[AGPapa]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

There was discussion of it on chief. I distinctly remember posting that they'd be the only thing that mattered once a relatively low point threshold was achieved.

Just like this year, many people who didn't understand competition argued they weren't that important.

Thanks Adam. For reference, this thread has some pretty good discussion about the importance on minibots.

Here are some selected quotes:

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

The minibot score can't be offset at the high level of play, every competent alliance come champs will fill the top and middle rows along with some ubertubes. The sole decider in the win will be the minibots.

Originally Posted by Matt Krass

Seriously though, I think Adam is right, regardless of how well the minibot sensors work, or not, they're a little overweighted in the competition. I've seen a single minibot beat an entire other alliance scoring for the whole game. Just the minibot score. It's kind of frustrating, but it's probably also a topic for another thread.

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

You're missing his point. BOTH alliances will have robots like 148 and 1114. While the points scored by 1114 could offset a minibot if the opponent isn't scoring tubes, it's not going to offset the scoring from 148 AND 148's minibot.

There's a definite potential for the tube scores for both alliances to be both incredibly high, and incredibly close. That's where minibots are going to decide matches. It's not going to be a case where those 50 points alone are going to overcome the opponents scoring, but those 25 extra points from getting 1st and 2nd in the minibot race would easily offset the 2 extra tubes the opponent scored more than your alliance did.

Perhaps I'm overestimating the knowledge possessed by average alliance captain at champs. Especially since it'll be twice as easy to captain this year.