[dodar]

Originally Posted by Kevin Ray

In keeping with the original poster's theme I agree very strongly with BedHed and rsegrest. Although this game is about the abilities of the individual robots, I'd bet a paycheck that a red alliance of average/poor bots could and will beat a blue alliance of good/very good bots this year specifically because of strategy. To be successful that strategy session necessarily needs to take place prior to the match and the teams need to adhere to it.
Yes, elite bots will love to strut their stuff (as would most team, including ours), but they can be defeated this year by a minimum of defense by one or two opponents. This would force the single playing piece (ball) to be tied up. The assist component of the scoring forces you to utilize allies.
I actually think that this year's game is "the great equalizer". Elite teams can shine--and they will, but rookie and poorly supported teams can do quite well with the plethora of info. out there (here) with even the simplest of tools. In fact, just making a bot that can take-in and hand-off a ball is a very valuable asset--especially if it does it quickly. They would be a definite 3rd choice in the elimination rounds.
Finally, if a very weak ball handler has a decent drive system and can tie up the opponents and prevent them from scoring, each point they prevent is just as valuable as the points his allies do score! In fact, they might be even more valuable. If he prevents 60 points in the time that his allies score only 10, his alliance is +10 for that given time period.

That can be said for any game that FIRST has had. Also, his team would be +70 for that cycle period.