[Qbot2640]

I, like many, have been reluctant to jump into this conversation - but finally decided to add my two cents:

While all FIRST games have a measure of dependence on good qualifier alliances, this one was extreme because of the one ball at a time feature. The damage done to an entire alliance by one robot that took forever to perform their part of the cycle was typically not reparable. And because the opposing alliance only needed one robot to control the ball at any given time it was too easy to deploy the other two on the one good robot.

I think the game needed a mid-field protected zone, or a protected travel strip along the borders to make it possible for a good robot on a bad alliance to generate some offense.

Unrelated to my central point - I think the catch should have been valued much higher relative to the truss (throw). That could have significantly changed the dynamic as well.