have gotten 7 cycles in a single match, but that would be really hard to do while pushing.
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This is an interesting subject. While I agree with you that evading the defender entirely is often the most efficient way of dealing with defense, it's not always the most effective in the long run.
I'm an avid believer that there are certain instances that require 'volume by force' - with that meaning that regardless of what obstacles are present, the same volume of points must be scored. More often than not, this requires that a robot be built in such a way that allows it to be both nimble and forceful enough to decide where and how to hit the defender*. There have been instances this year where while under heavy defense we were still able to put up a reasonably high amount of points and this was due to some good decision making on our driver's part - specifically knowing when it's faster to evade and knowing when it's faster to 'remove' the defender from his path.
*For those of you having trouble visualizing this: Imagine an instance where there is not a clear path around a defending robot without going completely out of your way. At this point, you come to the realization that the only way to get where you need to go in the time required is to make contact. Knowing that, you can now chose where you want to contact the defending robot, and logically, you want to hit them in such a way that you make them either spin out of your way or move in a direction that isn't in your path. Yes, contacting the defender will slow you down, but overall it is still faster than an alternate path - at least in situations like this.